‘afternoon’ tea, drink shop & do

Drink, Shop & Do

It was my mate’s birthday on Sunday, and as she is ‘the woman who has everything’, I actually resorted to ASKING her what she wanted.  “Afternoon Tea” was the reply.  I had already booked one afternoon tea that I had a Groupon voucher for, but that isn’t until 1st July!  That seemed an absolute age away, so I thought it might be nice for us to go out with our other best mate for one in the mean time.

This is the same friend that I went with for the TLSee Afternoon Tea before.  So, I started looking for somewhere that we could go for ‘afternoon tea for dinner’ again.  The problem is that she works late *shakes fist*.  So, I resorted to asking the general public via the wonderful @Secret_London as to where we could go that would serve from around 7pm.

I had three or four recommendations for Drink, Shop & Do in Caledonian Road, just a couple of minutes from King’s Cross station.  As the July tea I’ve booked is quite posh, I thought this looked great as it was really quirky and cool.  And they serve their ‘afternoon’ tea until closing. At 11pm Mon-Thurs!

So last night we went along.

It was a really fabulous evening!  As you walk in, the front shop is full of quirky cards, designery / handmade bits and pieces and old-fashioned sweets that you can buy by the quarter.

You go upstairs into the cafe & craft area which had a tantalising display of homemade cakes on show.  It was pretty busy (they wont take bookings for parties of fewer than 5), but we managed to find a table out the back which was a fantastic little room with a domed ceiling and loads of retro furniture and bric-a-brac. (I especially liked the 70s style furry baby deer picture).

Afternoon Tea Menu – May 12

We went for the ‘tea with a twist’ which came with a choice of cocktail from their very appealing menu, along with an extensive choice of speciality teas.

Mrs Pepper Pot

I went for a Mrs Pepper Pot, which I can’t remember exactly what was in it apart from basil and pepper and the fact that it was totally scrummy.  One friend went for what she described as tasting like ‘a kind of hot chai latte with amaretto’ and the other went for something that had a choice of lime, raspberry or lemon sherbert in it.  They were all great!

Yummy stuff! (And cute mismatched china)

The actual food itself is definitely not what you would describe as traditional – there was not a scone in sight (can you actually call it afternoon tea if there are no scones? Perhaps that is up for debate!)  However, it was wonderful and fresh, the sandwiches were simple but tasty (and the bread was fresh and not refrigerated, which in some places it is!).

Our cake tier had a macaroon (we had three different ones), a piece of lemon drizzle cake and the gooiest, richest slice of chocolate brownie I have ever tasted – they were all delicious.  And then the top tier was all retro sweets, which we happily picked at for the rest of our time there.

Look at all those sweeties

They have loads of board games available and so we ordered another pot of Assam and settled down to play Yahtzee for a while.  In the comforting surroundings, with 80s tunes playing and the whole place in low light with candles on every table, we had a brilliant time.

They have a while calendar of activities that you can take part in, from Rude Scrabble to making papier mache monsters or clay Star Wars figures,  vintage hair and make up or porn dot-to-dot!

We will definitely be going back some time – had a totally lovely evening, am so glad that it was recommended to me and think everyone should give it a try!

friends til the end

Further to my post a while back about The Man panicking about how we’d all get together in the case of an alien attack, zombie apocalypse or Peak Oil crisis, my mate pointed out that she’d much rather be with us if something happened too!

I love the fact that she now has the details stored in her phone so that she has a map ready to find us

In case of REAL emergencies...

walthamstow short film club

Last night's running order

A couple of years ago, me & a couple of mates went to three or four screenings of short films at The Rose & Crown pub.  We saw some really great films there, and we were quite disappointed when the monthly event just seemed to stop (we were never quite sure why).

A couple of weeks ago, I happened to read this blog post by someone I know and realised that they were once again short films (I have to admit, I don’t know whether it’s the same people hosting it or not – it could well be someone completely different).

So, me and a friend went along last night to see what it was like.

Instead of being in the old, sticky, stinky room above the pub that has been done up as a theatre (where I have seen a few things), it is now held in The Red Room (which is no longer red) which is nice enough, but a bit noisy and very small.  That helped make it feel rather crowded, even though there were less than 20 of us!

Most of the people there were actually involved in the production of the various films, so I did make a point of saying that we would be their audience

As before, there was a huge variety of films, but I have to say the quality was far better than it used to be!

There was animation,  humour, documentary, drama, arty – a whole range of different styles…definitely something for everyone.  We got to vote for our favourite at the end and both my friend and I discovered that we’d voted for the same one – The Cable, a documentary piece about a 50 year old zip wire in Colombia 1300ft over the Rio Negro used by villagers that takes them 27-30 seconds to complete and saves them walking 2 hours to the next town.

It was amazing – and happened to have been produced by someone who I met while volunteering at the Respite Centre!  You can see more on the wire here, including a documentary that was NOWHERE near as good as the one we saw last night, but unfortunately I don’t have a link for

At £3.50 entry including a bag of popcorn and/or sweets and a chance to meet the film-makers, it was a brilliant evening’s entertainment.  I can’t wait for the next one, and just hope it doesn’t get TOO crowded!

looking forward to the e17 art trail

On Your Marks! At the E17 Art Trail Warm-Up

This will be the first year that I am going to take an active interest in the E17 Art Trail.  This isn’t really a surprise as it is less than a year since I first started gettign more involved in what was going on in and around Walthamstow.  I remember picking up a guide last year, but didn’t really have anyone to go round with – and I was sulking cos my mate had just moved out from the area.  this is actually the 7th year though and I have absolutely no excuse at all for why I haven’t ‘done’ it before!

This year, I have heard so much more about it as I know quite a few people who will be exhibiting and i am really ratehr excited – I have even taken 3 days off of work when I COULD have got someone to look after The Girl on the last days of her summer holidays  if I’d really wanted to!

So, what is the E17 Art Trail? It is an opportunity for local artists (of all types) in Walthamstow to display their work – whether it be within a local business premises or their own home over a period of 10 days. You can read more about it here.  It is amazing what an arty lot of people there are in Walthamstow though – over 1200 artists are displaying their work in this time – from sculptors to painters to photographers to knitters to filmmakers and poets, a real bringing together of all that’s arty!

How amazing is that??

Fabien's gorgeous dog promoting his exhibition - WOOF!

Even more amazing, The Girl is a guest blogger on the offical E17 Art Trail blog, and has made her first post today – proud mum moment   PLEASE do go and have a look (and comment) – she would love to feel she’s ‘famous’!!

I went along Sunday before last to the warm-up in the town square, where there was the opportunity to pick up a guide and meet some of the artists who were going to be exhibiting.  It was a beautiful day, and Mark Burton (the photographer whose exhibition I went to a couple of months ago) took loads of photos which you can see here (and I am actually one of the ‘people in frames’!).

It is really hard to decide what to go and see – the guide is full of intriguing stuff, and there’s even a fantastic E17 Art Trail App that I’ve downloaded for my phone!  Of course, I will definitely be visiting exhibits by people I know (obviously) – and here is a quick snapshot of those:

• A People’s History of the EMD/Granada Cinema
• I love Walthamstow
• What Lies Beneath
• ever changing
• Sally Ross Photography
• Voluntary Action in Waltham Forest
• Strange Fruit’s Vintage Diversity
• Ceramics by Steven Smith
• Paintings by Emma Scutt
• From Earth to Space

doing our community bit

Search for 'London riots' and this is the police image you are likely to see!

Well, it’s been a funny old week for the UK, hasn’t it?  Luckily, since my last post, there hasn’t really been any more trouble in London.

A lot of this has probably been due to the heavily ‘advertised’ huge police presence on the streets of London – 16,000 police have been enlisted across the capital – 10,000 than there were on Monday night, which I believe was double the usual amount as it was!

We still haven’t had any trouble in Walthamstow, but there has been a massive number of additional police (not surprising considering our close proximity to Tottenham (our house is less than a mile from where Mark Duggan was shot, to put it in perspective).   I had heard that the local police (I can’t speak for others) have had their canteens closed over recent years (don’t know when exactly) and so our MP suggested to a local church group that they open their building as a respite centre to give tea and coffee.

The wonderful Andy jumped on the idea, and it just grew from there – it didn’t take much to convince our fantastic local community to donate both food & drink and their time.  On Tuesday, the St Mary’s Respite Centre was up and running and serving many tired, hungry policemen (and other emergency services).

I managed to get along Wednesday night for 2.5 hours, making sandwiches, serving police and getting to know some of the others who I hadn’t met before – always great to meet community-spirited locals!  I even managed to get a chance to chat to our lovely Borough Commander Steve Wisbey who told us what had been happening locally, and what plans for the immediate future were.  It was great to have our minds put to rest – and he was a jolly nice fella too!  It was great to be able to come home and tell The Girl what was going on, as she had found the whole situation ‘a bit scary’.

Cater for the police and they will come! Such a good feeling

I went along again last night for about the same length of time, and this time saw more people that I knew, as well as others from the previous night – and there seemed to be even more police there tonight.  It was a fantastic atmosphere, even when it got extremely busy and I didn’t have a momen’ts respite from preparing  jacket potatoes, chilli, sausages or paninis (yes reall – we are THAT sophisticated in our charity here in the Stow!)  I was surprised how much I enjoyed it all!

Volunteer Jess tries on a rather cumbersome police vest

Last night the police wrote a load of thank you messages for us, which were really touching – especially a couple who wrote poems – it was great to feel that our efforts were so appreciated (photo of the board from Martin’s pics)!

A particularly warm fuzzies giving message

I will definitely be going along again tomorrow, and probably on Sunday too.  I’d love to hear if anywhere else in London has been doing similar.

You can read Andy’s blog on it here.

Fantastic set of photos from Martin here.

Much kudos to the church group – especially Andy, Dean, Nic and Frances who have been tireless in their support, organising the volunteers, getting the word out, gaining the support of local businesses etc and actually making this happen – an amazing bunch of people!

womad 2011

The Gis in the 'O'

I am not a massive festival junkie – I have been to Lovebox every year for the past seven, and I have been to a few others over the years, but they have always been day festivals in London.  However, I do love my music!  And I have VERY eclectic tastes.

This came to light a few weeks ago when one of the Awesomestow Twitterati asked for a Saturday morning music suggestion, and @martingreaves suggested Afro Celt Sound System who I have LOVED for years.  I tweeted this fact, as did @mr_omneo and as these things happen, within a couple of days, the three of us had bought tickets to go to this year’s WOMAD festival in Wiltshire, along with The Girl!

The Girl has NEVER been to a festival – of any type at all…and *I* have never been to an overnight one.  in fact, considering me & my family went camping about 6 times a year when I was a kid, it may come as some (or no) surprise that I haven’t even been camping since I was about 14.  However, I know The Man went to WOMAD with a large group of friends every year for about 10 years – but not for the past 6!  He didn’t want to come as he thought it might be a bitweird for him.

So, we packed our bags – luckily Martin had all manner of camping equipment – and off we went.

The Girl does her best Jamiroquai impression

I could go on an on for ages about how brilliant it was, but I will try to keep it to a minimum

Epitome of festival hippy chick (loads of people took pics of her during this time watching the MoRoccan Rollers)

Things I learned at WOMAD

• Festival food has come a LONG way
• £8 for the weekend for me & The Girl to use the La-Di-Dah loos was the best £8 I spent! (Ceramic flushign loos, running wtaer in the sinks, hand-driers, uniformed attendants, people with scrubbing brushes, mirrors, toiletries…)
• Bubbles make EVERYONE smile
• Kids will sleep through anything
• Some people (in other tents) snore VERY loudly
• Many women do the 5am ‘I-can’t-wait-for-the-loo-any-longer’ dash from their tents
• My daughter really IS totally adorable
• Festival-goers are a bloody lovely crowd
• Drums are fab
• It’s amusing to see a lot of very respectable-looking white-haired couples in their 60s smoking spliffs and giggling to themselves
• It’s amazing how many times you can bump into exactly the same people over and over again in a crowd of 35,000
• I just loved the eclectic mix of music – but it was amazing how many acts I already knew!
• My daughter wasn’t to be a beatboxer

While watching Faiz Ali Faiz

And this was MY WOMAD

• The Boxettes (workshop – where The Girl actually got up on stage with them)
• Pacific Curls
• The Boxettes
• Afrocubism
• Alabama 3
• Taiko Meantime (Japanese drumming workshop)
• 

  Her 'night time' outfit - the ears flash!

  Alejandro Toledo & The Magic Tombolinos

• Hassan Erraji’s MoRoccan Rollers
• 9Bach
• Faiz Ali Faiz
• Brassroots
• Oi Va Voi
• Rodrigo y Gabriella
• Baaba Maal
• Procession practice
• Amparo Sanchex (Spanish singing workshop)
• Breaking the Guiness World Record for Mass Participation Air-Guitar (oh yes we did, we smashed the Aussies – 2,227 of us rocking out to Purple Haze beating the previous record of 1,883)
• The Dhols of Jaipur (Indian drummers workshop)
• Kitty, Daisy & Lewis
• I Am Kloot
• Creole Choir of Cuba
• Booker T Jones (and yes, he did Green Onions!)
• Gogol Bordello

Gorgeous weather too!

It was a fabulous experience.  The Girl loved every second of it.  She loved the singing, dancing, drum-playing, tambourine-flashing (yes,  I have had a flashing tambourine for years that I took along with me) moment of it – oh, and the eating.  She loved the eating.

Festivals aren’t what they used to be.  No burger/hot-dog stalls to be seen anywhere – everything was fresh, lodas of it was healthy, and a hell of a lot of it was organic and/or vegan.  Apart from the churros and chocolate which were a massive hit with her too!

So – next year, we will be going again.  This time, The Man is coming with us (I bumped into HIS friends who had gone for the first time again since having their 2 kids – so now he thinks it may be OK after all!) , and another friend who was totally gutted that I had gone without him this year.

I feel surprisingly stress-free, chilled out, happy and warm (that will be the slight sunburn!).

Can anyone think of a fitting caption?

La-Di-Dah Loos

duckie’s lullaby – pit theatre, barbican

The Lullaby cast

This year, my mate wanted to do something a bit different for his birthday.  This is how last week I ended up sharing a double bed in a theatre overnight with a man who wasn’t The Man, and wondering whether someone had perhaps slipped an E into my mint tea before bed.

I had only ever heard of Duckie in connection with gay nights at the Vauxhall Tavern, so I really wasn’t sure how likely they would be to be able to send me asleep.

And that is the whole idea of ‘Lullaby’ (the clue is in the name).  You pays your money and you decide whether you (and your companions) would like a single, double or even triple bed.  On arrival at Level -2 (about 10pm-ish), you are met with muted lighting and big squidgy sofas (that aren’t usually there).  You sign in and are assigned a bed number.

The Pit Theatre foyer

Pyjamas and slipper-clad attendants show you up to a communal (but not too open-plan) changing room where you brush your teeth, take out your contacts, put your pyjamas on and don your slippers before being shown back down and having any belongings safely locked away for the night.  There was one gay couple there who were wearing matching PJs and had even brought their teddies along with them!

There is hot chocolate or tea (mint, green or camomile only) on offer, before you are ushered in to the Pit Theatre, which has been transformed into a circular stage surrounded by 20+ beds.  You find your own (we had my lucky number – 13) and jump into the lovely crisp clean bedding (provided by Toast).

Once everyone is settled, the show begins.  But this is a show with a difference, it has been created to relax and send you off into a peaceful slumber.  There were som rather bizarre looking animals, some songs, some stories (one about a man who had an imaginary family which I would love to know the end of), a magic show, light shows and dancing octopuses (octopi?).

Just a little bit of a trip!

At one stage, I turned to my mate and said “This must be what it’s like for a baby ALL the time!”.  It felt truly freaky in some parts.  however, it must have done the trick as I usually don’t go to sleep until at least midnight, but just after the interval (for any of those who needed a final wee or fag) I put on my complimentary eye-mask (great idea) and stuck in my complimentary earplugs and apparently drifted off (as I didn’t hear the end of the imaginary family story!)

I felt slightly self-conscious to start with as I do sleep hugging the duvet generally with my bum hanging out the bed!

I think I woke up at my natural waking time (about 6.50am) and of course had no idea what the time was.  I had woken a couple of times during the night, but that is actually less than I usually do, and I went straight back to sleep which is very unusual for me!

At 7.30, we were treated to the ‘Dawn Chorus’ which I thought was a birdsong soundtrack – until I actually sat up and saw that they had put a big coop with lots of little fluffy yellow chicks in the middle of the room with a mic over it.  Everyone put their slippers on and went straight over to soak up the cute fluffiness!

Then it was slipper-shuffling off to a buffet-style breakfast of boiled eggs, croissants, cereal, juice, tea, coffee, jam etc where everyone discussed how they’d slept and what bizarre dreams the show had induced.  And all that was left was to get dressed and leave!

It was an extremely unusual experience, but pretty fun – although I am glad I didn’t do it on my own.

too busy to post!

The last few days have been really rather hectic, and I don’t seem to have had a chance to sit down, relax and think about what I’ve been up to!

Lovely idea - just needs more!

Friday

I had to go over to South Woodford to take some photos of some charity shop volunteers for work – I always love visiting the charity shop teams – I’ve been in the sector for over 20 years now, and the volunteers still totally blow me away with their commitment and loyalty.

Later that evening, I met a friend in The Rose & Crown and then we wandered down to see what was occuring at the E17 designer’s market at the Old Glassworks.  It was an absolutely lovely buzzy atmosphere, and there were some great people there with some fantastic stuff, but there just wasn’t really enough of them.  I think it could have done with a focus like a fashion show or something, or even just a few more stalls.  Maybe next time they will sign up a few more people.

However, I was really taken with the t-shirts from Organik Rocka which were the softest tees I’ve ever felt – and made (outrageously!) from BAMBOO! (It helped that the guy was cute too, of course!)

So, after that we went along to Peking Chef and completely pigged out and gossiped!

My typical Le Delice lunch

Saturday

I had a couple of bits and pieces to do, but then met another mate for lunch in Le Delice.  She had never been before, and as I am a real regular, I wanted to introduce her to their delights!  They didn’t let us down, and it was great to catch up.

Later on, me & The Man went for a romantic meal at Marco Pierre White’s Steak & Alehouse just off Bishopsgate.  I will post about that later, with photos!

It ended up being a pretty late, drunken night for us, and we didn’t get to sleep til silly o’clock.

Folk Fete before the crowds!

Sunday

We managed to drag ourselves out of bed in time to put on presentable faces (just) and get down to Stoneydown Park in Walthamstow where there was a Folk Feste being held.

The weather was totally glorious, the Rose & Crown were running a beer tent, and there were a large amount of people that I know from Twitter and people that me & The Man know from the pub – and lots of new people that we got the chance to meet as well!

The Girl’s dad dropped her off to us there and she had a brilliant time.  I have to admit that we ended up going to bed roughly the same time as she did!

Places to get Naked

Monday

Back to work feeling like we hadn’t had a chance to rest at all (and this is my busiest time of the year!).  And then after work last night, I went along with a couple of friends to the Naked Wines Tasting Tour at the same place I first encountered them last year!  Again, I will post about that some other time – but suffice to say it was excellent.

Last night, I didn’t sleep at all as it was SO HOT (even though sleep has been eluding me anyway for quite a while).  I think I need a break!

baby sensory group, walthamstow

Baby sensory

After an extremely trying weekend (I had to go to Middlesbrough to see The Man’s mother – more about that another time when I have calmed down…), it was rather a nice ‘break’ to get up on Bank Holiday Monday and go along with my friend Madeleine to one of the Baby Sensory groups that she runs.

As I went back to work about 2 months after The Girl was born, and had never been to an antenatal class or ANY kind of baby class before OR after I had her, this was brand new territory for me.  But anyway, Baby Sensory classes have only been around for about 5 years, so it’s not like I’d have had the opportunity anyway!

Look at the concentration!

Mads used to go to a class after she had her little boy, and was so impressed that when they moved back to Walthamstow, and there wasn’t a class in the area, she decided to run one herself.

There are 100+ classes run across the UK with structured ‘lesson plans’ designed to stimulate babies up to 13 months old with songs, lights, signing and puppet shows etc. You can read more about it on their official website.

The babies loved all the bright colours and different textures

There were two classes (held at Shern Hall Methodist Church Hall) – 10.30 – 11.30 every Monday for 7-13 months and 12.00-1.00 for up to 6 months.  Being a Bank Holiday Monday, there were quite a lot less babies than there would normally have been – but there were plenty that I felt I wanted to steal and take home because they were just so adorable!

The blurred bit was actually a fish!!

I think the thing that most amazed me about it was how much the babies seemed to concentrate.  The ‘lesson’ that I went to was based around Old McDonald’s Farm.  They start every lesson with a song ‘Say Hello To The Sun’ where there are very definite signs for sun, rain, friends, stars, moon.

We then had a ‘pond’ made of a green sheet, complete with seawood, underwater creatures and three little fishes that had their own song.  The songs are all pre-recorded to accompany the lesson plans – and it’s obvious that the babies love them!

One of the babies from the 'little' class

Everything is bright, colourful and really designed to stimulate all of their senses.  There are parts of the lessons where you manipulate your baby’s legs, or tickle them, or massage them, and Mads was great, explaining why certain exercises were particularly good for them, or why certain parts of the lesson are included, due to research results and even what the parents can do at home.

Mads explained he wasn't Big or Bad - just misunderstood!

There was plenty more singing – itsy-bitsy spider (when did it stop being incy wincy that I sang as a kid?), this little piggie, a puppet show for who’s afraid of the big bad wolf and then a ‘Goodbye’ song which is also sang at the end of every session.  The change in the babies during this was amazing – any of them that had been making any noise quietened down and seemed to really relax during the song.

I was talking to some of the parents in the ‘play time’ interval within the session.  Some of them had been going for a couple of months, others were on just their second visit but all of them said that their babies loved it.  A couple of them pointed out that their babies just really love Madeleine – and I have to admit, she was absolutely fabulous!  It was like having your own CBeebies presenter there in real life, right in the room with you – I could see why the babies couldn’t take their eyes off of her, she was so vibrant – almost hypnotic.

Absolutely captivated

So – if you have a baby up to 13 months old I think you should at least give one of the classes a try (anyone can come along for a free taster lesson).  Madeleine runs classes in Walthamstow and Tottenham and has a new one in Leyton starting on Friday.  I know that she is currently looking for another location within Walthamstow.

If you would like to know more about Madeleine’s Baby Sensory classes in Waltham Forest – just check her details. She is even doing a special Father’s Day session on Saturday 18th June which is filling up quickly!

Unfortunately, I came away with no baby, just a severe bout of broodiness…but a brilliant session in Le Delice with many of the Walthamstow Twitterati managed to cheer me up.

with a 50 cent soundtrack

Made by The Man: Chocolate sponge, cream, chocolate ganache, black cherries. YUM!

Everything I have done today has been to an internal soundtrack by 50 Cent – starting this morning when I realised I was singing “I’m gonna shower, like it’s my birthday!”

Yes. It IS my birthday.  And it is a very happy birthday.  I’m a very lucky girlie.  I have had many, many messages, texts, cards, emails, calls and tweets from lots of lovely people, and The Man made me a gorgeous looking cake late last night…which he then proceeded to tell me I am not allowed to have until today!  How unfair is that?!

Anyway, one of my favourite parts of my birthday is opening my card from my mate – who always puts a lot of effort into drawing fantastic little pictures.  We get them at Christmas too, but on my birthday they’re especially good.  And this year he has outdone himself!

What a work of art

The picture includes:

• Our other mate (who cackles, so has always been depicted as a witch)
• The Man (not dancing, cos he doesn’t – and I told him when we saw Leftfield that I was never going to a gig with him again, LOL)
• Lovebox (as that’s what we always get my mate as HIS birthday pressie, as it’s always on/around his birthday)
• Nouvelle Vague (as we first saw them on Lovebox, and he saw Mélanie Pain with me on Friday)
• Me (depicted as big walking boobs, as always) snorkeling (as that’s all I want to do on my next holiday)
• Garra Rufa fish, as I once suggested he come with me to have his feet nibbled, and he reckoned I’d gone mental and was making it all up
• My cat
• Two people simulating sex in a Biffa wheelie bin as in the play we saw last week – and The Girl looking on, and asking what was happening!
• York & Albany, where he reckoned his scotch egg starter was way too small
• Pizza Express where we were giggling cos I’d told him that all he was allowed to say to the waitress all night was “I’ve got a voucher!” cos we had a voucher for 2 mains for £12 (bargain, aye?!)
• Barbican zombies, as he lives at Barbican, and I mentioned that walking around the High Walkway at night is like being in a zombie video game (like Resi Evil or Left 4 Dead or Dead Rising) cos you see hardly anyone, and then suddenly you spot individuals from a distance and have to make a decision whether they’re good or bad, and whether to shoot them in the head or run away!

I love my card.  I will keep it forever.  Or at least the picture   Do click on the pic to see the big picture – it’s fab!

I also got a text which was effectively a note from my mum telling my bosses that I mustn’t do too much work today.  My boss said “OK”.  Which was nice.