Since Austria...

After screaming in on the Saturday before Easter (this time with the right baggage) we opted for the more reliable Gatwick Express to take us home.

Once there we switched gears, left kids with pizza and sitter and headed off to the pub for dinner with our visitors. After a lovely meal and good company, we enjoyed the ambience and an after dinner drink at the Warrington.

Easter Sunday donned with sleepy kids (and then of course the Easter bunny had visited, hid eggs, etc.) so our Mass plans moved to noon and we arrived 10 minutes prior to beat the rush for a pew. No need to worry; the place was practically empty.

As we waited we felt a presence close behind and low and behold, it was Father hitting me up to read. Apparently his Easter Mass Lector had just emailed to cancel. (Who cancels on Easter without finding a backup? It’s only the most important day of the year in the Catholic church…).

So there you have it: my lecturing opportunity came through in a big way. I was the first and second reader. And as I glanced up from my spot on stage I did notice the pews filled up, so the level of apathy isn’t entire.

From Mass we hit the Clifton Pub. Doesn’t that sound great…a belt of religion followed by a pint. And one wonders why more people aren’t Catholic.

There we met Mike, Liz and boys and had a lovely traditional English Sunday roast for our Easter meal. We were offered a choice of roast beef or lamb with roasted or mashed potatoes, veggies, etc. All good. And we shared a couple desserts – sticky toffee pudding, banofee pie.

Then we wandered to the famed Beatles crossing to snap photos of the Wilcoxes. Actually this was our first time contributing to the traffic backlog; generally we just breeze through the crossing and no doubt spoil plenty of photos and video footage en route.

Easter Monday found the Wilcoxes en route to Paris while we headed down to the Quilt Exhibit at the V&A. It’s a great exhibit; we all did the audio guides and learned about quilting throughout the ages – its artistic applications, contributions to the home and economy, décor, status, craftsmanship, preservation and more.

Then we mosied over to Covent Garden area for Tex Mex at Wahaca. First time we’ve had decent Tex Mex cuisine in nearly two years, I think. It was cheap, cheerful and kid-friendly, too.

The rest of the week both kids were off school so we plugged in some Swiss Cottage swim lessons (I’m determined to work that credit down!!!).

And Claire did pony day on a lovely, warm day; she was one of a very small group so got to be more hands on, which she loved. She’s been sporting a wealth of information about the various horses, their personalities, habits, roles, etc. at Westway Stables.

We ended the day dyeing eggs. (This we would have done earlier but I had a difficult time finding non-brown eggs. Eventually Ava and I landed some pastel-colored eggs; these are produced by some rather artistic chickens, I guess. They worked quite well for the dyeing, actually resulting in more vivid hues.)

On Wed. we headed to Islington, a new part of town for us, where we attended Little Angels Theatre, a very intimate venue with wooden benches. We got to pick our own seats so found ourselves in the front row. The kids loved it – a production called “Who’s been sitting in my chair?” based on Goldilocks. One very talented actor did all the speaking parts, effects and puppets, using a very cleverly designed stage to make seasonal and scene changes throughout. The level of talent for such a wide array of theatre is astounding in this town.

For lunch we hit Giraffe, which is great fun for the kids, then to the library for a load of books as the day had become rainy, good reading weather.

Thursday our friends returned from what sounds like a great visit to Paris. We made our way to swimming and then McDonalds for the promised once-in-a-blue-moon fried lunch (bribes for swimming!). We took our food to go after listening to a nasty attack on the staff by two young men with their pants hanging down practically to their knees. (Who deemed that style attractive and when is it going to die?)

The two threw racial slurs at the staff, then trash. I’ve yet to figure out why no one called the cops. Given we’d already committed to the food we moved as far away from these weirdos, grabbed our bag and ran.

Our afternoon entertainment was “Legally Blonde” – the kids’ 2nd West End production. And great fun. The two dogs featured in the production were highlights.
After scoring stuffed souvenirs priced entirely too high we made our way home for a farewell dinner w/ the Wilcoxes.

On Friday they departed early, the kids and I had a relaxed lunch and park time with friends. Nice to soak in the sun.

Joe and I ended the week at the National Portrait Gallery with the Irving Penn (an American photographer well known for his portraiture) photography exhibit. We then caught a very informal bite at the Stockpot, a local Soho joint that’s very cheap and cheerful, and clearly popular among the non-heterosexual crowd. We followed that with dessert at another similarly diverse spot.

And on Saturday, which boasted spectacular weather, we took a picnic to Primrose Hill and perched on the hillside with numerous other Londoners. We then hit a very busy playground and stopped at St. Johns Wood High Street’s new gelato shop for free ice cream!

Sunday I read at Mass…common theme of late. Then onto Marleybone market with Ava for lots of spring produce, some free flowers (always good to shop with the 5-year-old crowd) and plenty of samples.

Monday it was back to school/work for Joe and Claire. Ava and I got to play a bit more as Abercorn kicked back into gear on Thurs. On our list: bike and shoe shopping, carpet cleaning. The latter was critical given Ava and her friend Ava managed to leave hand prints on the stairs after a recent paint fest. NICE.

I went to “The Real Van Gogh: The Artist and His Letters” exhibit with a friend last week. It was fabulous, with “over 35 original letters, rarely exhibited to the public due to their fragility, on display; together with around 65 paintings and 30 drawings that express the principal themes to be found within the correspondence.”

We were there forever given it was a mob scene (pretty much the same as when Claire’s class went, though they had 30 minutes and we had three hours).
On Friday I hosted my book group, wherein several of us discussed Sylvia Plath’s The Bell Jar. And over the weekend my dear friend Patty visited so we got to catch up. We spent some time wandering Greenwich on Saturday, and on Sunday we all trooped up Tower Bridge for great views of London and insight on the building of the bridge, its use, how it works, etc.

This week ash continues to keep planes out of the air, which has us wondering about guests and our upcoming plans to visit Amsterdam…