Grandma in London

My mum enjoyed writing her last guest post so much she has done another one! She's back in London now after her visit over half term and has been keeping herself busy until her next visit at Christmas.

A guest grandma post from London! Well if it helps to keep in touch I am willing! So, was it easier to say goodbye to La Famille Brown the second time? Not really, so the solution was to keep the mind and body busy. During the week, with work, this is not too difficult, but at weekends, the time when I would previously touch base with the grandchildren, a little bit more effort has to happen. However, there is a tendency to over organise, such as last weekend!

Friday after work was a birthday dinner with girlfriends. This is a kind of tradition though we usually do lunch. We found ourselves in a bar/restaurant in Notting Hill full of 30 something's. Did we feel out of place? Only slightly. At one point our table, with 9 of us, was politely propositioned by a young man with one glass too many in his hand but it added to the fun of the evening and the food was fabulous.

Saturday we were entertaining, so much time was spent buying the right ingredients and trying to put them together in the right way. Off to the Ginger Pig and La Fromagerie for meat and cheese. Though cooking stresses me slightly as I always worry about the end results and, consequently, the best part of the meal for me was the Waitrose Madagascan vanilla ice cream!

 

World food market

Sunday took us to Brick Lane which was great. When you live in London you don't always make the most of the best bits of the city and I had not been to the East End for some time. We visited the Renegade Craft Fair which was amazing, full of incredible talent and we were able to start our Christmas shopping. We then dropped in to a brilliant world food market and had a Cuban lunch! Not needing much of an excuse to buy cup cakes I bought two for myself and son (salted caramel - delicious.)

 

Royal Academy

The afternoon found us at the Royal Academy for an exhibition of paintings from Australia. It was a historical perspective and really interesting. I saw lots of pictures I would quite happily have hung on my walls - I think it was the general colour tone. Lots of reds, oranges and ochres. Beautiful.

 

Fortnum's Christmas window

 

We slipped into Fortnum and Mason for a last bit of Christmas shopping (you couldn't not do this after seeing their gorgeous Christmas windows) and then I collapsed with exhaustion in the car! I had managed to have a weekend without much fretting until I got back home and Facetimed La Famille Brown - boys getting ready for bed and all relaxed.

Will I stop missing them lots - I doubt it!! Hugely looking forward to Christmas in France!

 

Grandma x

 

Thanks mum! Good to see that London is well and truly into the swing of Christmas. Really gutted I missed the Renegade Craft Fair, will definitely be making a trip back to London for that next year. Looking forward to seeing all the family in December. Becky x