RUISLIP LIDO Railway

A delightful day, with sand and purate ships full of climbing points. After an affordable late lunch of melted cheese sandwich, carrot cake, we bought tickets for the miniature train.

The station shops sold buckets and spades.

The train chugged through shady woods. Walkers on the pathe beside the train followed dos and stopped to wave at us.

Half way along is a small station, no shop or cafe or toilets

, just some  flower pots and gnomes for photos.

The far end had a smaller cafe selling crisps. But enhanced by a teeny train running around ovrhead on two sides of the room.

Beyond the first car park, was the most expensive part of our day as we had to buy a full day's parking. 

A short walk or drive brings you to The Water's Edge restaurant, famous for its carvery Sunday lunches. 

Beyond that you are back on the main road  and Majestic wine warehouse which intermittently runs tastings.

 Website

Ruisliplidorailway.org

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Honey From Harrow and Beeswax Candles

 The Headstone Manor Museum held Headstone Village Show Monday 31st August, one of several events held this year.

Several sign boards are in the area and a kiddie playground. Dog walkers were having a great time and there are lots of benches where you can sit in the sun

The event cost us £5 and the first thing we saw was the museum which you can see at other times for free.

I was interested to see the explanation of the origin of the name of the area.

I tried rolling a candle, then sticking it together with a pin which has a bee on the end. You get to keep your candle which costs £3.

I also bought honey. The lady sitting at the back was not just the seller but also the bee keeper. She told us that anybody can keep a hive in their back garden. But if you put it on an allotment you need to register with the council so if there is any damage from or to your hive they know who to contact.

I also bought lip balm. The lipstick shape balm and smalll screw top tub were the same price. I fancied the lipstick but the tops come off and get lost so I chose the screw top as being more practical for travelling.

My other purchase was honey. Runny honey. To my surprise the three people on the stall told me that runny honey goes solid if you keep it long enough.

Wildflower honey jar. Photo by Angela Lansbury

The flavour of new honey like this is not as strong. But it won't last long enough to mature in my house.

The honey was sticky, didn't run down the jar making a mess but sat securely on the teaspoon.

Sticky in the mouth. It left a sweet aftertaste on my lips.

Altogether an entertaining day. I shall go again next year.

You can visit the small museum in the old building for free. The Moat Cafe on the site is open Tuesdays to Sundays, different hours winter and summer.

Useful Websites And Contacts For Headstone Manor and Honey

Www.headstonemanor.org

carolinesapiary.com

Carolines.apiary@aol.com

https://www.beehivecandles.com/help/beeswax-candle-burning-tips/

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Travel Round The English Language in German and French

 German words you probably know are kinderagrden from Kinder for child and garten meaning garden. Delicatessen reminds you of essen for to eat.

French words - we have a long list, over 300, without counting words in food, cuisine. The ones which immediately spring to my mind are bureau, desk,  chateau,  castle or mansion, chauffeur,driver, bouquet, bunch of flowers, and ballet. We eat croissants, which is French for crescent. In the kitchen we have a bain Marie, literally bath (of) Marie. 

German

essen - eat

Garten - garden

kinder - child

French

bouquet - bunch of flower

bureau - desk / office

chateau - castle, mansion (often fortified)

chauffeur - driver

coiffeur

I met a linguistics loving soulmate at Writers' Summer School and bought her book.

Notting Hill Carnival - travel and using phones

Plenty of uniformed staff were about on the Elizabeth line. Wearing orange for visibility. Although blue is used for staff interacting with customers elsewhere. 

Saturday August 29 to Monday 31st 2026 is a bank holiday in the UK. Banks, businesses and services and government offices are closed. Families are free to travel together because of school holidays. 

Busy Stations

Saturday the Notting Hill Carnival was tickets only. But the trains were very busy. Sunday and Monday the Carnival is a free for all event. More people travelling. 

TFL Uniforms

I looked up the TFL website on uniforms and was interested to see that when uniforms were updated they were made more breathable to copy with hot flushes for menopause, and with non leather belts and shoes for vegans.

Staff in uniforms can tell you where to find the escalators to your line when changing stations, and which line to take to partiuclar stations if you can't see a map nearby. There are also help enquiry points on walls so you can talk to somebody in a remote office and get advice.

Your phone will also give you 

railway station maps, and 

street maps with walking directions, and 

driving directions and estimated arrival times

expected bus arrival times

bus routes with stops so you can work out where to get off, and how many more stops.

You will see estimated arrival times to tell friends (but make allowance for traffic jams and how fast you walk).

When driving to and from London and other cities, if your Satnav fails or takes too long to programme, a passenger can use their phone to find directions with a speaking voice to guide you when to turn off a motorway or roundabout.

If you are driving solo, and lost, without satnav, you can pull into a parking place or service station. Programme your phone. If you don't have a holder on a window or windscreen, you can place it on the passenger seat, making sure it is somewhere it won't roll off into the footwell. Then listen to the directions, hands free, as you drive.

Watch out for phone thieves on foot and motorbikes, if you are using your phone to get directions when walking or standing at a bus stop. When possible, put your phone away, and/or stand where it cannot be seen nor grabbed. Or take an older phone. Or wear a mouthpiece or earpiece instead of a visible phone. Bluetooth can be activated by voice assistants such as Google Assistant or Siri. Ensure your phone and earpiece are charged and/or carry a charger.

Useful Websites

https://nhcarnival.org/

https://tfl.gov.uk/status-updates/major-works-and-events/notting-hill-carnival-and-august-bank-holiday-travel-2026

Tfl.gov.uk/carnival

https://www.londonmuseum.org.uk/collections/london-stories/origins-notting-hill-carnival/?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Notting_Hill_Carnival

https://www.facebook.com/NHCarnivalLDN/?

https://www.facebook.com/photo/?fbid=1324942236434270&set=pb.100067555190573.-2207520000

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=1281256414136186&set=pb.100067555190573.-2207520000

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Barbican outdoor cinema, and seating with ponchos

 

Barbican outdoor cinema screen and chairs with padded cusions. Photo by Angela Lansbury. Copyright.

The outdoor cinema is a huge screen in an indoor courtyard. Upright chairs are in rows. When you show your ticket on your phone you are given arched headphones, and collect a padded 'cushion' to place on the chair. 

We went on a Saturday which was a rainy day and were given a packet containing a folded rain poncho which was recyclable and collected afterwards.

To buy, tubs of popcorn.

The Barbican has several bars.

I stopped in Searcy's for hot chocolate and two of our foursome just had coffee, sitting at a table. I thought it was a bit pricey, but willing, smiling service from our Vietnamese waiter called Viet.

Notting Hill Carnival Long Weekend In London On Busy August Bank Holiday

 

Some London stations were busy on Saturday. Others were closed all the long weekend, eg Highgate. Our friends who lived there had to take a bus to another station.

Useful Websites

Tfl.gov.uk/carnival

https://www.londonmuseum.org.uk/collections/london-stories/origins-notting-hill-carnival/?

See my other post on the Notting Hill Carnival

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Easy Ways To Learn Languages - And Made Up Languages

 

 Flag of the international language, Interlingua. From Wikipedia.

Now German sounds like English

Italian sounds like Spanish

And Latin sounds like Greek

Although some old words vanish

Brand name bring them back

To remind us of words we lack

A gurtel is a girdle

A krawatte is a tie

So many words like English

Have you ever wondered why?

We have words which come from Latin

And words which come from Greek

And the French say le weekend

What a helpful way to speak

Some words are international

I'm sure you know them well

There's computer, and taxi

And menu, whisky, and hotel

Interlingua is a language

Made of words which are well known

But Esperanto sticks to simple rules

Is widely spoken, better known

I want to be bilingual

So I practise every day

At least I can understand and nod

On my next holiday.

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Useful Websites On International Words

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Interlingua

Esperanto

Duolingo.com

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