"The solstice. Friday – at 5:04 am, Greenwich time, to be exact – marks the point at which the sun appears in the sky at the farthest point north from the equator. The Northern Hemisphere gets sunlight for a fraction of a second longer than it did on Thursday. From here on out, the days will get progressively shorter for those north of the equator, and progressively longer for those south of it. This will continue until December 21 at 5:11 pm Greenwich time, when the sun appears in the sky at its southernmost point, and the whole process reverses."
Lol. It was any other drizzly day with no sun. But lots of warmth. See how :)
As I went out today, I saw an old man right outside my building carrying a grocery bag way too heavy for him. Unsure at first, but I offered him help anyway. Fortunately for me, he accepted - for the walk till his home was a warmly informative one.
He told me how he was one of the first residents of the area, when there were no apartment buildings, and hardly any trees. This place was called "Docks" back then and had recently been renamed "Quays". He asked about me, and he told me about his family. It was all beautiful beyond words. <3
I then took out my map to make way for the Brunell Museum. Its walking distance from my apartments. The museum is about this guy Brunell (:-O) who got made ships and the tunnel under the Thames, back when they hardly had machinery and earth had to be dug up with hands.
Here are some snapshots of it. Frankly though, nothing that you will miss if you dont go there.
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| Entrance (closed due to an event rehearsal) of the Thames Tunnel. |
After the museum, I set out direction-less-ly to explore the neighbourhood. I found a cramped Malviya nagar type colony here! Look!
And this this I found really weird. The combination of Church, playground for kids, and cemetery.
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| Playground with colouful slides at a burial ground!?? |
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| Cool, and continuous water cleaning |
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| I saw this. I wondered- Bombay?? like our Bombay is it? |
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| And then the next side of the gate was written THIS!! |
There was also a small restaurant overlooking the river here, Mayflower. After so much of warmth throughout the day, I found the guys in the restaurant cold. I would rather go here:
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| Beautifully done restaurant on the beginning of the road. Huge trees and outdoor seating in their well maintained garden. Indoor seating also available. The menu is all home cooked, made to order from scratch. Dragging my husband here asap. |
Oh look! (You cant really make out :P) but there are jams on round-abouts here as well!! :P
Beautiful Park. This city is unbelievably green <3
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| This tree is so green! Can you see the green-ness? |
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| Can you now? The bottle green shade just stood out so much! |
Within this park, I discovered a Bowling club. Not the Bowling you and I know of, its a different, engrossing sport needing a lot of concentration. The next post in the blog will be dedicated to that sport.
On my way back, the dark cloudy skies (On the first day of summer, mind you) gave way to little drizzling. As I brisked with my hoodie on my head, I spotted a Brazilian shop. What, an exotic shop and I wont go in? Is that even possible?
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| So, I sat down and ordered 2.20 pound Coxinha, which i suspected was something of a Chicken pakora |
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| And lo! It was! |
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| Oh! But not entirely! The outer most layer was that of very crispy breadcrumbs. According to the chef, the middle layer is made of out mashed Casava, more popularly known as Sweet Potoato. The filling was minced chicken breast, lightly seasoned with local herbs and salt. Quite a savoury for the weather outside! However, too bland for most Indians. |
O! And I also went to two different shops. One, to get an itenary for Europe, etc. and one really nice shop of clothes and accessories to buy sunglasses. Both guys spoke to me in Hindi!! They were both Pakistanis. So sweet and friendly. And it feels really nice to be able to communicate in hindi, without putting on accents and taking help of gestures :-D
The day ended with a small get together at out home. Friends, jokes, whiskey and Biryani- more than a cherry on the cake, isn't it?
Wow, London, your first day of summer is indeed warm...
