Pictures: Dartmoor February 2023 Saturday 11th and Sunday 12th February 2023 A quick weekend trip to Dartmoor for a wild camp in a stone circle (!) while the girls were in the Canary Islands. London February 2023 February 2023 Pictures from London in February 2023. Scottish Borders January 2023 Friday 20th - Saturday 21st January 2023 A brief trip up to the Scottish borders for a Burns Night themed wild camp at St. Abb's Head, near Berwick-upon-Tweed. London January 2023 January 2023 Pictures from London at the start of 2023.
London December 2022 December 2022 Pictures from London in December 2022.
[Sunday 26th February 2023]
Our little cherry blossom tree is flowering a bit. Chie put out the hina matsuri dolls, and we also converted the Lego bonsai tree to its blossom configuration.
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[Saturday 25th February 2023]
Went to the Seven Stars and met Andrew in the afternoon. Didn't take any photos when I was out but did record some video.
[Friday 24th February 2023]
Another visit to the heath, once again sat at the base of a tree for a while, I seem to have gone off benches recently and want to hide from humanity instead.
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[Thursday 23rd February 2023]
Made up for a run of long work days earlier this week by bunking off a bit early today for an extended time on the heath.
[Tuesday 21st February 2023]
Didn't have time to get to the heath today due to work getting in the way (ugh). Just some of the surprisingly cheap Gevrey Chambertin from Fortnum and Mason.
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[Sunday 19th February 2023]
Took Erika to the Science Museum in the afternoon, and we visited the "Wonderlab" exhibit. It was quite busy, lots of kids everywhere, and predictably with modern museums they'd managed to annoyingly politicise a lot of it. To be honest my favourite bit was the milkshake at the end.
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[Saturday 18th February 2023]
In the morning I went down to St. James's for a spot of shopping and a wander around (see video below for more).
Chie went out for the afternoon / evening. Erika and I couldn't decide what to do for dinner, but I eventually persuaded her to go out for at least a bit, and we went to the Korean food shop in Camden.
[Thursday 16th February 2023]
Early morning start atop the Seven Sisters, then headed back to London. In the evening a quick trip to the heath for my last few hours of doing my own thing before the girls arrived back from the Canary Islands.
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[Sunday 12th February 2023]
Woke up on Dartmoor, packed up camp and headed back to Okehampton for a fry-up at the excellent station cafe. Popped in to visit Dad before heading back on a late train to London.
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[Saturday 11th February 2023]
Got the train down to Okehampton, and was up on the moor not long after 2pm. Walked to White Moor Stone Circle and set up camp there for the night.
[Sunday 5th February 2023]
Chie again busy today, and Erika had more social engagements she needed to be taken to and from, so my afternoon was structured around that. I did get to pop to the heath for a bit inbetween.
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[Friday 3rd February 2023]
Popped to the heath for ESW and snacks to mark the end of the working week. Later on back at home the usual bean throwing customs for Setsubun.
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[Sunday 29th January 2023]
A much longer than usual perambulation on the heath this afternoon, including a foray up to Kenwood House to try and find some snowdrops, and a surprisingly nice sunset seen from atop Parliament Hill.
I made a total of two videos from this afternoon walk, first a slightly silly one looking for snowdrops:
[Saturday 28th January 2023]
Decided to go for a daytime stroll today, out in the Berkshire countryside, to revisit some old haunts - Goring and Streatley, then the beautiful Bell Inn at Aldworth.
[Saturday 21st January 2023]
Woke up on a chilly Scottish clifftop and was treated to an amazing sunrise while I packed up my tent. Went for a quick wander around Berwick in the morning, then spent most of the daytime getting back home to London, but happily wiled away the hours on the train editing my latest video.
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[Friday 20th January 2023]
A quick 24 hour trip up to the Scottish borders, train to Berwick-upon-Tweed then a Burns Night themed wild camp on the clifftops at St. Abb's Head. I had a really fantastic time, albeit a bit chilly the next morning!
Here's the video I made of the expedition, I'm rather proud of this one:
[Thursday 19th January 2023]
Popped out mid morning to buy a haggis for my upcoming camping trip. Just one random picture of some bags of popcorn outside a cinema.
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[Sunday 15th January 2023]
I went to the Theatre this evening, to see a one-off play about Norman Balon, the former landlord of the Coach and Horses in Soho - kind of a follow on to Jeffrey Bernard is Unwell. To be honest the play wasn't that great, but I managed to get a box and that was nice.
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[Thursday 12th January 2023]
Old work friend Gemma was briefly in town (she currently lives in the US), so we rounded up some of the usual suspects for a night out.
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[Sunday 8th January 2023]
We haven't been to Wahaca since the one in Kentish Town closed, and Erika wanted to have their churros again. So for lunch we headed to the original one in Covent Garden. Afterwards the girls went to do some shopping and I headed to the heath.
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[Thursday 5th January 2023]
Early evening visit to the heath. Later on in the evening we had another gallette des rois, and I got the "feve" (charm?) so wore the corresponding crown. Although it looked much better on Erika of course.
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[Wednesday 4th January 2023]
Got a new external hard drive to back up all the videos from my GoPro, and spent some time writing a script to do the backup and sort them into folders.
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[Saturday 31st December 2022]
The girls spent the daytime with Japanese friends, and I headed down to the South Downs for a windy/rainy walk around Wolstonbury Hill, and lunch under a tarp.
Back home for the evening to see in the new year with Chie and Erika.
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[Friday 30th December 2022]
Drove back to London today, and thankfully the drive was much quicker and easier than on the way to Wales - we left the hotel at 10am and even with a stop for lunch in Reading we were back home by just after 2pm. That gave me enough time to head off to the heath for a walk afterwards.
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[Thursday 29th December 2022]
I went for a short walk in the Usk Valley near our hotel in the morning while the girls availed themselves of the swimming pool at the hotel. For lunch we headed to Magor to meet Bec, Dave, Jessica and Louise, and then after that back to their house for most of the remainder of the day.
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[Wednesday 28th December 2022]
Headed to Abergavenny where we spent the afternoon with Robin and Robert, although I neglected to take any photos!
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[Tuesday 27th December 2022]
We'd decided to head to South Wales for some of the bit between Christmas in New Year, and to break up the journey we stayed in Bristol tonight, at the hotel with views of the Clifton Suspension Bridge. The weather was grim and the driving was awful, but it was a change of scenery at least!
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[Monday 26th December 2022]
I went for a short walk to the heath in the afternoon while Chie and Erika were visiting friends in Kings Cross. Later on in the evening we went to visit friends in Haringey, but I didn't take any photos.
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[Saturday 24th December 2022]
Went for lunch at Brasserie Zedel, where we had originally booked for our wedding anniversary at the start of December, but had to postpone as Chie had been ill at the time.
In the evening Erika constructed a gingerbread house and before bedtime set out the things for Santa.
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[Friday 23rd December 2022]
Chie was very keen to have a breakfast (albeit at lunchtime) at the Regency Cafe, and today was their last opening day of 2023, so we headed there in the daytime.
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[Thursday 22nd December 2022]
The solstice is actually a single moment in time, rather than a whole day, which happened just before 10pm last night. I'd heard Stonehenge would be observing the solstice at dawn this morning, i.e. the end of the longest night, so assumed that would be the case at Avebury too. As it turned out not a huge amount seemed to be going on, probably not helped by the fact it was grey and damp around sunrise and there wasn't much to see.
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[Tuesday 20th December 2022]
Chie went out for the evening. Erika and I ordered in sushi and sat on the floor eating it while watching the latest remake of Dickens's A Christmas Carol.
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[Sunday 18th December 2022]
Went down to Deptford to see Andrew, for what was supposed to be a gathering of a number of his friends, but in the end nobody else but me could make it.
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[Saturday 10th December 2022]
Chie was on the mend but not yet 100% so I took Erika to her Japanese school in the morning instead, and stood in for the duties Chie had been volunteered for (helping out with a sale of old books). After school finished, Erika and I went for lunch nearby and a bit of clothes shopping. Later on in the day I had a walk to the heath around sunset.
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[Friday 9th December 2022]
Chie was just about well enough to get out of bed for a bit finally today, so I took the opportunity to rewards myself for my very hard work with a very quick visit to the Pineapple.
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[Thursday 8th December 2022]
To top off a rather grueling week (Chie had flu or something so I was taking care of her while doing absolutely everything around the house in addition to my full time job) the dishwasher broke. In the evening I tried to lift my spirits by sabraging a bottle of ESW with a soup ladle, and Erika had a sudden craving for dragon fruit.
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[Saturday 3rd December 2022]
Attempted another wild camp this evening, but ended up giving up and going home as I ran out of things to do by about 7:30pm, wasn't particularly tired, and felt a bit daunted by the many dark hours which lay ahead!
[Friday 2nd December 2022]
Received a compression sack for my new sleeping bag / quilt today. In the evening Erika decorated our Christmas tree.
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[Wednesday 30th November 2022]
Went to see Erika's school play this evening, it was about the vikings, the topic her class has been studying this term.
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[Monday 28th November 2022]
Realised I hadn't even opened the bivvy bag I received with my new quilt last week, so tried those out together this afternoon.
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[Sunday 27th November 2022]
I was surprised to discover this morning that out old favourite dim sum haunt Joy King Lau had reopened, albeit under new management, with a different menu. So with a little apprehension we decided to go and try it out for lunch today.
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[Saturday 26th November 2022]
There was a train strike so I couldn't get a train back to London from Tring. Instead I got the bus from the foot of Ivinghoe Beacon to Dunstanble, and from there the Guided Busway to Luton, where trains still seemed to be running more or less as usual.
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[Friday 25th November 2022]
My new sleeping quilt (like a sleeping bag, but more open) arrived this morning, and I took it out for a trial run with a wild camp near Ivinghoe Beacon this evening.
[Saturday 19th November 2022]
Getting Erika to go to Japanese school on Saturday morning is always a bit of a struggle, but today after quite a tiring week and a late night the night before (not Erika's fault I should add) Erika really dug her heels in on the issue.Consequently she and Chie had a bit of a falling out this morning. So Erika didn't go to Japanese school, and instead she and I spent the morning / early afternoon baking a cake to try and cheer Chie up. Later on Erika and I went for a walk to the heath together to catch the sunset.
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[Thursday 17th November 2022]
I took Erika to gymnastics again this evening - this time in the car, and afterwards we once again headed down into Camden to pick up dinner. Erika chose Chinese food from "Vegan Planet".
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[Sunday 13th November 2022]
Up early, and a lovely misty walk in the morning back to Petersfield, then train back to London from there. The girls went out for a bit later on in the afternoon so I went for a stroll to the heath.
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[Saturday 12th November 2022]
Got the train down to Petersfield for a walk in that area - starting with a pub lunch at the beautiful Harrow Inn, and then up onto the South Downs somewhere around Harting for a wander and eventually a wild camp in my new tent.
[Friday 11th November 2022]
Received a new light attachment for my GoPro today. In the evening went down to Borough to meet the usual suspects.
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[Thursday 10th November 2022]
Went for lunch at the Pineapple with Chie. In the evening I took Erika to her gymnastics class, after which we headed down into Camden to pick up bubble tea and vegan fried chicken.
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[Wednesday 9th November 2022]
Approached Hampstead Heath from the Hampstead side for a change (wanted to go to the wine shop in Hampstead first).
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[Tuesday 8th November 2022]
After the absolute wash-out at the weekend attempting to sleep under a tarp, I had decided I should probably have a tent instead for those sort of weather conditions. It arrived today.
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[Sunday 6th November 2022]
After a particularly wild camp (constant rain and wind) on a hilltop I got up early and walked back to Hassocks, then got the train back to London. Quiet day at home for the rest of the day.
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[Saturday 5th November 2022]
I decided, perhaps ill advisedly, to head down to the South Downs and do a rainy walk from Hassocks to Lewes, where I caught a bit of the Bonfire Night celebrations there, before heading back up into the hills for a very windy / rainy wild camp.
[Saturday 29th October 2022]
I went to meet Chie and Erika at the end of Erika's Japanese school and we went for lunch together at the udon place in Brent Cross.
Later on I snuck out for a bit to make a Negroni on Hampstead Heath, and made a quick silly video while I was at it:
[Tuesday 25th October 2022]
Spent the morning with Alex and Alice, who were also visiting Devon this week, then did the long drive back to London after lunch.
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[Monday 24th October 2022]
I woke up early and drove to Dawlish so I could have a coffee on the beach around sunrise. Later on we headed to Teignmouth and got the ferry over to Shaldon, where Erika and I collected sea snails on the beach there. In the evening we headed into Exeter for Chinese food.
I made a video out of this morning's coffee on the beach:
[Sunday 23rd October 2022]
The weather forecast predicted fairly heavy rain later in the afternoon, so we tried to fit all our outdoor activities into the morning / early afternoon. So it made sense to stay fairly local to Dad's house, and we decided to go foraging for chestnuts and mushrooms in the woods nearby. A late Sunday lunch at the Ley Arms after that, then a bit later on after the rain stopped Chie and I ventured out for a walk to the Anchor Inn in Cockwood.
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[Saturday 22nd October 2022]
Spent most of the daytime driving down to Devon, including a return visit to the Lazy Lobster in Chew Magna for lunch.
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[Friday 21st October 2022]
Did some science experiments with Erika in the evening with a Japanese kit she has that recreates weather phenomena.
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John's Journal / Blog
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