Busy, busy, busy..

What a week it has been and a fast one at that.  Dh has been on vacation and I don't feel as though we have stopped all week.

Monday we were at home doing "stuff," around the house; which for dh means he was down the basement.......poor dh.

Tuesday we had our yearly appointment with the bank.  Funny thing is although we were in there with her for well over an hour, half of that time was just general chit-chatting on a personal level.  Oh well it's always good to see her.  After that we ran errands, got home for lunch time and then in the afternoon had a run down to Ikea as I wanted a small chest of drawers for the attic.  We called in at Deblin's Linen's and I picked up a couple of queen sized sheet sets, two bath towels and two hand towels, over $170 with taxes.  I was shocked at the price of bedding and towels.  By the time we got home it was supper time.

Wednesday we had to go to Brampton, for a couple of appointments.  Plus I broke the screw on my sewing machine where you change the foot; that cost $7 just for that????  Also ordered the counter top for the laundry room, managed to get that for $220 cash......with it being 30 inches deep it's having to be custom made, so did save at least $100 on that if not more, as it should have been $320 plus 13% taxes.  Once again by the time we got home it was supper time.

Thursday we went to the market at St. Jacobs.  We had a wonderful time and I stocked up on a pile of veggies.  I got butternut squash at $1.25 each, a huge cabbage at $1.50, even picked up two bunches of leeks for $1 a bunch.  The only thing that puzzled me and maybe you know the answer.  People were wandering around with huge bags of red peppers, what are they going to do with them?  Met a woman from church which was so funny, as everytime I go to Zehrs I seem to meet her as well!!!  Once again it was supper time by the time we got home.

Friday we had planned on having a day in the house, but dd called on Thursday night to say her wedding dress was ready, could we come with her to pick it up.........of course we would be there.  As the store was in the "Greek town," part of the city and we had no idea how long it would take us to get there, we set off after lunch.  We had a look around the stores, as it is a very interesting part of the city on the Danforth until dd came.

Anyway dd picked her wedding dress, gorgeous but too big.  So we then went to the dressmakers to give it to her to alter; the bridal store does not do on site alterations, which was a bit unusual.  However the alterations store had a number of bridal dresses from the same store there waiting to be altered, so I guess that's a good thing?

Went to drop dd off at her home and then headed home, which was a total pain, as Friday night at rush hour is a nightmare.  Finally got home at 7pm.  I do not know how folk commute along the 401 everyday, it would drive me potty.  We didn't even go up the 400 as that is normally a parking lot, so went up the 427, which wasn't much better but at least it was moving.

So here we are on Saturday morning.  We, or at least I am not leaving the house today.  I need to catch up with laundry.  The house looks as though a bomb has dropped in it.  I need to cut the grass and generally take a breather.

We have another busy week ahead of us this next week as well and although it is all planned out what we are going to do, I should watch out for any unexpected things to happen!!!

Enjoy your weekend,

Gill

Wedding Dress Shopping and a surprise in the mail......

On Saturday we had to go to Downtown Toronto to meet dd and her bridesmaids at the Bridal Store.  As we had never been there before we decided to use Daisy  Daisy is our GPS system.  She never talks to us now we have her voice switched on as all that re-calculating drives me potty.  However thanks to Daisy, we saw parts of Toronto that we had never seen before, as she took us through town, which was awfully nice of her.  However with the traffic and the fact all the people driving in Toronto are colour blind (don't know what a red light is for) and just stop when ever they feel like it, it makes for difficult driving.

We finally got there and as I said before dd and maid of honour had been there before and had scoped out a couple of dresses.  She did try one on that was just plain bloody awful.  It had pick-ups (bridal term!!) that looked as though a three year old had sewn them.  So she tried the two on that she liked and looked lovely in both of them.  However she is having a custom made dress as she is having the skirt off one dress and the top off the other dress, which makes it really easy for me to say I can't show you a photo, as the dress has to be made.

What I can tell you is that it is not white; not sure what to call it but it's an off white/ivory colour.  Dd is so pale that a true white wedding dress would make her look so washed out.  They are making the bodice of the dress "in-house" and shipping in the skirt part.  We were in and out of the store in an hour, can you believe that?  I didn't cry and neither did dh when we saw her in her dress, but she was lovely and we're very proud of her.

After leaving the store the girls went out for lunch and we headed for our next port of call, again with the aid of bloody Daisy, which meant another scenic route through Toronto.  I have to say it sucks when you have no idea where you are going.  Our next destination was to a place called "The Door Store," which is in "the heart of Toronto's Castlefield Design District!!"

We need a floor grate to cover a cold air vent on the floor and I am having a heck of a job finding the right size as it is large.  The one on there at the moment is tacky and dropping to bits, plus it is a modern one.  So I ask to guy to show me them and to cut a long story short it is going to cost $600 plus 13% taxes to buy two to fit the hole.  My reaction, "You've got to be kidding..." No he wasn't!!!  I need a new door that fits properly in the dining room $400+, the period door knobs and lock for the door to match the rest of the ones in the house $165.  Both dh and I decided they were charging Toronto prices!!!  If I can find a guy who does iron work I think I'll get the grate custom made as it has to be cheaper than those prices.

Anyhow, we went to the store across the road called Gingers and Summerhill and once again it was so overpriced......HOWEVER I did find a front door handle and lock set on clearance that we ended up getting as it was a good price and good quality, so all was not lost.

Then it was back to Daisy to get us out of Toronto and back home!!!  So again another tour of the city to get back onto the highway and back to our country home!!!  Driving in the city is a pain!!

I took part in a swap that was held over on this blog  I received my parcel on Friday from Kim and this is what I received:

Wasn't I lucky and what a talented person Kim is.  Luckily for me I don't have to get my parcel to Kim until Easter, as mine isn't quite ready yet.  I will post photos of what I send Kim when she receives hers.

True Lovers Knot Quilt Block and more photos from downtown

It was raining on Wednesday.  I had visitors that popped in for a couple of hours, and so in the afternoon I decided to get the quilt blocks done for the block of the month club.  It's called True Lover's Knot this month and is really pretty, well at least I thought so.

I have to say though, when I Googled True Lover's Knot quilt block I couldn't find an exact match to this quilt block, so I have a feeling it may have another name?  Let me know the quilters out there.

There are still another three months to go for the block of the month club.  I should have nine made now.

I loved how this guy was sitting feeding the pigeons in front of city hall.

Another view of City Hall

Old City Hall, which is next door.

Reflection of Old City Hall clock in the modern glass building.

A very modern looking bicycle taxi.

I enjoy going downtown Toronto, as there is always so much to see.

Finally some words of wisdom:

Downtown Toronto....

This post was supposed to be published on Tuesday. 

Anyhoo......I went downtown Toronto with dd on Monday.  So here are a couple of photos.  They had the neatest dryers in the bathrooms.  You put your hands in them and they blew warm air on them at high speed, and did an amazing job drying your hands.  Just thought it was neat......I know I need to get out more.  Dd was the hand model in this photo, and a fine job she did.

Now the rest of the photos are the view from dd old office.  Her contract expired at her old job and she starts a new job next week for the Provincial Government.  Her old job needed her to show them how to do a report, so we called in there so she could show them how to do the report.

She had a super view from her office window.  She wasn't too high up, she was on the 14th floor.  I think the building is on King and University.

You can see the top of the CN Tower here.

That's the Roy Thomson Hall in the photo below.

You can just see Lake Ontario in this photo.

I will post more about the trip tomorrow.

Our day out........

We went to the National Home Show in Toronto on Saturday.  We had VIP tickets so for once we went through the "Dream Home"  It was very, very modern, and not my cup of tea at all.  However there were a few things that we liked.

The garage was really neat and I said to dh he should get the tire rack made up to store my winter tires on there. Yes that was some sort of fancy dancy tv in the garage!

(as always click on the photo's for more detail)

This is a doggy shower in the mud room,  It took me a couple of seconds to click what it was.  I suppose it's a handy thing if you have a dog, or even kids with muddy boots.

I love this sink, it was one of a pair in the master bedroom, and I could see those fitting in our house.  Wasn't sure what exactly you would clean them with, I suppose something that is non abrasive?

I have to say we were disappointed this year with what was exactly on show.  We have also clicked that before we make enquiries about anything we have to make sure they are willing to service our area where we live.  It takes us a good hour outside of rush hour to get to downtown Toronto, probably an hour and a half in rush hour.  So a lot of people won't even consider coming out to our area.

We want to try and get the basement windows replaced, but I had wanted to get a couple of quotes this time.  So I think we'll use the local guys again.

This is a photo of the Direct Energy Centre where the show was held.  That is the CN Tower in the back ground.

Next door to the Direct Engery Centre, is BMO Field where Toronto FC (Football/Soccer) play.  Notice the big wind tower in the background.

Food is so expensive at these shows that we decided to have a late lunch and we had left the show by 1:30pm.  So we headed into Brampton, and had fish and chips at the Heritage Restaurant.  They have the best fish and chips around our area.  They even had knitted tea cosies for their tea pots ever so cute, the same as this one.  They have a lunch time special of haddock and chips for $5.95 and you get a plate full.  We shared a dish of mushy peas, so guess we'll be "gassy" tonight...LOL

We also lucked out today, as Home Depot were having a 20% sale on all their interior doors, so we picked up the four closet doors.  They should have been $89 each, we paid $71.20 each, so the savings nearly paid for one door.  We could have done without getting these at this moment, but couldn't turn down that savings.

So tonight I am going to go through my bag of goodies I got from the Home Show, and read up on all the things we looked at.  Oh and dream about what we could do if we had the money!!!

Did you remember to put your money in your Daily Savings Pot today?

Today's Money Saving Tip:

If you're going to eat out at restaurants, eat out on a lunch time, as more often than not it's cheaper and if you eat a large meal at lunch time, you probably won't want much to eat later on in the day.

Sorry I didn't get around to visiting your blog today (I am writing this Saturday night)........

More photo's from Downtown Toronto...

One of the things dd wanted to show me, was the Christmas windows at The Bay.  She warned me, they weren't that great and she wasn't wrong.  I wasn't impressed.  These were the best photos I took.  They seemed very old fashioned to me?  Still it was nice to see them

Below is a photo of dd Christmas tree.  It's only 3feet, but she has made a good job of decorating it.  The bow she made for the top, she watched a how to video on You Tube to do that.  Look at all the presents under the tree....you can sort of see some white gift basket to the left of the tree, that's my Christmas present!!!   I wasn't allowed to look at it though!!!!

I made Cheat's Version of Cabbage Rolls for supper on Sunday night, it's such a simple recipe and is delicious.  I can recommend it.  We then had pear and raspberry crisp for pudding, using the pears I had canned and raspberries I had frozen from the summer.  Here is a similar recipe for Apple and Plum Crisp, just substitute the fruits.

On Sunday it was sunny and warm, not above freezing but warmer than it has been.  I managed to clean off the front deck and most of the back deck.  I picked the last of the brussel sprouts.  Hoping to have them for Christmas Day lunch, which we are hosting.  Depending on the weather there will be a minimum of four of us, up to a maximum of eight of us.

Finally, a message for Keith and Joyce, sorry to hear about your mother's passing Joyce.  I will be thinking of you on Christmas Eve.  I am also looking forward to seeing you in 2010.

This one is a real tear jerker, so have a Kleenex handy.......

The Christmas Shoes:

Eaton Centre, Yonge Dundas Square.....

On Saturday night we went to dd's , as dh got a pair of hockey tickets to go and see the Maple Leaf play some other team. For those of you who know me, I don't like hockey, rather watch paint dry!! As the tickets are worth a couple hundred dollars each, he takes either ds or future son-in-law. This time he took future son-in-law, who by the way is hockey mad.

The Maple Leafs did win, whomever they were playing and it was a "shut out," or a "shut down;" or some word with shut in it, which means (as I did ask) the other team didn't score any goals. Pleased they won when dh and future son-in-law were there, as they both enjoyed the game.

Generally the Maple Leafs are crap, mind you so are the Toronto Blue Jays (baseball), Toronto Rapters (basketball), and the Toronto Argonauts (American Football); oh and I nearly forgot about Toronto FC (soccer/football), don't think they win much of anything either!! I don't think any of them win many games, still they all have devoted fans that believe in them, so that's the main thing, right?

Anyhow, while the boys were at the hockey game, me and dd went for some retail therapy to the Eaton Centre. They have the most beautiful tree covered in Swarovski Crystals. I love to see it, and again it was beautiful. My photos do not do it justice at all.

Now dd had lunch on Saturday with her best friend where they exchanged Christmas gifts. Her friend had been to the States and had gone to a Coach Outlet store and picked up dd another Coach bag for her for Christmas; what a kind friend she is, and she is a love.  So we popped into the Coach store to browse and see what they had.  I loved their window display, very understated, don't you think?  I actually like the bottom purse/handbag, I could see dd carrying that.......

Now we had to go to a store outside of the Eaton Centre, which was in Yonge/Dundas Square. I have never been there before in the dark, and it was lovely, so many lit up billboards, and no snow to be seen anywhere!!

We had to pick up a gift card to that store below the billboards. I think its Forever 21 or something?  Here is a link to a clothing site for Forever 21  It doesn't look familiar, mind you, I never had a good look around, as it was so noisy in there, with the music, and I was fascinated with the male store assistants, as they were so good looking and so very gay!!!!  I even commented to dd about that, as they were gorgeous.......but gay!!

See the big green sign for Koodo, that's my cell phone carrier and they have the most stupid adverts on tv, which I just don't get at all...LOL

They had a beautiful Christmas tree and lights in the square, but I just couldn't get a decent photo of them, sorry.

I have more photos to show you, those will be in tomorrows post.  We had a super time and I only spent just over $20 on some liquid soap (5 for $20) at Bath and Body Works, as I love their stuff.  Plus I bought a drink and a brownie for us both at Starbucks, which was yummy!!

We didn't get home until after 11:30pm.  Dh had to be up for work at 4:30am, and that daft dog of ours had me up by just after 6am.........and once I am awake that's me up......so I will be tired for the rest of the day now, meanwhile the dog is sleeping!!

***EDITED TO ADD, I DIDN'T GET TO ANYONES BLOGS ON SATURDAY AS I HAD A MIGRAINE FOR QUITE A BIT OF THE DAY******

Say hello to Molly!!!!

We went to the Toronto Humane Society on Saturday and I fell in love with Molly. She is a 5 year old Beagle, and they said she was a stray. She was just fixed on July 26th, 2009, but to look at her you would think she had just had pups. However they did say she wasn't lactating so not sure what is going on. They did operate on her as she had three lumps that were all non-cancerous.

She has really settled in well and we think she was well looked after as she is a good weight, just under 40 lbs and does know some of her commands when she is listening. She waited to pee and poop outside, which is a good sign. I took her for a walk around the acreage and she was eating grass, so she may have an upset stomach, we'll have to watch her.

She did however shed like a crazy woman on the way home in dh's van, so he wasn't thrilled about that, so I now have to clean his van to keep him happy. It will be the one and only time Molly will be in the van, as he hates having dog hair in it, he was the same with Maxine.





So as I said we go to the Toronto Humane Society. Now that is in a rough part of Toronto if you ask me. We didn't click there was a parking lot behind the shelter, so we park on the street, and I say to dh I hope the van doesn't get broken into. As there were three young women hanging out in front of their house with the music blaring, and they looked iffy to say the least. Anyhow we discovered that there was parking so I made dh move the car.
Today was Caribana downtown, so the traffic was horrible. Have to say I haven't been to Caribana before, and from what little I saw from the road I'm not missing much. The trucks were full of these huge speakers. I would have been deaf if I had, had to stand on one of those trucks, listening to all those boom, booms all day!! You should have seen all the licence plates from the States, especially from New York State and Illinois. Plus the Toronto Argonauts were playing at the Rogers Centre, so a lot of traffic going there.
On the house front, after many problems we got the toilet repaired, however as with everything in this house, nothing is simple, and it took a whole lot longer than it should have done to put it in. We didn't get anything else done, as we were out most of the day getting Molly.

As I am writing this on Satuday night, Molly is settled into her basket......

Thursday - a day out from the Acreage....

It was dd Convocation on Thursday, where she received her Master of Information Studies degree at the University of Toronto. Here she is being congratulated by the Chancellor David Peterson.

For privacy reasons, I won't be showing her face.......

The person getting the Honorary Degree was MOYEZ VASSANJI, he's a writer and has received numerous awards. I personally have never heard of him but his book "The In-Between World of Vickram Lall" sounds pretty interesting.


The Convocation Hall where the ceremony was held was a beautiful building, that was built between 1904 and 1907. My photo does not do it justice.



As convocation's go it was a pretty standard one. The only difference being there was a wider age group receiving their degrees, as not only were people receiving degrees in Masters, but also Doctorates. A first for me though, was there were two women receiving Doctor of Philosophy degrees, and they were sitting breast feeding during the ceremony. I can't imagine writing papers, and studying while being pregnant, and giving birth and looking after a baby?

It was a lovely ceremony though and after the ceremony we went out for dinner. We took the subway back home to dd and drove home from there. I must admit it was strange to be amongst all the traffic and people. Plus it was strange not to be in jogging pants and running shoes!! We got home around 8pm, and I was pooped. I do have a lot more photos that I will share with you over the coming days.

Today (Friday) is going to be a busy day, I will share with you tomorrow what we are up to.......

Guess what we were up to on Sunday......and it wasn't packing!!

We actually played hooky and went to the Green Living Show in downtown Toronto. It's the first time we have been to this show, and I printed a two for one entrance coupon, so saved money there. It was actually funny when you walked into the hall and they had dimmed the lights, obviously to save on energy. Once you got acclimatized to the hall, you didn't notice how dim the lights were.

Dh saw a hybrid car he was quite taken with, however the $35,000 price tag took him aback. The car was a Saturn Vue Hybrid and it did look nice. One thing that would be cheaper to run were electric bikes, I mean there were boothes everywhere for those. Can't say I have ever thought about an electric bike, but I suppose if you live in a city an electric bike may be useful?

They were giving out free copies of Green Living magazine and so I was all happy, happy to get that, as you know I adore magazines. It looks like an interesting read with a lot of great info in it. Some featured links were http://www.eatlowcarbon.org/ http://www.foodkm.com/ http://www.waterfootprint.org/ I can see me ordering a subscription to this.........now don't groan!!!

They were also giving away White Pine saplings, so we have four to plant at the new house. Granted we will be dead and buried before they reach any great height, but at least we are making an effort. I also got some info on a tree planting subsidy from Trees Ontario I need to look into this more as they are wanting you to plant 400 trees per acre........which seems an awful lot to me????

Dh wanted to find out more about solar and wind power and came away with a number of pamphlets on those. Plus we wanted to see what was what on insulation, as that is one of the first jobs we have to do is insulate the attic.

I got a full package of PC Green Dishwasher Detergent free, and I gave them to dd to use, as we rarely ever use a dishwasher. Got some more reusable bags for free, which honestly I could live without, as I have so many of them. Plus we got a couple of rolls of toilet paper made out of recyclable paper.

We were only there a couple of hours, but have to say we had a good time and will probably go back again. Now will we live to regret it that we took the day off from packing.....probably but it was a nice break!!!

What Oopsey was up to on Thursday........

First let me say, when I told dd what I was up to, she rolled her eyes and said, people will think I have been let out of the mental institution for the day!! I wish, as at least if I was in there I would have a rest......

Anyhow, me and dd decided to go for a look around Bloor West Village in Toronto. Never been before, so thought it would make a nice change.

So we leave dd apartment and call into Tim Hortons on the way to the Subway. Oopsey was very interested in all this as there is no Tim Hortons in Australia. She thought it was a good idea that we got a tea each and a muffin, I told her I would share with her.



She wanted me to take a photo of her in the Subway station, but even though the flash went off on the camera, this was the best photo I could get, and dd sort of put her foot down at me taking a photo of me and Oopsey in the train. I don't know what her problem was, as there are so many weird and wonderful people on there, so one more weirdo taking photos with a Care Bear wouldn't have made much difference!!



So we get to Bloor West Village and it's like a small town main street, with lots of lovely shops, including a butcher, baker and candlestick maker.....okay not a candlestick maker, but a greengrocer. Dd wanted to call into a store called Trove, as she wanted to pick up an apron for her friend for her birthday.

Oopsey wanted to pose for a photo with the apron, cute saying on it, don't you think?



All along the street were benches and on the legs were the Bloor West Village logo, so of course Oopsey wanted her photo taken with it (made dd hold Oopsey, so that cheered her up no end!!)



By then it was lunch time, so dd and I decide Subway would be good, told Oopsey I would share with her, and that seemed fine.



We then had another look around and then headed home on the subway. Walking out off the subway Oopsey saw this big office tower and was fascinated with it, so I took a couple of photos of her in front of it.





Poor Oopsey, was pooped by the time she got home and had to have a nap.



So all in all it was a good day out and Oopsey seemed to enjoy herself.

Now I have to say I am pretty busy with this moving thing, so I think Oopsey would benefit from having a longer stay at someone elses house. So if you would like to have Oopsey visit your house, please let me know in your comment, and I'll do a draw to see where her next visit will be. For more info about how all this started visit Caroline's blog

Busy, busy weekend......part 1

So on Saturday we went to ds convocation. The doors opened to the hall at 12:30pm, so we were there just after 12:30pm, by 12:45pm, there were no seats left. There were 1,200 graduates, and each graduate was allowed two guests. It started at 1:30pm and it finished around 4pm. It was a lovely convocation and Ken Shaw was the master of ceremonies, and was so good.

We were staying at the hotel where all this was at. We had checked into our room before the ceremony. Now this hotel is a fancy dancy one, not one that we would normally stay in. So we pull into the unloading area and the guy came up and asked us if we wanted to valet park so we said yes, as we were unsure about it all, we asked how much and it was $40, which would be added to the bill. I go over to get a cart to put our luggage on, and the guy comes rushing over and said you can't do that, I'll get a bell boy to take your luggage??? So I say fine and go and check in. I ask about our luggage, and they say it will be upstairs in a few minutes, and sure enough a couple of minutes later, there is a knock on the door and there is our luggage, had to give him a tip, another $5 spent there. So we have been in the hotel 15 minutes and it has already cost us $45!!!

Anyhow, after the convocation me, dh and ds all go to our room to catch up, and then ds goes to his room to change and we change into our evening wear. There was a drink's and canapes reception for the company ds works for between 6pm and 8pm. So me and dh sit in a quiet place and eat the delicious canapes while ds networks with everyone.

At 8:30pm, we finally go into the ballroom for dinner. There were three ballroom's as there were 3,300 people attending the dinner dance. The menu for the dinner was:

Roasted Pear and Winter Squash Bisque with Chive foam - it was yummy

Baby Spinach, with fresh berries and goat cheese, with a port vinaigrette, again this was really good, and I think I will make this one in the future, and I don't normally like spinach.

Chicken, with mushrooms, potatoes, veggies and au jus (fancy dancy gravy!!), I have had worse, but it was nothing exciting.

Chocolate silk, with berry compote, and vanilla coulis. It was like two brownie's, cut in triangles with a fruit sauce and a custard swirl through the berry sauce. It was actually very sickly.

Coffee or tea.

By the time we had finished it was 10:45pm, which is way, way too late to be eating if you ask me. Me and dh left the ballroom, at 11pm, as we were tired. Ds then went to meet up with accounting friends, and to cut a long story short they ended up crashing the BDO Dunwoody party, as they had free booze, plus they knew people who work there. Ds finally got to bed at 2am, but had, had a super time. Now as an example on how overpriced the booze was, it was $9 for the cheapest glass of wine!!!

I will post photos and it could only happen to me story, which is really quite amusing tomorrow, as I am pooped

Trip Downtown, Part 3

So one of the reasons for me going downtown was to find some different material stores and some trim/notion stores. I have to say there were numerous fabric stores, but they were mainly for dressmaking or home furnishings, not really much in the 100% cotton range. I did pick up just over 8 yards of this fabric, which I will be using to back my quilt, with plenty of leftovers and I picked it up at $3.99 a yard, as I took the whole bolt.



I did also pick up some 100% cotton muslin for $2.99 a yard, which I thought was a pretty good price, otherwise that was it for fabric.

I did find the most amazing ribbon/trim store called Mokuba However it wasn't cheap, I paid over $40 for this:



It does however have a great selection. It could also lead you down a whole new crafting avenue if you so desired..........which is not where I want to go at this moment, I have enough on my plate, thank you very much. Though if anyone out there crafts with ribbon, please let me know as I would love to see your work, as I am interested in what can be done with ribbon after seeing the selection in this store.

So overall I didn't buy that much, but we had a great day.

Now back to the subway. I find the whole thing a fascinating experience as there are people on there from all walks of life, so its a great people watching place. As it's nippy cold at the moment, people are all bundled up and so you see the odd person in fur coats. First let me say I am not a huge fan of fur coats, but I do like the look of the higher quality coats, though would never own or wear one myself.

So we are sitting on the subway and on comes this person wearing this Russian style fur hat with matching coat. This person was elderly and was using a cane, but what made me notice them was the coat and hat, plus the gold jewellery. They had gold hoops in each ear, numerous rings on their fingers and a high end mans watch. So far have you noticed I haven't said him or her, as I can honestly say I was totally confused at the sex of this person. On first glance I would have said a man, but because of the jewellery (other than the watch) I would have thought it was a woman.

Then there was the coat and hat. It was nasty, it looked like a rabbit which had been dragged through a hedge backwards, not that I have seen a rabbit dragged through a hedge backwards, but you know what I mean. So going by what this person was wearing they were hurting for money, but looking at the jewellery they were wearing they had a lot of money. Anyway, I was still none the wiser as to whether this was a man or a woman when they got off.

I then noticed another woman wearing a fur coat. Now this one was the real thing. The way it hung, the way it moved it was a beauty, I still wouldn't have worn it, but it looked good. There was a man sitting opposite us and he reminded me of a frightened little mouse. His arms were folded tight to his chest. He had beady little eyes and he had his legs crossed just like a woman would have. It was his eyes though that made you look at him, they were very twitchy darting back and forward.

Then a young man got on with a envelope that they give you at the doctors office with x-rays in them. This one however had a huge red sticker on it. What was really annoying was that the man folded his arms over the red sticker so I couldn't read what it said. My first thought though it must be a danger/alert sticker........do I have a vivid imagination or what?

I have to say I do enjoy going on the subway for that reason alone, people watching. Though I do have one requirement though, I must sit down, I don't like the whole standing thing. Also the seats are made for slim people!!! I also travel outside of rush hour, if what dd tells me, its a whole different bowl of cherries during rush house!!

So there you go, the last part of my trip. For part one click here, for part two click here.