A Sunday in September

September has been sunny so far! It teased us with a couple of chilly days and then boom, the sun came back! You can feel the autumnal chill in the mornings, dew on the grass, cold smell in the air, and the evenings are getting seriously nippy. There are michealmas daisies in the borders and crunchy leaves on the pavements, but there has also been glorious sunshine, big blowy washing days, genuine warmth of late summer. 

All in all, perfect conditions for a carboot sale and a walk, which is exactly what we did a couple of weekends ago. 

Early on Sunday morning, we hopped in the car and drove down to Hayes Street Farm, which is only about 20 mins drive from Hither Green. We had been to this car boot once before and bought lots of very cheap lovely things, and it didn't disappoint this time either. 

It starts at 6am but we only got there at about 10am (it was a Sunday!) and there were still bargains to be had. In fact, sometimes getting there late can be good, because people start selling off cheap.

I love stalls with boxes of books at leaflets like these - sometimes I wish we didn't have the internet, and if you wanted to learn about the Houses of Parliament, you just read a little pamphlet and that was that!

This was another of our favourite stalls - rows of beautiful old tools, each telling their own story, handles worn smooth, ready for their next owner. 

After a cup of tea and a muffin stop, we got back in the car and headed to Dulwich Woods which we had been meaning to visit for a long time. I was craving countryside!

The woods were very pretty and dapply, and we had a nice wander although there were rather alot of other people who had obviously had the same idea. 

We took a picnic and inadvertently attracted a lot of very interested doggies out on their walks!

We came across this old disused railway bridge deep and I had a good old peer into the darkness (couldn't see much).

The leaves and the trees and the branches were so beautiful - I felt inspired to take lots of pictures!

I liked the woods alot - it felt special to be surrounded by trees and leaves in the heart of Dulwich (!) but I was expecting them to be a bit wilder and it wasn't really possible to get lost in them which was a bit disappointing. There was some sort of loud drumming taking place nearby which sort of shattered the peace!

On one side of the woods there was an amazing view of the City in the distance. 

After a good stretch of the legs, we headed home for scones and a cup of tea in the last of the sunshine.

I had a nice time looking at all of our purchases.

Old drawer £3

Vintage bottles and jars £1.50

Enamel basins £1.50

Books £1

Trowel, secateurs and oilstone £15

1970s West German plant pot £3

 Olive necklace £4



Vintage suitcase £15

We also bought two folding garden/camping chairs pictured here for £5 for the two. This was my best purchase as I'd wanted some for ages and these babies sell for about £35 on ebay! Bruce made sure to give them a good sniffing. 

Cat with a penchant for scones £10.50 (we valued him on webuyanycat) - contact me if you're interested. 

We sat on our new chairs, drank our tea, munched our scones and enjoyed the last rays of sun on our faces. Sunday fun-day x

We're in!

After months of DIY, hundreds of decisions about tiles and grouting and taps and radiators and sockets and light switches, and longing and waiting and a fair bit of despairing too, we have finally moved into our house! We are surrounded by dust and boxes, we are living in a very limited number of rooms (kitchen, bedroom, bathroom) and we have what seems like months (even years?) of jobs ahead of us, but we are in! It feels like a milestone and a massive relief.

We celebrated by inviting my sisters and my sister’s boyfriend over to move boxes and unpack and stuff. We toasted over a Babur takeaway, with the patio door open and a warm evening breeze drifting in.

I am totally thrilled with our kitchen. It’s so much lighter than I thought it would be and it’s such  a lovely sociable space to cook and chat and eat. I think it will definitely be where we spend the most time. 

I made a curtain to go under our sink. I've always wanted one of these and it makes me happy every time I see it. Our ikea cabinets and domsjo sink are settling in nicely. 

We've also had my parents to stay a couple of times. It's been amazing being able to have guests again, especially when they help out with painting! 

We are slowly getting used to living in a different place, in a new house. So far we like:

• How light it is everywhere
• Sitting at the kitchen table looking out onto the garden.
• THE DISHWASHER. It's changed our lives.
• How quiet and peaceful our street is.
• How close the park is.
• Our beautiful white walls – NO MORE MAGNOLIA IN OUR LIVES!
• That the walk to the station is downhill – excellent for a perpetual late-o like me.
• The fact that we can do exactly what we want to our own walls and no one can tell us off – shelves, pictures, posters, you name it!
• Our amazing loft. 

  Things that are taking a bit more getting used to are:

• The slightly longer commute. Boo.
• The weirdly large number of foxes we seem to have living near us – seriously -  screeching, barking, yowling every night from about 11pm. And one night, at about 4am I woke (due to the security light coming on) to find a whole group (pack?) of them just chilling out on our lawn.
• A rather rude neighbourhood kitty who is insisting on using our front garden as a toilet. Not ok, however sweet and fluffy you are.
• That the walk home from the station is uphill - not good for a lazy-o like me.
• The fact that we have no curtains. Hello moon.

All in all though, it's very exciting being here and seeing it all come together. I will post some photos of our bathroom soon!

A Birthday

I was totally spoilt birthday-wise this year. A surprise  trip to Norfolk, a meal out on the evening of my actual birthday and then continued birthday-Easter celebrations at mum and dads' with my sister whose birthday is three days after mine. I'm a lucky lady. 

For dinner on my birthday we escaped from work (I always find working on my birthday incredibly depressing) and went to Bistro Bruno Loubet in Farringdon which is just a hop and a skip away from my office. It exceeded expectations. Informal, friendly and excellent, fresh, unfussy food. 

We had some cocktails and some funny little parmesan nibble things.

I happily sipped away at my Provence which was vermouth with an infusion of lemon, orange, lavender and rosemary and had a little sprig of lavender for stirring (excellent idea). R went for a Madame Clerkenwell which was very strong and very lovely. 

For starters we shared a Guinea fowl boudin blanc with braised lettuce and an amazing grilled asparagus with salsa verde and soft boiled hen's egg. 

Looking solemn now that I'm so old. 

We both had main dishes from the specials board. I chose a saddle of rabbit with crushed minted peas and R had bouillabaise. Both were totally delicious. 

Finally, we shared a chocolate mousse and a rhubarb custard brioche that almost killed us. 

After all that (and rather a lot of wine) we stumbled out onto the street, blinking in the bright lights, shivering in London's cool air and cursing the fact that it was Monday night. Marking another year gone by, feeling bewildered to now be officially in our late 20s. Cuddling on the tube home.