A Humdrum Mum

Family and friends, tasty tea, cute cakes, succulent sarnies, scrumptious scones… what more could you ask for? Some sightseeing around Central London please. Oh, and on a vintage red double decker bus, if you don’t mind. What I’ve described is exactly what you get from the B Afternoon Tea Bus Tour. Priced at around what I paid for the Ritz afternoon tea some five years ago, you rock up at Victoria bus station and check-in to board the bus. The waiting staff guide you on and you find your booth. I manged to get a photo before anyone arrived.  The tea is set up for you and is sort of stuck down on the table with a little bit of material! Note the nice touches of the flowers adorning the sides of the bus and the tables with natty bus and shopper images. You settle in and order your first (of many) drinks. I had in my head that I’d be supping loose tea using a strainer out of a bone china cup and saucer. However that just isn’t going to work on a bus, I realise. So you are gi...

YES we found Bob! Escape rooms seem to be the new thing. You pay to be locked into a room, with your goal being to escape! But it’s a little more than that. Teamwork aids the solving of puzzles and challenges, with clues around you, be it icons or codes. There is not always just one room; often a second room is there for the finding. Based around a theme, this immersive style of game has really taken off, with even my mum completing one! I was imagining a quiz based on general or specific knowledge, but no, it’s not necessary to have any prior information. Anyone can take part. Last week, on a family day out, I “Escaped” with my mum, cousin and her daughter. The rules were explained to us before we entered and we were told that while there was a camera, there was no audio. If we required help (yes you can ask for help!), we needed to dance in front of the camera and help would come via the TV screen in the room. Our theme was “Taken” - our good friend Bob had gone missing and we we...

Mmmmm, smells good (Pic from www.southsea bathinghut.co.uk) Let me start by saying I'm a Mitchum Girl. Those of you who recognise the name will know the safety promised (and delivered) by that green container. You won't sweat. You won't smell. Most of us probably aren't sweaty Betties, but the confidence offered by Mitchum keeps us purchasing. It's actually an antiperspirant-deodorant, a deodorant hiding BO and an antiperspirant preventing sweating. These green (ironic) scent-sentries lining up are recyclable in most areas, but still they add up. I am not an eco-warrior as such, but I am trying to be aware of what I consume. But I don't want to smell. So it was with a heavy pit that I made the decision to try out a natural deodorant brand which didn't contain nasties, was ethically created and, most of all, worked.  I love Southsea Bathing Hut 's own facial oil (reviewed here ) and the chocolate lip balm they sell. Mr Humdrum loves their stuff (...

Well we just had to choose the worst day of the year to walk. The date had been set weeks before - who knew there would be the worst winds of the decade almost on this very day? But we didn't want to be beaten. We will walk to the cafe. At least it wasn't raining! Parking is free next the castle and obviously, it wasn't busy this day! We set off around the outside of this medieval monument. The sea wall affords views across to Portsmouth and Gosport, and Portsdown Hill if you look behind. You can see the Spinnaker Tower in my photos, but you'd have to zoom in. The sea wall leads to a walk along a path, switching between grass (a much more sheltered area) beside a playpark, and the beach. It is an easy, flat walk, made slightly harder in the wind. After 1.75 miles, you reach the Salt Cafe (@saltcafe66). This took us one hour - that wind did slow us down! I've had a breakfast bap there before and remember it being delicious, but slightly expensive. But today, we...

Mr Humdrum said he couldn't see how it could work. He sees now.  Saturday afternoon. How to resuscitate your 13 year old son from asphyxiation from XBox? Tell him to get ready to meet up with some of our friends for a games afternoon? Hmm let's see. Board games. Now don't get me wrong, we play board games. We love a spot of Would I Lie To You  and Killer Ludo is always a favourite with his grandparents (his grandad cheats and usually wins). But to meet up with friends, who have a teenage daughter, yes a GIRL, to play boardgames in a cafe on a Saturday afternoon, well that's just not cricket.   I can report that the said teenage boy smiled and, yes, laughed within ten minutes of arriving. We had booked ahead and were taken to our table, introduced to our (what do I call him - not just a waiter, gamer? Instructor?) "helper" who said he could not only take orders for food and drinks, but also recommend any of the 500 games that are available there. We saw...

Don't mention the mountains! After a friend announced that she "just wanted to do stuff", the usually irritating Facebook algorithms threw up a Let's Paint Pompey advert and I signed up immediately at the Wine Vaults.  Having just celebrated its first anniversary, Let's Paint Pompey is a fun, relaxing painting evening set in various pubs for a reasonable fee, where you need neither experience nor materials, and you get to bring home your creation and, hopefully, a budding new skill.  We pitched up slightly early as my friend wanted to grab a bite to eat first. I drove, so there was no partaking of alcohol that night. Looking around at the other painters, you couldn't specify a particular "type", but we fitted in. Some had been before, and some were newbs like we were. I admit I was nervous. I'd never done anything like this, well not since my CSE art in 1987! I love to think I'm creative and I do have a sketch pad, but I don't ...

I realise I'm slightly late to the party with this one, but I've just never got around to going to Baffled, despite hearing many, many good reviews from friends. I am a sucker for a beach view, so I usually visit the seafront for coffee catch-ups. The opportunity arose today with a friend from work.  The cafe is on Fawcett Road; parking wasn't a problem as roads nearby are permits between 4-6pm. This was a brunch meet-up! Brunch is served up until 11am and there are already three other dishes I want to try, so I'll have to arrange to come again. I wanted to choose the avocado crostini, but I knew I'd be having that tomorrow at my next brunch catch-up, so I went for the breakfast stack. My friend ordered the avocado crostini so I definitely knew I'd be having this next. Sliced avo and a perfectly poached egg were served on sourdough (I think) with lime and chilli salsa - this is from memory so forgive me if I'm wrong. Looking delicious, my friend said ...

Tucked in the redeveloped arches in Old Portsmouth is the Canteen. I can't believe I hadn't been here before! Half-term means a breakfast meet-up with friends and I was pleased it was going to be here. A good two mile walk from Canoe Lake afforded me free parking plus a chance to clear my foggy head. We chose a large table in the middle as there were a few of us, but my mind was set on returning to the little table by the window next time. Apparently there is a small terrace to sit on, where the water laps in at high tide. That's the next but one time sorted then. So obviously I'm going to choose the breakfast. A few of my friends go for the veggie option, but meat is the way for me. I was able to switch the evil tomato to avocado, which was offered with the veggie breakfast stack. Result number one. The stack arrived - it was a thing of beauty. A rosti at the bottom, crispy streaky bacon (not fatty) which I thought may be from my local butcher (see lat...

My friends will know that I am a breakfast aficionada. When Master Humdrum was smaller, we would be free for three whole hours on a Saturday morning (extra long football training) which afforded us time to languish over a full English. I don't know which I enjoyed more - the thrill of ordering what might be the best ever breakfast in a new venue, or returning to our old haunts as we knew we would get the best. Over time, things change. Football training morphed into a second weekend team so we couldn't really dump him at a game on Saturday morning, just to enjoy a breakfast.  Until last Saturday, when the fortune brekkie allowed us two hours off. Mr Humdrum found Cafe Marmalade, situated on Copnor Road, online. We had been there before, but a few years ago and I believe it was refurbished and reopened earlier this year.  The small breakfast comprised: A delicious sausage and slice of bacon - we knew the meat was going to be excellent as we saw the delivery va...

(1) Lighthouse walk around Trevose Head to Booby's Bay Trevose Head round to Booby's Bay and Constantine We walked around Trevose Head from our campsite in Mother Ivey's Bay, but of course you can access it from the coastal path. Passing over the lifeboat station, this afford you a view back over Harlyn and Trevone beaches, Stepper Point at the lower mouth point of the Camel Estuary and even as far as Polzeath and Pentire Point and the Rumps on the other side of the estuary. Once you have passed the lighthouse and the blow hole, the view is south to Booby's Bay and Constantine beach. Last year, we walked this route starting off drenched with rain and ending up in full sun, with a pasty pitstop by the lighthouse on the way. Watching the waves crash into Booby's over the rocks kept us occupied for quite some time. (2) Padstow walk Walk the war memorial and beyond Padstow, or Padstein as it's sometimes unfavourably known, is seen as a touristy t...

Location and ambience: I usually only visit here during our local Victorious festival, for their bbq and the toilets, if I’m being honest.  Today after a short stroll along the front, we decided to pop in for tea and cake. For those who don’t know, it’s set in the courtyard of Henry VIII’s castle built in 1544. Sadly, he didn’t design the castle with enough forethought to have a cafe 500 years in the future with views over the Solent, so we are under the arches. We snuck into the comfy chairs at all the end, out of the main thoroughfare. Music came on at the end of our visit but it wasn’t intruding (unlike the Adele and Kylie blasting out at another seafront-based cafe ...).  Refreshments: The cake selection was good; we chose coffee and walnut. It was neither dry not cold, two of my pet hates. Not sickly either, even for the large slice.  The tea (Teapigs - breakfast I presume?) was hot (sounds silly but you know what I mean!) and brewed properly on arrival ra...

This is the second of three blog posts where I draw on my years of experience visiting Padstow as a child, and the last five years staying there and making new family memories. I've already written extensively about eating in and around Padstow , including an essay on pasties, but this piece is about doing .  Quad biking  ATV Centre  near Truro, 01872 560753  A couple of years ago, Messrs Humdrum Jr and Sr go karted at St Eval. This time, they fancied something different. Quad biking! An early start proved non-essential (we'd been used to St Eval being absolutely jam packed way before opening time), but this did mean they got the track to themselves. Down £75 with two overalls hired, off they went to train. Not believing Master Humdrum's age, they gave him a bigger bike which he managed very well. Until he crashed and broke it! I can't count the laps they did, but they had a full 30 minutes on the track and luckily all alone. I was impressed with the...