Catching up

Time slips inexorably by and no updates. Well of course I've been out and about. January proves as usual to be an expensive month, credit card, electric and gas bills amongst others but to more enjoyable pastimes. Post New Year see me off to collect madame from Ray and Sian in Canvey a rain free but very drafty trip round the M25. She brought a cold home with her but luckily I have managed to not catch it.Of course her return curtailed my daily outings which was a bit of a downer.
I don't know why companies have to do it and it does make life difficult for us colour blind souls. We go into Fenwicks to replenish stocks of makeup. I'm after some Estee Lauder foundation and we find that they have change all the shades, not on;y by name the shades are different so its rematch time. I have to admit though it is the best foundation I have tried, easy to apply and results in a much better finish which proves that cheapest is not best. It also shows that one should never go by colours shown on websites. When selecting in the shop we found two shades which were a good match and to those with better colour vision than mine were very close. The website however showed a marked difference that even I could see and could have had me selecting the wrong one if I had ordered online. As an aside needless to say I have a a fair few makeup brushes but have found, especially for primer and foundation the best results are got by abadndoning brushes and using fingers.
A visit to Debenhams resulted in a confused assistant. When asked if she could help me I told her I as looking for something that appeared not to exist. What is it she asked. Pearlised nail varnish I said. Not a clue, not a flicker, she had never heard of it, amazing. Luckily I found some in John Lewis made by Jessica and in a lovely range of colours. not cheap at £10.50 but not that expensive.
first Sunday in January sees me off to the LAM alone with Madame away where I meet up with Natacha, Penny and Russell. A few hours gossiping whizzes by and Penny and I have to get our cuddles in early as she and Natacha are off early to go to a concert at the Wigmore Hall. A couple of weeks later it is the pantomime at the Black Cap in Camden, Madame is back of course by then, a highly entertaining version of Sleeping Beauty by the Familyy Fierce. Highly entertaining and of course rather risque. Being in the favoured few we get premium seats and for free. The following week its the Camden Crunch, and off we go and meet up with friends and relatives.
What with Madame's passion for dressmaking and her recent purchase of material and a new sewing machine plus my current obsession with kilts has resulted in me being the proud owner of four ranging from short to very short to drafty ;-)

Goodness me

A month again and now a new year to boot. Lots of outings of course mostly alone and either to the West-End of Westfield at White City, its the best way not to get spotted.



Prior to Christmas we were invited by our grandson to dinner at the restaurant where he is a chef, The Hawksmoor in Commerial Street, fabulous meal, lobster, potted beef, yorkshires, gravy and belly of pork and that was the starters! Then he and I had porterhouse steak and madame had chicken all of which came with mash and gravy, mac n cheese, brussel top and pureed spinach with anchovies, all at a huge discount, thankfully. Of course he was told he had amazing grandparents :-)

Christmas was hectic. The family came for xmas lunch, not bad only 10 of us which I cooked, we decided to roast the turkey xmas eve to lighten the load. All passed off well and we left them to it late afternoon and went off to stay with friends Dolenta and Andy in Cockfosters. Boxing day saw the arrival of Andys' cousin Steph and Peter and Sarah and much fun ensued and Dolenta became a domestic goddess and we came home the day after Boxing day. On the Sunday we were off again to friends in Kent for dinner and an overnight stay with the lovely Penny and Natacha. The Monday morning we took a trip to the seaside at Hythe then it was back home again to rest.
On Thursday we were off again to friends Ray & Sian on Canvey Island as they were going to get heavily into dressmaking, madame having taken her sewing machine.