Acton Market and around

Yesterday I did some shopping in Acton and stopped by a stall with coffee, brownies and cinnamon rolls. The owner was serving a couple from Jordan and his architect friend cycled from White City for a chat. They are both Norwegian. Well, first their Christmas tree, then the Beatles wood and now coffee and cakes! Yet another invasion? ;-)

Reset in Busko-Zdroj

Busko-Zdroj greeted us on a cold Sunday evening. Conveniently, we arrived by coach from Krakow and got off a short walk from our destination. Here is a view from the window. I am resting after a special healing bath and a massage. It's a much better way to greet the spring than to do the spring cleaning, won't you agree?
The staff are pleasant and helpful here. Although it rained in the morning, it is sunny now. After all, it is the sunniest place in Poland, and even has the sun on the coat of arms.

Acton encounters

Ladies and Gentlemen!

Here comes an update from Joanna in Acton on 2016-03-17!

So you and the rest of the world knew, today I met a photo-journalist, Dario Mitidieri (http://mitidieri.com/ )! No we didn’t plan to meet. Otherwise my life would not be whimsical, right? So, how did it happen? Read on and you’ll find out!

Well…  Dario is working on a project of documenting the South Acton Estate which is undergoing a complete transformation. He was taking pictures of the current transition phase. Cycling from a very important meeting with Rachel Pepper in her Acton Community Forum office at the Oak Tree Community Centre, I emerged from the passage-way underneath a tall building.

You may have heard (or not) that the once dull columns supporting the passage were turned into a works of art by Carrie Reinhardt and her mosaic-making team of MAD IN ENGLAND and THE TREATMENT ROOMS! Another artist (who signs himself AMT) made murals of the local birds on some walls of the estate along with a portrait of Nelson Mandela just to the right of the passageway.  This is where I stopped to let  Dario work on the photo shoot of the South African freedom fighter. How could I get in the way of his very professional camera! Then we started talking and I must say, I learnt a lot about the whole South Acton Transition Project.

To my surprise, I heard that the people who live in the old dilapidated blocks of council flats will not be moved somewhere else when the blocks get replaced by modern multi-family houses. They will all be re-housed and only the surplus dwellings will be put on the market. Unfortunately, it is not viable or safe to keep the huge blocks of flats any longer. Looks like The Big Mother, a graffiti by Stik (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stik)  will not be spared when it comes to the next demolition phase. Now that I know these people will not meet the fate of those from the London Docklands area before it got a complete revamp, I am less worried. However, it would be great if the Big Mother wall could be saved and made into a climbing wall on the other side of the graffiti… (Of course, I know nothing about the practicality of that, I must admit. It is just an idea.)  

Going back to my encounter, I was nicely surprised to find out that Dario knew nothing of the Acton mosaic maker(s). I wouldn’t be myself if I refrained from telling him about Carrie Reihardt and her ‘craftivism’, her studio, campaigns, black cab and the one of a kind  house! Not only that, but I also mentioned that she was on the way to Kansas as we were speaking!

What else did I have to do there and then? Yes, to walk with Dario to the famous Acton Bench! Apparently, he hadn’t seen it and nor did he know about it! Yeah, he was quite impressed, I tell you.  (Sure, it may well be that he was just pretending that he had so little knowledge of the area he came to work in, you may have sensed by now that I am a rather gullible being!)

Anyway, while taking pictures of the colourful, tile-covered bench, we noticed a man with a large bag ‘hovering’ nearby. It was a father who came to prepare a surprise birthday party for his young son when he came from school. The party venue was to be the famous mosaic bench! I cannot think of a better spot on a sunny day that London enjoyed on St Patrick’s Day, 2016 AD! Mind you, the father joined in our conversation at some point. The father revealed to us that he is a meteorologist and we know how to find him in our global village! Further interrogation resulted in his revealing to us his German, Scottish and Dorset roots! What a mixture! ;-) With Dario of South Italian descent and me – one of widely spread, but not so well blended-in Poles, we made quite an international ensemble!

And here is a surprise for you! I took pictures of the photographer with my humble phone! Come back to my blog later to see them!:-)

After we parted by the bench I had a few more opportunities to take pictures: a St Patrick’s Day shop window in Acton High Street, a Polish-looking shop, an Irish man with his father at an Irish tavern, a few houses north of Churchfield Rd and a few funny shops in this pretty street!  Again, call in later to look!

Different showers

Showers today in London! I got wet once and have a fair chance to get wet again!

8 March - about some amazing women

Did you know that the earliest Women’s Day observance was held on February 28, 1909, in New York? It was organized by the Socialist Party of America in remembrance of the 1908 strike of the International Ladies' Garment Workers' Union.  Are you celebrating today?
I came across a text about some women who changed our lives. You can read it here.

The text quotes some of these women's words to live by: 

Maya Angelou:  "Be a rainbow in somebody else's cloud."

Margaret Albright: "There is a special place in hell for women who do not help other women."

Gloria Steinem:   "Imagine we are linked, not ranked."

Rosa Parks:  "I believe we are here on the planet Earth to live, grow up, and do what we can to make this world a better place for all people to enjoy freedom.”

And if you still want to read about amazing women in history, click here!

Today I chose a longer route home after a festive Women's Day lunch. It was a cloudy and unpleasantly cold day so I didn't take many pictures on the way. one of the few is of a blue plaque on the university building in St Mary's Road. It commemorates Lady Byron, the famous poet's wife and their daughter, Ada. Here you can read about this talented woman's achievements. 

Cycling north of Acton and Ealing

Yesterday I cycled north of my habitat, towards Wembley, and stopped a good few times to take pictures as the weather was just perfect: clear blue sky mostly. (My hands, though in gloves, wished it was warmer.) I missed the first interesting opportunity: the Polish Village Bakery and some shops or warehouses on the way to The Great Union Canal. At the canal crossing I did stop. First, a couple of Canadian geese on the grass by the water were photographed. Then I looked around and saw some colourful graffiti (or murals?) showing various scenes related to the local industrial history, I guessed.

I also took a picture of more wall paintings looking towards the passageway leading to Stonebridge Park and then crossed the footbridge stopping to photograph dozens of birds flying towards some food an old man brought them. Even the two geese left the comfy grass bank and hurriedly swam to join in the feast.
I also saw mosaics on the long wall leading from the canal to the street and then cycled left as it seemed more interesting. I was thinking of stopping for lunch at a Lebanese place where the road was taking a right turn, but decided that I could still do it on the way back, or I could find some other place when I get more hungry. I don't know what I missed as I took a completely different route home. Cycling on I saw the towers of the Hindu Temple and after photograhing a strange church opposite Alperton Station and considering whether to start going back, I chose to carry on further, especially, that I saw a map near the station where a park with some museum I hadn't known of was shown.
I did get to the temple and so many other God and gods' houses plus a lot more.  One day come back here and you may see the pictures! :-)

And, having mentioned God and gods, I feel compelled to share this link with those of you who are into reading! Have you heard about this man?

Bike on strike

My bicycle refused cooperation this morning. Then it turned out that the phone stopped working. I had to go across a long stretch of empty green space to get to the more populated area and the bike shop. There it turned out that the man on the till was not a mechanic and I had to leave the bike to pick it up in the afternoon. Two faithful Afghan ladies were waiting for me when I got off the bus. They were smiling to me. 'I thought that maybe you bike broke down.', said one.