enjoying the sun

london 11.04am 17.3C sunny tuesday 2018

sunrise 6:52 AM

sunset 6:54 PM

Length of Day 12 h 2 m

Tomorrow will be 3 minutes 55 seconds shorter

looks like the equinox moves about , this year it is very late , only now 25th sept, has it come close to equal day and night. no wonder the official autumn date is 1sept. rather than the equinox, if it keeps changing every year.  after today, the nights will be getting longer.

it looks like it will be very sunny the whole day today with cloudless blue sky. that blue sky looks very Mediterranean. that is why the Med is such a lovely place to holiday. except on a day like this london is even better, because the light is just like in the Med, but it is not so hot. the temperature is just right. i was out there earlier, on the garden bench, enjoying the sun. and it was lovely.

 

quakers

london 7.44pm 18.7C sunny high 23C saturday 2018

we are having a sunny warm bank holiday weekend. from what i see, a lot are travelling. i was meeting up with my friend who lives in … oh dear the name just slips my mind justnow. our meeting place was victoria train station. anyway we were going to meet up with my friend who had come down from bournemouth to attend the quaker annual meeting at their headquarters near euston station. it is a huge building on  prime land.

my friend had been very keen on the quakers and had joined in their activities very actively. we are just going to see him, and attended one talk , about hinduism, before we had lunch. the canteen in the building was closed by the time the talk ended at 1.30pm so we had to go out to eat.

my friend wanted to give us a treat and he suggested going to an indian… it was one of many indian restaurants along this street just beside the euston station. i have heard of it, like a little india hidden in this small corner… we entered a all -you- can- eat for £7 restaurant. the waiters were very efficient, greeting us as soon as we entered and even though we thought there was a queue, they immediately ushered us to a table, so that we were not put off to eat there. we could see the dishes from outside through the big glass window, and that was quite a good advertising, as we can see what we get. there was another restaurant also all you can eat for the same price, but the dishes all have covers in them, with their backs to the window so we could not see what they are offering… and that seems to deter us. it is funny sometimes, when i think of it, to wonder what makes people go to one restaurant over another. it was certainly very busy that restaurant we were in, but it was a large place, even though it does not look it from outside. it has an upstairs section too. but it coped very well with that huge influx of eaters at that hour. and that was very good organising from them, because when we finished the crowd had gone… tables were empty and the waiters were less busy now… they were very efficient in removing the old plates too. and from what i see when my friend paid , they dont include the service charge, leaving it up to customers to pay it… whcih is rather a good strategy, as they are so efficient, and helpful… even agreeing to take a group photo of us with our camera…we were acting like tourists , my friends i mean. perhaps they are tourists that time haha. after all they both came into london from other parts of england. oh, i remember where my friend came, from stroud slough. i had to bring up a railway map to find out where he lives.  i thought he would be familiar with london, seeing it is not far from london, and he comes often. he can get a bus which is included in his freedom pass, so it is free. takes 2hrs the bus journey to london. it seems. i have never been to stroud  slough, even though he asks me to visit him. it is near southall, (or rather, they are both around  west of london. and i have never been there even though i hear so much about it being like india. 

my friend seems to like the food, but i find it quite ordinary… it was very filling of course, though we only have one helping. or rather it was so filling we only had one helping. and then went again just for the dessert, which was fresh fruits and some indian sweets. coconut candy and jelly. it might be agar jelly. it was his treat, which is rather nice of him to give us a treat. it made me so full that when my other friend and i took the bus down to chinatown, where he wanted to go, i did not get off with him . i had wanted  to get the free taco that world foods market was giving away free at 3pm, but i felt too full to want to eat anything. so it kind of spoilt that freebie for me, as i just did not feel like going there to get it. sigh, it is typical of life, no one giving me a treat for ages, than one comes just when i can get a free food offer from a eating place. but that is life.

it got me out and about, so i was able to see how others spend their holiday weekend. from the crowds in oxford st and regent st, i guess many are spending it shopping. or window shopping. there dont seem to be many with shopping bags, though it was about 3pm, so maybe they are only just starting. 

hottest day in april

london thursday 4.06pm 30.7C sunny (highest temp so far) 2018 virgin lounge

certainly very high temp today. you might well ask why i am indoors in the virgin lounge when i should be out there soaking in the sun. but actually i am glad to be indoors, it is hot out there… and i have noticed much as i like the sun for the vit D, i cannot stay out sunbathing for long. yesterday i tried to do it, but had to give up and go indoors after only less than 5mins. it is just too uncomfortable. i dont know how people can do it, sit out for long baking in the sun.

i think the the best time to do sunbathing is during the early spring, when the temp is about 11C and the sun is actually warming, so that lying in it  is really pleasant. 

my friend john who lives in bournemouth sent me some pics of the beach and it is very nice. it brings back nice memories of that beach with its colourful beach huts, the white sand and blue sky and sea; and makes me joyful.  but i dont envy him because i know it will be too hot for me to enjoy lying there. its enough to see it.

 

 

enjoy the beach. from my friend john’s pic of bournemouth beach yesterday

i went to the meeting of the ex east- west club members and it is lovely to have that excuse to get out and enjoy the sun  as i make my way to central london to the pub we are going to meet. just walking about in the sun is enough for me. 

 

looking forward to more sun as spring approaches.

london 6.38pm 6.3C dark , dry night monday 2018

we got a really lovely blue sky morning today. i tried to grab a bit of sun by sitting outside the library in pimlico and then sitting in the bus stand, where it gets the full sun. i have to grab the sun whenever i can. there were clouds that block its rays and when that happens it can get really dim, and cold. but when it does shine i can sit out on it, without fear of getting sunburnt. 

met up with ian at about 3pm, on our monthly meetup. this time we met at the ageuk cafe in tavis house, near tavistock square in bloomsbury. i think tavis house is their headquarters.

the cafe sells really the cheapest coffee i know in central london, only 50p for a mug of filter coffee. and their lattes and capuccino is £1.20. and we were about the only ones there, apart from two others. one thing though, groups book the tables for later that evening, from 5.15pm, all the tables have small cards on them telling us they have reserved those tables from 5.15pm. so you will be tuft out for them. but we are ok, as we will be ready to move when 5pm comes round. 

actually tavistock square is a really nice square to sit in, at least the glimpse i had of it when i got off the bus before i cross the street to the ageuk building. this area of bloomsbury  is rich with squares, russell square is nearby too. i can see they will be perfect to hang around in during summer, though london is full of squares and so i can most probably find plenty nearer to where i live. 

in fact, i was telling ian that i should sit out in the sun more. and this brings to mind that i should take up the habit of going nude sunbathing in hampstead ponds once march comes round. just to get my dose of vit D. something to look forward to i think. not this month of course, as it is still cold. but March would be a nice time for it.

what is needed is some kind of windshield. if u can find a warm wall, that blocks the wind as well, whilst facing south to catch the full rays of the sun, you will be cosy. i should keep an eye out for such a warm corner hidden away somewhere so that there is plenty of privacy. and near where i live so dont have far to go. 

if the sun is shining, it is really lovely to go there and bring along a packed lunch and coffee in my thermos, and soak up the sun. and there wont be any danger of sunburn.  all the nicer because it wont be crowded, unlike in summer. 

i have been mildly wondering at the happy happenstance that this month, february is so short, so we can have a short winter as it were. or make ourselves feel that we have a short winter. it might well be 1st March and it may still be very cold but psychologically we can make belief that spring has come. later tonight, i see a tv program by mary beard talking about julius caeser , and she mentioned that it was he who invented a new calendar to replace the old roman calendar, and it is his calendar that we are using now. i wonder if it is deliberate of him to make february ,a winter month in the northern hemisphere, so short, really way shorter than all the other months.  

 

 

i saw the power of the sun in bleaching things, when the bus passed the shop window of some expensive carpet shop on piccadilly. they have huge carpets hanging on the window display and all of them were bleached white, all their colours and patterns gone. i thought it was quite an unnerving thing to see… and certainly did not make me want to buy a carpet. haha. but it did forcefully show how the sun is great for making whites whiter. if u have often wondered why indians in india are always seen wearing such brilliantly white clothing, making you think how do they get their clothes so clean and white… and spotless… now you know. it is the sun.

london 2.07pm 14.2C sunny virgin lounge friday 2017

i have been talking of how unfuturistic my world is and have wondered is it just me, or   maybe others live a more futuristic life with voice command in their houses to control things. and i read this today about a parrot who have discovered it…. ordering alexa to switch on all the lights and when it did, having a good chuckle over it. haha.

spring seems to be here.

london 5.12pm 14.3C sunny . its the highest temp today. monday 2017

its a very pleasant day, blue sky and sunny all day. a good day to sit out in the sun and enjoy the vit D being made by the body. but i have so gotten into the habit of not doing it, that i did not sit out in the sun today. habits die hard.

i was in the bus to brixton, as i have run out of ginger and so went there to buy some. and the only sun i got is the one streaming in through the huge glass window in the front on the top deck.

coming back i thought of making a pot of tea and bring it outside to the courtyard and sit there drinking it. and just have some quiet time where i dont do anything but sit there with the sun full on me and just soak it up. but somehow when i got into the flat, i got distracted which happens to me a lot and my good intentions just flies out of the window. and i stay in and potter around.

i am hoping that the sun stays out for the rest of the month, so i gradually get to break the habit of staying in. its been so long since i sit out in the sun just doing nothing but enjoy the sun on me. i am talking of years here… i have to resort to seeking to stand in the unshaded part near the bus stop, so that i can get some sun whilst waiting for the bus, or walk on the sunny side of the street when i am walking about just to be able to get some vit D.

but definitely there are all the signs that the weather is becoming spring like now. it is rather fun these changing seasons. one of the joys of living here. 

added. today is holi, celebrated by hindus, but malaysia dont celebrate it much. that is why i am not familiar with it. here in london, all festivals are celebrated and so there is a place which have an organised celebration, where they throw the coloured water, or powder. u have to buy a ticket to join. i guess just as well, as not everyone enjoys being splattered with coloured powder (or water… or have i confused it with the thai new year celebration?)   when they are just minding their own business or just walking about in london. 

added 7.32pm 14.2C night . i have noticed a new format for writing the post. it says a lot for the new layout that it was seamless with the old format, and very intuitive, so that it was easy to use it, things were clearly signposted and the old functions were easily spotted. i was able to find out all the new changes even before i read the post by the wordpress people about it. so that is a huge plus. there were none of that hiatus and confusion and frustration when u cannot find those buttons u used to find so easily. haha. so i would say this change has been very well done. congrats guys. not often we can say it but this one deserves an accolade.

 

you can get too much of a good thing

london 9.55pm 21.7C thursday 2016

this morning the temperature looks innocent enough, but yesterday it hit a high of 32.4C in my area of london. for half an hour it was over 32C, between 4.48pm and 5.15pm. definitely it is the hottest day of the year so far. i slept through it haha. my bedroom is cool.

it was plenty hot,at one stage,after my nap, i walked into my lounge and a wave of hot air met me; i thought i had the heater on, even though i have no heaters in the flat. they are all stored away and never been used for ages.  it was that hot. haha.

it looks like it will be just as hot, though a bit less so today. but it all goes back to normal tomorrow. hooray.

the sun is one of those things that that old saying about too much of a good thing applies. just because a little of it is good, a lot does not mean it is better.

in fact, i find that is so of life. practically everything u can think of that is good, a lot of it does not mean it is better.

 added. 10.56am 26.1C  i got an email saying it is hamburger day today and to celebrate prime burger is giving a voucher for 20% off . i have been to them at the euston branch when they were giving away free burgers and i like their 2 patty hamburger. costing £10.90. so for today that will cost £8.10. tempting. it is two huge beef patties in that one bun. 

i like that they can cook it with a raw centre if u ask them. done like this, the hamburger is more tender and not so hard.

but this article says it is dangerous to do so, and warning households who are barbecueing hamburgers not to do it. (it’s a telegraph website and if u have used up all your quota of free articles u might not be able to read it. though i find if u clear your cache, u can )

it seems it is ok to do it with steak because the germs are on the outside and can get killed on cooking, so the raw insides are ok to eat. so it is ok to eat rare steaks. but with minced meat, the germs are mixed up inside the hamburger . so how come these posh hamburger joints can offer it? do they buy really sterile steaks to convert to mince and is there such a thing as sterile steaks?

so maybe i might reconsider asking them to cook it rare for  hamburger now. maybe another reason not to go eat these expensive hamburgers. stick with macdonalds or burgerking then haha at only £2 each with a voucher. and u get fries thrown in too. though everytime i am tempted to use that voucher i know i can buy 500mg fresh mince beef for that same money and make my own for that money and get 4- 6 hamburgers out of it and cooked the way i like too.

when i cook my home made hamburgers i like it cooked right through. but then i like searing the outer bits at high heat, to get that charred taste, and  that cooks the insides well. but when i do it i like the insides done well, because when i do it, the hamburger is not hard. 

all that charred meat…  just as well i dont eat them that often. maybe once a year if that. this is because there are so many many other easier ways to cook minced beef…

when i buy hamburgers from the fast food joints, they dont sear their outsides… maybe because of health reasons. we have been warned enough of charred meats and cancer… and so the insides can be raw, it makes it more tender to eat. i noticed if they cook it right through the meat becomes quite hard.

 

too much sun now

london 12.07pm monday 2016 25.3C sunny

so sunny , sun streaming in through the windows making a glare that makes it difficult to see the tv screen images. so i had to draw the curtains on one of the windows. i know, it is awful that i had to do that. now we got sun i end up shutting it out. is that not perverse of us human beings or not! actually it makes the flat cooler too, without all that hot sun coming in to warm up the air inside. 

if i were god i would be grumbling at these ungrateful human beings and why i bother to create them in the first place… a waste of time… they call to me wanting something, and when i give it to them they spurn it and grumble away. its the same when i give them rain, they complain there is a drought and call for it, and when i give it to them in buckets, they complain too much and grumble away …

(i am a human being and i will ask of god  why god dont do moderation, haha. its like he is a petulant old git who says u want water, you can have it in buckets …. and flood us out of house and home. why cant he give us just the right amount… though come to think of it, the uk weather  comes close to perfection … a little bit of everything and never too much of anything. granted these few days we are going to have it hot, but hey, it is only for 3days and we get back to the normal 25C )

if i were god i will have to question my blueprint on human beings… unless of course i create them like this just to make life interesting. haha. i am sure god must be bored with just being by himself all perfect and wonderful.humans with all their perverse contradictions must be a huge relieve from the tedium of his existence.

ah well, it is nice to get this hot weather especially since i know it wont last. so enjoy it while i can. makes me glad i dont have to go to the mediterranean  for this weather, i cannot stand the plane travelling, the congestion at the airports, and the long tedious flights, and then to arrive to all that confusion of a foreign language i cannot understand so that simply buying something is a fraught and complicated affair.

 added. 12.40pm i was at the library earlier this morning and read it in the papers that there is huge disruption at heathrow because of delays with their new computer system… (it is a recurrant problem it seems when they put in a new system or upgrade the old one…it was installed earlier this year and this is the 4th time it failed) but i did not really realise what it can be like until i read this article about schofield, a tv presenter raving away on twitter when he missed his flight to the sun because of the delay in checking in. well, haha. haha. that is what happens when u follow the herd and travel around now, school holidays and summer crowds makes travelling at this time, even without the computer hitch a murder to do. with all his money why phillip schofield wants to join the herd, i wonder?. isn’t the whole thing about being rich is that u can travel outside the crowded herd periods? the wildebeest that is the school holiday crowd have to travel at this time. with all your money why join them in that mad rush to the sun now. unless of course phillip is just another person tied to his job and dictated to by his job requirements so not as free as he would like.

makes u think really. we might be more free than he is, for all his money. 

Digital StillCamera

5.27pm 30.2C that is what the london weather website says now. is it really? cant say i notice it because i am inside my flat with the curtain drawn and it is cool in here. i just woke up from a nap. though i can see bright lights coming in through the other window which has the curtains open. that window faces east actually but it is bright from the reflected sunlight coming from the brick facade of the block of flats opposite the courtyard. the other side of the flat, where the windows faces west are not very bright. this is because the sun is blocked by the flats opposite . come sunset the sun will be shining straight into the flat.

i shall most probably venture out at about 6pm, to the tesco where i want to buy some frozen chicken pieces. it is double tesco points today, an offer that is on over the weekend and that expires today. not that i take much heed of it, but i do have a craving for roast chicken of all things. funny that because roasting chicken in the oven will make more heat in the flat seeing that tomorrow they forecast it will be even hotter. … can we see high of 32C tomorrow!! that would be quite unheard of so i think a thunderstorm might happen tomorrow to dampen it all down. hoho. and it might be today is the highest temperature we shall get.

i know i should be out there soaking in the sun. if i have a weaker mind, i would have succumbed to that uneasy feeling that i am letting the chance get away , maybe the only chance in the year to get this sun on me with this high temperature; but i could not be bovvered. haha. 

london today is a place in the sun

london 4.48pm 21.9C (high of 23.8C) sunny friday 2016

i have been to the place in the sun exhibition in olympia earlier today. all those stalls selling property in all those countries in europe,mainly featuring  france, spain, italy, a small portion in greece, and even as far away as florida, usa. selling a dream really.

going there and coming back it was glorious sunshine, with people enjoying the sun in the seemingly endless greenery of parkland that comprise holland park and kensington gardens along whose southern boundary  the bus runs by. and i was thinking hmm, today of all days it is such a good advertisement to stay in london, in fact the whole weekend is going to be hot and sunny, all the things those who want to buy abroad look for and which is what entice them to go. and here we have it right at our doorstep as it were, without having to travel miles, or spending a fortune to get it. so why are we thinking of buying abroad then?

the big downside to uk is that the sun does not come up on order… whilst abroad in europe, it is reliable and delivers as promised. that is the big difference between the sun here and that in europe bordering the mediterranean sea, at least in summer. that sea and its tideless shores makes that region so enticing i think and their long dry hot summers makes it perfect for holiday makers. in fact, in olden days even their winters are cherished by brits and americans too. 

but i also am reminded that constant sun is not all that great either… without some variety to make u realise what it is u missed, u can get a bit fed up if it is always sunny and hot. and the hot arid landscape , all brown and parched is not really very easy on the eye, at least to me, who likes the green of england. 

you have to experience it to make u aware of it though… people who have never lived through a drought, (the endless days and nights of hot sweltering unrelenting heat can be murderous);  will never realise how wonderful it is to get rain. but the dream of hot summers by the sea somewhere in europe lives on in many of us living in uk.

in fact, i was thinking now anyone could go to little india, and order the different indian dishes and can transport themselves to india via the cuisine and this warm weather we are having now. in fact, they could do the same for every other country u can imagine, because london has the most complete service of all the cuisines of the world in one city. though the scenery which is unique to each country will be absent here of course. this is where nature tv programs can help bring us a taste of that country. immerse yourself in vivid HD as it shows u the local fauna and flora of faraway places  all in the comfort of your own home. perhaps that is why we all love a good nature program. and a lot of us must be grateful for david attenborough who turns 90 on sunday who with his life on earth nature program was the first nature program to  introduce us, or me at least, to this wonderful world; and  who will have the boaty macboatface ship be named after him. i think very appropriately too, even though i do love that boaty name. haha. they are not getting rid of it entirely as they will name the submersible after it. 

Digital StillCamera

Digital StillCamera

Digital StillCamera

 

basking in the sun

london 5.12pm 21.9C sunny tuesday 2016

first time this year that i sat out in the sun and basked in the warmth of it. it was about 3pm i think when i did it. the sun was shining strong enough to make me take the collapsible garden chair that i found a long time ago, and set it up in the courtyard facing the sun and sit there to enjoy the full blast of heat . and took along a book, two books in fact, because it was two sessions of heat  interrupted in between by a period when the sun got hid behind a big cloud that make me go in.

sometimes i think that is all life is about, to be able to sit in the sun and just enjoy its heat. just like those lizards we see in nature programs; and this we do in these northern climates, when winter is over and the sun sheds its welcome heat on to us.

very different from the fierce heat of sun in the tropical countries, when everyone flees from the sun if they can help it and hide away in the deep dark shades.

the temperature i see in the weather website now for london is 21.9C. i wonder if there is some mistake. looking at the various locations in london in westminster,as shown in the website  it ranges from 12.8C to 23C.

times like this when i would like to have my own thermometer to record the actual temperature outside my flat.

here is to all of us people all over the world who are enjoying just sitting in the sun, wherever they may be, and in all types of surroundings , whether sitting by the sea, on a sandy beach and hearing the sound of the waves, or in the countryside, with lush vegetation and birds singing. whether sitting in the sun, or in the shade of whatever trees there are, with fruits or without. all of us having this one thing in common, enjoying the sun.

 

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tulips coming up to take its turn now to bloom. the daffodils are on the way out. that is a war memorial to commemorate the animals that are used in war.

Digital StillCamera

Digital StillCamera