Learning new things

Roger and I had to go to London for a meeting on Friday. Other people at the meeting were surprised that we had come down in the morning - hadn't we left really early?  Actually, we had left on the 8:30 train. Usually I am on the 07:30 train (but heading in the other direction) so it seemed like quite a late start to me!

We could have left even later. The meeting wasn't until 1 and we hit town at about 10:30. So we went to Foyles and had coffee and quite remarkably nice Chelsea buns and then pottered about assessing the bookstock.

We went to the meeting. The meeting ended. And I headed back to St Pancras where I did not catch a train back to Sheffield, but checked into a B&B about a 5 minute walk away.  For Freyja was on her way down to London Town armed with a huge suitcase.  I also had a suitcase packed with loads of her things. We had bags of her things.  Freyja was Moving To London!!

We had a really nice meal in an Italian place in Bloomsbury.

We got up quite remarkably early on the Saturday.

We left on the 7:30 tube train (the underground is spectacularly empty at that time on a Saturday morning) and made our way by tube and the Docklands Light Railway to the University of East London, where Freyja is about to embark on the life of a student. I have to say, if you are going to be a student in East London and live in the Student Halls, then a residence right by the river is the way to go. It's really lovely. The London City Airport is right across the river. We sat on benches while we ate our breakfast sandwiches and watched people doing rowing training on the river, and small planes flying in and out of the airport.

I wonder if the rather nice little library needs a librarian?

Now. Remember.  Freyja and I had separately come down with one suitcase each and one bag all filled with her stuff.  She also had a small backpack.  We dumped things in her room and in a couple of cupboards in the kitchen. We had forgotten one or two vital things - toilet paper being the most vital.  Why do I NEVER think to take toilet paper when moving?!?!?!?!? But mostly she seemed reasonably well kitted out. We were a bit worried, therefore, when we were heading out for the afternoon and found that 18 year olds were being moved in by their parents with positively truckloads of belongings (including slabs and slabs of beer and slabs and slabs of coke. An odd combination in my view!). We wonder if we have undercatered for her tenure in her rather cute little room.  On the other hand - where on earth would you put all that stuff?

Oh well.  No doubt she has acquired toilet paper by now. And she's back up in Sheffield for the next few weekends. She can pick up other things as and when she needs them.

Some months ago and inspired by my baking and decorating those 80 cupcakes for Tony's birthday, Freyja and I had acquired vouchers for a cupcake decorating course. Given that we were both in London on the Saturday anyway, we had booked into a session in the afternoon. So off we went and learned how to make sugar bows and ice creams, and how to use fondant icing and cream cheese icing and how to pipe butter cream. It was a pleasant, if sticky, way of spending the afternoon. A late lunch in a nearby pub, then Freyja went off to meet Simon and to continue frolicking in London and I relocated to the Betjeman Arms at St Pancras and then came home.

A little while ago, Tabitha had drawn to our attention that the Bishops' House, a medieval house on the edge of Meersbrook Park was having guided tours and doing craft activities on Sunday. I have to say that I would gladly have stayed at home on Sunday. All the excitement of London had left me a bit tired.  But we decided to go anyway. And I'm very glad we did. The guided tour was extremely interesting and informative (no bishops have ever lived in the house, for example). And in the afternoon we learned how to make butter - which turns out to be spectacularly easy. Quite a bit of hard work in the 16th century when you were effectively mashing cream in a jug. Less so when they invented rotating butter churns.  And no work at all once electricity was discovered and food processors were invented!!!  We made butter by mashing the cream. Tabitha, Gareth, Cally, The Builder and I all took turns to mash. But I commandeered the actual butter making. And now I know how to do it - I shall do it again. The butter was lovely!! (But given that electricity has been discovered and someone has invented the food processor, I might do it electrically rather than by mashing or churning!!)

So I learned lots of new things at the weekend. Some of them were even useful things  :-)

Freyja's new front yard
Click on the photo to see the album of the weekend's adventures