Nigel Spots Something in Piimlico That Darrell Will Totally Freak Over!

While Nigel was briefly out and about in Pimlico with his friend Stephane he spotted something he knew Darrell would completely freak over if he saw it, to wit the exterior window display of this very posh hair studio. I have to admit it is pretty impressive.

I just know Darrell would be in there like a shot, whether he needed a trim or not, especially if he knew what other treatments he could find himself on the receiving end of ...........

..... I mean, who wouldn't want to experience a botox hair treatment, an ombre sombre balayage or for that matter a Brazilian keratin blow dry! 

I have told Nigel that I think we ought to stay mum about this discovery, for a while at least, until we can come up with a plan as to how to deal with any situation that might arise from Darrell "NEEDING" to get to London there and then and booking himself in for goodness knows how many said treatments ........ and for once, knowing what Darrell is like, he totally agrees with me!!!!!

Nigel Hits Belgravia

Once Nigel had sufficiently recovered from his potent pudding part of his brunch with Stephane, he was able to fully take in the breathtaking view across London from Stephane's flat ........

...... with the iconic Post Office Tower standing, so romantically proud, in the distance ......

...... followed by a careful gander of all Stephane's art work and objets d'arts, in the full knowledge that Darrell would pounce on him as soon as he got back to The Towers, wanting to know every single nuance of the decor, 

Nigel greatly admired all the paintings, by John Lee Bird, for whom Stephane has also been a frequent sitter ......

 ....... which immediately bought back memories of the time when Darrell himself became a muse to the same artist, way back in 2012! http://mumsmonkey.blogspot.com/2012/10/omg-famous-artist-john-lee-bird.html

Nigel could only dream of what it must feel like to be hung up on someones wall and be admired ,artistically speaking.

Looking around Nigel was struck by the thought that most of the people who live in Belgravia would probably have their own personal interior designer or went to private galleries or the occasional auction house to purchase their individualesque bits and pieces ...... a bit like Hugh ..... 

...... and not charity shops and Dunelm like us ......

....... but there again, we have Asti Spumante tastes .........

 ....... rather than those of a "real" champagne type nature ...........

........ even though Darrell has aspirations!

Before Stephane put Nigel on his train back to Evesham there was just about enough time to visit one or two charity shops in Pimlico as Stephane had promised .........

 ....... sadly Nigel didn't make any considered purchases as he said the "London" prices just made his eyes water, it seemed as if they had just added an extra nought or two on to the prices he would have expected to pay in Evesham!  Even Stephane baulked at the price asked for a pair of trousers that he tried on, thinking that he must have misheard what the person at the counter had said, needless to say he left them there!  A wonderful day, made up of wonderful memories, with many tales to tell when Nigel got home!

Nigel Hits Belgravia

It isn't just Darrell who has interesting friends in London ..... Nigel is currently in London with his friend Stephane, who he met at one of Hugh's (Darrell's best friend and mentor in all that is fabbbbbuuuuulous) bijoux coffee mornings. 

They hit it off straight away, finding they shared many interests, including finding interesting things in the street (except Stephane tends to take a lot of his finds home, as the good people of Belgravia  seem to gravitate to leaving some very excellent, unwanted items on their streets, including whole dinner services and the odd, real painting and sculpture)  ....... so when Stephane asked Nigel over for brunch, Nigel was on the train before you could say mais oui!

Stephane is every bit as exotic as Hugh.  He is French, a trained lumberjack and is, so Nigel tells me, the lead singer of an avant-garde, rock cabaret band called sLapPer  -http://slapper.band/content/about-slapper

It wasn't too hard for Nigel to find Stephane's flat, in fact Nigel arrived an hour early, but not wishing to look presumptuous, walked around the block a couple of times before finally ringing Stephane's bell.

On entering he instinctively picked up a copy of  Belgravia magazine from the foyer, knowing that Darrell would read it from cover to cover. It's really the equivalent to our own Wychavon magazine, but an awful lot posher, being printed in black and white, which posh people seem to prefer.

Then he made his way up in the lift .......

...... noting that posh people's lifts don't smell like some of the other lifts he's travelled in, if you know what I mean.

Stephane welcomed Nigel with open arms and traditional French kisses to his checks, telling him to kick off his shoes, loosen his belt and that Brunch was almost ready in his wonderful, lilting French accent.  Nigel was in seventh heaven.

Brunch did not disappoint, served with real, not pretend, Bucks Fizz and cooked with French precision, he tried hard not to woof it down as I had advised him, but it was so delicious. In the end Stephane had to tell him that six "mercy buttercups" was more than enough thanks yous.

Nigel observed that Anglo French Belgravian salt ......

....... and pepper were just as glamorous as he thought they would be and made a note for possible gift ideas for Darrell, who loves such erotica exotica!

And then there was pudding a light palate cleanser ..........  a small scoop of sorbet drenched in Stephane's mum's homemade and exceeding potent orange liqueur!

So potent that Nigel forgot his carefully rehearsed manners and like Oliver Cromwell Twist asked for more.  Well, Stephane was naturally delighted of course, but went a little more carefully with said liqueur the second time around  ...... telling Nigel that he should, perhaps, take a little nap in the afternoon, instead of hitting the charity shops of Belgravia as they had originally planned.  What is Nigel like?

Marmite Peanut Butter

It's not like us, I know, but we have been a little remiss in bringing you a review of Marmite (our savoury spread of choice) Peanut Butter ........ questions have been asked in Parliment I understand!

Now as you know we absolutely love Marmite and we very much like a crunchy peanut butter, but together???? We were not so sure.

However, Darrell finally got hold of a jar for our delectation.  The first thing we noticed was that the peanut butter was somewhat looser than we are used to and admit we found this was ever so slightly off putting, but always up for a challenge we persevered.

With a tangible and palpable anticipation rending the air we decided to spread said peanut butter on a toasted Lldl sandwich baguette.......... slightly burnt by a very apologetic Nigel. 

Let's say it's different, first you get the texture of the confection, then the Marmite flavour kicks in, followed, as you chew, by the peanuts, but then the overwhelming flavour of Marmite, takes over again ........ this is very hard for us to say, but the Marmite, even for us aficionados, was just too strong.

We adore Marmite cashew nuts ...... so we know that nuts and Marmite work together, but in this case the makers really need to tone down the Marmite ..... and I bet you never thought you'd ever hear us say that!

So for Marmite Peanut Butter we are afraid that we can only award it 4 noms out of 10 on our world famous Richter Scale of Noms........

....... however, rest assured the jar will not be wasted, Darrell is already looking for interesting recipes in which he thinks might be able to add the odd dollop here and there!

Nigel Finds Something ......... Of Almost Too Great A Responsibilty

We all know how Nigel has a talent for "finding things", well, yesterday he found something on the way back from Bertie's nursery run that almost proved to be too much responsibility for him.

He was up at the crossing, by the dentist ,when he spotted what he thought might be a phone just to the side of him. On closer inspection his suspicions were proved right, it was a phone, but it was a phone of an Apple type nature. Now, up at The Towers we don't really know a great deal about phones, but Nigel, bless him, quickly realised that this was a big deal as far as his finds were concerned.

To start with he was frightened to even pick it up, but then thought that the person who had dropped/lost it could possibly be in a bit of a state, so he decided that the best thing to do was to put it safely in Bertie's rucksack and take it back to their house, where he was heading, that would give him enough time to get his head straight as to what to do next. Then, as he looked back after crossing the road, as if to heighten the little fella's anxiety even more, he noticed what looked like its protective cover in the middle of the road, so ensuring Bertie was safe, he traversed the road once again to pick it up, by then he said he was shaking!

I am happy to say that almost as soon as Nigel got back to the house said Apple phone rang, still shaking, he said that he managed to answer it in as "professional" manner as he could muster to a very distraught lady who told him that she had prayed someone "kind" would find and return it to her after her young child had flung it from the back window of her car!

Needless to say a mutual rendezvous was swiftly arranged and within ten minutes of Nigel getting in the phone was returned to its rightful owner, much to his great relief. Quel héros as they say in France!  Finding this and that on his travels, he mused on his return to The Towers, had, up to now, always given him a tingle of excitement and something to ponder and mull over while on what can be a pretty boring walk to and from school/nursery or town, but this was a discovery of a little too much responsibility for his liking ........... 

High Action On The River

I promise, I don't spend all of my time standing, looking out of the window, but sometimes exciting things happen  and the other day was no exception .......

...... when I spotted that there was much action of a bright orange type nature on the other side of the river.

It was a group of hard hatted, florescently clad gentlemen, obviously in deep discussion, observing "our" railway bridge, swiftly followed by another two similarly decked gentlemen pulling alongside them on what looked like a rather makeshift raft, having traversed the river from goodness knows where.

They then appeared to anchor said raft on the bank for a while in order to continue their deliberations .......

 ....... before all clambering on board, followed again by much pointing to the central bridge support and the use of what looked like some sort of scientific measuring device ......... and some climbing!

I was totally absorbed, but I am afraid I had to relieve my post as both Darrell and I were on the nursery/school run (with Nigel in Belgravia), so what further drama ensued I just cannot say.

However, I did bump into Gary the Station Master at Evesham and he told me that there had been some concern over the safety of said central support, following the unprecedented pressure it had been put under during the recent flooding ....... he also added that he had heard that divers had been due to be sent down ...... all very dramatic!  I shall indeed be keeping a very watchful eye on the bridge for any further developments over the coming days.

As an aside, the most disconcerting thing I have seen on or in the river, so far, was a swimmer, wearing a professional looking swimming cap and towing a boy buoy behind them, a wild water swimmer perhaps?  They were swimming at such a pace that they were under the bridge before I could reach for the camera, however I was just sooooooooo grateful that Nigel wasn't at home at the time to witness such an event or else who knows what  manner of chaos could have ensued ........  that river is no place for a small monkey, with a taste of adventure and a tight pair of Speedos to swim.  

https://waterlogreswum.com/2013/08/02/river-avon-at-fladbury-mill-swimming-and-window-diving/

Valentines Day 2020

HAPPY VALENTINES DAY

When Too Much Choice Is Not Such A Good Idea

Now, it has to be said that at The Towers we all very much enjoy wallowing in a luxuriously fragrant bubbly bath, in particular Darrell, usually accompanied by a Babycham or Cherry B, a touch of Rick Astley playing in the background and when he's feeling truly decadent, a couple of lemon puffs.

So you can imagine Nigel's reaction when he spotted this bath, full to the brim of every bath bomb possibly known to man, up at the garden centre at The Valley.  He said he was desperate to make a considered purchase, but when he started to go through all the flavours trying to whittle them down, he became sooooooo befuddled he just couldn't choose just one or two, so in the end left with not a one, as he knew, when he got home he would only worry about his choice and the ones he had left behind, bless him.

As for the cupcake bombs, well they smelt and looked just too delicious, but again, no considered purchase was made ........

....... as he said he knew that as they were so pretty they probably wouldn't get used until they had gone all stale, crumbly and possibly a bit mouldy, which would then defeat the whole idea of a pampered and lush (aggghhhh I hate that word) experience!  You gotta love him but what on earth is he like?

Storm Ciara

I am afraid that yesterday the news that packs of Mint Malteser Buttons will be available in all good retailers from March 9th slightly overshadowed Storm Ciara ....... what are we like? 

Needless to say, the storm did indeed hit our little part of Evesham, leaving us glued to the window (metaphysically speaking, naturally) for much of the day to observe the drama.

Let's just say that there really were real waves with white horses on the river  ........ which was truly a sight to behold and though our pictures just don't convey the tempest tossed waters, there is no way we would have wanted to have been aboard any of the barges that are moored on the bank opposite us as they really were being rocked by the swell........

........ in fact poor Darrell, ever the martyr to any movement of an undulating type nature had to take several motion pills, as well as donning sea sickness bands on both his wrists and ankles in order to continue watching.

However, through it all there was a heroic fishing match being contested at the bottom of the bank, right to the bitter end no one was giving up until the barely audible claxon was sounded for the weigh in, when we could clearly see, despite the inclement weather several nets of fish had been caught.

We can only applaud the fishermen's perseverance and determination against the elements and the outstanding performance of their waterproof clothing. It has to be said that we wouldn't even venture out to put our rubbish in the bins.

From experience we have learned that the effects of the storm may not impact on the river for a day or two ....... we are expecting it to rise ..... and so will keep you informed!