A Grand Start to My London Trip

It's my first trip to the UK and, as always, I'm giddy with excitement. 

London is bustling, modern yet still had that old world chic, it's interestingly diverse, very cosmopolitan.  Rome was charming but it felt old and decaying inspite of the grandeur;  it's definitely past its heyday.  Barcelona has that modern vibe and old world charm as well,  but London just felt more sophisticated and urbane.  I love it.

Everytime I go to a new city,  I love to simply walk around and feel the place as soon as I arrive.  We landed at 6am, with barely a wink during the long, uncomfortable flight;  my colleagues and I just dropped off our bags at the hotel, then hit the road.  Breakfast would be at Hyde Park, at 350 acres one of the largest parks in London and one of the four Royal Parks.  It is a 20-minute walk from the hotel.  I was told the cafe will be along the Serpentine lake.  How cool is that?!!

Equestrienne in Hyde Park

On the way, I started soaking in the sights around me -- the posh apartments with flowers on the window sill, the beautiful architecture of the Museum of Natural History, the Royal Albert Hall.  Hyde Park is indeed big;  it  the very green park teeming with joggers, bikers and even elegantly-dressed  equestrienne.  In true English fashion, the weather was fickle with the sun and a light drizzle alternating while we walked,  it was also quite cold.  It felt strange - summer but we were all bundled up, for me summer means shorts and halter tops!



Lido cafe

After what seemed like a circuitous route inside the park,  we reached Lido cafe.  What a lovely place!  My spirits quickly soared.  We chose to sit outside, where we could watch the ducks on the lake.  (There was ongoing construction across the lake, most likely related to the upcoming Olympics. The triathlon will be held in Hyde Park.)  As we chatted and shared food,  the clouds parted and the sun shone. 


Serpentine lake behind me

What a grand start to my London trip. 



A Green Sunday

A green environment requires effort from all of us to reduce waste, and also segregate them to help improve garbage-handling. Most Asian countries have very poor waste-handling facilities. We all should pitch in - after all, it will be our kids who will be living in and inheriting this earth.

I have been bringing my own shopping bags long before it was fashionable. Segregating waste takes little effort, anyone can do it. Composting is something we also try to do at home.

Last week, I got my kids to help out in composting. It was my maid's day-off, so we cooked and cleaned-up together.  Here are a few of the stuff we did to make our part of the world a little greener.

My daughter H helped cook the rice; on a small pail, she collected the rice washing. On this, we also washed the eggshells I used for the breakfast omelette. It boosted up the nutritional value that the plants got when we used this to water them.   

Using a shovel,  we dug a shallow pit on the backyard.  Into it went peelings from the oranges and mangoes from breakfast, and the tomatoes and bottle gourd from lunch.  In two weeks, those will turn to soil. 

See the papaya plant? It just started growing. And the plant at the bottom (with smooth leaves) is a jackfruit. The other plants are peace lilies we've planted a few months back, and they're thriving.

We have been composting since we moved to this house,  the soil around has become quite fertile.  We've seen tomato plants, bell pepper plants just sprung out because the seeds love our soil. It's hard to explain the little joy I feel seeing plants thriving around the house,  seeing something come to life.