4 Things…

..That we saw at the Transport Museum this afternoon. Well, we saw lots of things, but since I can show only four, here you go:)

Well, might not be able to show, but there’s nothing stopping me from telling:)

We ended up at this museum because Daughter heard about it at school and had to go there. It was a sad, wet day, so this seemed perfect. We reached the museum only after lunch, and after over 30 minutes of going around searching for parking. Term break times are the very worst times to go anywhere. Even more so if its a wet day. The other day, we went shopping, and the whole country seemed to have descended on that mall.

We went there with no great expectations. It started off with some displays of fire engines and emergency vehicles over the decades. Very fascinating, to say the least. It is amazing to see how it all evolved into what emergency vehicles are today. Daughter got an activity sheet to do, and that was all she had eyes for, after that.

The exhibits took us through the modes of transport, starting from the first bicycles all the way to the fastest car in the world which holds the world record for breaking the sound barrier. They even had a simulator which gave us an idea of how that historic ride must have been. The evolution of engineering was so fascinating to see.

This was one of the most fun museums that we have been to. If you are interested in things like this, and you are anywhere near Coventry, this is one place which is a must visit.

Posted as part of May Photo a Day Challenge.

Tool

The tools that have been getting a wee bit rusty.

I baked after what seems like a long, way too long break. Our favourite olive oil orange cake. And it was yum! I don’t have the picture of the cake though. It got cut into, before it even cooled:)

Posted as part of May Photo a Day Challenge.

Kiss

This one had me in a tizzy.I couldn’t find anything that could pass off as a kiss. I didn’t want to give up so close to the finish line too.

I went about checking leaves, plants and flowers, and of course, it had to rain, and it all made my life doubly difficult. This morning, I chanced upon these bunnies in Daughter’s toys. Was I  glad!

Posted as part of May Photo a Day Challenge.

What You’re Doing Now..

..watching the telly. My favourite program, The Apprentice, actually the only thing I watch. But this is one thing I actually wait for. And when the season ends, I’m actually sad.

Also, its half term and husband has taken the week off. It promises to be a busy week with lots of fun. Hoping that weather stays decent enough to do some day trips, but knowing our luck we might have to make do with wet, cold and windy weather.

Posted as part of May Photo a Day Challenge.

Can’t Live Without.

…so many things. The one thing that has kept me sane is my dear darling phone. I wouldn’t know what I would so without it. Especially in the last one year when I was so much on the move.

I wake up to its chatter, and am never fully awake until I’ve browsed a bit on it, checked out my favourite blogs, run through Twitter, checked the weather. You get what I mean, I’m sure.

And this is the only picture in this challenge so far that I’ve put up a picture not taken by my phone. I’ve been too lazy/busy to hunt through my archives, in the laptop/hard drive, so there again, its been my trusty phone that came to the rescue. Husband keeps asking me if I don’t want to upgrade, but I’m still besotted by it. Somethings are just made for you, aren’t they? In my case, my phone is one of those things.

These days, it’s got an ugly cover over it. It does look much more sleek and elegant without it, but you see, I dropped it once. In india. It fell on my vitrified tiles and the screen smashed into a million pieces. And so did my heart. My domestic help was there and was shocked to see me crying holding the phone close. Funnily the touchscreen still worked, despite all the cracks.

To cut a long story short, it all got sorted and my phone was back to its orginial condition, and my wallet weighed a lot less. Ever since its got a cover, protecting it. Can’t let clumsy people like me harm it, can I?

Posted as part of May Photo a Day Challenge.

My Favourite thing to do on a Sunday..

.. to go on long walks. And not just on Sundays, any holidays, for that matter. But Sundays, seem to be the days when we did this the most. It has almost become a tradition while in the UK. Not so much in India, though.

We’ve been lucky to have wonderful green areas to walk in. Some places we had wooded areas minutes away, other places had parks, and sometimes we just walked around the neighborhood. Whatever the weather might be. A walk right after breakfast, is for us, the perfect start to a Sunday.

Posted as part of May Photo a Day Challenge.

Us

Posted as part of May Photo a Day Challenge.

Go

Ready, Set, Go! Fingers crossed, it works! That’s me, all set to try my new handblender.

I wish it were as simple as it sounds, but nothing ever is, is it?

One of the side effects of relocating, settling in, and then re-relocating is that half your possesions seem to be in transit, permanently. I’ve got one stand mixer with food processor, one mixer grinder and one wet grinder coming in my shipment. So understandably, I was not too keen on buying another kitchen appliance, but. There’s always a ‘but’, isn’t there? I needed something to puree stuff and the like, so decided to buy a basic, really basic hand blender, to make do, until I get my stuff. So I went and picked up something for £6.50. Then we went to another shop(we did a LOT of shopping), saw something similar for 4.50. Had to buy that! It was 2 pounds cheaper! So I had this other blender to return which decided to do that another day.

On opening the pack, realized that it was one unit. The blade unit could not be detached so washing it would be one big hassle. Why on earth, would they manufacture something like this? Its plain ridiculous! That had to go back. So now, I have two blenders to return, and a new one to buy.

The next weekend, we went about returning blenders and buying a new one. A more expensive one this time, the cheapest clearly had issues.

All was fine, it looked perfect, had a bunch of attachments(which I didn’t really need, but were nice to have), and I looked all set. So I attached the chopper, just to test it out, and tried unattaching it. It refused to budge. It was stuck, and refused to move. I got a little worried, so decided to leave it until husband gets home, and have him have a go as well.

The next weekend, when he got home, he got to have a try, but no luck. So we had no option but to take it back to the store, where the manager looked at us rather suspiciously,thinking, I’m sure ‘who are these people who can’t make a blender work?’ but returned it anyway. Thank god for that! It would have been 30 pounds down the drain otherwise!

So I had another blender to buy. This time, I did research, loads of research, read through every review available on the net and finally picked up this one on Amazon. The first thing I checked that all the parts fit and come apart. Fingers crossed, it will work. You guys wish me too, ok? And it works, I promise you a delicious smoothie when you come visiting 🙂

Posted as part of May Photo a Day Challenge.

PJ

This has to be the toughest prompt so far.I’m sure I will have PJ pics, but I’m not too keen on having to dig them out at the moment. Nor do I particularly want to put up my pics in PJs.

Yesterday, I had this plan of going to some shop and clicking a row of PJs on display. But lost my nerve. I had clicked pictures of furniture in India, to send husband to show him the ones I liked, while we had been doing up the flat in Bangalore, and had been told off by the salespeople. Here, getting caught clicking PJs might make me sound like some perv. I’m not sure explaining about May Photo A Day would quite cut the ice.

I wish I were in India, it would have been not so difficult catching aunties in their nighties, walking about, in broad daylight. There are people who land up in their PJs on the school run here too but are better camouflaged. A friend of mine used to extoll the virtues of boots and a long coat. Apparently once you fling a long coat and boots on yourself, you can wear what you want underneath and nobody would ever know. Apparently she went on the school run in her PJs regularly. I wish I could catch someone like her on the school run today….

That was wishful thinking. Most of mums I see are immaculately turned out. Just my luck. So I have no option but to put this up.

These are harem pants. I had picked them up from an export surplus shop in Bangalore. On a lark, and loved them! Of course, can’t be seen in public in them unless I got myself some slim hips and a super nice, slim waist but are they comfortable! Just perfect! Just perfect as pajamas!

Posted as part of May Photo a Day Challenge.

Change

If there has been one huge change for me, this time round, from the last time we were here, it has to be with my means of transport.

These days you could find me rummaging through my handbag hoping to find the right change for the bus.

You see, I am ‘carless’ at the moment. Rather, I have a car which I can’t use. You see when got my license last time, I was in a tearing hurry, and we had an automatic car, so it seemed sensible to just go in for the automatic license. Husband got himself a new car, a manual one. I had plans of taking the test for the manual, but then didn’t feel like wasting the money. I could find much better use for it, I was sure. When we relocated, we sold my car, and husband held on to his, of course. Now, we’ve got one car sitting idle in the driveway, as husband works in Glasgow. So it makes more sense that I get the license and drive it, rather than buy another car. So until I take the test, I’m stuck with traveling in buses, which is not as bad as it sounds.

There are some instances when it drives me crazy, though. Like the time when I miss the bus by seconds. Or when I lose track of the time, while I spend the day cleaning and ironing, and miss the bus. Or when Amazon decides to deliver a package just when I am about to step out, and naturally, I miss the bus. Or when I miss my stop because I’m lost in my thoughts, and then have to walk all the way back. Did I tell you that I managed to walk back 3 miles one day? I walked and walked, because the next bus was half an hour away, took the wrong turning, and ended up in a lane where the bus does not go. Finally reached the next bus stand, after walking for 30 minutes, only to find that the bus was a few minutes early and had already left. All I could do was walk all the way back home. It wasn’t too bad, because I was in no hurry, and the weather cool enough to enjoy the walk. But I do wish that the bus is late, sometimes. At least on the days that I am late. Thankfully, none of this happens on the way to school in the mornings. Mornings are the one time, when we are normally perfectly on time and so are the buses. Early days, though, who knows how they will change.

Sometimes, I hate the extra time(and effort) I spend, but it’s not too bad actually. Husband does not understand why I can’t just take a taxi. Well, taxis are not half as much fun! The people you see, some are sweet characters, full of cheer and goodwill, even when drenched completely in the rain. There are some who are lost in their own worlds, some who are busy herding their children through the bus, exhausted with the effort of ensuring that none of their brood has got left behind at the previous stop. Some intrigue me, like a girl and her mother who are always on our bus. Actually I’m not sure if she is the mother. She looks young, late twenties, while the daughter(if she is her daughter) looks about 12 or 13. And I’ve never seen them exchange a word. They get on, sit apart on different sides of the bus, and yet they are together. On the way back the older lady/mother carries the girl’s bag. There is something weird about them. I’ve just figured watching them that they are together, but can’t figure out what their relationship might be. Not that it is any of my business, really. But I guess you can figure out why I find buses so much fun.

There are other benefits of becoming a frequent traveler on the buses, the drivers come to know you. Once, a driver stopped the bus, mid way, way before the bus stop, so that daughter and I didn’t have to run! I was so shocked, and delighted, I must have told him a million ‘thank you’s.

And yes, the one thing that is annoying is, hunting for change, so I’ve gone and bought myself a bus pass. No more change, it’s just a wave of the pass now.

Edited to add I would think this qualifies as change too. New beginnings, changes…

Posted as part of May Photo a Day Challenge.