Voluntary work in charity shop (3)

The third time I did work in the charity, both my mother and sister accompanied me. 

First, like usual we checked for clothes hangers. 

Afterwards, I priced some of the new books. For that, as well as deciding the price and writing it down, I had to write my initials, the year and the month. The reason being that it is important to know how long books have been up on the shelves if they haven't been sold, and also if one of the people working there is pricing thing a little too high or too low, one of the managers can have a word with them on how to adjust their prices.

Shelves can easily get messy, but most of the time, they can easily get tidied; my mother and rearranged one of the shelves, and I stuffed the boots on it with plastic bags so that they stood up and looked nicer.

Another thing I did was put the scarves so that they could be more easily seen. While I was doing that, a lady walked in with a really cute little dog. My sister and I stroked it and it was so soft! I hope it comes again one of the days I'm there. That reminds me that I might be doing work in the shop on some Fridays. 

Voluntary work in charity shop, second week (2)

On my second week of doing voluntary work in a charity shop, I looked for more hangers on the rails, and my mother and I tidied up the bookshelf. We threw out the really boring books, and changed prices of things. We also put the books on different parts of the shelves according to what kind of book they were, and I tidied up the 50p basket while my mother put more books into it. There were some new books that had come in, and we put those up on the shelves and priced them. It took longer than I thought, but it was still fun doing it. Also, while I was tidying one of the shelves, I came across two American magazines from the year 1965. They were called "Woman's day" and had some adverts inside for products that you don't get very much these days. Mum bought them both for me, and I'm going to photocopy them for my art journal.

Anyway, I'm looking forward to going to the charity shop again next Monday (Not just because I want to get more old magazines). I really like helping out there because the lady is nice to chat to, and because it's really satisfying when I finish a job and everything's tidy. 

Apple picking

Because we missed blackberry picking season, I asked my dad whether we could go apple picking in a secret location that I can't mention in my blog because other people will go there and pick the apples before us. Anyway, we all went, taking a broom and some of those plastic bags that it's really un-cool to walk around with.

It didn't look very apple-ish at first. There were a few on the ground, rotting and worm-eaten, and we didn't really feel like eating those, so we carried on walking. We saw some trees that still had apples on them, but they were diseased, and we didn't really feel like eating those either. So we walked on.

Green apple trees are not too hard to find, which I guess, is why we found one at the "Secret location". It had lots of juicy-looking fruit on it, but we couldn't reach the high-up ones, and neither could our broom, so one of the people with us decided to throw some rotten apples up into the tree, and they knocked down some good apples, which weren't so good by the time they hit the ground, but were still better than the rest.

Later on my mother spotted another tree, but it had red apples on it, and they looked quite tasty. I climbed the tree and used the broom to knock down some of the apples, but I had to be careful not to let them hit my mother and sister on the head, while they were picking up the ones I'd already knocked down. Dad said not to worry about hitting them on the head, though, not because my sister was being irritating, but because one  falling apple isn't really enough to knock someone out and injure them for the rest of their lives.

Afterwards, we hid the bags of apples and the broom, and went for a walk round the secret orchard. on our way, this golden retriever that walked like a show pony, and was really friendly came up to us and we stroked it. Soft, fluffy dogs aren't extremely uncommon, but this one was especially nice and furry. A lady appeared a few seconds later. She smiled and we exchanged helloes with her. She said the not usual things dog owners say about their dogs. At first, the lady just sounded normal, but suddenly, she sounded dutch, and said "Golden retrievers are very friendly, that is why so many young families have one". It was really funny when she said that because she pronounced all her 'R's as "GH"s.

Okay, back to apples! We made apple crumble, apple juice, hot apple juice with ginger, and apple chutney with the fruit we picked. Yummy!

 

Voluntary work in a charity shop (1)

Last Monday I did some voluntary work in a charity shop for animal aid and advice.

The first thing I had to do was to check all of the clothes rails for empty hangers. When some were found, I had to put them in a pile on a table, and then hand the on a designated part of one of the rails. 

After that, the lady who works at the charity shop told me to clean and rearrange the jewellery in the window display. This took longer than I expected because I had to make sure everything looked nice from the outside as well as the inside, and that wasn't so easy. The earrings went on a shelf of their own at first, but it was really crowded and messy, so I put them on two separate shelves. There was lots of deciding to do.

On the next window display, I didn't clean it, but I just changed a few things around so that they matched and looked nicer.

Next, there was a large heap of clothes that needed to be put on hangers. The trousers were folded and put in a pile on the floor by the table. The small things like hats and underwear were put on the counter, and scarves hanging from a wire basket. I learnt a new way to put clothes on hangers, which is way simpler than the one I'm used to.

The actual shop in quite small, but there are so many things in it, way more than it looks like it has at first glance. Also, it sells some really nice things like good book, and a ton of clothes.

The charity shop mostly helps cats, but sometimes other animals. They re-home cats and people can call in for advice on looking after their pets (Mostly cats).

I'm doing more work there tomorrow morning.

Trip to Venice

The day before yesterday we arrived back from a six day holiday in Venice, Italy. I've been there once before, when I was about two years old, but I don't remember any of it from that trip, so it was a nice surprise to see what Venice was like.

While we were there, we stayed for the first few nights with an airbnb host in Scorze, and then for the rest in Mestre with a different airbnb host.

At the first host's house, I tried a fruit called persimmon, picked from a tree in the garden, and it was delicious. There was also a pomegranate tree in the garden, and I was surprised at the quantity of fruit that came from both trees. Later on, I realised that there were pomegranate and persimmon trees in most people's gardens, and was then surprised at the quantity of trees, all with such ripe and healthy fruit, because in England the climate is different and I' not used to seeing so many of those plants.

During our stay, we did some really touristy things (Seeing as we were tourists) like going to see some of the famous things in Venice and eating gelatos ( Mostly yoghurt flavour for me). The famous things that we saw were Ca' Rezzonico, Rialto fish market, Ca' Pesaro, Pallazo du Calle and Corre Museum and a few other things.

Ca' Rezzonico is one of the things of my choice that we saw. It's an eighteenth century palace, and a very beautiful one. There are paintings on the ceilings, and chandeliers hanging from some of them. We saw a bed that belonged to someone who lived there, and a baby's cradle as well.

Ca' Pesaro is an art gallery with lots of paintings, all of which were painted in the seventeen hundreds, so they were very traditional. The building was large, so large, in fact that it was a palace.

The fish market felt just like an ordinary fish market, really, except that the people selling the food were all Italian, and there were really big swordfish at two of the stalls.

Pallazo Ducale, also known as the Doge's Palace wasn't very exciting, but it had dungeons where people had written their names with candle smoke. There was also a bridge called the Bridge of Sighs because everybody used to sigh as they walked over bridge to the dungeons.

We spent the whole day trying to get to Corre Museum, and in the end it turned out not to be worth it, because we were tired by the time we got there, and there were so many rooms that we kept thinking they should end any moment, but they didn't until we were really tired. Not everything in it was boring, but it wasn't as exciting as I hoped it would be.

We also went to a different art gallery which I really liked. It wasn't too big, and it had a nice collection of things including a sedan chair.

There are three famous Venetian islands that we went to, called "Murano", "Burano" and "Torcello".

The reason I chose to go to Torcello is because I heard that Atilla The Hun lived there for a while once, and I heard that his throne was there. Torcello, like I thought was a nice little island, full of of cats and postcards. The thing that surprised me about it is that the throne that is said to have once belonged to Atilla was left out, not in a museum, and not even with a barrier round it, so anyone could sit on it, deface it, and it would get worn down from the wind and rain. 

What makes it even more weird is that the throne is supposed to have been built in like the fifth century or something. That's like more than one and a half thousand years ago! At Torcello I bought three postcards, and it took me ages to choose them.

Burano is a town that has lots of pretty, colourful houses like in Balamory that everybody (Including me!) takes photos of. The island is famous for making lace. Everything is really expensive here, but I liked the ice-cream we bought.

Murano was the last island we went to on the day we visited the islands. It's famous for it's glass making skills. We went to a glass museum while we were in Murano and watched a video of how they made the stuff out of glass and it was especially fascinating how they made the beads and did the stretching. On the island there were some glass statues, and a ton of shops selling glass things, including sea horses, cats and chandeliers.

Rialto bridge is at the centre of Venice, so it's hard not to miss it. It's very big, and there are a ton of people on it, especially Americans taking photographs.

While visiting all the places we mainly had bread and cheese and butter, and other cold snacky foods like Italian wafers (They were delicious) , but a few times at home we had hot meals, like chicken and rice, chicken soup and seafood soup. Also, of course, we had pizza while we were out. In fact, we stumbled upon a great pizza place. It felt like the real thing, rather than some kind of tourist trappy place set up by a "Non-Italian, What-the-hell-is-pizza" person. I ordered an artichoke pizza. It was the best one I'd had in Venice. I hope we go back there.

We went to a few bakeries in the mornings, and at them I mostly ordered doughnuts, which are nicer in Venice than here. I also had a few caffe orzos because I like them, and they're easier to get in Venice than London. Thinking about it, we had a lot of coffees on holiday, way more than usual, because Italy is famous for coffee. The best coffee we had was one of the first ones, because it had cream on top and was kind of like granita. We had Caffe Zero, which is pretty good too, and a few other kinds of coffee, both hot, and cold. We had a granita too, which was supposed to taste like coke, and almost did. We also had tea and hot chocolate, which were at the first host's house.

......... And most importantly, we had gelato. Delicious, creamy gelato, better than any ice-cream! I had mostly yoghurt flavour because that's my favourite at the moment. I like mint too, but not as much. We had almost two doubke gelatos a day, but on the last day, and I think maybe the day before the last, we didn't have one.

Because Venice is a very beautiful place, and because we were on holiday, I took a ton of photos. I did two drawings, too. I was going to do more, but I couldn't really find many things, and the ones that I did find went wrong. The two drawings I managed to do were of a bridge that was near where we sat down, and in full view except for a tiny bit at the end, and the shutters of the windows at our first host's house.

Venice is a very expensive place because of all the tourists that come there, so it's hard to find places that have reasonable prices. It's also hard to find leather shops with gloves that aren't made in China. We walked around for ages looking for one, because I wanted leather gloves, and there are lots of leather shops there. We didn't find any. It's also very hard to find places that have masks sold for good prices. The reason why you'd want to buy a mask is because Venice is famous for making masks. I managed to find one with good prices, but the mask I bought was made in  China. Still, it's nice to have something to remind me of my trip to Venice, and to hang on the wall, and maybe even to wear. We bought some fridge magnets, things (pendants, a watch for my sister and a hair clip for our neighbour.) from a glass shop and some wine to take home.

In Venice, almost everyone speaks English, including the Italians. I think it's because most the tourists speak English; a lot of them are Australians, but there are even more Americans. And there are English people too, of course. I played a game called count the Americans, which was hard because there were so many. I must have got over a hundred, if you add up the scores per day. When you're counting Americans you have to see them, and hear them. Those are the rules. Sometimes it's okay if you just hear them, but if you just see them and don't hear them you can't count that, unless they're wearing something that makes it really obvious that they're American, like the lady we saw wearing a topless Yankees Baseball cap. You can usually tell if someone in Venice is American,  because they'll usually be holding a map, and talking loudly. They tend to be middle aged, and wearing caps. Also, they'll basically look American (Take into account breadth and general Americanness). As well as Americans in Venice, there are also lots of Italians, seeing as this is Italy we're talking about. Most of the Italians who were shopkeepers that we saw seemed very proud that they were Italian. That doesn't mean that they aren't nice, it's just something I noticed.

I liked Venice so much that I want to go back there very soon. The good thing is that I can go when I like because I don't need to be back for school.

Cybercandy and Bubble tea

Yesterday, my mother took my sister and I to Camden town. We went to two main shops, Cybercandy and Bubble tea.

Cybercandy is a shop that cells novelty sweets, like Moomintroll lollypops, garlic mints, and bacon flavour icing. You can spend hours in there looking at the large range of crazy and edible things. Everything in the shop is brightly coloured and cartoony, from the collages on the walls, to the sweets themselves. Among the incredible assortment of candies, I found the weirdest things. Included are,"Gross drinks", which are juice drinks labelled, "Dog drool", "Cat piddle", "Swamp juice" and similar names to that. The , "Cat piddle" is actually orange and pinapple juice. I can't remember what the others are. Also found in the shop is, "Monkey dental floss", which is banana flavoured dental floss, and, "Carrot floss" which is carrot dental floss. They are both hygenic, and probably nice-tasting. Cybercandy also has a range of Australian Cadbury bars, but according to one of the shopkeepers, they aren't as nice as the European ones. Some of the most popular things are, "Reese's chocolate bars" and peanut butter m&ms. The shop sells Wonka bars too. It sort of reminds me of Haawkin's Bazaar because the also sell strange things.

Bubble tea is a shop selling strange teas with "Bubbles" in them. The "Bubbles" are made out of tapioca and carrageenan powder, and are filled with a thick, juice-like liquid that's sweet and really yummy. The teas come in different flavours, including the classic tea flavours, plus some fruity ones like "melon". You can have them warm or cold, and say how sweet you want them. The drinks come in three categories, milky, fruity and smoothies. There are also ones with crushed ice. One of the most popular teas in the Camden Bubble tea shop is Taro. The shop sells steamed buns as well, and they are delicious. We ordered two filled with custard because the others all had pork and we didn't want pork. As well as that, they sold little Malaysian cupcakes, but we didn't buy any. I think we should buy them next time we go to Bubble tea.

Electronic drumkit

One or two days before my birthday, I walked into the living room to find a bed sheet draped over something, completely covering in. My dad immediately told me no to go near it, telling me it was one of my birthday presents. I spent the next two days guessing what was underneath it, and resisting the urge to pull off the cover.

When it finally was my birthday, I was excited to find that I could see what the mystery present was. Pulling off the bed sheet revealed something that looked like a photography set with a few tripods. Then, I realised that it more like a DJ set, but a very strange one. Finally, I realised that it was an electronic drum kit, something I'd been wanting a long time, as I do drum kit lessons.

My sister and I spent the whole morning making an awful racket playing with the drum kit, and giving my mum a headache.

As I've forgotten how to put a photo onto my blog, I'm going to describe the kit:

It has a hi-hat, two cymbals, a snare drum and the other drums that drum kits usually have. It also has 20 settings for what you want the whole drum kit to sound like. The best of the settings is,"Guitars?!?", but, "Jazz" is okay too. The kit has lots of wires, and can be connected to the hi-fi, or used with earplugs or headphones. The hi-hat sounds completely different on the electronic drum kit to the original one. I'd prefer it to sound like the original one. The set comes with a stool to sit on while you play.

 I think my drumming is going to get really good because I can practice at home for my lessons.