HIDE AND SEEK

60 things in the 60 th year of Mr Hide All. It has been a busy year. Well done Mick and enjoy your day. Come on you reds!

Blackheath firework display.Celebrating Guy Fawkes night  makes a visit to the  fireworks a must for all  Hide All folks living in South East London- any other recommendations?

Football at the Valley. Support‘Charlton Athletic’ say Mick and Pauline. ‘We’re having a cracker of a season. We’re top of the league’. It’s a 3pm kick off  with the mighty Preston North End. Well done Chrissy Powell.

NV candles in Hide All . This is a new brand and fireworks and fragance is the order of the day with this event. Do pop in for a smell -Saturday both stores burning our Christmas special of cognac and orange.

. 

That time has come around again when Charlton kick off their football season. It seems like the footballing holiday period gets shorter and shorter each year. We’ve all been so busy in the shops it feels like only yesterday that we were watching the final game of last season! Anyway we are all very excited to usher in the new season tomorrow at 3pm against the mighty Bournemouth Athletic. There has been lots of comings and goings in Charlton this summer so nobody quite knows who half of our players are, and we certainly have no idea what the team will be. Here’s to hoping that whoever they are, they manage to win!

Whatever happens, we will hopefully be able to enjoy it all in the glorious sunshine if this current weather holds up (knowing Charlton’s luck though, it won’t!).

Play offs, promotion and premiership all far off memories in us poor Charlton Athletic supporters. As we join in the excitement of other teams and wistfully dream of events to come it seems everso slightly extravagant but strangely appropiate to share with you all our day of greatness the 1998 play off final  Charlton v Sunderland. Such a great day for all of South East London as we know it. For friends and colleagues enjoy your exciting moments - good luck to Reading, hope you get Scott Parker at Arsenal Neil and Andy and Florence. Roll on 2011/12 football season …….oh what optimists we are!!

And we’re not talking gastro-pubs or any of these chef-dominated new kids on the block. Here at Hide All we’ve rediscovered the joys of our local - here’s three of our favourites;

Plume of Feathers, Greenwich - We had our Hide All Christmas bash here.

The Anchor Tap, Shad Thames - Discovered by James who, having left Hide All and now living in trendy Islington, is still known to visit for a pint with friends.

The Royal Oak, Charlton - For all the Hide All North Stand season ticket holders this is a must pre-homegames. But no pictures of this one yet! Work in progress.

All three are traditional  English pubs - forget coffee-houses, pizza places and posh cafes, we’ve had some of our best moments this winter in our favourite pubs.

A few of our favourite things and the blogs that we think do them best…

 Books - dovegreyreader scribbles, a Devonshire based bookaholic, sock-knitting quilter who is a community nurse in her spare time. Pauline absolutely loves this blog - the reviews, opinions and reports of daily life in the West Country. Familiar territory for Pauline!

 Clothes and Colour - whatkatiewore, a different outfit every day. We find this a very addictive blog, the soap-opera of the web. Still, she’s wearing the same trousers as Pauline has from Whistle this season.

 Football - Charlton Athletic Online, news, views, opinion, previews and reports on Charlton Athletic Football Club by Pedro45!

Gossip - Rachel’s blog, what students do when they’re not working at Hide All or writing essays!

Arts and Crafts - Hello Lucky, all things stylish, vintage, and handmade. The reason why we started blogging and a big influence on our buying for the stores.

Hide All’s Charlton supporters were delighted with the team’s fantastic 1-5 win against Peterborough United on Saturday. We have plenty to say about the game - even the Guardian has joined in. Well done Charlton!

Said Pauline to Mick last Friday night, “Are there any Charlton players here at the World Cup 2010?”.

“Oh no!” replied Mick.

“That must say something” thought Pauline. But… there are!

And what a week we Charlton fans working at Hide All have had. Up to 7 players (thinks Mick, or 6 for Pauline and Nick!). The highlight being the Denmark game last Monday - what a surprise. Answers at the end of this blog…

And… Charlton community scheme was discussed extensively on BBC Radio 5 Live this morning, the template for Ajax Cape Town community scheme - how proud we are! Well done Jason Morgan.

And a mention here of Sean Bartlett and Mark Fish, Charlton’s Premiership South African players! Fondly remembered.

Here are the the answers to the Charlton players (past and sadly not present) now at the 2010 World Cup…

Nigeria - Danny Shittu

USA - Jonathan Spector

Algeria - Madjd Bougherra

Denmark - Stephan Anderson and Dennis Rommedahl

Cameroon - Alex Song

England - Jermain Defoe (not included in Pauline and Nick’s list!)

 Good luck to England tonight!

New West End cufflinks all retailing at £19.99.

When do you wear cufflinks? For Nick it’s weddings and meetings, James it’s school, parties and Player of the Year and for Mick - well he just dresses for the occasion!

James, the Hide All music expert, treated his mum Pauline to a night out at the Union Chapel, Islington - Andrew Bird performing at his very best, with lots of impromptu whistling and violin playing. Original and inspiring, we love his work - see a selection of his performances on Andrew’s YouTube channel.

And Charlton results. We won’t talk about the bad ones, but Saturday 5-1 to us! We’re still watching those goals on BBC iPlayer. Lloyd Sam’s is Mick’s favourite - what’s yours?

Plus the Olympic Aquatic Centre’s roof went up - on schedule! Whenever you drive along the dual carriageway (A12) it’s always so exciting to see the progress of the Olympic site.