Bits and pieces

Around the summer we went on a few day trips.

We visited Charl in London Bridge, enjoying Lobster Burger and going for a few beers at the Dalston Yard Street Feast in a funky Shoreditch warehouse. Spicy chicken wing roulette was fun, even though a ring burner.

We also popped across to the Cotsworlds to do a driving tour out of the LP. Here's Pete sat in the picturesque Bibury:

We visited Georgian House and Red Lodge in Bristol, two places that have been on our to do list a while!

Crazy bear in Oxford

We went to Oxford for the day, went to Christchurch college, turf tavern and ate G&D's ice cream on Cowley Road.

Pretty Bridge of Sighs in the heart of the uni:

Selina in front of the Radcliffe Camera (uni library):

We stayed in a craaazzziiee hotel with a bath at the end of the bed! With water that came out the ceiling!! Messy!

Lots of big rocks

In April, Selina went to Alice in Wonderland in London, it was Sara's Christmas present. It was a submersive theatre experience at the Mad Hatters Tea Party.

We spent the day in Aztec West Spa for Selina's birthday in May. We also saw Birdsong at the Old Vic. Pete's read the book a few times and has always wanted to see it on stage.

We went to Stonehenge at the end of May and camped. On the way we stopped at Salisbury Cathedral and saw the actual Magna Carta which was impressive. 

We went round Stonehenge in normal opening time. You can see all the people in the distance.

Then we paid extra to see the stone circle after hours. As it was getting dark, we wondered amongst the stones with a handful of people. At normal opening time you can only walk on a pathway surrounding the circle, so it felt very atmospheric walking in between the stones as the sun was setting. 

Pete had really enjoyed it, until he realised you could see all the stones from the public road as we drove back to the campsite!!

Flat renovation

In between contracts in 2015, I took on a task that has been on my to do list a while: renovating my flat in London Bridge. At times it was frustrating and exasperating, but overall it was fun and a job well done with help from some experts! 

The flat isn't that big, I've still got the layout from when I bought it:

I decided to keep the same layout, but strip everything out (kitchen, bathroom, heating system, floors, doors). So quite a bit of work, especially given how old it looked before:

Selina couldn't wait to get stuck in and start looking behind the covers!

First step, everything had to be stripped away. The boiler and two water tanks were removed (by a professional of course). Although we did manage to salvage one of the tanks for the Bristol garden! I was surprised how the guy was able to knock the price down by selling the stuff he removed for scrap!

Tiles off (by someone who thinks of themselves as a professional!).

A bit of bashing, thanks Darsh for the extra muscle!

A pile of stuff for the council to collect, boy did that take some organising!

Once everything was out, I found a great guy who I had too much fun with to plaster and skim all the walls...

Then my boiler man fitted the new boiler and new rads all in different positions from before, including this funky rad:

Then it was on to the fitting of a new bathroom and kitchen, along with new lighting, doors, architraving, flooring throughout and multiple coats of paint. The end product was pretty impressive, in a grey and white themed kind of way!!

Phew!

Madrid '15

Our friend, Eug, has been working in Spain for a few years now, so belatedly we decided to go visit him in Madrid in Spring 2015.

We booked in to an AirBnB. It was a lovely place, owned by a pianist. We spent most of our time hitting the bars for beers and tapas. You can tell we loved La Latina!

We squeezed in a visit to the basement of Eug's favourite Irish bar.

With slightly sore heads we took in some sights, like the Crystal Palace in Retiro Park:

We also went to see Picasso's Guernica in Museo Reina Sofia. Then more tapas, including some very tasty charcuterie.

We had dinner in Plaza Mayor and we also hit the market El Rastro with Eug, looking cool all the way...

Cheers Eug, same time next year....

India

We went to Delhi in February 2015. We stayed with family near Chandigarh. It was the first time Pete had ever visited, he was the "prawna" and everyone made a real fuss of him and made him really welcome.

We went to a super colourful wedding, where the waiters looked after us all evening. 

We went to the golden temple in Amritsar. 

We went to a rock garden near Chandigarh that had been built from recycled bits of waste found in the city. 

These statues are all made of broken and discarded Indian bangles. 

We went to a Jain temple

We went to Jaipur fort 

Charlotte and I rode an elephant to the top!

We had a tour of the fort and saw the famous hall of mirrors. 

The Amber fort was impressive.

We went for dinner at the very touristy Chokhi Dhani, it was all set up like an Indian village fair, with arts and crafts for sale, traditional foods and even head massages and fortune tellers!

We were also lucky enough to see the Taj Mahal for the second time in a year.

Winter caravanning

In January 2015, Selina treated me to a stay in a city centre hotel, it was described as a rooftop rocket. This wasn't quite what I was expecting:

It was literally a caravan on the roof of Brooks Hotel right in Bristol city centre, overlooking St Nicks Market. They gave us Champagne on arrival, along with a heater as it was January!

There were also party lights:

We made a weekend of it, having a yummy tasting menu at Berwick Lodge and spending the day in the Aquarium.

In February we enjoyed spending a whole day lounging in Bath Thermae Spa and we went to Westonbirt Arboretum for Valentines Day, followed by a hippy Urban Gathering Yoga day back in Bristol the next day.