Surrey, and these amazing women ...

Tonight, thanks to Cathy, I found myself sitting in her lounge with a most marvelous group of women. 

We came from Macedonia, Sweden, America x2, England, France, Bulgaria and New Zealand. 

And I found myself adoring both them, and their stories. 

There was so much laughter.  I had met some of them last week, and enjoyed them already.  Tonight was just MORE.

I love that, that where ever I go in the world, I find these marvelous women.  Full of stories and laughter, and kindness and this incredible fellowship ... from the road perhaps but from being women too.

And one of the other marvelous things I'm enjoying about England, are the charity shops.  It's how I met Cathy.  She runs one of them but ... it's also how I met this exquisite Italian L Medici handbag, Italian leather, built to last forever ...  that I so very much couldn't afford in real life but couldn't resist in the world that is secondhand here in Surrey. 

It was beyond reasonable and, just by way, it fits 3 bottles of red wine inside of itself, so very easily.

London!!!

I'm back for an overnight in London.  I needed to load my USB modem, after the debacle that was ordering a Broadband connection with SKY.   A story to be told another day ... it was THAT bad.

Today's Vodaphone-USB-modem-loading guy was a lovely young man called Prince.  He was endlessly patient with me, and I'd like to think that we laughed often - together.

For me, Hammersmith is my go-to place when I need to solve multiple shopping issues.  Printers, favours for friends, USB modem-loading and etc.  It's on the way to Lenn's place, here in London, and I can cope with hopping on the Tube, from Waterloo, and off and Hammersmith and back on, to Alperton.

It's been a bit of a homecoming for me.   I'm a creature who loves 'home', and keeps misplacing them.

Tonight, at Lenn's place, I have a VERY SMALL ( a dwarf breed surely), New Zealand leg of lamb in the oven, the potatoes and kumara just joined it, an onion as well.  Then in the pots, there are baby carrots and broccoli.  I'm in need of a feast, and Lenn seems partial to this kind of food appearing on a plate in front of him too... when he eventually gets home from work.  But that's okay because I think it still might need an hour ... at 7.30pm.

Planet Rock is keeping me company on the digital radio and Nugget, the big black cat, seemed really pleased to see me.  We chatted.  Me cautiously, him in his usual black cat, princely kind of way ... threatening to bite me if I took liberties.

I seem to have a new cold, or the old one has swung back in my nose.  It was running like a tap last night.  Today it's been slightly more civilised but I do resemble that red-nosed reindeer, dammit.  And I cough, due to the ... well,  you know.

I haven't had the heart to blog, while my internet connection has been so veryvery dodgy however, I'm hoping the freedom the 20 pounds worth of USB modem will give me, will see more action here.

The guitar player, there at the start?  That's Lenn.  The loveliest Kiwi bloke, here in London:-)

That Purple Swagger Coat ...

Swagger Coat - noun   1. - a woman's pyramid-shaped coat with a full flared back and usually raglan sleeves, first popularized in the 1930s.

I had never heard of a Swagger Coat but I can see how it got its name.  You do, kind of, swagger along when you're wearing one.  Especially if you're carrying your huge leather bag, and another two cloth bags full of groceries.

Mmhmm but still, how I smiled as I swaggered ... perhaps staggered, back home.  Just call me Sherpa Di.  I can often be spotted carrying huge loads back home from London, from Cobham.

The coat was there in the secondhand shop.  I was looking for a sugar bowl with a lid but I tried the coat on for fun.  I had so much fun, simply wearing it, that I couldn't resist. It was a massive bargain. Then it got cold outside, and then I realised it would be easier to wear it because it's quite heavy and voila, that's how my afternoon unfurled. 

That was me, swaggering home, loaded down but smiling ...   Smiling hugely.

However, before all of this ... my bus route has changed because the road that it uses is closed for repairs.  It became clear that I'd either missed the bus, or it's stopping elsewhere, in a place I didn't yet know about.

I asked a young woman and her mother, who lived near the bus stop, if they knew anything about this temporary stop but they didn't.

Do you know what they did?!!  They asked me where I was going and when I said Cobham, they said they'd take me there.  And they did.

The English ...!  I find them so very very kind.

So very.

Joy is just shimmering up and out of me of me as I write this.  And Richard, the bus driver ... he had the most excellent news but more on that later because really, this is already so much.

Merci Marcie's Cafe ...

I never manage to photograph the mille feuille before I accidentally eat them, whenever I pop into Merci Marcie's lovely cafe, even when I take one home ... to photograph it. 

I keep trying ... really.  Once a week probably:-)  And so, I turned my camera elsewhere on today's visit.

And now that I have a Nespresso machine.  Finally. 

Now, for the first time in 6 months, I am enjoying the breakfast I best love ... an espresso, toast, butter and jam. 

Well ... now I can no longer have coffee while out and wandering because my mornings are all about 2 espresso before and with breakfast.

My new drink, for out there, is ginger and lemon tea, with honey.  I have it in the evenings too.  I had a wicked coughing cold for two weeks.  I was fairly sure my lungs were going pop out one night.  That night I didn't sleep one single wink ... but they didn't, and I am left with this big love for the tea that got me through.

I'm okay here in Surrey.  Meeting marvelous people, making a tiny new home beautiful, setting up to teach photography workshops again, to photograph pets, to photograph family homes, and portraits.   Maybe an event or two.

It's unfolding, and I have espresso in my mornings again.  Life is quite beautiful.

The Most Perfect Tree-Seat, Surrey ...

It is perfect, isn't it?  I've been eyeing it since beginning with my 20 minute walks into the village.

It's quite high, and I'm not sure I could reach it without an undignified struggle.  But once there, especially in summer, there's moss that surely makes for a most comfortable seat. 

The only option is to recline, legs stretched out in front, back supported in a most divine way ... maybe that's even a book-reading arm-support branch.

Sadly though, it's on the edge of a busy little country road here in Surrey.  I suspect the police would be called to check up on my reasons for being there or ... the fire brigade would be called, to rescue that mad Kiwi woman stuck up a tree. 

But still, I don't think I have ever seen a more perfect tree-seat in my life.

On My Way To That Village in Surrey ...

A few minutes into my walk to the village, I pass this ... and today, for some unknown reason, I decided to photograph it.  Maybe the notion of 40 appeals to me. 

Miles per hour is taking some getting used to.  As are pounds and pence.  And kind people ... everywhere.

6 months into this English life and I still cannot say enough good things about the kindness of strangers.