Wealth .

 

Down the motorway and onto the lane . 

That's Ilford lane which is actually a busy main road .

The saxophonist is used to driving in London . Which is just as well as no rules is the rule . Speed and a loud horn usually sort it out .

Once parked we make our way to Chopra's who sell kitchen equipment at very fair prices . I wanted more metal bowls and some new spatulas . 

On the way past the butchers shops and sari shops was a shop with jewelled saris and opulent jewellery in the window . I could not resist .

The bulk of the shop was jewellery . Beautiful earrings covered one entire wall and the opposite wall was all bangles .

The bangles were in jewel colours and exquisite .The old man in the turban responded to my gestures and racked each choice up on a long metal pole he held between his hands . When I had what I wanted he pulled them off in groups and expertly wrapped them in celophane .He put the bangles into a smart box and sealed the lid and then put the box into a little bag . I paid ,  he gave me his card and shook hands with the saxophonist . It was a lovely experience . It has only cost me ten pounds .

Then on to Chopras the hospitable kitchen equipment shop . Then the grocers . 

I bought three big bunches of coriander for £1.17 , three bunches of spinach for £1.47 , two cucumbers you could have knocked nails in with for £1.38 . 

There was also curry leaves , ginger , paneer and other things .

I could not find the Panch Puran and a stranger stopped me and asked what I was looking for and found it for me . 

Then to the snack shop for samosas and bhajiyas to enjoy tonight . Four huge samosas and four fat bhajiyas for £6.00 .

When I got home I found little pots of sauce that had been added for nothing .

We were the only white faces in those shops . What people miss !

The quality of the goods , the excellent prices . Much more is the kindness and warmth given to white people who come with respect and enthusiasm .

I have left the box of bangles on the table and twice I have been back just to open the box and look at the lovely colours and thought of the man who boxed the bangles up  .

Later we shall eat the samosas and bhajiyas .

I feel very rich tonight .

Cause and effect .

 

Had this theory about the front garden .

 It went "the front garden has gone a bit wild this year given the extreme heat and mucho rain . So better to let the lot go over , die down and thus be easily got ready for winter and then the snowdrops etc ,"

( Snowdrops start the cavalcade of the years returning treats : snowdrops , crocuses , scillas , daffodils , tulips and so on and on ...... ) 

Did you see what I did there ?   Gloss over the fact that I have spent most of my time post lockdown by ocean , by estuary ,  beside myself with glee . 

Anyway chicken in oven , saxophonist on pruning , me to do the rest .

Theory rubbish , work exhausting and time consuming only compensated by fantasy of having a gun full of liquid manure and Monty Don in my sights . 

The holly was the worst .

Back indoors new Nigel Slater lemon chicken recipe on table .Extra fat lemons to squeeze atop the juicy joys .

Facts : holly pricks your hands and forearms .An enthusiast with a fat lemon will find this out as the lemon juice hits the holly leaf punctures on her forearms . This causes an effect and quite a dramatic one at that .

Observation : Perhaps reassess gardening schedule for next year .

Sausage and shingle .

 

Bought Autumn / Winter wardrobe editions on Friday . Two shift dresses in a thrilling blue Two denim pinafore dresses .

Blue dresses still thrilling . Two pinafore dresses a sodding disaster . The cut was entirely wrong . ( " I don't need to try these on , they are fine ". )

I looked like an over stuffed sausage - one that had been stuffed with vengeance in the heart .

Two places could do one pinafore but not two in the size I wanted to make them loose , boxy and nineteen twenties .

Inspiration struck and I found a supplier near a shingle beach .

Tried on two lovely designs and came away with one of each .

Fish and chips and then ice cream gazing out to sea . Satisfaction on the shingle .

Red velvet .

 

A trip to stock up on wine takes us past two sources of second hand books . Such is the location of both that the " top ten "paperbacks are sought after . The rest changes regularly and is largely untouched except by the happy few . 

Today biographies of Katherine Mansfield and William Morris . A book of Ardizone sketches plus some poetry : Plath , Hughes , Larkin and Wendy Cope . I think I like the Larkin and the illustrations best but the biographies will sit and wait for the right moment .

A fat slice of red velvet cake and a steaming pint mug of strong tea each when we returned .

Small satisfactions .

 

It's good to go shopping across country (petrol situation much improved and plenty for all ).

Across country then , a deer in the middle of the road starred us out on the way over and mackerel skin skies on the way back .

Inbetween a ferocious curry, reduced Leuchtturm note books which saved me a fortune ( well £124.51 anyway ), groceries of course and some men's tee shirts in kingfisher blue .I bought XL size so I could cut a chunk off the bottom of each and have a boxy customised shape . The bottom where cut obligingly curls up slightly ( allowed for that ) so the style looks very meant . 

Small satisfactions .

There is nothing phoney about a coney .

 

Came back by the country roads today . Light fading and rain dripping on the leaves and the land . Every so often the rain had had flowed from the sloping fields onto the road making them silver and making that nice swishing sound as we drove through . 

The sky looked like a part of paradise . Pale pink , pale blue , pale grey , shining white and silver with bursts of gold where the setting sun flowed across the sky through a chink .

I was not looking forward to Autumn . Last year's with the circumscribed circumstances and the prospects clear to all made that difficult .

It's different though . 

I relish collecting some more conkers ( do you bake or vinegar ? )

I have plans to go to a favourite market town to see a good butcher about a bunny. 

I'm looking forward to lingering and greedily gulping down some good art in a nice warm gallery . 

I've had my hair cut very short - I'm all about the cheek bones at the moment . It's a good style to take some of my semi precious earrings . Today long thins strands of lilac ( Lolite ) and later with a dark green dress some fiery Garnets - as big as hips and the same colour as haws .

I've ordered the new Nigel Slater to cook into the winter with and have the latest Rachel Roddy on my desk to compliment it  .

I've finally got into the Elena Ferrante quartet ( the Neopolitan novels ) and have some eye wateringly expensive wool gradually knitting up into a wrap to take me into late Autumn with a swish . I can sit in a quiet corner , with either , and some fifties New York jazz and good coffee making good even better .

Its to easy to look at the world and see only bleak . I heard someone talking the other day about it being " futile to hope " .

Hope is never futile .  

Maybe Lolites and Italian novels are not for you but we all have our rabbit pie so to speak ,  don't we .