Horniman Museum and Gardens

Finally I have made the effort and started to explore and revisit parts of Forest Hill. I am including the link to Horniman Museum and Gardens.

www.horniman.ac.uk

This is very close to me here, down the hill and around the corner. It has always been one of my favourite places in London. I have had to adjust to change, from the intact Victorian museum, complete with all those old fashioned cases of animals, birds, but specially musical instruments. It was an experience to visit. Slowly they changed it bit by bit to better reflect 'culture mix' of this part of South East London. I am nostalgic for the old I have to say. We now have 'interpretation' of every blessed thing.

However, it is so popular, as they have school groups and today mother and toddlers (not forgetting the occassional dad and quite a few grandparents). It is not just making it 'relevant' to children, but making it interesting and interactive. There is a free Christmas carol concert coming up in a few weeks, and I will make sure I attend. It isn't just the organised activities that are so popular with toddlers it has a small collection of live farm animals, and you can see this is what the little ones love.

Last night the wind was so strong that it blew all the pollution out of the Thames Valley and I stood in the wonderful gardens at Horniman and could see the dome of St Pauls and the Gerkin (that strange looking modern building close to where I used to work in Algate). The grass was an intense green in the sunlight, and sky a blue that was bright but not as intense as an Australian sky. I meant to walk through the gardens, but was sidelined into the museum itself.

The cafe was full and is in part of the new building. The architecture here is so mixed, and I am not sure it all goes together. You have the original arts and craft rather over-decorated building -a lovely reddish colour, then the extravagent Victorian conservatory moved from the Horniman family home to the museum grounds some later time. In more recent years the Lottery Fund has paid for the significant modern sod roof building that houses the education and library facilities. More recently again, they have made a new entrance, all glass and jazz and this is where the cafe is.

Now, just an hour later the sun is gone, and the clouds are scuttling across the sky covering up the blue. Suddenly it feels like a different place.

The caretaker here has told me I can have a smoke alarm fitted by the local firebrigade for free, and as soon as he puts the leaflet through my letter box I will follow this up. He tells me that he has a spare door knob as my front door knob is damaged. He is kindness itself.

Do check out the website for the Horniman, particulaarly look at the gardens.

The new shelf joins Taymount studio flat

The new shelf

The new shelf has arrived! As you can see it is proving very useful. Not only have I shelved the TV, I have shelved my small collection of kitchen crockery, and in addition my books (mostly library books), plus my papers on the bottom shelf, Very handy indeed!

You can also see the wardrobe and the end of the bed. This bed, if necessary, can sleep two people, as underneath is another single bed that opens up to either extend the existing single to a double, or acts as a separate bed.

Cousin Mark has been along today to start work, so you will see coat hooks behind the door now. The studio room still is waiting for my lovely Norwegian chair/s (correction to my earlier description as Finnish).

What you can't see is that I have a new door lock, and very soon I will have a shower over the bath. The microwave will also be fitted on shelf in the kitchen.

What do I do all day in this small space? Today I woke up when the workmen arrived around 7.45am. I walked down the hill to the London Road and bought a paper, fresh milk and orange juice and climbed back up the hill. As usual I had my coffee, toast and juice reading the paper and keeping an eye out the window to see who comes and who goes.

The workman were busy today, although I only heard the occassional drill going, I think they working on another part of the building. I was watching out for the men delivering my shelf, and when they finally arrived I was able to see it in place (as you can).

At lunch time my aunt and cousin arrived and while cousin worked on a few small jobs in the flat, I took aunt down to the Weatherspoon pub for lunch. Another walk back up the hill, with me huffing and puffing and she telling me she would carry the shopping as I seemed to be having difficulty. At 90 years of age I told her it would be embarrassing for me to let her do this.

I watched one of my property programs 'Escape to the Country', then the news. I warmed up a quiche and a small pudding and now I am listening to Radio 4 and some wonderful music.

I really must get out a bit more and have something more interesting to tell you.

Looking out the window at Taymount

Looking out the window at Taymount.

This is the best part of the studio flat - the huge window that allows me to watch not only the weather but everyone coming and going.

You can see the small table I use to both eat off and use my laptop at. I have everything I need handy on the window sill. If you look carefully you will even see the woggle/toggle or what ever the thing is that I plug in to this laptop to get the internew.

Looking out you can see the skip where the workmen dump the rubbish from the renovation work. I took this picture when they were having a day off on sunday, otherwise all you would be able to see is vans everywhere!

I sat here today, looking out, and refusing to admit it was really quite dark at 4.20pm. When my typing became inaccurate to a point where I couldn't see the keys at all, I gave up, pulled down the blind and turned on the light.

I ate at the Wetherspoon pub again today, a sort of very late lunch coming very early evening meal. I was rewarded as there was a mid afternoon special of fish and chips and coffee for 3 pounds 25p! Beats trying to prepare anything in the tiny kitchenette. I have had two comments saying that the cooker looked quite good and why was I taking it out. So I am rethinking this one.

Until next time

Kitchenette at Taymount

Taymount Grange kitchenette

Here you can see the tiny kitchen area. We are looking from studio room, with the door to communal corridor on the right (out of sight) and the door to bathroom on the left (also out of sight).

It is to be redesigned, with a small microwave to go on a shelf on wall, the cupboards stripped out. A much smaller stove/hotplates hopefully will fit on toip of the exisiting fridge (still not fixed).

The workmen have been moving fast on the communal corridor and there is now another coat of undercoat on walls and the new lighting is movement sensitive - quite jazzy. The new door security system is now installed but not yet operational.

Bye again

Planning a revamp of the kitchenette

Hello to everyone,

Here at Taymount I am settling in and starting to plan how to make the tiny kitchen work a bit better. I still haven't managed to organise the fridge man to come and repair the fridge, so it is still a matter of keeping things on the bathroom ledge by the outside window, as the coolest spot.

I have discovered a small 'table top' oven and 2 burner top. I will buy one of these, and hope the fridge (tiny tiny) will fit under this on bench. I have bought a microwave, also small, that I want on a shelf above the sink. It is coming together in my mind, and I hope to get the work done within a few weeks.

The 'pay as you go' broadband mobile (wifi) is not functioning as it should, it is very slow and as I explained earlier in the week, I can't upload pictures. I need to deal with this, but with a pay as you go mobile phone as well, hanging on to wait for technical support would cost me huge amounts of money. I know reception is poor, so perhaps that is it. Any suggestions welcome.

It is busy around Taymount from 7.30am when the workmen turn up to work on the common passageways. I sit at my large window watching them come and go. This will go on for some weeks, right up until Xmas. At present there are lights strung up along the passageway as the electric cables have been stripped out. The wooden floors are very noisy, and I will be glad when the work is finished and carpets are down. As I am right next to front door, I hear everyone come and go. I have earplugs, and this helps.

I am currently waiting for the workmen to come and install my new system for door security. the caretaker, who I finally met this morning, has told me he will suggest they do mine first off.

The day is windy, grey and looks cold. I am of course not cold in here with this amazing central heating. I am in my light top, with the window open to keep the temperature down a bit.

Once the door security is done, I will be off by bus to check out if the secondhand furniture shops have a deep shelving unit, so I have somewhere to put things. There is really nowhere to put anything, and from experience I know that is the highly frustrating business of living in a small studio flat in London. I am also trying to get to the fridge repair man, and I may try to do that by bus as well. All this bussing around takes far more time than I am used to, but then again with no where to park, it is not a bad option.

Until next time

Second night at Taymount Grange

FINALLY ARRIVED AND MOVED IN TO TAYMOUNT GRANGE


Hello everyone,

It has been a week since my last post. I am telling everyone it is jet lag - the older I get the longer it takes to bounce back after that long hall flight. I rested up at a friend's place. Lovely autumn days, even blue skies some of the time. The colour of the leaves is wonderful. I spent these days walking gthrough woods and wandering around the Dulwich village.

It has also taken the week to try to organise the basics so I can stay here......not having a car is hard to get used to. I rely on the goodwill of friends to pick up and deliver the bits and pieces to make life possible on a rug. Cars here tend to me smaller as well, so that moving my lovely Finnish leather chairs is proving difficult. I have hopes that they will arrive within the week.

The surprising and interesting thing to discover was that my claims that the rug in Australia was the same size as the studio room here has proved wrong! It seems the real estate agents made a mistake and misread 16 feet for 10 feet. So I now find the rug needs to be stretched to 13 feet by 16 feet.....terrific to find the space that much bigger.

The size of the studio room was a positive as is the largely intact art deco bathroom. A few other aspects were not so good. There are things that need fixing, pretty important things like one of the locks on the front door doesn't work properly.

The tiny kitchen needs a redesign, and I will work on this over the next few weeks. The oven and hot plates are too big and take up too much room in the tiny area that has to deal with preparing food, storing kitchen things, cooking and washing up. I have found a small stove/hotplates that will plug in. The tiny fridge, only a few months old appears not to work and I am trying to find out why. Let's hope it is simple, otherwise it is a new fridge as well.

It is an interesting and challenging experience to prepare a meal with a non functioning fridge (I am using the tiled ledge next to the bathroom window as a cold space). So far I haven't managed to do more than a simple scrambled egg dish, and tonight is even less work - a Sainsbury's ready prepared fresh potato soup. It is having no where at all to put anything!

I've made my breakfast toast and coffee twice and enjoyed eating it under the big window watching everyone leaving for work. I look out over the trees and lawn area. it can b e noisy as the workmen are renovating the communal hallways, and they congregate outside on the portico for a smoke.

The wonderful thing is with winter approaching, I can look forward to being very warm. I have to keep the window open as the central heating is so efficient. The endless hot water and the comfortable and large bath mean I will be clean and warm.

The other problem for me was to organise my internet connection. No internet no blog.
This took me out to test the public transport from Forest Hill to the nearest large shopping centre and the internet shop. It was an interesting trip via 2 buses. I am now able to access my pay as you go broadband. If i can find 'hot spots' I will get free access. All this is new to me, and let's hope I can make it all work.

I will now try for 2nd time to up load a few photos. ...........and failed again......just keeps on telling me it is uploading but never seems to quite get there. I'll try tomorrow again.

The TV is working but tending to 'drop out' as reception isn't the best. I must sort out myTV license or else the TV license police will be after me. Here they send a letter addresssed to 'The occupier' threatening all sorts of nasty things as they say they can tell you haven't paid your 140 pound fee. All of this is a city where dogs require no license and young kids train killer dogs as the latest scary fashion statement for hoodies.

Off to eat the potato sout, and to do so I need to pack up this computer, as this is the table for eating as well as working!

Introducing Taymount Grange

TAYMOUNT GRANGE





Hello. I'm still in Melbourne but wanted to introduce you to the building where my tiny studio flat is. One large window belongs to the studio room and a small window belongs to bathroom. That is is except for the 5 foot square entrance that contains the former coat cupboard, now a kitchen. I've seen a photo but the reality will be something different I imagine.

:ovely Art Deco Grade II listed building on top of Taymount Rise in Forest Hill.

I'm also trying to get confident enough with the technology to do this alone after tomorrow. So here goes as I try to send it into cyber space

Wendy

On a rug in the Bend of Islands

Hello friends, family and all of you who are logged in!

This is post number 1of Life On a Rug.

I am standing on a rug at my home in the Bend of Islands near Kangaroo Ground, Victoria, Australia. Why am I standing on a rug, and why is my blog named Life On A Rug?

This rug is the exact size of the studio room in my flat in Forest Hill, London, United Kingdom. It is 13 feet x 10 feet. This blog is about the challenge of living in such a tiny space after the expansive space of my large mudbrick home on 12 acres of bushland on the outskirts of Melbourne, in the Environmental Living Zone.

This rug, as you can see, lies on the floor of part of my living room. The living room would fit three rugs this size, the kitchen one rug and the breakfast room another rug again. The house has three bedrooms, a very large studio and two attic rooms. You begin to understand the challenge.

Outside space will be another challenge. Here in the Bend of Islands I have a deck about 30 feet x 20 feet looking over the swimming pool, as well as all those acres!

Today is a beautiful late Spring day, the sky is that bright blue, the air is clean and the light is bright almost harsh. It is to be around 30 degrees C. today. Tomorrow I leave all of this heading for the late Autumn and a different life.

This blog is a learning experience for me, I have never done one before, and I am learning about uploading photos, and all that goes with putting a blog together.

Until my next blog from London, I will say goodbye.

Wendy