This proved yet another immensely enjoyable weekend. Friday night was excellent too. I only had to do 10 minutes work at my second job as they were closing even earlier than usual. So I had time to go home and spend an hour on a sunbed enjoying the warm sunshine before getting ready. I'd been looking forward all day to going to Las Iguanas with Colin where we spent another very pleasant evening. We'd booked our table an hour earlier than usual due to the fact we had an early start next day.
Next morning I woke up having slept through an hour of clock radio music and realised I only had 40 minutes to get ready before Colin arrived. What a rush and luckily I had thrown a few things into my case the night before or I would never have been ready in time. He arrived at 6.15 and I was ready by half past. We got to the station in good time for my bus departure at 7.15. It had to be a bus journey again on this occasion as I didn't know I was even going to London until a few days previous. Train tickets cost far too much unless booked more than 7 days in advance.
On this occasion I was wearing sensible shoes - my trainers and socks, my new shorts and a camisole top - all ready for another hoped for day of sunshine (which luckily proved very warm and sunny indeed). Also I was trying out my new mini trolley case (purchased for when I'm on the move from one town to another in Peru) and what a difference - to be able to trundle it along behind me instead of staggering under the weight of bags as on my last visit to London two weeks earlier!
The bus arrived in good time and I got off at Earl's Court at 10.15 and from there made my way to Notting Hill Gate and then on to Portabello Market. When I arrived at the spot where I expected to see Claire and Aquiles, Tarpuy were in the middle of a set and Victor looked really amazed to see me there (as we'd been in email contact the day before and I hadn't mentioned I was coming to London. The reason for not telling him was being careful not to let one band know what the other one was doing. Had he known I was coming it would have told him that Claire and Aquiles would be in the market and given him an unfair advantage to get the best pitch! And as it happened they got there first anyway. So I stayed listening for about half an hour and when they took their break I chatted to them for a further 20 minutes before going further into the market to find Aquiles and Claire - Victor having explained exactly where to find them. Whilst with Victor I was delighted to see Suzanna, Carlos' wife who was pushing baby Tupay in his pushchair. It was great to see her and have a chat. Tupay is really gorgeous - 17 months old now. Before leaving Tarpuy I gave Victor a cassette of Illapu music that I had copied for him, much to his delight as he only has one of their CDs and I have seventeen! I also purchased a Bolivian CD from Santiago which he had brought from his recent visit to France (knowing how much I adore Bolivian music).
When I caught up with Claire and Aquiles their friend Ricardo was with them and all three of them were pleased to see me and the teasing started pretty well immediately! Eg me pulling his leg because he hadn't got up early enough. He said they had arrived really early but that Tarpuy had arrived even earlier! Ricardo went off to the nearby pub and came back with some beers and we drank them and chatted in Spanish whilst Claire and Aquiles did one last set for almost an hour. They sang three new songs which will be on their next album so that I could hear them and I enjoyed them very much. Ricardo has only been in London 9 months so in order to help him with his English whilst I practised my Spanish, we decided that I would speak to him in Spanish and he would speak to me in English, correcting each other whenever we went wrong. This proved very beneficial throughout the weekend as I gained a lot in confidence speaking in Spanish and Aquiles was really impressed at my progress, especially whenever he surprised me by saying something in Spanish direct to me and I understood and replied in the same language!
After their set at Portabello market they packed up the equipment as they were contracted to play from 2 pm to 5 pm at the Sundance market, which was situated about a 15 minute walk from Sloane Square. Again I was glad to have my trolley case and sensible shoes on as we had to get a move on to get there in time. The Sundance market proved to be a very upmarket complex all owned by one man - a restaurant and series of shops, juice bar and Vietnamese Noodles bar - all purely organic. Ricardo and I were able to sit down next to where they were playing and chat throughout the whole time they were playing. It was still very warm and sunny and I felt quite sleepy at times and had to fight to keep my eyes open! They took a break a couple of times during the afternoon and during the second break we all decided to try the Vietnamese Noodles soup which was really delicious - noodles and vegetables in a delicious clear soup, topped with piles of chicken. And there were condiments to spice it up - chilli sauce, oyster sauce etc and we all thoroughly enjoyed it. Claire and Aquiles got theirs free for performing there and I treated Ricardo to his as he had paid for all the beers.
From there we made our way to Charing Cross and Aquiles left all their equipment in a Left Luggage place until the following day. We just missed the fast train to Lower Sydenham where Ricardo lives so caught another one which took us halfway and then got off and caught a bus the rest of the way. On arrival we went straight to the supermarket to get the necessary items as the plan was that Ricardo would cook a barbeque for the four of us. However time was marching on so we decided we'd have a meal indoors instead. We bought wine and beer to accompany it and back at the house put the music on and Ricardo said that after our meal we'd do lots of dancing to the music (he knows how much I love to dance - it was him who had been teaching me a Peruvian dance at Sol Andino two weeks previously).
On arrival in the house I was delighted to see their three birds - two cockatiels in a cage and an Amazon parrot not tethered on top. I was enchanted with the Amazon parrot and spent a while trying to get him to talk - but he wouldn't do it for me! I helped with the food preparations and we had the music on whilst cooking and made a start on the booze. When eventually it was ready it was a really delicious Peruvian meal. Only problem was I sat on the settee afterwards and fell asleep almost immediately so no dancing took place! They didn't wake me up so all four of us ended up spending the night there!!!! Ricardo is living with his three nieces at present, so the mattress he normally sleeps on he brought into the lounge for Claire and Aquiles to sleep on. When I woke up, quite early next morning, Claire was on the floor beside me and Aquiles on the mattress and when I looked round for Ricardo I saw a pair of legs sticking out from under the table and it was a struggle not to laugh as he had slept on a quilt under the table!!!!! I just about managed to get across the room to get to my case and made it into the bathroom and had a quick shower and when I came out the others were waking up. Claire said she'd tried sleeping on the mattress but every time Aquiles turned over he knocked her off the edge of it and when she'd climbed back on about six times she gave up and slept on the floor!!!!!
We had time for a glass of fruit juice each and then had to dash as it was a 10 minute walk to the mainline station to catch the train to London. This came along bang on time at ten to nine and as I had decided to go to Brick Lane market and Claire had to dash home first, we got off the train before the other two. I left my trolley case for Ricardo to look after and we were all meeting up again later in Covent Garden.
Claire and I caught another train and she got off at Whitechapel and told me to get off at the next stop - Shoreditch - which would be right bang in the middle of Brick Lane where the market takes place. She also explained how to find my way back to Covent Garden afterwards. At Brick Lane I was in two minds whether to look around the market or call on my ex husband Labu who lives in that vicinity. My dilemma was solved when I asked a stallholder the way to Hanbury Street and was told it was only a 5 minute walk away. So I decided to visit Labu instead. I had written to him earlier in the week to say there was a possibility I might visit. At the block of flats I rang the bell and his wife Rekah answered and said to come on up.
Up I went the four flights of stairs and at the top her door was open and I went in and she was struggling into her dress hurriedly! They hadn't received my letter so my visit was a complete surprise but she seemed very pleased to see me nonetheless, and Ryan who is now about 9 I think was delighted to see me too. Rekah set to and prepared some coffee and breakfast and phoned Labu to say I was there and that I couldn't stay too long, and he promised to be there in about ten minutes.
When he arrived he was really delighted to see me, saying he had missed both me and the boys and he wants to see them again and I gave him all their phone numbers so that he could make contact direct and arrange to go down to Bath and even stay at the house if he wants whilst I'm away. We were able to catch up on all news and then I asked if he could give me a lift to Spitalfields market as I was running out of time and he gave me a lift and dropped me off at the right entrance to the market so that I could find Victor easily and showed me where Liverpool Street station was so that I could get the underground afterwards. He gave me a big hug before I got out of the car and promised to keep in touch.
In the market I saw Victor and Catalina setting out the jewellry on their stall and went up and put my arm around Catalina and she was really pleased to see me and we embraced and had a chat - and Victor was pleased I had popped in as well as he had invited me the previous day to visit their stall in the market if I had time. Whilst getting the stall ready they were playing the Illapu tape I had given him and really enjoying the music. I stayed with them about 10 minutes, wishing I had time to stay longer as the whole covered craft market looked so interesting.
From there it was about 8 minutes walk to Liverpool Street station, three stops down the central line to Holborn, a quick change and one stop to Covent Garden. When I exited the station I found the others less than 50 yards away, awaiting their turn to play. I had about half an hour with them all before taking my leave of Claire and Aquiles - Ricardo having decided to accompany me to Victoria Station and see me on my way.
I had already invited him down to Bath for the following weekend so he was able to see where he could buy his bus ticket at the same time. We arrived at Victoria in plenty of time, took note of which gate the bus would depart from, checked out the whereabouts of the ticket office - the queue for tickets was horrendous! - and then as we still had over half an hour we decided to have a drink while waiting. We went into the Tapas Bar opposite first but couldn't have a drink there unfortunately as their licence was such that you had to eat tapas in order to have a drink - which would have been nice but unfortunately we didn't have enough time. Luckily there was a pub a few yards away and we enjoyed a nice cold beer in there until near the time of my departure and we took our leave. Ricardo promising to buy his bus ticket the following day for the coming Friday when he will visit Bath for the weekend. Not having been outside London in his nine months in England he is really looking forward to it.
Claire and Aquiles will be arriving before him - either today (Tuesday) or tomorrow and will stay until Sunday as well. Claire is performing in the opera Carmen at the Theatre Royal in Bristol for 4 nights Wednesday to Saturday - just evening performances - with Claire and Aquiles playing their music in the daytime as well. She is going to get complimentary tickets for all of us to see the opera - probably for this Thursday which is the best night for us. Whilst with me I will cook Aquiles favourite dish - Rocoto Belleno - plus I have another one I want to make for him - Carapulcra made with Pork. I plan to do a barbeque for them at the weekend with my speciality recipe of Tandoori chicken, spicy pork kebabs and other things. Goodness knows when I'll have time to prepare for it - little by little throughout the week I expect. With only two weeks until my departure for Peru it's another busy week ahead - visits to my sister Tracy, the bank, then sister Kathryn tonight, followed by Slimming World and then up to Colin's house to show him how to get to his email. Tomorrow evening to pictures to see Pearl Harbour and Thursday straight to the hairdressers straight from work for my perm (with the opera Carmen afterwards) and Friday will depend on Ricardo's arrival time in Bath as to how we spend Friday evening. I will be with Claire and Aquiles all day whilst they are playing on Saturday so we will probably all handle the preparation and cooking for the barbeque in the evening.
I arrived back in Bath from London at 4.30 where Colin met me and we went up to his house where I had time for a quick change as we were going to the Wagon and Horses at Doulting Beacon in the evening, for the concert to see Geraldo Maia (a Brazilian guitarist) in their upstairs gallery at 6.30 pm followed by a meal in the restaurant after the performance. And what a performance - I enjoyed every moment of Geraldo's music and his beautiful singing voice. We were right in the front row, having ensured we got there early, and I had a bottle of wine to enjoy during his performance which I finished off with the meal downstairs afterwards. Geraldo was so nice, and all the audience enjoyed his sparkly humour and wonderful music.He was easily approachable and we were able to talk to him during the interval.Back downstairs we bought his CD and he signed mine for me which I thought was very nice. The meal was excellent too - I chose Ceviche which I was surprised to see on the menu board - it being a Peruvian dish - and I followed this with Paella Valenciana and my favourite dessert that I always have - three different flavours of icecream with a measure of Tia Maria poured over it.
Bank Holiday Monday was also enjoyable - we decided not to go too far in case of holiday traffic. I fancied the seaside so we went to Weston Super Mare. We arrived and parked at 12 noon exactly and went straight into the Royal Hotel which is where we always go for lunch and that was very nice. Afterwards a quick look at my favourite dress shop which specialises in Indian designed and made clothing and Colin bought me a lovely pale pink skirt with embroidery and mirrors on it.Then we went on the beach and relaxed in the sunshine for a couple of hours until a breeze started and we decided to find a pub and have a cold beer instead.
Colin had been telling me about the helicopter rides from the beach and we could see them in the sky. He said we wouldn't bother then but on a future occasion we could go up for a helicopter ride. I'd love that having done this just once before and found it a brilliant experience.
Back home afterwards I managed to persuade Colin to strim my lawns (the string always breaks when I do it) and after he had gone I mowed the lawns and washed all the patio furniture ready for next week's barbeque. It was another excellent weekend and I now look forward to the arrival of Aquiles and Claire and more laughs with them.
