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RE: ๐ The Bright Lights of London
That sounds like a pleasant Friday night out in central London. The Blind Pig is just a fantastic choice. What I love about it is the atmosphere. It is not just another boring overpriced restaurant which the area is packed with anyways. I love the crazy cocktails and the impeccable service. I went there to get the evening started and then carried on actually having tea at Andrew Edmunds restaurant. Maybe you have already been there too? Green Park feels like home to me as well. The afternoon tea at the Ritz is like a conveyor belt, definitely not worth it unless you have just arrived in England and you have no clue about what you are missing on.
We only went to the bar bit at the top - which felt overpriced (2 options for bottles of beer - one ยฃ6.25, the other ยฃ7.50 - a crate of 12 costing roughly the same price). It felt a bit cramped to me and still being a bit worried about Covid, it took me a while to accept my Covid-fate and feel comfortable.
Andrew Edmunds restaurant doesn't ring any bells but names have never been my strong suit ๐ We went to 2 other bars afterwards and I don't have a clue what either of them were called. One was on the corner opposite "Jazz @ Pizza Express" - where Mr Mayor (Sadiq Kahn) was tucking into a pizza ๐
I've never been into the Ritz - it's got a reputation for Afternoon Tea but afternoon tea's overpriced everywhere so I can't imagine it being good value for money!
I am a big fan of him actually and maybe he is who I voted for earlier this year ๐ I volunteered for the summer reading challenge at my local library, before COVID of course. The initiative which you might have heard of encourages kids to read more books. Then they come to the library to speak to somebody like me about what they read, answer few questions and receive a sticker which they have a whole album for. Once they read six books, they even get a certificate with their name on and I used to make it as special as possible by standing up and giving them a massive round of applause together with whoever else is in the library at that minute. I am sure that some of the adults who just happened to be there at the time loved it ๐ So at the end of the challenge prior to the start of the school year we all had a meeting with Sadiq Khan who turned out to be very friendly and quite good with the children too.
I try to avoid politics as much as possible now but I've heard good things about Sadiq Khan. The person I sat next to at work campaigned for him some time ago and I think it shows that he's still kept his feet on the floor since coming into prominence.
The "book club" sounds very rewarding. What age group was it aimed at?
The book club was for kids aged between 4 and 11. Some of the children were quite shy at the start of the reading challenge but soon gained more confidence in talking about what they read. The kids were really incredible at simplifying the plot and they easily managed to see themselves as one or more of the characters. They were also quite good at interpreting what they read and giving examples based on their family and daily routine.
That sounds really cool and a great group of ages to be working with. the-toddler-gorilla loves his books and I sometimes just make up a story instead of reading the real one. Or change one of the characters to be him or the-mrs-gorilla. He now points at the picture below and says "that mummy" (not the cat) ๐คฃ
๐ Does the-mrs-gorilla know about this? I am sure that it is to do with her super powers ๐ Still I guess I would have been tempted to hide the book for a while till he forgets this ๐งโโ๏ธ It is awesome that you make up stories for the-toddler-gorilla. Usually adults are too busy. He is lucky to have you. I still have a childhood memory of my grandmother falling asleep while reading me a story. I bet she was tired from work. She was a teacher and probably read a lot to her class earlier that day. I really look forward to reading your story based on @bambuka's childhood challenge. If you have an Alexa device in your house she also has quite good stories and you just need to ask her to tell you one. For holidays and special occasions even interactive stories are released. There was a fun penguin tale for Valentine's Day this year. So you can just listen carefully, answer questions when asked and make your very own story. The penguin always ended up in a bit of trouble and messed up a lot but it was fun.
the-gorilla-mother-in-law was here when I first introduced the idea. I tried to change the-toddler-gorilla's mind but he kept returning to the-mrs-gorilla being the witch. I shouldn't laugh - but I do.
I'm looking forward to Bambuka's challenge but I've struggled to make time to enter competitions recently. I've struggled to interact much beyond replying to messages and keeping on top of my Fantasy Sports posts. So I think I'll fail to make time. Which is a shame.
We don't have Alexa but that is a good reason to get one ๐
I totally get you โณTime is never enough. It is great though that we have a lot going on including here in the World Of Xpilar community. You have been very productive recently. You sometimes even manage to post more that once a day ๐ I am learning from the best.
We were treated to an Alexa device when renewing our broadband contract for instance so you might even not have to actually purchase one.