Things We’ve Done in July

I’ve got so far behind in blogging and the summer holidays are coming up so fast that I’m throwing the towel in slightly and just doing a giant round up post. I still have a summer preview to write and gosh darn, it’s just all too much.  First though, a reminder that I’m running a giveaway for the Nick Butterworth event. It’s closing soon, so enter quickly! It sounds like it’s going to be ace.

So, what have we done exactly? Well, there was a day out in Leytonstone, where my family dressed in black and hung out in graveyards:

I was singing at St John’s Church, with WAM, as part of the Leytonstone Festival. They were taking part in a giant craft exercise outside that looked a bit like this:

The all-black dress code was because Eva told us to. Hope that helps.

Then we went to a park just around the corner from Leytonstone tube, which had a zipwire among other  excitements.

And then on to a beer garden, where our friend Marika hyped Reuben up and encouraged him to stuff his pockets full of grass. Probably best we don’t dwell on the journey home too much.

There was a strike day in East London, which probably deserves its own post

There was a morning in Kings Cross, where we found a lovely cafe to brunch in with the grandmothers. It had wooden tables and flowers outside, and the most accommodating staff but it was priced like a greasy spoon. Perfect. It’s called Cafe Oz, and it’s currently behind a whole bunch of roadworks/building works which means you might miss it if you didn’t know it was there. Have a look here for more details.

Then we hung out on the grassy steps and chased some bubbles around the plaza.

There was an illicit child-free trip with my friend Amy to the edge of the Olympic Park, and cocktails at the very hipster Tina, We Salute You. You know it’s hipster when they don’t have a sign outside, just a hashtag-lightbox on the bar. But the staff were lovely, and knocked up an off-menu virgin cocktail when requested (no, we’re not all that rock and roll after all). A tasty Cosmo as well.

There was another child-free trip with my cousin to the equally hipster Sodo pizza restaurant in Walthamstow. This one’s hipster credentials include a cider made from an “urban orchard” (pound a bowl from the market?) and a chipboard toilet door that can only be opened by a man listening to Shed Seven. Lovely pizza though.

On both these child-free trips out, other people had brought their children with them for a post-bedtime pizza/cocktail. One of them knows Reuben. Sigh.

There’s been a lot of singing. On the steps of the Town Hall, protesting about library closures:

At Highams Park Day:

And at Walthamstow Garden Party, with WAM again. I failed to take any photos of that but it was thrilling to share a stage (almost) with David McAlmont, the man whose voice could move me to tears when I was a moody teen. Hopefully there will be videos up soon.

Then today, Roo and I discovered London’s spookiest station. It’s called Essex Road station and it was completely deserted when we went through (apart from one person in the ticket office). You go through some pinkish tunnels that feel like an underground spy route, then emerge onto a platform which still has its signage from the 1980s. I swear no-one has used that station since the last time we had a female Prime Minster. I was amazed when a train actually stopped there and deposited us in Moorgate six minutes later. How did they know we were even there?

Then we threw some wet sponges at our ex-pastor. All in the spirit of fun and charity, obviously.

Is that enough to be going on with? Seven weeks of bloggables stretch ahead…there will be many more adventures to come!