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Fabulous Friday Frivolity.

Let the good times roll. Here are my five happy things for this week:

1. That's right, we're starting with the most important thing in the world. New shoes. *grin* Aren't they lovely? Aren't they beautiful? Not a blister do they give, nor a pinched toe. Bliss.


2. The most marvellous chicken pie in the whole wide world. Gordon Ramsay might have a foul mouth, but the man can cook. Also, the hidden bonus to this recipe is that I found it in one of the cookbooks at my last job and wrote it down on what turned out to be my last day there. *grin* Fortuitous timing. Also, Himself says he likes it even better than my lasagna, which for him was previously the pinnacle of my cooking expertise. For years. So this is a big deal.

3. That's right. It's Paddington Station. For one, I grew up obsessed with Paddington Bear. For two, due to the new job, I now travel from Hammersmith to Paddington Station every day. This means that every morning and every afternoon, I get to watch people (some in a hurry, some lost, some having a leisurely coffee and a chat with friends, elderly couples holding hands dressed in an abundance of tweed) and absorb my surroundings. Paddington is beautiful, and twice a day, it's mine.


4. One of the things that I've always found charming about this country is the fact that contractors are obliged to hide construction behind constructed wooden walls. So they have to build walls before they can even start working on the building behind them, and it's not like they're just a few sheets of plywood duct taped together, it's proper well constructed painted woodworking with trim. In areas like Kensington or Chelsea, it's tastefully white or light green to fit in with the neighbourhood's sensibilities. In Camden or Soho, it gets decorated. I love graffiti art.


5. This one is my favourite. Even more than the shoes, or the pie. Just so you're aware of how much happiness this generates for me. I bought a hibiscus plant at the pound store. That's right, it was a pound. It seemed a little dry, but I reckoned it'd be fine. Then I forgot to plant it. For about three weeks. It stayed in its box, roots wrapped in plastic, for three weeks, and that's on top of however long it had been in the shop in the first place. When I came across the poor little thing in my travels through the house, I thought there was no way on earth it would still take, but I soaked the roots and gave it a go. Lo and behold, look at him! Can't wait to see what colour he blooms.


So, those are my five happy things for this week. I'm actually really enjoying this, I look forward to writing about it all week as I tally up my random smiles, and it gives me a valid excuse to carry my camera around London with me.

Speaking of which, I've been planning a dedicated post to "Why I Love Living in London", maybe that one will take shape at the weekend. Have a lovely bank holiday. x

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