Warm Sunny Day in Paris - in February!

We sat on the terrace, under the blue umbrellas - such a luxury to be able to do this right in the centre of Paris!

I spent a lovely day in Paris yesterday, meeting friends.

Basically, we lazed about at my French club, eating lunch and cake and drinking tea and coffee and water (!), sitting on the terrace, under a sun umbrella, wasting our lives.  It was great!

I even managed to get a little sun burn.....

Afterwards we took a stroll around the garden

They even have a swimming pool, with an outside sunning area

Shot of trees

Just a few pics on the way back to the bus going back to the Gare du Nord

Apparently it is Fashion Week in Paris - we saw some people in pretty weird get-ups!

Great door - and I knew someone who worked there once!

This one is for Ruby!

Already they are making chocolate bunnies, and it isn't even Ash Wednesday!

Interesting effect of well-placed mirrors

Where we waited for the bus

Opposite the Olympia, where all sorts of famous people performed

Miscellaneous Musings

Things are rather hectic these days, both at work and at home, but I did manage to update the window box (pink miniature roses) and create a little bulb garden in the Parlour - see photos.

I also managed to walk around Oxford's new shopping centre, looking to buy a new pair of brogues.  And what do I see but that the central plaza is called 'Leiden Square'.  Now I suspect that this is an homage to the city of Leiden in Holland, which Oxford is twinned with.  It is nevertheless an unfortunate choice of name for a plaza that is in the centre of mainly expensive shops - because 'leiden' means 'suffering' in German.  I suffer a lot in that area of Oxford, because I spend too much there!

On the way back I invested in a probably way too large tea cup.  When your cup is larger than your teapot you know your cup is too big, but well - sometimes What The Hell! is the only attitude I am open to.

You see what I mean?  That's almost a litre of tea!  Well, nearly.

Dodgy Fish Mongers have been blighting my existence recently ....

I was sitting in the Parlour, working from home, when I was alerted to the presence of strangers by a knock on the door.  A fresh faced youth offered to sell me a few good fillets for a good price - and fresher than in the shops!

I actually fell for his sales patter, at which stage his colleague, much less comely and of a more advanced age, tried to muscle his way into the little house while I got my purse.  I bustled him out, and was shocked to discover the price of the fish - about three times of that in the shops.  I bought it anyway, to get rid of the fallacious fishmongers and get back to my work.

Then doubts entered my too trusting heart, and I started to google.  And Bingo! found several reports of unscrupulous fish vendors victimising little old ladies by selling them overpriced substandard fish in massive quantities.  Yet worse, sometimes they come back to burgle the houses they sold the fish to.

And I had foolishly told them I rarely worked from home on Fridays!  I was obviously going to be victimised.  Apparently as soon as I hit 60 the criminals of this earth had decided that I was a soft touch and easily duped, and had marked me out for premier victim status.

Already I felt enfeebled and defenseless.

Then I pulled myself together and called the police, and made a full and frank report, including a description of the fallacious fishmongers. 

Then I photographed the fish and the receipt.

Then I cancelled the card I paid for the fish for.

Then I wrote an e-mail to the local criminal watch, and attached the photos.

Then I put the two packets of fish into a plastic bag and popped them in the freezer, in case fingerprints were needed at some future date.

Then I alerted all the neighbours.  Luckily there are lots of students and pensioners in this area, so there are plenty of watchers and curtain twitchers about.

Then I altered my work schedule, so that I am at home on Fridays, and generally less predictable in my absences.

I barely slept for the first few nights after this happened, keeping a cast iron frying pan near my bed in case someone tried to burgle the house ....

I also rigged up a few anti-burglar devices, a la Calvin and Hobbes ....

I am not taking this laying down!

The fallacious fish mongers have not been seen again in this neighbourhood, but if they come I am ready for them!

Birthday Treat - St Pancras Hotel

One happy DB lurking in the shade of a pillar

St Pancras from the outside

I have been wanting to scope out the St Pancras Hotel for literally decades!

In the olden days when I commuted to the City everydayI used the Commuter Link - a bus that went from just around The Little House directly to the City of London, making frequent stops along the way.  When I stopped working in the City the Commuter Link stopped, too, and henceforth travellers have to go to Victoria or Marble Arch.

Anyway, this bus went past the St Pancras Hotel, though it wasn't a hotel then, but used as a taxi rank and other seedy purposes.  They were building the National Library, and every day I was driven past huge billboards featuring famous librarians, that were hiding the passers-by from the building site.

This went on for some eleven years.  You can therefore imagine my delight when I found out that St Pancras, which was pushed by greedy developers who were hoping to demolish the building into wreck and ruin, was going to be rebuild and refurbished!!!!

As soon as the process had been completed I went for a visit, but finances being tight, and time precious, I never actually managed to go on a tour of the hotel.

Such tours have to be arranged by telephone, one can't just wander in, and they are not as frequent as one might wish.  I had been several times close to booking one, but what with one thing and another never actually went through with it.

So for my birthday treat my ever obliging Triplets arranged the whole thing, inclusive a High Tea event at the German Gymnasium afterwards.

What can I say, it was simply monumental!

Our host and guide was extremely knowledgeable - though I did quibble with him about some details - and since it was just us Triplets plus one interloper the tour was both enjoyable and very much tailored to our needs.

I could bore you with details, but others, more attentive to the details that should be included in any description of such a building, have gotten there first, so I just provide some links, and you can do your own research.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St._Pancras_Renaissance_London_Hotel

150 years St Pancras Station BBC   short film

BBC St Pancras Station   long film

Saint Pancras architecture  Sir Gilbert Scott - shows the building before it was spruced up and became a hotel again

Dan Cruikshank on the Scott family  Part 1 (very recommended - if only because it shows that I was right when I disagreed with the guide about the Scotts in Oxford)

Dan Cruikshank Part 2

Dan Cruikshank Part 3

Dan Cruikshank Part 4


The photos were mainly taken by our Dear Third - my camera went on the blink and I had to rely on her telephone's amazing ability to take photos.  All photos are from the inside of the hotel.  Not of the actual rooms, since they are occupied by paying guests, or owned by wealthy individuals.  Thus most photos of starcases - but what staircases!

  
  
 
  

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

DB flanked by the Guide and the Interloper

 

   
 
 
 
 
    

Wall decoration in the sitting room of one of the grandest hotel suites

So what do you think, £800 million spent well?