Old Shop Sign

When I came home the other night I saw this. The work on the shop next door has revealed the old shop sign. I took some photos in the dusk, then a couple the next morning when it was almost light. I made the builder jump. He is the one who came into our house to fix the plug so they could knock down the shed. (He had to disconnect the electricity running to the shed) He is South African but has lived here for quite a while. I liked him as he didn't make me feel embarrassed about the messy crowded flat (it was particularly messy that day as I was in the middle of preparing for the furniture from Andy's Mum's flat.) He said he was a collector too! When I was taking photos he said he liked the signs too. I wonder what our neighbour will do with them. I might ask if I can have the piece from the front corner-the fairly small piece. It would be a nice souvenir of our street (if and when we ever leave!) If I was them, I would preserve it somehow as a quirky feature on the front of the house that the shop will become. 

 On this part of the sign you can see another layer underneath with gold lettering. Lovely!

Another Walk and a Dog on a Bike

I was lucky enough to finish work quite early tonight, so I walked up to the workwear place I found last week to take some photos. It is a warehouse inside and looks like a busy place. I then decided to keep walking in the same direction. It was an interesting street with graffiti/street art, tattoo parlours, a shop called 'Duke of Uke' that sells ukeleles and all sorts of little arty shops and vintage clothes shops. It joins Brick Lane, so now I have a better mental map of the area and how it all connects. Then, at the point where I joined Brick Lane, there was a great junk shop which I spent a happy 20 minutes in, coming away with  a lady on a donkey doll, and a lady on a sledge,  pretty, wintery figurine. There is no helping me. Then I walked back around and joined Bethnal Green  Road to go back to the tube. 

This is the end of the street-Cheshire Street I discovered. I love how the street signs in this area are in Bengali and English. 

 This is back near Bethnal Green Road.

 As I walked out of this street I crossed in front of a woman stopped at the traffic lights on her bike. It was only when I had passed her that I saw her cute little dog sitting patiently in a box on her carrier. So dangerous but so cute. Reminded me of Amsterdam. I wasn't quite quick enough to get a good photo but you get the picture.

The blur makes him look as if he has wings!

Views from a Height, Loss of Control, Journal Pages, Cake and a Cat

On Monday I was at a school in New Cross. I walked up the hill to the end of the road at lunchtime, and found Telegraph Hill. It used to be known as Plowed Garlic Hill. The name 'Telegraph Hill' came from a semaphore telegraph station built on the hill around 1795. Housing was constructed in the area in the late 19th century and the park was opened to the public in 1895. (All this from Wikipedia)

I pushed on to the very top, and was at first disappointed that houses blocked my view. Then I turned around and saw it!

Lunchtime was the best part of Monday. The class I was in was nice but the day felt chaotic and it left me feeling a bit grouchy.

Tuesday is now a regular day, teaching Year 2 in a school just down the road. Last week I taught five different lessons, and had the associated marking to do. I was there until nearly six and had to take some work home. Unheard of for a supply! I liked it though. The people are nice and so are the kids so I will stick at it. This week I was back. I will do year 2 on Tuesdays for a while and then Reception and Nursery on Wednesdays. It is great to be able to pop home at lunchtime. The school is in a massive red brick building which has great views across East London. This was taken from the staff room yesterday morning.

The loss of control came last night and involved my car. I decided to drive to Hobbycraft after school to get some more crochet hooks. In Golden time on Fridays I am teaching some children how to crochet. Last week they made finger chains. I need more big hooks. 

I got as far as the big roundabout in Woolwich. I was driving around to the right, whilst changing lanes from the middle to the left when suddenly I had no control over the steering. It was a horrible feeling. I reacted by wrenching the wheel from side to side to no effect (it felt like nothing was there) and presumably slamming my foot on the brake (all the time thinking 'I'm crashing, I'm crashing'-shouty thinking!). This caused me to do a big U-turn and hit the central curb of the roundabout with my left front and rear wheels. I re-started the car and drove it up onto the grass. I couldn't believe that I had managed to not hurt myself, crash into anything hard or hit any other cars. None of the cars behind me were very close, there was nothing in front and nothing to the side of me. I was lucky! What I thought had happened was either a burst tyre or something to do with the steering. My left rear wheel was damaged and the tyre flat. What the AA man who came to my rescue thought had happened was that I hit a patch of oil on the road and skidded. The damage was done when I hit the curb. How he actually described it on his form was that I 'slid onto curb'. It felt somewhat more dramatic than that! So, I skidded. I have read the advice on what to do when you skid. I even listened to some on the news this morning. What you need to know most though, is that you are skidding. I did not know that. I had no idea what was happening. Probably even if I had I would not have reacted correctly. It all seemed to happen very fast and I cannot imagine having the time to do the things you are supposed to before impact. 

 

Poor car on the roundabout, facing the wrong way and with a broken wheel. It was freezing so I only stood outside for a while. The AA man checked it over and changed the wheel, and then I was able to drive home. At about 20 miles an hour all the way. I don't think I was going that fast around the roundabout but it must have been too fast. The car has gone to the garage today to have a proper check.

This is the page I did last night. Part of it is about the car, and the other half about a particularly bad science lesson I did with year two about eggs. Ah well, can't get it all right!

 

This is about wishing for snow. No show snow. If it does snow I won't be driving in it. 

Lemon drizzle cake with soured cream. Delicious! Tonight I made lasagne and rice pudding. I don't know what has come over me!

Cassie on the computer chair. She or Lily take it over, then I have to get the stool and sit in front of them to get on the computer,

River Tourist

We went to this exhibition of photos from the RPS archives at the Science Museum yesterday. It was very good. Did some sketching as a result.We came back on the Thames Clipper. 

 Love the colours of this boat. 

 My Dad taking the same pictures as me. 

 Lambeth Palace. 

A lot of the pictures are taken through a not very clean window, hence the smeary effect, Looks a bit like a filter I might use in photoshop.

 I like the way the boat window frames this one. 

 HMS Belfast.

 I love the colours in the windows of this building. Purples, blues and greens-like oil on water.

 The river side of the warehouses I walk past in Wapping.

 The man in charge of the rope is very accurate with his throwing of the loop when the boat moors, and makes a lovely neat coil when we set off again.

Nearly home. We parked at the O2 in the morning. It was much more fun coming back along the river than on the tube!

Patchwork, Journal, Rubbish and Storage

I have been thinking about doing some patchwork for a while but have not got round to it. Then this little kit arrived on the cover of Mollie Makes. I have never made any of the kits you get free on magazines, though they may get made one day. I am not that interested in making them I suppose. But this one has been made! The paper hexagons are small-about two centimetres across so it didn't take long. The felt is horrible-like felty cardboard but it looks ok. I cut out the mounted hexagon and used cotton more matched to the materials but other than that I followed the pattern. 

 I have some Cassein paints I bought a while ago thanks to Lynne Hoppe talking about them. They are nice to use-like gouache with a chalky finish. As you can see I have not taken a very refined approach to this painting. Just wanted to paint! The paints have the weirdest smell. A bit like dettol, so you get a kind of clean feeling when using them.

 After making the needle case I decided to start my patchwork. This is paper piecing where you cut the shape in paper, sew the fabric around it on the back, whipstitch the pieces together on the back then remove the paper. The production of accurate hexagons has been revolutionised by my die cutter. Slow but every one the same! This is going to become a small cushion. I had this fabric from the summer when Anne took me to her favourite fabric shop. I love the little playing girls.

 Below is the rubbish! The white thing I mean, not the things on it. I found this when turning my car around in the road near the school I worked at before Christmas. It was standing by the bins. There is nothing wrong with it and I knew it would be a good creative desk tidy. I couldn't at first work out how to fit it on there but I managed in the end. All the things on it are things I use quite often.

 The Aloe Vera is there because it has lost its place on the windowsill. I have had to put up a piece of fabric to preserve out privacy since the building work started.

 The best thing about this thing is the hanging spaces. Tape is catered for, scissors are stored and string is ready to unravel.

 This wire thing also holds art and craft supplies. It was also rubbish. Thrown out at my school years ago, then straight into my car, or maybe someone elses at that time. It was a P.E. storage basket.

 This last bit of storage is what is next to me when I am sitting on the settee. It is next to another piece of rubbish-an old drawer found last year when doing home visits. (currently holding books) The handle on the end holds scissors and pliers. The beautiful green jug holds yet more scissors ( I have many scissors!) and a small collection of very useful things are contained messily by a lovely old brass tray. These are all sewing and crocheting necessaries with some other homeless odds and ends thrown in.

I was going to tell you about my week but I think that is enough rambling on for now. Hope yours was a good one!