For those with travel plans, this might be useful
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No news on which two holidays will be cancelled yet by M.Bayrou
Nope… there’s a way to go before any firm decision will be made/voted on (whatever) but when the News arrives… I’ll post it here!
As things stand, may’s going to be a quiet month!
Thanks for posting, @stella - I’ve now marked up the calendar 
Always is! One year, we were trying to sell a retail property with a flat above and nothing much was happening. I went into the estate agents and asked how things are going. The receptionist said “It’s May, nothing will happen in May” - there’s me imagining it would be busy because people had time off to look in estate agents’ windows.
I walked out and down the street to the next estate agent, who gave me a very different reception and sold the property for us.
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I found this image enchanting
(The Times article is however less optimistic, so I leave it at the bonny image.)
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Looks very SW1 ? possibly SW7 ?
Pembridge Hall, London W2
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Ah well. Only the other side of Hyde Park, plus a bit! 
W2 is all pretty upmarket nowadays, isnt it? 
Not what it used to be. Used to be quite racy and yet affordable despite same white stucco mansions as inner SW postcodes. My cousin used to live in Linden Gardens backing onto Pembridge and I was a barmaid at the Devonshire Arms pub (now a poncy nightclub I think) a block away on the corner of Notting Hill. And of course a stone’s throw from Portobellio Road, the Nottng Hill Carnival and any number of drug-selling locations .
When I arrived in London to live with my guardian at the age of 8, I went to school in Kensington at a little school called Allendale with two lovely teachers, Miss Jenkins and Miss Todd. Their gentle nurturing and imaginative teaching went a very long way to healing the recent loss of my home and parents in Beirut. We all went together into the park every day to eat our lunch and learn about nature. I know absolutely that the best teachers at the right time can be the making of a child.
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My parents lived in SW7, I longed to go to school in London but they went off to Japan and sent me away to board in Scotland aged 4.
Aged 4!!! Oh my!!! I hope you are writing a book about your life. Over the years here you have let slip the most amazing stories - I think you have lived more lives than most of the rest of us and you started early.
When I was about 10 I can remember thinking boarding school was much more fun than my day school, but by then I was into all the girly boarding school adventure books. At 4 that would have been much too daunting.
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Your post brought back some wonderful memories as I was at Allendale. There is virtually nothing about the school. I was there for three happy years between 1982 and 1985 and was so sad to leave. I have very fond memories of Miss Jenkins and Miss Todd as well as Miss White. I always visit the bench in Holland Park dedicated to Miss Jenkins whenever I visit London. I loved our lunches in Holland Park. A happy time in my life.
Your photo reminded me of Anglican colleges (private schools) in S Africa, who rigorously followed the English model, not least in matters of uniform, and despite considerable climatic differences. As a result on Saturdays during Trinity, the southern hemisphere autumn / winter term when shade temps could still be C25°, one would see gaggles of schoolgirls going into town in regulation gaberdine raincoats, scarves and felt hats, whilst the university students were still in shorts and T-shirts.