Month: Oct 2023

189: refreshed and raring to go

Sunday finds me sitting here in my DIY dryrobe, thermal socks and warm layers after the first winter swim of the season – 12 degrees in the water and about 10 out and after two loops round the first buoy I was definitely feeling my edges. Feeling amazing, also, but that 3 degree drop since my last lake swim is noticeable.

Anyway, I am back from my half term holiday and ready to face what looks like a mad month building up to National Illustration Day, after which I will need another holiday. Logo design with Lena Yokoyama has been carrying on without me and the outcome is celebratory and joyful and gorgeous and we can’t wait to put it out into the world, hopefully before the teacher’s CPD on Wednesday evening.

We headed off to Wales on Monday, having packed extremely lightly – apart from traffic on the M25 (hurray for SatNav detours) we had a clear run through with only a brief stop for lunch in Luigi’s in Abergavenny. The mountain views through Bannau Brycheiniog (also known as the Brecon Beacons) were spectacular as ever, although Things 2 (Phenergan) and 3 (Stugeron) slept through it all, leaving Aunty Tan and me to spot red kites, hares, the odd deer and a lot of sheep on our own. We arrived in Llangrannog around five, met a friendly cat and the kids went down to see the sea while we unloaded the car.

We were staying in Bryn-y-Mor Isaf, a lovely little cottage in the village – Thing 2 decided she’d rather bunk in with me than her brother, but at least the bed was kingsize and she sleeps like the proverbial log. Once she is out, she is out. Thing 3 stayed in the twin room while Aunty Tan had the first floor double. There was a comfortable sitting room which the kids were banned from taking drinks into after a hot chocolate disaster, bult luckily there was a comprehensive cleaning kit which the leaving instructions were very clear about using. I’m not sure I’ve ever stayed in a cottage where we were instructed to strip beds and clean every surface – not that we made much of a mess, being the nicely brought up children that we are, but we were a bit surprised.

Day one, Tuesday, was a mix of sunshine and showers – there were a few jigsaws in the house so the children and I worked on a couple of those together. Thing 3 has always loved a puzzle, and Thing 2 was inexorably sucked in as the puzzles progressed. Tan and I went for a walk up onto the cliff path, where we were excited to spot a couple of dolphins playing just off shore. We all went in the sea in the afternoon: Tan was very taken with her new wetsuit, which she discovered made her very buoyant (not her usual state of being in the water).

Things went downhill in the evening when Thing 3 came down with a stomach bug and spent the night throwing up every hour or so – at 22 minutes past the hour every time, which meant I was running up and down the stairs a lot. He’d been sharing a drink with Thing 2 on the previous day, so the rest of the week was a bit of a waiting game to see when she’d succumb and a fervent hope that Tan and I wouldn’t.

Wednesday started for me with a well-deserved solo swim – four widths of the beach which we worked out to be about 400m. I followed that with a late morning nap with the sun on my back through the skylight, and then Thing 2, Tan and I went to Y Caban for fish and chips for lunch, followed by ice cream and a walk on the beach where about a dozen dolphins were playing quite close in to the shore. Tan and I had a late afternoon swim, with a seal bobbing about near the rocks which was amazing.

In the evening I stupidly clicked the Tube Map Memory Game that a couple of my friends had shared on Facebook and that was it for a few hours – I got to about 64% on my own and then enlisted Tan, and between us we got to 88.8%. There’s one station on the Hainault loop of the Central Line that I can’t recall, and we’ve nailed inner London, but the Overground, the western reaches of the Lizzie line, and a chunk of South London is beyond us. We started watching the latest series of Bake Off, while I crocheted and Thing 3 snuggled under a duvet and felt sorry for himself.

Thursday found us in Aberaeron, where the kids tried crabbing (unsuccessfully – not a single nibble!), we ate pasties from Y Popty and had honey ice cream while walking along the harbour. Tan and I snuck off and had hot chocolate while watching the surfers from the beach shelter, and the kids didn’t even notice we hadn’t followed them into the house.

Late in the afternoon we ventured back into the sea – the surf was up and there were a fair few people on boards. We borrowed a pair of bodyboards from the garage of the house and remembered how much fun they are. Where the tide was coming in, there were cross currents so wave jumping became a challenge and the last one dumped me comprehensively, followed by another while I was trying to get up – luckily I have a sister who at least will help me up while we’re laughing like fools. We went stargazing in the evening, spotting Jupiter and various constellations.

At 2.22 on Friday Thing 2 started throwing up, but at least she was quieter than her brother. Hers was a shorter but more intense experience, and she was wiped out for the rest of the day. Aunty Tan took Thing 3 off to Tresaith to see the waterfall and then off for chips and ice cream on the beach while I crashed on the sofa.

I joined Tan on the beach in the afternoon, where we watched Bob the Seal swimming around the surfers – the tide is building up to the big one next week so the surf was well and truly up, with some spectacular rides coming off. After sausages and mash for dinner we went back to the beach for what turned out to be a very high tide: the waves were coming up into the car park and throwing sand and stones onto the road. The pub had its steel shutters in place, and the fool who had parked in the area clearly marked ‘Keep Clear’ had to come and move his car as it was at risk of being damaged. Cars driving along the front had to wait for waves to break before moving forwards, and the booms as the waves smashed into the cliffs were enormous. More Bake Off followed, and then Tan insisted on watching the rugby – a quiet night was then had by all, thank heavens!

And here we are, back at home and ready for November! And I’ve already finished the laundry.

Other things making me happy this week:

  • Tiny crocheted Christmas stockings
  • Lots of reading (see below)…
  • …including the latest Elly Griffiths novel
  • A new flavour of Haagen-Daz to try

And that’s it for me! This week is a rollercoaster…so I am off to make the most of what’s left of the weekend.

Kirsty x

What I’ve been reading:

Rivers of London 11.4: Here Be Dragons – Ben Aaronovitch et al

Flip Back – Andrew Cartmel (Audible)

Underground Overground – Andrew Martin

Tove Jansson: Life, Art, Words – Boel Westin

The Last Hero – Terry Pratchett

The Great Deceiver – Elly Griffiths

The Saki Megapack – Saki

188: the art of saying ‘no’

I am not entirely sure what happened to or in this week but I do know that on Friday morning I had to make a choice between attending all the things in my diary and making a show of myself by having a meltdown, or clearing the diary and spending the day at my desk making sense of my lengthy to-do list and looking at exciting spreadsheets. November looms, and with it National Illustration Day, which has mushroomed from a small(ish) schools thing to something that’s going to engage all sorts of people: a celebration of our community projects with various Islington groups with a friends and family event; school sessions; three days of drop-in illustration at Angel Central; an unrelated but well-timed community lights switch-on event the previous weekend at Islington Green – and business as usual happening all around it! I am wondering whether setting up a tent in the pop-up space at Angel Central for the week is a realistic suggestion…

I chose to clear the diary: while I do pride myself on being able to prioritise my workload (you should see my to-do chart) and manage multiple projects, sometimes you need to step back and remember that not everything has to be done all at once. Friday’s diary included an online meeting, an offsite meeting and a workshop in the afternoon. Both the meetings were for timebound projects but not urgent, and the workshop was a ‘nice to do’. Having walked from the station to the office giving myself unsuccessful pep-talks and arriving on the verge of a full-blown panic attack, clearing the diary seemed more sensible.

One topic that comes up over and over again in job interviews is time management: how do you cope with deadlines, with multiple projects; how do you prioritise. I have even set prioritisation tasks for co-ordinator and contact centre roles and asked candidates to explain their reasoning (sorry, people! Although not you, Mr Patronising PhD man applying for a role you’re vastly overqualified for. Not you.). A better question might be about strategies people use when they are overwhelmed, making space for employers to show an understanding of the impact of stress at work.

Last year there was a lot in media – social and later mainstream – about quiet quitting and this year it’s been ‘lazy girl jobs‘. I can’t say I agree with the idea that you should just work to your job description, especially in a small team where everyone needs to pitch in with things to make a project work. Over the last couple of years I have seen this in action: ‘well, my job description says Monday to Friday, my job description says I finish at 5’, and – increasingly – sticking rigidly to ‘minimum’ onsite hours. This creates resentment within the team, particularly with those colleagues who are the ones who recognise that a job goes beyond the description and who are inevitably the ones who pick up the slack and ensure that schools are greeted, that evening events are staffed, that all the things that can’t happen remotely still happen. Over the years I have manned front desks, sat in galleries, shifted furniture, delivered emergency school sessions, ‘meeted and greeted’ groups, told stories, hopped behind the bar, cleared tables, made coffee, lugged boxes, and many other things that aren’t explicitly in my job description but which needed to be done. It’s in my management skillset: don’t ask someone to do something you’re not prepared to do yourself. It comes under ‘and other reasonable duties as requested by your manager’.

Residents at Lady Dinah’s Cat Emporium: advocates of both radical rest and work-life balance

I do, however, believe strongly in the concept of work-life balance, and that sometimes you have to say no. I’ve been very lucky over the last ten years or so to have managers who have understood this (all women – coincidence?) and who have modelled excellent behaviour for me as I’ve moved up the ranks. There is also a movement towards Radical Rest in the arts and culture sector, spearheaded by a group of sector professionals including my predecessor in my current role. Giving ourselves permission to rest (or to say no) is quite tricky, it seems.

Other things making me happy this week

  • Thing 2 is 15 today, and currently opening her presents with glee
  • Hot glue guns and Christmas crochet
  • Not having to get on the Central Line for another 10 days
  • Toast

And tomorrow I am off to Wales for half term,

Underground Overground – Andrew Martin

White Butterfly – Walter Mosley

The E. Nesbit Megapack

Victory Disc/Flip Back – Andrew Cartmel (Audible)

187: it’s just a jump to the left…

Yesterday I accompanied my neighbour Sue to the London Festival of Gymnastics at the Brentwood Centre, where one of her daughters was performing with the Epping troupe of gymnasts. As someone who I am pretty sure was given her Brownie agility badge out of sympathy, as watching my continued attempts to catch a beanbag or hop in a straight line was just too painful, the skill, spatial awareness and sheer co-ordination required to take part in these events is frankly awe-inspiring. There were teams from all over the UK and Ireland – even Monmouth, who I didn’t get to see sadly.

There are days when walking in a straight line is beyond me, and a Clubbercise session where I manage to keep up with the routines is an achievement. Sequential movements just don’t stay in my head: the onset of Oops Up Side Your Head or some other chart-topping dance craze sends me off a dancefloor faster even than Ed Sheeran.*

The theme this year was ‘Back to the Past’, compered by a man who was not only dressed as Marty McFly but also was a semi-pro can-can dancer and gymnast in his younger years. The clubs had translated this in their own ways, and while some were fairly straightforward others were more tangential but no less brilliant. My favourites were the Wednesday and The Umbrella Academy themed ones, probably because the music was more my thing (The Cramps, of course, but also the Stranglers and other soundtrack highlights). The Scottish team’s rights of the child routine was ambitious but their fixed grins were a bit incongruous at some points.

Some songs popped up over and over throughout the morning (Destiny’s Child, Survivor, was a repeat offender) and in an overwhelmingly female environment there were a lot of Spice Girls moments but all the routines used them differently. Great towers of children, tiny people being thrown up in the air and caught (phew!), acrobatic flips and walkovers and tumbles – all without crashing into each other. Amazing. And so many sequins! Never have I wanted to don something sparkly quite so much.

Just watching it was so exhausting I had to go and have an afternoon nap when I got home.

*I can do The Time Warp, obviously.

Other things making me happy this week

  • A visit to Young V&A with the Quentin Blake Centre for Illustration on Thursday
  • Speaking to the MA Illustration course at UAL Camberwell about co-design and why we do it
  • A trip to Hoxton Street Monster Supplies and going through the secret door to the Ministry of Stories for an imaginative conversation. I tried Jaffa biscuit tea and did not see Wells, the invisible cat
  • An adventure on the high seas of Haringey to the Literacy Pirates where I got to visit their ship, tucked away in the rafters of The Trampery
  • Impromptu prosecco with Miriam
  • Ferrety fun at Copped Hall Apple Day
  • Autumn landing in the garden

Now I’d better go and get ready for a swim! The weather has changed abruptly this week, from 23 degree sunshine at the start of the week to rain and a definite chill by the weekend.

Same time next week!

Kirsty x

What I’ve been reading:

Written In Dead Wax/The Run-out Groove/Victory Disc – Andrew Cartmel (Audible)

Devil in a Blue Dress/Red Death – Walter Mosley

The E Nesbit Megapack – E. Nesbit

186: unprecedented restraint

Yesterday was our crafty annual pilgrimage to the wilds of North London for the Knitting and Stitching Show at Alexandra Palace (‘our’ meaning Heather and I, partners in crafty crime). This year we’d decided to book a workshop, and found one on free-motion embroidery led by Molly Brown. This was something neither of us had tried before, and of the available workshops it was also the one we thought we probably couldn’t teach ourselves.

Molly took us quickly through the workings of the Janome Atelier machines we’d be working with, and then explained the process she used for making the tree embroideries. We started by tracing our trees onto pelmet Vlieseline, then delving into piles of organza scraps to create our background. We enclosed these in net and stitched around to hold them all in place (in my case, I managed to stitch the instruction sheet in as well), and then flipped the piece over to embroider the basic tree shapes.

Once the trunks were stitched we turned our trees up the right way and used the thread to ‘scribble’ in the branches, fill in the trunks and add any details we wanted. I added some smaller plants on the ground, and the ninety minute session finished far too quickly. It’s a technique I’d like to try again and I know I can drop the feed dogs on one of my machines, I just need to remember which…

The rest of the show was busy – I don’t usually go on Saturdays, for this very reason, and the usual crunch spots like Black Sheep Wools were packed with people rummaging through bargain bags. Anywhere there was a wandering Bee was also busy, of course! In a moment of sensibleness we’d taken packed lunches – food is reliably overpriced and disappointing – so we picnicked overlooking the ice rink before tackling the second hall.

One of the highlights of the Autumn Show is the exhibition section: graduate showcases, quilting winners, textile galleries and more. Many of this year’s shows appealed to my inner magpie, with mixed media pieces blooming with shiny things and found objects.

Janine Pound – Leaf Litter
Louise Baldwin – Orbiting
Rosie Jones – Hi Vis Town
Pauline Medinger – Murmuration
Jessica Grady
Jessica Grady
Bethan Ash – Lazerlite

The final exhibition was The Duster Project by Vanessa Marr, which you can read about here. This is a collaborative project, which explores contemporary perspectives on the everyday lives of women.

Heather and I were very restrained, coming home with only a sewing pattern each and a few bits and bobs. This was mainly because neither of us have finished the kits we bought last year, and in my case also because earlier in the week I’d used the Obby voucher that was my leaving gift from Young V&A. I now have a jesmonite casting kit and a felted pebbles kit inspired by Kettle’s Yard.

Other things making me happy this week

  • Early morning coffee with Amanda
  • Ice cream and a wander round Roath Park
  • Getting up to date on the temperature supernova
  • Breakfast and speedview session at New City College
  • The Undertones supported by The Rezillos – so good!
  • Series 5 of Ghosts

Today is Apple Day at Copped Hall, so it’s family outing time again…same time next week?

Kirsty x

What I’ve been reading:

This Is The Night They Come For You – Robert Goddard

The Dictionary of Lost Words – Pip Williams

Written in Dead Wax – Andrew Cartmel (Audible)

An Utterly Impartial History of Britain – John O’Farrell

The E. Nesbit Megapack – E.Nesbit

185: boil them, mash them, put them in a stew

On Tuesday I woke up missing Ribena. Ribena was my go-to hot drink in the evenings and when I’d reached my coffee limit in the office. I know it still exists but in 2018 they changed the original recipe, replacing some of the sugar with artificial sweeteners and adding polydextrose to mimic the texture. Apparently this was to avoid the sugar tax, but they already had Ribena Light to do this and that’s what this new version tasted like so WHAT WAS THE POINT? Yes, I am aware that still being unreasonably cross about this five years later is probably pointless but I am. So there. I have managed to hold one grudge for 35 years (and counting) so five years is NOTHING, Ribena. NOTHING. And don’t even get me started on Lipton replacing sugar with stevia in their iced tea.

What my potatoes might have looked like.
Photo by Pixabay on Pexels.com.

Other things I have missed this week included more than 20 items from my online supermarket order*, which were either substituted for other random things (paneer is not the same as halloumi, packers) or no substitutes were available. I find it very hard to believe that there was no suitable alternative for a tube of toothpaste, or a bag of potatoes. Perhaps a different brand of toothpaste, or some slightly different potatoes? I mean, I can’t tell the difference between King Edwards and Maris Piper, I just wanted 5kg of potatoes. If you can boil them or mash them or put them in a stew then they will do perfectly well. The delivery driver said they had some new packers in the warehouse and they weren’t the sharpest tools in the box (not all their Moomins were in the Valley, as they apparently say in Finland!) but last month they were unable to find a substitute for chicken breasts. When I place the order I have a whole range of things to choose from but I am beginning to suspect that they may not actually exist and we are merely being given the illusion of choice.

*I was also missing 2/3 of a packet of chocolate Malted Milk biscuits (working-from-home lunchtime biscuit of choice**) but I am pretty sure I can blame my Beloved for that. He will pay. Oh yes. He will. I still haven’t forgotten the Liquorice Allsorts incident.

**In the absence of chocolate Rich Tea. I miss those too.

Other things making me happy this week

  • Still watching Sex Education
  • The new trailer for the Doctor Who 60th anniversary episodes
  • An evening out in Cardiff with assorted cousins
  • Still making crocheted Christmas trees
  • Progress on the Hydrangea blanket
  • A quick swing by Young V&A for coffee and a catch-up – how to feel loved!
  • Haagen Daz x Pierre Herme macaron ice cream
  • A visit to my lovely hairdresser so I can stop resembling a dandelion clock
  • A sunny dog walk and chat with neighbour Sue and the Bella-dog

And that’s it for this week! Next weekend it’s the Autumn Knitting and Stitching Show and I am very excited for the workshop we have booked.

See you then,

Kirsty x

What I’ve Been Reading:

Death in Fine Condition – Andrew Cartmel. I love the Vinyl Detective but I am not sure he can write women.

This Is The Night They Come For You – Robert Goddard

Soul Music – Terry Pratchett (Audible)

Written in Dead Wax – Andrew Cartmel (Audible)

An Utterly Impartial History of Britain – John O’Farrell