Spoon Wash .

Just wanted to share a wonderful poster I found at Bright Young Thing .

Snow, Standstill in London

I thought it would never see the snow fall onto the ground in London. Apparently it has happened before, but I have never been around to see it. So yesterday it snowed, and oh boy it snowed big time. Walking in central London was amazing, powdery snow was falling on the ground, some, like me, were sliding away on the street and few crazy ones even laid on the ground in the middle of the street to make snow angels. Along with the fun in the snow came the chaos in the London transport. Not having luck with buses or taxis, we tried the tube. Even if most of trains were suspended, after a couple of changes, we did get closer to where we wanted to get to. When normally people on the tube are grumpy and avoid any sort of eye contact, then last night people were singing in unison the ‘Total Eclipse of the Heart,’ loud and proud and smiling! It felt like a shame to leave.

Once out of the tube, we needed a taxi, we really needed a taxi. And there were none. Or there would have been one in an hour or so. We started waving and begging and eventually one of the drivers showed some mercy and took us on. He was telling us, how the snow takes away all their businesses, even there were many people like us, who really wanted to get home for a cup of tea, the roads of London become dangerous and taxi drivers would rather not risk getting stuck in small streets or denting their car and have a day off instead. Although he did say to take the risk that night, because he needed the money. Oh well. Snow, anyway, I love you!

absolutely love SNUG

I absolutely love SNUG. There’s no doubt about it. When I got my hands on the mulled wine kit, I was sold. I looked at the website and guess what!!?? (Whaaat?) They sell mirrors in tennis rackets. Can it get any cooler than that? Let’s all get snugged - in UK and beyond.

Feed 5000 people @ Trafalgar Square

Last Friday I had a pleasant stroll to Trafalgar Square, as it had come to my knowledge that a few NGOs, with the initiative of a young writer had come together to feed 5000 people in two hours in the middle of London for free. You’re thinking, there isn’t such a thing like free lunch, is there? Well, in all fairness, the idea of the event was to raise awareness on the issues many of us already know of, but don’t actively do much about it. Main message was, that we waste too much, even before the food reaches the shops from where we could buy it. The lunch, for example, was prepared by ingredients, mainly vegetables, that otherwise would have not been used, as they wouldn’t have fit the cosmetic standards of supermarkets. In addition to the free curry queue, there was a queue that took people to mountains of carrots and potatoes, rejected by supermarkets, where everyone could help bag the vegetables to be sent to homeless shelter across London. Not sure if this was what people were expecting though by entering that queue.  In addition to that, there was another queue, to get a glass of ‘rejected’ apple juice and another one to feed the residue of preparing the juice to a happy pig, who had temporarily settled on the square. Lots of passers-by were happy, tourists were happy, the pig was happy and I was happy too, so perhaps we all learnt that there isn’t a true need to reject wonky carrots against all the standard ones. Perhaps sometimes it would even bring some excitement to the dinner-table and anyhow shouldn’t I have right to choose the type of carrots I want to eat?

Berkeley Square

The island of Slowing Down The Time

So, as I didn’t quite realize before,  August is the time of the year, when people like to go away. Preferably to a nice sunny warm place for holidays (Meaning: Days free from work that one may spend at leisure, especially a day on which custom or the law dictates a halting of general business activity to commemorate or celebrate a particular event.). Being one of the many, I followed the same path. It happened that one morning in August I opened my eyes on a warm sunny island called Bozcaada. It’s Greek name is actually Tenedos and what took me there in the first place is what it’s famous for > wine. Not something you’d go to Turkey for, eh? The little island, roughly triangular is shape and 39 km²   in size, is full of for vineyards. One can taste the local wine in one of the many restaurants at the only village on the island, which feels I would say .. fellinesque. Cobbled streets, dim lights, barber shops, cats and dogs hanging about and not letting themselves be bothered by those occasional calls for prayers. The little fact, that it was Ramadan just as I was there, wasn’t obvious at all. The restaurants were plentiful of people and no-one seemed to say ‘no’ to a sip of wine.
Accommodated at a little pansion Gülerada I had the pleasure to have a great view across to vineyard to a beautiful quiet beach. I was very excited about the fact, that everything they offer at the breakfast table is ‘home-made’. The cheese from their goats, the eggs from the happy chicken roaming about and the jam from the fruit next door and the watermelons from the garden.
Talking about local wine ,well. They’re very proud of their local grapes kuntra, vasilaki, karalahna and cavus and the main wine producers are Corvus, Camlibag, Gülerada and Talay. And not being an expert, I’d say that some of them tasted really quite nice, whilst others had a slight note of vinegar.

For those of you having more interest in Bozcaada wines, I’ve grouped some links below:
Corvus, wines from Bozcaada
Çamlıbağ winery
Talay winery
Gülerada wines and jaaaaam
The island recession forgot

Must say though, there’s no place other like Booo-cz-aa-daa.

Mr. Tube driver – you’ve made my day

On a grim day, a grim day like this, it’s pretty tricky to keep an upbeat spirit. End of the working day, gray skies, rain, down the escalator to take the tube and it’s packed. Massively. You get in, relief. And then you hear through the microphone ‘Dear passengers, I know it’s common sense, but pleeease do not obstruct the doors and let other passengers out, otherwise we’re just not going anywhere.’ Before exiting at the next, the busiest station of London Underground,  he says ‘Dear passengers, I would just like to thank you for your amazing cooperation on this journey. We were experiencing some problems in other stations, but you lot were absolutely brilliant!’ Me and quite a few others went out to the gray with a light grin .. What a pleasant journey. Made me even look up some facts about the Underground.

Why I love London?

Quick and easy answer: lots of happening for someone who likes the word ‘random’ and loves the unexpected. As it happened, on Sunday I was happily strolling along Little Venice, when I spotted a crayfish chilling in the water. And I even took a picture. After a slight admiration in fact, I felt rather spiritual and as one does on a Sunday – I spotted a church and of course wanted to pay a visit. I did hear a slight noise from outside…

… but nothing prepared me for what I was about to experience.

 

The entrance of the church had been decorated with balloons, people from various parts of Africa standing outside  wearing glossy white robes and there stood a lady in a colorful dress and had a marvelous hair decoration. ‘We’re celebrating the church’s anniversary, everyone’s welcome to join. Come in!’ And there I was – it felt like in movies, but it was actually just here, in London.  Balloons, costumes, non-alcoholic malt beer, spicy food and drums, several and loooud, singing, cheers and smiles.  That’s not what going to church is about, I’ve always thought. But am glad one can preach differently. Halleluujah!

Meet my buddy Solar

This post is just to tell you about a cool and most importantly, a very necessary invention for people like me (you’ll recognize ‘us’ by the sentence ‘Sorry I couldn’t take your call, my battery had died’). Well, these days are long gone thanks to a group of young student entrepreneurs, who have invented the SolarBuddy. As being part of Junior Chamber Commerce in London, I was fortunate enough to go along to Young Enterprise Awards and  see how these 18-year-olds pitched their ace idea and left me with, well, no excuse after my £5 purchase to have a dead battery. And yes, even the English sun shall suffice.

Spreading the word .

Just spreading the word ..