I’m not religious, but I do mark Halloween – and the equinoxes/solstices (stolsti?). Finishing this up on Halloween afternoon (my favourite holiday of the year … sigh). Went to the farm shop’s pumpkin fest. Boy, were there a lot of pumpkins. Nice food too. And the sun even came out in an otherwise meh day.
(My pumpkins for this year)
The heat has been going on and off for about a week and a half.
I like busy/not busy – ie, having a full day or two and then having a day or couple of days of quiet. Life feels a bit more balanced that way. I am retired, so that sort of thing works.
Last week was that – a bit of busy, a bit of quiet.
The busy was one of my flying trips up country to London.
I ventured to West London, Notting Hill, to visit a shop which had something I thought I might self-gift for next year’s significant birthday. Turned out to be a no-go, which was fine. Nice bus ride through and a really good bagel with cream cheese for lunch, something that is hard to get where I live.
Then visited with a friend for several hours at a Coal Drops Yard café behind Kings Cross.
Once she went home I wandered the shops in the development and then got on a bus (stupid move, though I did theoretically make it in time for my train home*) which wandered its way through north London before turning west towards Paddington.
At which point things went seriously pear-shaped.
It was half term school hols here last week. So, the people who invaded the tracks in west London may have been looking for something exciting to do on a Tuesday afternoon.
The result was rail chaos. All trains out of Paddington cancelled, with that only starting to shift from around 7:45 in the evening (my train was due to leave at 6:35 – of course, it was cancelled). I finally got on a train at 8:05 which very slowly made its way to the west country. And, was very full, with people having to stand in the aisles. In the end, I got home around midnight.
So, the following couple of days were v-e-r-y quiet. Home body stuff.
While in London I did manage to sample the new Frederic Malle, Northern Love. Which was decidedly not love. A 2026 release, it does not appear M Malle had anything to do with this (he exited in summer 2024 – I wonder if this was already contracted before he sold up or someone else is responsible for it). I love the name, which made me think of Northern Soul dancers (a movement up north here of dances to Motown music which has gone on for decades — https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Northern_soul).
Bruno Jovanovic is the nose. Notes include saffron, speculoos (ie, a sort of spiced cookie), nutmeg, cinnamon, vanilla, jasmine, sandalwood, leather, Peru Balsam, styrax and patchouli. To my nose this smells of vetiver butter cookies, with a big dose of pine. So, no.
The other ‘busy’ was the farm shop’s annual pumpkin festival.
Which was really enjoyable. Pumpkin ‘sculptures’, food (including s’mores, flavoured lemonade [got rose], loaded sausages), plus weird music which I ignored.
The week ended in the garden. The new witch hazel tree got planted, as did the violets/violas, and finally the allium ‘hair’ got places in pots. Happy November. Hope you had a good week.
Pics: mine, pexels, wiki
NB: Apparently NYC is getting a Dishoom, which is a London staple. It’s an Indian restaurant based on old railway cafés. So, don’t expect a vague menu of starters, curries, etc. Rather, you can get wonderful naans stuffed with sausages, eggs, etc, for breakfast; great bottomless chai; something called a chicken kathi roll (paratha layered with a bit of omelette wrapped around chicken tikka with chutney). If you live in or find yourself in the city, I would highly recommend visiting. The one at Coal Drops Yard is among my favourite breakfast places anywhere.