Where to buy a towelling wrap

I wore my wrap-around towel in the Fitz gym where I'd been taken by somebody who has a guest pass. A woman asked me where I'd bought my wraparound towel. I have four of them, one magenta, one fuschia with shoulder straps, one orange towelling and one orange micofibre towelling.

I looked for the label in the towelling version in orange (they call it peach usually) towelling. To my surprise it came from Spotlight, the Australian store, presumably the branch in Singapore, not in Australia. The 'orange' microfibre one probably came from Kleeneze catalogue company who deliver to your door so you don't pay extra for postage. You can also buy a headband which folds over and secures with Velcro. If you want both, it's worthwhile looking to see if you can get the headband or turban included or cheaper if you buy both together.

Microfibre always sounds a good idea and I keep buying it, but it can get static and feel odd and catch on hangnails.

I think the magenta sarong with the shoulder straps came from an Ace Xmas catalogue. I pointed out to my new friend that the button at thigh level was one I had moved there from inside. She gasped, 'You sew too!'

Doesn't everyone? I sew when forced to do so. The sarong is rather small and I am rather large, as we say in England, 'round the houses', (where does that phrase come from). So it does not overloap. Whenever I am out of the bath in a towelling sarong the bell goes for the post or a parcel delivery and I don't want it gaping. So I thought I'd add a popper or a co-ordinating button.

The top fastens with a button and loop. But there's another button inside so that midgets who are half my size can do it up tighter. It didn't take long to remove the button and sew on at hip level.

What about a loop? The inner loop was easy to remove. And sewing it was easy - who's looking to see how neat it is, anyway? Anybody could do it.

But what other kinds of towelling sarong can you buy?

Go on line and you can lose an evening, as I just did, looking at dozens of companies. To save you time, here's a summary of what I've found.

I first ordered a towel sarong in navy years ago from Able-label who sell them for men and women with personalisation (name or initials). Currently white and navy. The man's version is shorter, designed to cover the groin, not the bust.

TowelsRus.co.uk has navy, white or peach £14.95.

Ladies Towelling Sarong, plum, £11.95 from amazon.co.uk

Red from icebenice in cotton £11.95.

Indigoclothing.com £7.58 plus packing

Microfibre with rurban £10 various colour including navy, peach, pink, lilac, with hat and slippers included or separate £10

Lots of companies will add embroidered initials or personalisation such as a club's name and therefore they are looking at the multiple order market with minimum orders of 4. (OK if you have a family of 4, or are ordering for Xmas presents could be worthwhile.) Greater discounts apply to bigger orders.

A wedding site in the USA offers bridesmaids and spa sets of three sarongs in assorted colours plus some prints which I think look tacky but you might like the patterns.

You can buy towels to match the sarong. Or buy two large towels and use one to make a sarong.

Velcro for the overlap. Elastic in a hem at the top. Add a button or ribbons.

Writing Books

I'm currently updating my books.

Caricatures by Angella Scenes From Summer 2010

These are small drawings.

Depending on your budget, you can commission small or large drawings for cards, gifts, businesses, restaurant walls, birthdays, anniversaries and leaving presents. Or memories of children or grandparents, alive or dead, from live people modelling or from photographs.

The longer you are prepared to sit, the more time can be spent on achieving a likeness, creating an interesting pose and adding evocative props.

Charge is on a size and time basis, depending on the paper and time used, ranging from a tiny black outline sketch in under five minutes (less than £20) with a quickly drawn caption to a large drawing with background, colouring, interviewing to get a biographical caption, making up a rhyme or alliterative description, and careful lettering and maybe drawing a frame.

Contact angelalansbury@hotmail.com

More caricatures

Here are some more.

Caricatures by Angella - Models With Wit

My drawing of caricatures is developing into a distinctive style.

1 I draw large heads and small bodies (which is quite common).

2 But also very colourful, using watercolour pencils.

3 Often whimsical or humorous.

4 Not stick figures like Lowry but overweight people, plump and jolly, like myself, emulating the paintings by the late Beryl Cook who showed people eating and dancing, enjoying themselves.

5 She often did several characters and although I mostly have one sitter, I am now starting to do pairs of people, with one looking at the other, either affectionately or admiringly or in surprise.

6 I try to include something which epitomises or symbolises their main interest, work, sport or hobby, such as a tennis racquet.

7 I wanted to add humorous rhyming couplets, using alliteration, combining their name and trade or profession alliteratively. I did that for my friends, twin doctors, Derek and David.

8 I asked Dorothy what she did. She was retired, but had lots of interests. I asked how she would like to be described on her gravestone. She quipped, 'I want lover on my gravestone.'

Lover seemed to be inappropriate to put on a drawing of her. But the whole phrase, 'Put lover on my gravestone' seemed a good caption.

9 I then thought I should have a saying from each person, summing up their attitude to life, such as a glass half full, or, if they could not come up with something original and witty, their favourite proverb. That would be a great souvenir of each person, much more interesting as a collection of characters from each decade. It's a way of making the drawings more interesting. 10 Alternatively a way of subtly getting across common sense and advice to youngsters in the form of a humorous art book.

RIALTO Restaurant, another great restaurant in Hatch End

Rialto Restaurant

The name Rialto comes from the Rialto bridge which you see on the mural inside the restaurant. I looked up Rialto in Wikipedia and learned that it means river high, or the high bank, the riverside where the market was set up, linked by a bridge, one of four across the river, and an icon of Venice. It's a covered bridge and the rental helped pay for the upkeep of the bridge. We used to have a covered bridge in London. Another well-known covered bridge in Italy is the one in Florence with jewellery shops. This is a conversation starter if you're with an old or new friend in the restaurant and looking for a general topic before you move into the more confidential conversation.

Despite the echoing flooring and wood tables you could not hear the conversation of others nor be overheard because of the background music. That was good.

I started with a glass of prosecco, the Italian sparkling wine, which resembles a dry Champagne. Prosecco seems to appear more often on menus nowadays that the sweeter Asti Spumante.

Outside, a board had displayed a lunch time offer competing with other local restaurants but we were given the main menu. I wasn't bothered because I was looking for something different from pizza and pasta and opted for the chicken with vegetables. I like a piece of solid meat. the spinach and carrots were okay. Casa Mia on a good day, and Fellini in the old days, used to do chicken and freshly cooked vegetables better.

Yes, it was only lunch time, but almost £12 for a lunch you expect something good, more than you'd get for the usual loss leader of £6 and under, which means most restaurants are breaking even so they are employed and getting free lunch, making money only on the drinks and keeping the place busy, occupying the waiting staff, reminding you the customer to come back in the evening.

I tried my companion's spaghetti carbonara, which is made with egg yolk and ham. Could not believe how astonishingly good it was. So good I might have that instead if I ever go back.

Our smiling waitress was from Poland, a town which was previously called Breslaw. In fact four different smiley people served us or asked if everything was all right so service was a good point. I didn't complain about anything because nothing was so wrong that I wanted it changed. But I was glad when I was given a comment form and asked to fill it in. I told them that the chicken was rubbery and I'd have preferred saute potatoes to boiled. Not boring old boiled like school dinners. I like potatoes with a crisp outside, chaps, saute or roast. If I must have something better for a calorie conscious diet I'd opt for baked in their jackets potatoes or mashed potatoes. (I do hate it when menus say mash (verb) potatoes instead of mashed (adjective).

At dessert time once again my companion chose well and I had the duff dessert and wished I'd ordered the other one. I opted for cheesecake and as I'd suspected the biscuit base was good, the fresh-ish raspberries on top were tasty, but the cheesecake itself looked like toothpaste and did not taste at all like cheese. I prefer the New York style baked

cheesecake you get in Starbucks and similar coffee shops. However, the banoffee (banana+toffee) pie tasted of banana and was wonderful. On my previous visit I'd tried the lemon ice cream and loved it. The single espresso with hot milk was so so.

What do other places do to make coffee a real treat? Caffe Fellini seems to serve coffee with cream and better brown sugar. Lump brown sugar always looks delightful as well as tasting great.

I also told them I'd have preferred chocolate to rock hard mint. (I won't eat caramels nor rock hard sweets and overcooked food since breaking a tooth and having a delicate filling which has already been replaced twice.)

If I go back I'll either opt for the dishes I know are great or try something new. I give five stars to a restaurant where every dish is a delight. Four stars means some are great, some not. Nothing was actually wrong but I save five stars for the ooh ah places where everything looks and tastes delightful.

Hawtreys in Ruislip, and in Hatch End in the evening sometimes Hatchets and Caffe Fellini can hit the ooh ah spot. Maybe Rialto will, too. They are only a few feet away from Hatchet's which has the plaque to Mrs Beeton, the cookery writer who pioneered the recipe starting with the ingredients.

So Rialto - yes, I'll go back. They are conveniently open all day 11 am to 11 pm. If you wish to go, the address is: Rialto Restaurant, 451 Uxbridge Road, Hatch End, Pinner, Middlesex HA5 4JR, tel: 020 8421 5550 /0352.

their other branches are in Fulham and Dorking and their website is www.caferialto.net or www.cafe-rialto.co.uk