Sunday brunch at Tapastry

This is the current favourite of the bf & I. Lazy Sunday, read the papers & a late breakfast at Tapastry in Honor Oak. Splendid.

Usually, they play cool music and you can lose the day in here. More recently, a tv seems to have appeared, and I have to imagine that the owner likes his footie. Having said that, it isn't too loud and surely it isn't on every day...

The food though is spot on - a healthy grill sources top quality ingredients and sets us up for the day. The service is friendly if a little scatter brained. But you do get the feeling that the owner really does like his little joint, and honestly - so do I. Possibly with more competition, I might shop around, but for now, this will do nicely.

Milkman delivers in the snow

No buses, National Rail Enquiries website crashed, schools closed - a nation thrown into turmoil?

I was so impressed at this sight in my porch this morning. I really didn't expect it, but I so appreciated it.

I love the fact that we have a milkman at all. I love the fact that you can now order online up to 9pm the night before. I love the fact they deliver cat food (as does the cat). I love that they never screw up when I go on holiday. But the fact that they can deliver when all else has failed !!

There's a fighting spirit. Go, milkman!

Forest Hill has a Snow Day!

It didn't take me too long this morning to realise it would be easier to work from home. Between the excel spreadsheets and the numerous phone calls, I managed to go out to the shops (with camera in tow)! Seeing Forest Hill in the snow was great - really uplifting.

The neighbourhood was full of kids (some well into their 30s) having snowball fights, snowmen being made and people taking photographs. This is one if the finest displays of community spirit I have seen in ages. This should happen every year!

Bongo Mike & Extremely Frank Jeremy

My Zone 2 & 3 travelcard experiment is kind of going as expected. Great if I don't need to go into Zone 1 and a bit crappy otherwise. To be fair, it is OK until I need to come home from London Bridge and then have to buy a ticket - currently I am going for the New Cross option (from where my Zone 2 card is OK) but it really irks, when you pay over 2.40, having just paid only 1.60 on the way into Zone 1 on the tube.

Week before last though and some buskers really cheered me up. Bongo Mike and Extremely Frank Jeremy were on the train. Seasoned professionals I see from surveying the net, they broke into a ditty about being on 'The train to Caterham'. (Presumably this song works as well on journeys to Hayes or Brighton as well.) The whole carriage was smiling as they played and a few of us bought their 4 song cd (artwork above) which includes the classic 'If you can't have a shave in a toilet, where can you shave?'.

Mike did say that the songs were absolutely dreadful - and his honesty is to be applauded. Sadly they didn't make it as far as Forest Hill, making a u-turn at New Cross Gate to miss the police.

Catch them if you can!

Burns Night with the SE23 club

My second dinner with the SE23 club was a Burns Night at the Honor Oak pub on the corner of St German's Road and Brockley Rise. Over 20 people attended and we filled over 2 tables at the pub, which seemed like a good effort for a cold January evening.

The Honor Oak put on a free starter (haggis) and then everyone ordered and paid their way as usual. The haggis was excellent. As a Scot abroad, I do have haggis fairly regularly, but always the supermarket ones, which are fine, but this one was a lovely, peppery little number. Special mention has to go to Rob Winton's dad who addressed the haggis. A nice touch and well received.

We sat next to two couples who lived very near us and had a good chat about the area and what we liked about where we lived. We really enjoyed the evening and personally I think this is an excellent way of getting locals to try out and patronise local restaurants where they may not have done otherwise. Even better, the bf has agreed that he may come again!

One Tree Hill

I have to own up and say that until I moved to the area, I did think that One Tree Hill was a spectacularly bad American drama series in the Dawson Creek vein.

Turns out it has a stupendous view of London. I've only been there in the winter, so not sure how much that you can see in the summer when the trees are in leaf. If you walk up from HOP train station, just follow the path past the church. When you get to the top there is a small clearing and a bench.

The story goes that on 1st May 1602, Elizabeth I had a picnic at the summit whilst on route from London to (somewhere further south..). Having hiked up there, I frankly very much doubt it. My guess is she walked round the side - if you were travelling past, I doubt you'd walk to the top - as it is a hike - but that is what gives you the view.

Books set in SE23

A friend sent me this link a while ago. The idea is that books set in an area get linked to it via a map - so you can put in your postcode and see if any books are set in your area. Clearly this is more fun if it is fiction.

For Se23, I found 'The Fowler Family Business' by Jonathan Meades. It is fun to read about an area that you know. For this read, a working knowledge of the Sydenham side of Forest Hill is useful!

Admittedly it isn't the best way to judge literature (as indeed illustrated by this example..) but good fun all the same.