My Fabulous Friday

A nice long walk led to a visit to the local recycling centre/thrift shop where I scored a Wombles pillowcase in fantastic condition, a cool purple scarf and a circular table cloth that I am going to convert into a skirt. Then a bus back to the high street for a pastry for morning tea. On another bus to Shepherd's Bush Market where I got a couple of invisible zippers (for way cheaper than any of the shops I'd found them so far) and some strawberry patterned cotton fabric that I'm thinking needs to be a summer dress, if I can decide how to make it not so see-through (it's white and fairly thin - I'm currently leaning towards a red lining thing). Also bought some roasted peanuts in shells (which they call Monkey Nuts, which makes me giggle immaturely) to take to the squirrels. Since I was in Shepherd's Bush anyway, I went to the Aussie pie shop and got a pie, chips and a drink, plus a packet of Fruit Tingles (mmmm, made in New Zealand) to take away. Caught the bus to Kensington Gardens and found a spot in the shade to sit and eat my lunch. Was joined by a couple of squirrels, who happily hung around and came right up and got a new nut as soon as they finished the one they were eating.

Went for a wander through the park and fed some more squirrels. Spotted a bluish-purple plant (no idea what it was and too lazy to look it up) covered in bumblebees and attempted some macro shooting. They move too fast but this one came out OK...



Up to Oxford street and attempted to do some shopping but was overwhelmed by the crowds. Home via Hammersmith whose charity shops proved fruitless. Settled on the couch with my laptop to check email, websites, etc.

Graeme got home and decided he wanted to see Pirates 3 and couldn't wait another day. Booked our tickets online then headed out for dinner and a movie. After finally finding a parking spot, we enjoyed some Nando's (which is similar to the Australian version only in the fact that it sells Portugese-style chicken) and then headed to the cinema, expecting to have to queue like we did for Spiderman (did I mention we saw that? Dunno...) After getting some icecreams, we walked straight in and got prime seats. Over the next twenty minutes or so the cinema filled to about half and they made an announcement that there would be an intermission because the movie was so long (wusses). The movie finished at about 1.10am, which means we left once the credits started to roll and missed the bonus scene at the end :( I dunno if it would've redeemed how we felt about the movie though, which was slightly disappointed. It was better than movie 2 in that things were actually resolved (and it kind of made movie 2 seem more complete), but you still felt like they were leaving it open for another sequel, because some of the story lines left you with a massive feeling of "...but then what?". Not that I think every film should have a happily ever after conclusion, but basically all the characters head out on to new, not fully explained adventures. Also, it was one of those films where some parts move so quickly you're not sure you're following everything and then other scenes seem to drag on forever without really doing much for the story. I don't know what else to say without spoiling things. All I'll say is that movie 1 was great but 2 and 3 just kind of end up feeling like Disney's way to make more money off the success of the first. Don't get me wrong, there was plenty of the humour, action and the confusion over who is good or bad that I liked in the first one. But the story is just so much weaker, that you can't help but feel disappointed. Or maybe I was just too tired and grumpy after my long day, because I'm sure I'll do a Pirates marathon if/when I get the chance.