Balalaikas in Notting Hill

The Historical Monument of the American Republic by Erastus Salisbury Field (1888)

America is the Republic of my imagination but England is my home.  And a pot of lamspang souchoung and slice of Dundee cake was much needed after a twelve month stretch in Atlanta, "the city too busy to hate".

Trapped in Toronto by the Polar Vortex!

The Male Trailing Spouse has just returned from a 48 hour nightmare trek like no other.  It all began in the wee hours of January 5th, when I lobbed the Christmas tree out of the shuttered windows of Mum's flat on Notting Hill Gate, and fled the scene of my crime for Heathrow Airport and Atlanta via Toronto.