I'm inclined to agree

I didn't watch the TV series but when I saw The Hairy Dieters book in the display of new stock at our library, I thought I'd take a look.  

It has plenty of photos of inviting looking food and many tips on how to slightly adjust your behaviour and tastes so that you can quietly lose weight without feeling you are on a rigid diet.  All well and good!  

The Chewy Cranberry and Apricot Bites looked tasty and the cake tin needed refilling.  The ingredients included a delicious sounding mix of almonds, coconut, dried apricots, dried cranberries, sultanas, maple syrup, apple juice and porridge oats.  

Well, the recipe did say that it would become "thick and porridgy" and it was not wrong!  Oh dear, oh dear.  

My husband's verdict:  "I will never eat that ever again."

The book has been returned to the library!

Another London at Tate Britain

I only went to see Another London because entry was being offered at a discounted rate when bought with a ticket to the Pre-Raphaelites exhibition, my real reason for visiting (more on that later!). For me, it was by far the most enjoyable of the two displays.  

Waiting for the bus 1954 Marc Riboud

It is a collection of black and white photographs taken between 1930 and 1980 by foreigners either living or visiting London.  The smog, the Pearly Kings, the hats, the tailored outfits, the gloves, the east end, the west end, the lack of traffic, the punks, the cassette recorder.... Oh, it was just fabulous! 

Pearly King collecting money for the Empire Day 1935  Dora Maar

I'm far too nervous of taking photos of strangers but I am going to make an effort from now on to see the world with a visitor's eye.  What might look mundane today may well look fascinating in the future.

This exhibition ends on 16 September so be quick.

I blinked

In the days when I was pushing a pram, it was almost impossible to walk up the road without a middle-aged or elderly lady stopping to peer in to see who lay amongst the blankets.  All would tell me to enjoy these days, how quickly they would pass, like the blinking of an eye.  Sleep-deprived me couldn't wait for the days to tick by.

Now, nearly five years on, my little girl has started school.  I've passed her on to the education system and most of her waking hours will now be spent in the classroom rather than with me.  

There was no hoped for fourth, third, second or even one more baby to take out in that pram and I have now turned in to one of those women who stops to peer.  "Enjoy these days" I tell the new mums "they're gone in the blink of an eye." 

More Cornwall

A few more images from our week in Cornwall.  Despite many, many visits to the county over the years, I've never been to St Michael's Mount so this time I was determined to go.  

This was the route in and

this was the route out.  (I took the boat!) 

Eating a Cornish crab sandwich in the fishing village of Polperro, looking out over the roof tops and debating which we'd chose to live in. 

And down on Perranporth beach, near Newquay.