Summertime: Southbank!

Well Summer time is finally here I think.

That is, until the rain starts pouring down and we all forget what the sunshine looks like.

As any British person will know, when the sun comes out you do everything you can to enjoy it because you never know when the weather will be like that again. So here are some photos from when I spent some time by the Southbank.

View from the Bridge (whoops, I forget which one)

Sitting on the deckchair outside of the Forbes bookstore eating an ice cream and reading my kindle in the sun.

People painting flags on the ground

The London Aquarium, I recommend a visit

Overlooking the Southbank from the Westminster Bridge








We may not get a lot of sun over here in the UK, but when we do have it, it's great. Look at that beautiful blue sky.

Wedding Season is upon us

Hello fair readers,

Wedding season is upon us. We have had three invitations through the post so far, and are aware of four others that are going to take place later on in the year. I said this last year, when I was young I had been to more weddings in one year than some of my friends had been to in their lifetime. Over the bank holiday weekend we had an engagement to go to (although I had a prior commitment to another family member on the other side so some of us went to one thing, while the others went to the engagement ceremony - sometimes you do get double booked).

Weddings make your family think about your life, as well as using the occasion to scout for other prospective brides and grooms for people. There are some people that we know back in India that have asked us to find someone for their family members. When you are next in line, which thankfully I am not, people do ask when your wedding will be. Even though you may not feel that you are ready to be wed yet, Indian families seem to think that everything should happen in some kind of order. If you have ten cousins, and you are the fourth eldest, you have to be the fourth person to get married otherwise there must be something wrong with you. If you are from a family from arranged marriages - which, once again, thankfully I am not - then some people are so silly that they will not attempt to find a partner for the fifth in line unless number four gets married. There is such a pressure to tie the knot these days.

Luckily, and I say this after my arranged marriage post some while ago, I am not from a family that will pressure me to get married until I am absolutely ready. They had a love marriage so I will never be made to go down the arranged part. My parents know that I am not in the right situation in my life, therefore my marriage will have to take a back seat until I am ready, settled, and able to support myself so I do not have to rely on another person.

As I said, wedding season is upon us, so get ready for a series of posts detailing wedding ceremonies.

Good day to you all!

Missing the Sunshine

It's raining, it's pouring, and it's been raining for weeks.
So to bring a smile to your (and my) face, I bring you another picture post from when we actually had nice weather earlier this year. When it was 20+ degrees, I went for a walk around Kensington Gardens and took a lot of pictures

Remember when it was spring?

The Albert Memorial right opposite the Royal Albert Hall

Kensington Palace, before it re-opened

Walking around the park

 Daffodils! The sign that spring is was here!

 The Round Pond, where you can find swans

 The Serpentine Bridge

 The Italian Fountains

Looking out from the fountains








One thing that I love about London is that I will always stumble upon something I have never seen before. I had never seen the Italian fountains, in fact I didn't even know they existed, and while walking around Kensington there they were. I spent about an hour sitting on the benches and watched the world go by.

Notice the blue sky in those pictures? I haven't seen blue skies in weeks.

How about you? Have you stumbled across a part of your town you didn't know existed?