Yesterday I was carrying the yard waste bags out to the street and I noticed this ladybug (aka ladybird) on one of the discarded stems of the dusty miller (Senecio). I gently broke off that leaf and brought it back to the main plant in the garden, where the ladybug took refuge. I probably disturbed its winter hibernation by trimming away some of the foliage where it was concealed. Hopefully it will find a new retreat until spring comes.
I had to come home yesterday at lunch because our boiler has been leaking and we had a repair scheduled. It only started dripping last week, but by Sunday the leak was worse and I thought, "We can't go away to Spain with this thing dripping like that!" I called British Gas yesterday morning and got a repair window of noon to 6 p.m. I stayed here for the first part of the shift, and Dave relieved me around 1:30 p.m. so I could get back to work. Martin, the engineer, was here by mid-afternoon and our boiler is once again watertight.
It's always something.
Meanwhile, the roofers working on the house next door set up a picnic lunch in the street, right in front of our steps. I'm not sure I've ever seen anyone eat lunch in the street before. I wondered why they didn't use the parking space in front of the house (it's full of roofing supplies, I realized later) or the back garden (maybe too wet). Anyway, they didn't seem to mind.
On the way home in the evening I stopped on Finchley Road for a bubble tea (I get the taro milk with tapioca beads). When this place first opened several years ago it was quite swanky, but now it's looking a little downtrodden. I still like their stuffed bubble-tea toys, even though they are themselves bearing the stains of spilled bubble tea.
I guess when you work outdoors all the time you can't be too picky about where to spend your lunch break, as long as you can have a break at all and get something to eat.
ReplyDeleteThe ladybug photo is wonderful!
It's great they're so adaptable -- probably a requirement of the job!
DeleteHeading home to wait for the boilerman... I bet Big Boss Woman was seething inside.
ReplyDeleteIt had to be done!
DeleteI would have sat on the front steps. Then again, I couldn’t get my legs into most of those positions and be comfortable. The dirty bubble tea animals would turn me off. Then again, bubble tea turns me off. Nice of the boiler to do what I did and get repaired before you leave.
ReplyDeleteI like bubble tea, but I do wish they'd launder their plushie toys.
DeleteSaving insects. I think you might be turning into a Boddhisattva, learning to save all sentient beings. Compassion for all living creatures. The photo of the picnickers is great as well.
ReplyDeleteAren't we all Bodhisattvas, supposedly?
DeleteI guess the roofers are foreign born. I like the way people from some countries just love to share their food with others, as I experience daily.
ReplyDeleteIt looks like a communal lunch, for sure.
DeleteI like the picnic photo. It is not something I see everyday and wish was more common in my culture.
ReplyDeleteI'd prefer grass, though, I gotta say.
DeleteI see our crews of construction workers setting up impromptu lunch spots, all with homemade food, and sharing freely. But construction workers have always done this. When my brother was a brick layer, in the UK, they used to lunch on the site, make a fire in winter and toast their sandwiches on a shovel over it.
ReplyDeleteI imagine people these days would object to someone building a fire in their front garden! (I wouldn't be thrilled about it.)
DeleteA building site is where it's all under construction! Nobody living there. No garden in the middle of new construction. I think you're maybe not familiar with the term.
DeleteI like the same flavor of bubble tea - love it even more when it is frozen enough that the tapioca pearls are frozen too. I tried the coffee flavor - once. That was a no-go.
ReplyDeleteI've never had it that cold. I think I prefer the tapioca chewy!
DeleteWhen you're a roofer you eat when and wherever you can!
ReplyDeleteAnd what is bubble tea? I'm seeing drinkable tea or bath beads ....
Bubble tea is a milky tea with flavoring and usually pearls of chewy tapioca in the bottom. It's served with an extra-wide straw so you can suck up the tapioca. Tea that you can chew!
DeleteA street picnic with a tablecloth, no less - very sophisticated.
ReplyDeleteBorne of necessity, I suppose, since otherwise they'd be sitting in greasy pavement.
DeleteNice pictures. There is a gracious generosity with the street picnic. Here we seem on the verge of losing that.
ReplyDeleteIt is more communal than we often see nowadays, I agree. Even in offices with lunchrooms people often sit by themselves.
DeleteWhen we got a new roof (two years ago?), at noon the workers would come down the ladders and get their lunches out of their vehicles and sit together, eating what they had brought. And then some of them would find a shady spot and lie down for a very brief nap. They worked so hard and I was always glad to see them get that little break in what was a very long day.
ReplyDeleteA siesta!
DeleteYou have such a sweet heart, Steve, saving that ladybug.
ReplyDeleteI like that photo and the photo of the roofers, too!
I worry that there were other ladybugs in that bag! I hope not.
DeleteGlad you got the boiler fixed. That would not have been fun to come home to if it happened while you were away. Interesting having a picnic in the street.
ReplyDeleteYeah, a week is too long to leave even a slow drip.
DeleteThose roofers have the right idea, and good job saving the lady bug!
ReplyDeleteI hope he's able to stay warm enough. It's still pretty chilly here.
DeleteAre the toys available for kids to play with or decoration only. I had to look up what tapioca is. We used to have tapioca pudding when I was growing up and I use it for a thickener for fresh peach pie but I never wondered what it was before. Taro root.
ReplyDeleteI've made puddings in the past with Sago which is a smaller size of Tapioca.
DeleteThe toys certainly LOOK like they've been played with! The tea I get is also flavored with taro, in addition to the tapioca beads.
DeleteI've never had bubble tea. Is it actually tea? I'm not a fan of that and wonder how I would deal with the globules of tapioca in my mouth. I used to like tapioca as a child since it one of the few desserts my mom would make.
ReplyDeleteIt is tea. I thought I would hate bubble tea until I had it. Now I treat myself every now and then!
DeleteI was surprised to learn our contractors no longer bring their lunches to the job site. They bring the job to a full stop and go out to a deli or restaurant. I recently had a bathroom renovation and was surprised at their 2-hour lunches.
ReplyDeleteLadybugs are so good for the garden and saving the tiny creature was great.
In my experience, leaks of any kind only get bigger. Resolving the leak early is the ideal.
I guess that's in keeping with our wider culture. So many people just go out for food or coffee now.
DeleteYou did well in getting the leak fixed nice and quickly.
ReplyDeleteThe stuffed bubble-tea toys look quite sweet.
All the best Jan
The toys do set a playful mood!
DeleteI've never really understood bubble tea. I fear I'd choke on a tapioca "bubble"!
ReplyDeleteWell, it WOULD be easy to inhale one, if you were sucking on that straw too hard. I've come close a couple of times.
DeleteThe workers are first class as they have a cloth on the ground.
ReplyDeleteThey have to protect their good roofing clothes!
DeleteFor picnic in the streets you need to be in Singapore on a Sunday - hired help day off - foreign workers who go out to meet others of their own culture and literally picnic in the streets - even busy shopping streets.
ReplyDeleteOh, that's interesting! I've been to Singapore but I can't remember if I was there on a Sunday -- I think I missed that phenomenon!
DeleteI'm so glad you got the boilers fixed before you left for Spain. I like the picnic. And the lady bug too!
ReplyDeleteYeah, I'd have been worrying about that dripping boiler the whole time, no matter how big a bucket we put underneath it.
DeleteStreet picnic! And why not as long as they were out of the way of traffic. Glad the boiler got fixed so quickly.
ReplyDeleteIt just seems kind of uncomfortable, doesn't it? I guess roofers have pretty high discomfort tolerance, though. It's hard for me to imagine a less pleasant job.
Delete