John Hawkins

Dr John Hawkins

Welcome to my bit of the Maison de Stuff, home to a huge load of pictures, and my daily blog.

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Recent Entries:
Spanner
Wednesday
Tuesday
Monday
Dots, Tarp, Pineapple, Heath
Hanami and Al Fresco Dinner
TGIF
Thursday
Wednesday
Royal Automobile Club
Szechuan
Sunday Roast and the Heath
Day out with Erika
Jeremy's Art Exhibition
Thursday
Wednesday
My Birthday
iPad Mini
Dim sum and Stonehenge Exhibition
Early Morning Walk to Avebury
Walking and Wild Camping: West Woods and Pewsey Downs
Belgravia
Wednesday
Tuesday
Smit, Sainsbury's, Chocolate Mousse
Sunday
Lahmacun
Friday
Thursday
Gloom on the Heath
Pancake Day

Spanner
[Thursday 31st March 2022]
Unfortunately our plans for the upcoming Easter holidays went awry today - Erika tested positive for the lurgy, and with the girls due to fly out on Monday that looked unlikely to happen. Erika was consequently off school, so we had fish and chips for lunch to try and cheer ourselves up, then later on I went to the heath for a bit.
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Wednesday
[Wednesday 30th March]
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Tuesday
[Tuesday 29th March 2022]
Picked Erika up from her woodworking class in the car for a change, after which the girls went for dinner with friends, and I went for an evening stroll on the heath.
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Monday
[Monday 28th March]
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Dots, Tarp, Pineapple, Heath
[Sunday 27th March 2022]
Played with the Lego Dots making signs in the morning, and then I practiced setting up my tarp indoors. Lunch at the Pineapple (also played a game of Battleships there) and then later on in the afternoon I headed to the heath while the girls went to meet friends.
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Hanami and Al Fresco Dinner
[Saturday 26th March 2022]
Apart from breakfast ate both main meals outdoors today: joined some Japanese friends of friends for a Hanami in Regents Park for lunch, then later on dinner on the terrace of a nearby Italian restaurant with Erika's friends.
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TGIF
[Friday 25th March 2022]
End of the working week ESW on the heath.
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Thursday
[Thursday 24th March 2022]
Some more random midweek photos.
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Wednesday
[Wednesday 23rd March 2022]
A couple of random midweek pictures.
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Royal Automobile Club
[Tuesday 22nd March 2022]
Finally realised a long held ambition of mine to visit a St. James's club (if we set aside that one I was a member of for a couple of years, which never quite felt like the real thing). Thanks to Christian for taking me along as a guest. A very civilised and refined evening.
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Szechuan
[Monday 21st March 2022]
Another exciting Monday evening visit to the big Sainsbury's in Camden, and while we were down there we also fit in dinner at the new vegetarian/vegan Chinese restaurant there - in particular I enjoyed a fiery Szechuan dish.
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Sunday Roast and the Heath
[Sunday 20th March 2022]
Went to a pub we hardly ever go to in order to try their Sunday roast. I don't think any of us were particularly impressed though. Later on the girls went off to meet friends (I think) and I headed to the heath for a bit.
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Day out with Erika
[Saturday 19th March 2022]
Erika and I had a lovely day out today, starting with a visit to the Owl Bookshop (haven't been there in ages). Then to Bear and Wolf, our local cafe, for a late breakfast (I suppose I would have to begrudgingly concede it was something like brunch). Then we headed to the Pineapple, to read the books we had got from the bookshop, and then a late lunch. Later on back home and spent some time out in the back garden.
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Jeremy's Art Exhibition
[Friday 18th March 2022]
My friend Jeremy held an exhibition of his recent work at his house this evening, I took the girls along, and we had a quick dinner at a nearby pub on the way there.
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Thursday
[Thursday 17th March]
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Wednesday
[Wednesday 16th March]
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My Birthday
[Tuesday 15th March 2022]
A relatively quiet day, having had all my main birthday outings and treats over the weekend. Had a glass of Fourrier on the heath, and the girls made me a fantastic black forest gateau which we enjoyed after dinner.
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iPad Mini
[Monday 14th March 2022]
I caved in and ordered an Apple product. I'd been struggling to edit the videos from my GoPro using a Chromebook, and regrettably it seems it just doesn't really work for the 4k H265 video the GoPro records. I had to begrudgingly admit Apple devices are much better set up for this sort of thing.
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Dim sum and Stonehenge Exhibition
[Sunday 13th March 2022]
As another pre-birthday treat, we went out to our favourite dimsum place for lunch, then afterwards visited the Stonehenge exhibition currently on at the British Museum.
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Early Morning Walk to Avebury
[Saturday 12th March 2022]
It certainly wasn't a great night's sleep, with the wind and the rain, but probably an improvement on previous attempting at wild camping. Was all packed up and on the move by around 7am, and had a lovely morning walk to Avebury.
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Walking and Wild Camping: West Woods and Pewsey Downs
[Friday 11th March 2022]
I had the day off work today, and combined with my upcoming birthday I decided I deserved a treat, so headed off into the windy / rainy outdoors for a walk and some wild camping.

I got the train to Pewsey around lunchtime (timed to try and avoid the worst of the rain) then headed up to the Pewsey Downs, taking in West Woods (the likely source of the sarsen stones at Stonehenge), and then eventually had a windy / rainy night's sleep atop a hill.
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Belgravia
[Thursday 10th March 2022]
Went down to Belgravia to visit my dentist today, which meant as usual lunch at one of the Olivo restaurants - this time old favourite Oliveto. Chie joined me for a change, as she was working in central London in the morning. Sort of an early birthday celebration I suppose.
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Wednesday
[Wednesday 9th March]
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Tuesday
[Tuesday 8th March 2022]
The usual quick early evening visit to the heath while Erika was at her woodwork class.
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Smit, Sainsbury's, Chocolate Mousse
[Monday 7th March 2022]
Tried simits - Turkish bagels - at lunchtime. Then in the evening, after dinner, we had an exciting family outing to the big Sainsbury's in Camden. Later on back at home I made chocolate mousse using aquafaba (the water from a tin of chickpeas) which came out quite well.
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Sunday
[Sunday 6th March 2022]
Two visits to the heath today - Chie and Erika joined me for a walk in the morning, and then I went back later on in the late afternoon / early evening.
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Lahmacun
[Saturday 5th March 2022]
Erika had a picnic at her Japanese school today (despite the rather dreary weather). I went to a Turkish restaurant on Holloway road which I discovered had vegan lahmachun.
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Friday
[Friday 4th March 2022]
Just one photo of Erika wearing a cushion as a hat.
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Thursday
[Thursday 3rd March]
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Gloom on the Heath
[Wednesday 2nd March 2022]
A particularly gloomy stroll on the heath this evening.


I also took a few timelapse videos while I was on the heath and compiled them together with some suitably gloomy music:


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Pancake Day
[Tuesday 1st March 2022]
Pancakes after school, then I went for a walk on the heath while Erika was at her woodworking class.
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