It’s beginning to look a lot like Halloween 👻🎃

I love a festival, and have become quite American in the way I celebrate, I like to dress the house particularly the living room up for the season.  So welcome to Halloween Gingerbread style.

London Baby

It was so nice to visit my old stomping ground.  Yes we always visit London every year at Christmas and during the summer holidays, but we never venture further than zone one. We had left booking our hotel until the last minute, surprise surprise, and were planning on giving AirBNB a try, hipster wannabes that we are.  I had mentioned it at school and the few people who had heard of it weren't overly enthusiastic about it, so I decided to give it a miss this time.  That left us with nowhere to stay, Tall Girl 1, had offered us some space on her floor, just as I was about to take her up on her offer GO had booked a hotel. It was a travelodge (nothing wrong with cheap and cheerful, especially in London) and it was in the Docklands.  Right around the corner from Custom House where I lived when I first moved to London, all those many moons ago.  See, before I was a North Londoner, I was an Eastender.  

We arrived and almost immediately I took charge (what's new there) I got us onto the tube towards Tower Hill (Hello Babs and Rog) we then changed onto the DLR (Docklands Light Railway) towards Bank and settled in for a relatively pain free journey.  Until we arrived at Custom House which was closed, I was convinced that we had gone a stop too far and made GO get off the train and walk around the EXCEL building towards the hotel.  It was after we had gone down the lift that I decided to just check on the phone.  I have tapped the screen a few times and as if by magic the hotel popped up along with our location. We/I were/was going the wrong way, and we hadn't missed our stop we had gotten off the DLR three stops early.  Anyhow we added a nice big total to our Fitbits that day, a theme for the week that had begun on our Saturday walk.  

As we settled into the hotel we decided that while we both knew London really well, especially the North and West sides,  we'd explore more of the East and South East.  We decided to spend our time in the Docklands, Greenwich, and Canary Wharf.  What fun we had,  more on the later.

Birthday Celebration Number 1 (Mamilein' s)

"What's for tea tomorrow?"  I ask this everyday.  I need to know from on remark to the next what I'm going to eat, it's lessens the anxiety, ha ha.

As it was Mamilein's birthday, it was her choice.  "I don't want to cook anything she said, let's go out!"  Well the choice here is broad but as a family we only ever go to a couple of restaurants, either Italian or Chinese.  So of to Pizzeria Venezia is was.

It was nice to sit together and have a chat.  Talk of the evening turned to what would you do if you won the lottery jackpot.  Mamilleins plans are quite simple; buy houses in MG, UK and USA, let people in need use the Bünde house and that was all.