John - Archived Entries for 2023 / 9

Dr John Hawkins

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

John's Journal / Blog: Main Index
Archives
RSS
John's Pictures: Main Index
Main Index (text only)
Categories
Recent Updates
RSS

Recent Entries:: Saturday
Erika Back from her School Trip
Cambridge
Pineapple and Eataly
Oxford
School Trip
Dim sum
Autumn Equinox at Avebury
The Eve of the Autmn Equinox
Another Random Evening on the Heath
Kentish Town
Gin and Tonic on the Heath
Monday
Rain and Shine
Vegan Fried Chicken and English Sparkling Wine on Primrose Hill
Crocker's Folly
Cider on the Heath
Blackdown
Westminster Pubs
Monday
Erika's Birthday
Chocolate and Escape Room
Pre-Birthday
Pineapple
Wednesday
Monaco to London
Monday in Monaco
Aix to Monaco
Eating in Aix
Port d'Alon

Saturday: [Saturday 30th September 2023]
Went to Kings Cross in the afternoon, don't remember why. Oddly wore my top hat in the evening out in the garden. Also don't remember why.
[No comments]
Erika Back from her School Trip: [Friday 29th September 2023]
Erika returned from her school trip around lunchtime. Temaki sushi for dinner.
[No comments]
Cambridge: [Thursday 28th September 2023]
As a follow-on to my excursion to Oxford this week, today I went to Cambridge for a tour of the pubs there.
[No comments]
Pineapple and Eataly: [Wednesday 27th September 2023]
Lunch at the Pineapple with Chie, then later on we went to Eataly and had dinner there.
[No comments]
Oxford: [Tuesday 26th September 2023]
I went to Oxford for the day to do a tour of the city's pubs. Didn't take many photos as I was mainly recording video.
[No comments]
School Trip: [Monday 25th September 2023]
Erika was heading off on a residential school trip today - four night awa from home! In the evening Chie and I went to Diwana on Drummond Street for dinner but I seemed to get a rather severe stomach ache on the way home.
[No comments]
Dim sum: [Sunday 24th September 2023]
Went for dim sum at our old favourite Joy King Lau.
[No comments]
Autumn Equinox at Avebury: [Saturday 23rd September 2023]
Woke up early and actually made it to Avebury in time for the sunrise for a change! Glad I did as it was a particularly magical one.
[No comments]
The Eve of the Autmn Equinox: [Friday 22nd September 2023]
Took the train to Swindon then a bus to somewhere near Avebury in plenty of time to have a long walk around the surrounding area, taking in Windmill Hill, West Kennet Avenue, Silbury Hill, Swallowhead Springs and West Kennet Long Barrow before finding a place to make dinner and hunker down for the night.
[No comments]
Another Random Evening on the Heath: [Thursday 21st September 2023]
Running out of things to say about these trips to the heath! Relatively nice sky this evening but also a bit of lightning at one point!
[No comments]
Kentish Town: [Wednesday 20th September 2023]
Filmed another pub documentary, this time in Kentish Town.
[No comments]
Gin and Tonic on the Heath: [Tuesday 19th September 2023]
Spent the daytime in St. James's filming another pub documentary.

In the evening a quick gin and tonic on the heath while Erika was at her woodwork class.
[No comments]
Monday: [Monday 18th September]
[No comments]
Rain and Shine: [Sunday 17th September 2023]
Headed to the heath for the aftenoon / early evening. Rainy to begin with but cleared up later.
[No comments]
Vegan Fried Chicken and English Sparkling Wine on Primrose Hill: [Saturday 16th September 2023]
The girls were otherwise engaged in the afternoon, so I took a bottle of English sparkling wine to Primrose Hill, stopping off en route to pick up some vegan fried chicken to have with it.
[No comments]
Crocker's Folly: [Friday 15th September 2023]
Chie and I went to lunch at Crocker's Folly in Marleybone, a very grand former pub which is now a Lebanese restaurant.
[No comments]
Cider on the Heath: [Thursday 14th September 2023]
Took some of Dad's cider to the heath for a change from the usual wine.
[No comments]
Blackdown: [Wednesday 13th September 2023]
Got the train down to Haslemere so that I could revisit the wonderful Half Moon Inn in Northchapel and then walk up to Blackcap, the highet point in the South Downs National Park.
[No comments]
Westminster Pubs: [Tuesday 12th September 2023]
I spent the daytime down in Westminster making a video about the pubs in the area.
[No comments]
Monday: [Monday 11th September]
[No comments]
Erika's Birthday: [Sunday 10th September 2023]
Erika's birthday, spent at home, with a few friends over for a little party in the afternoon.
[No comments]
Chocolate and Escape Room: [Saturday 9th September 2023]
The day before Erika's birthday. While she was at Japanese school in the morning I went down to Fortnum and Mason to buy her some chocolates. In the afternoon I took Erika and a friend to an "escape room" as part of Erika's extended birthday weekend festivities. After that gelato, then back home for a bit, then later on we went to the big Sainsbury's in Camden to buy things for Erika's party tomorrow.
[No comments]
Pre-Birthday: [Friday 8th September 2023]
Erika took some cupcakes into school ahead of her birthday. In the evening we invited one of Erika's friends over for a pre-birthday dinner.
[No comments]
Pineapple: [Thursday 7th September 2023]
Chie and I had lunch at the Pineapple.
[No comments]
Wednesday: [Wednesday 6th September]
[No comments]
Monaco to London: [Tuesday 5th September 2023]
We headed back to London today - me by train, the girls by plane.
[No comments]
Monday in Monaco: [Monday 4th September 2023]
I woke ridiculously early and went down to the hotel beach to watch the sunrise. When I got back the girls were still fast asleep so I went out again, for a morning stroll around Monaco, to see if I could find a spot with a nice view of the principality.

Then breakfast at the hotel, after which I dragged the girls out for another walk, to the market, our favourite lunch spot, by way of the Japanese gardens and the casino square.

Back to the hotel after that for more swimming and lounging around on the beach, then dinner ended up being back at the same restaurant as the previous evening.
[No comments]
Aix to Monaco: [Sunday 3rd September 2023]
In the daytime we took the (budget version of) the TGV from Aix to Nice, then on from there to Monaco, arriving at our hotel around 3pm. Spent most of the rest of the afternoon at the hotel's beach / pool. Then later on out for dinner at our old favourite restaurant on the beach, before heading back to the hotel for post-dinner cocktails (also on the beach).
[No comments]
Eating in Aix: [Saturday 2nd September 2023]
Quite a foody sort of a day in Aix en Provence today. Started with pain au chocolats at a patisserie, then went for a stroll around the market and more snacking.

Later in the afternoon Chie and Erika went for a swim in the pool at our friend's apartment complex, while I did more food shopping for dinner. I cooked my interpretation of Provencal classic "Petits Farcis" and while it was baking we had a quick outing to see the Terrain des Peintres, where Cezanne used to go and paint views of a nearby mountain.
[No comments]
Port d'Alon: [Friday 1st September 2023]
We spent the daytime at a little cove / beach called Port d'Alon which our friends who live in Aix had discovered. In the evening back to Aix for dinner at a Lebanese restaurant.
[No comments]