Time for weekend notes! It was a bank holiday on Monday so we had three days weekend! How cool is that? Despite it was the last weekend of summer, the weather was like in the mid-summer – sunny and hot, and it also was full of positive energy and adventures.
Evening Cycling and Ducks Feeding
On Saturday I and my boyfriend let ourselves not to hurry anywhere and spent almost all day drinking teas, eating delicious apple pie, which I made the day before, and watching movies. In the afternoon, we managed to get out of bed, took some oats (a healthy food for birds!), rented Boris bikes and went for a ride. It was a pleasure to ride through the streets and parks, breathing in the chilly, Autumn smelling air and enjoying the time with my love. Once we reached Victoria park, we headed straight to the pond but only a few birds were swimming around. There was one duck which was eating our oats like it was in a hurry but then we found out that it was just picking those oats and then quickly swimming to the nest, floating nearby, and giving all those oats to the mother duck which then was feeding her little kids! It was incredible! Gladly, all other birds weren’t hungry so we gave all our oats to the daddy duck and his family. After that, we got home, with our hearts full of joy and amusement.
Picnic in the Park
Since I’ve moved to London, I always admired the way Londoners spend their weekend – no matter the weather, parks are always full of people playing games, having lunch or simply having fun. To be honest, until this Sunday I’ve never had a real picnic in a park in London so since it was the last summer weekend, we’ve decided to finally take a blanket, sandwiches and books and spend the afternoon in the Victoria park, the same one where we were feeding ducks on Saturday. It was a splendid experience! Laying on the ground, observing others, enjoying the never ending laughs of kids playing around, soaking in the energy of nature, and sharing thoughts and insights with the man I love. Though it was quite difficult to concentrate on reading and follow the story line with so many distractions (good ones!) around us, we both agreed that we should go to the parks with blankets and sandwiches more often.
Notting Hill Madness and Lovely Canals
Our plan for Monday was to get up as early as possible, dress up and eat breakfast quickly, and go to the legendary Notting Hill Carnival. Compared to the tempo of other weekends, we’ve got ready pretty quickly, with sun glasses on and water bottles (it was a super hot day!) we were off to the carnival but, when you expect something breathtaking, all you usually get is disappointment and that’s what happened when we got to the carnival. I’m not sure if we’ve got there not on the right time or if it was because of the heat, street food smells and crowds of people but the carnival seemed really unappealing. We’ve spent there around an hour and it was more than enough for us to feel the Caribbean vibes and the carnival spirit. Somehow, we got out by the canal full of lovely flowery boats floating around so we took a walk by the canal and enjoyed the views. Despite the disappointment of the Carnival, we were incredibly happy to find that canal which led to the Little Venice and the center of Paddington where we found a cozy cafe and spent the rest of the evening.