251: learning from experience

I think, if nothing else, the past fifty odd years of my life have proved that New Year’s resolutions are a bit of a waste of time, so having got that thinking out of the way I can get on with 2025 in my usual fashion – doing as I would be done by, trying not to eat too much cake, making a dent in the contents of the sheds and not being too lazy. This all seems doable. As I mentioned last week I have signed up to an event in March, so need to train for that – I love to walk but am essentially lazy so need a target to aim at. As Tan said about me in 2023, wind her up and point her in the right direction and she’ll just keep going.

Of course, there is still a lot of cake left but will try and ration my consumption….

This week was New Year’s Eve and as has become the tradition over the past ten years or so we spent it with our village gang of friends. Our plan was to go early, spend an hour or so and then come home when the grandbaby we were looking after for the night started getting grumpy. What we hadn’t reckoned with was Mason’s night owl habits – he was having a whale of a time dancing, playing with balloons, being cute at people, eating party food and so on. We eventually wrestled him back into the buggy at 1am, much to his disgust, and marched him home to bed.

I was on night duty with him, sleeping on the couch next to his travel cot, and I am clearly out of practice at this, since my lot are all in their teens – I woke at every snuffle and hiccup and by the time his mama rolled in at 8am with Thing 1 after they’d been out to a rave I was very ready for my bed! Mason, on the other hand, woke up at 6.30am, promptly stole my pillow and blanket while I was warming up some milk for him and went back to sleep leaving me no space at all. Needless to say I spent a lot of New Years Day in bed. Still, as I may have mentioned before, there is nothing quite as snuggly as an armful of warm sleepy baby – at least until your arm goes dead.

I don’t think Lulu is quite as fond of overnighting babies – she’s been quite mad this week, but she’s now got a new tower to play with. Toddlers are big fans of cats but the feeling is not mutual…

SERIOUSLY? Did you do the wine test?

Apparently the Uniqlo round mini bag has been going viral recently for being lightweight, washable, handy for travel and being able (according to my sister) to fit an entire bottle of wine inside which I can see would be very useful. The social media reviews tend to talk about 500ml water bottles, but she has her priorities, OK?

The Uniqlo one comes in a quilted option, a corduroy option, as a lined version with a sporty strap, and in a whole variety of colours. Tan had bought the black version and kindly demonstrated the booze-holding capacity at the Christmas market in Ealing – I’d already been looking at the red version while shopping on Black Friday but hadn’t bought it as it wasn’t yellow. I like yellow when it comes to bags. When I was buying my parents’ Christmas presents I gave in to the red one as it was still on sale – obviously it still wasn’t yellow but I found a pattern on Etsy for a dupe and spent a couple of days between Christmas and New Year making a couple in different colours.

The pattern was easy to follow (all mistakes were my own, like getting one of the lining panels the wrong way up!) and the outcome was the same size as the Uniqlo original. This pattern has a zippy pocket on the inside which was surprisingly easy to install, two small side panel pockets and a main space which does – just about – fit the bottle of wine in the same way that the Uniqlo one does. All the fabric and zips came from my stash – a remnants bundle of waxed cotton provided the outer fabrics, and some quilting cotton featuring lucky cats and a comic book print from the V&A sample sale a couple of years ago came in handy for the lining.

I did need to buy the hardware as I wanted an adjustable strap but if you always wear your bags the same length you can make it without these bits. You could also make it without the zippy pocket if you were after a quick gift for someone. I happen to have a lot of waxed cotton so can see me making more of these (get your requests in now, people! I have various colours (not purple or teal, sorry M)). I tested it out on my commute on Thursday and it fits my phone, glasses case, earphone pouch easily but not my current portable project but that’s because I didn’t try and squash it in.

Things making me happy this week

The possibility of snow, though I fear I will be let down by Essex weather again
Siestas with warm cats as winter is finally biting (see point 1)
The microwavable boots I had for Christmas I had from the TTS (see point 2)
Quiet day in the office on Thursday where NO ONE was asking me to do stuff. I can be forgiven for being late to both Teams meetings, yes? What were all these other people doing working?
Putting Christmas away tidily till next year
Home made orange, cinnamon and cranberry bread in the bread maker
Finally mastering Yorkshire puddings
This is England – I didn’t pay any attention the first time round but am really enjoying it
Wallace and Grommit – Vengeance Most Fowl – No Parkin! on the Yorkshire border side made me laugh out loud
A rainbow of fat quarters for a quilting project just awaiting the purple shades before I can start planning
Quilting this nine-patch ready for backing. I *think* it’s a Riley Blake fabric but it may also be Moda. It’s got stars on and it was charm packs.

With any luck the lake will be frozen tomorrow so we can pretend we’re orcas or polar bears or something – a good ice swim always makes us feel like superwomen!

Kirsty x

What I’ve been reading:

High Five/Hot Six/Seven Up/Hard Eight/To The Nines – Janet Evanovich

BBC Dramatisations of Terry Pratchett’s Discworld novels (Audible)

A wide range of quilt books in search of inspiration!

250: probably Sunday

Welcome to that weird period between Christmas and New Year, when there’s still a lot of Christmas cake left but you’ve run out of pigs in blankets, the Christmas specials are over and you probably have to go back to work at some point in the not too distant future. I have a giant pile of ironing to do, a whole lot of unfinished projects that I should probably be getting on with, and I have had some truly excellent naps instead.

On Sunday Rachel, Jill and I went for a very chilly swim at 5.5 degrees – my fingers were agony coming back to life afterwards – followed by coffee with Edith and Miriam in Harlow, and a bit of shopping while they got their nails done. I’ve found there’s no point getting my nails done as crochet trashes them! Later in the day I started trying to retrieve the dining table from under a pile of crafting materials. I introduced Miriam and H to Wheatus’s festive classic ‘Christmas Dirtbag’, which they hadn’t heard before. The festive film of the day was Miracle on 34th St (the 1994 version). I still love the 1947 version more.

Monday was baking day with Thing 2, while listening to about five million Christmas songs, none of which were Justin Beiber or Mariah Carey. One of them was ‘A Christmas Song’, which I first encountered on a compilation called ‘Nigel-Approved Christmas Fodder’. We lost Nigel a year ago, but the playlist remains my December go-to (though I did delete Mariah Carey from it. Sorry Nigel.) The stollen was made. The Christmas cake was iced with lazy ready-made icing and some sugar snowmen and penguins and polar bears. We also made chocolate salami after a colleague brought some in as a treat. It was amazing, though I did have to use rum as I couldn’t find any Grand Marnier in any of the supermarkets (and I had rum in the house). I cleaned the oven, too – after an explosive beef joint last week coated the inside of the oven in yuk. The children tidied their rooms, with assistance from my Beloved who insisted on telling me about it in forensic detail, and excavated several tons of laundry. Truly my life was complete. The festive film of the day was Gremlins – who doesn’t love the Mogwai?

On Tuesday the final presents arrived, much to my relief – there’s always something last minute! Thing 2 and I were back in the kitchen baking stained glass biscuits to use up the broken candy canes and two sorts of Welshcakes – cranberry and orange as well as the traditional ones. I remembered to get the turkey crown out to defrost along with the sausagemeat, and to sign up to an ultra marathon in March (does 25k count? It’s only 15 and a half miles). The festive to-do list has definitely helped this week. In the afternoon I popped to the neighbour’s with some Welshcakes and had a coffee with Sue, her dad and the sock-stealing Bella-dog. In the evening realisation that while I’d remembered to get the turkey and sausagemeat out, I hadn’t got anything out for dinner so I took a vote and we had a kebab. The movie of the day: Arthur Christmas.

Wednesday was, of course, Christmas Day and we’d been invited to TT1’s for the afternoon – I was taking the stuffing, which I made in the morning and which is apparently the best stuffing her partner has ever had in his life. As expected, it was glorious chaos – 14 people aged from four months to 55 years, two dogs (one very large and one very small), piles of presents, enormous quantities of food. We managed to fit all the presents, all the kids and my folding table into our little Kia Ceed which was the equivalent of a very tricky sudoku.

Boxing Day began with a walk and a coffee with Miriam and the dogs, complete with banana bread. I had an excellent nap in the afternoon and in the evening we had our own Christmas dinner with my late MIL’s angel chimes on the table. Lulu sat on the spare chair and watched us intently, but it turned out she just wanted some turkey. Ever since she recovered from her operation (which has caused her insurance premiums to double) she’s been far more interested in food, especially people food which was never a thing for her before. While I was making the pigs in blankets she sat at my feet and shouted at me, even though she doesn’t like sausages. In the evening we watched Gavin & Stacey: The Finale, and the Doctor Who Christmas Special – I loved the cheeky Mr Ben reference!

On Friday Jill and I started the day with an early walk with to see the cows down at the farm, as well as Wilbur the pig and a lot of hopeful horses. I spent the afternoon looking for inspiration in my quilting books – particularly Stuart Hillard’s books. He does amazing things with colour but I never have the patience to recreate his patterns. I have a plan though… In the evening a gang of us got together for a walk to Marconi Bridge to see the Epping Ongar Lights Express going through to the station. There weren’t any trackside lights this year which was a bit disappointing but the train was everything we expected!

Saturday began with a swim with Rachel, Jill and Sue at 6.1 degrees (that 0.6 of a degree did not make a difference to the tingly fingers!) and then Thing 2 and I took a spur of the moment trip to Harlow to see if there was anything good in the sales. We had lunch at Wagamamas and a good mooch around the shops – I found a black maxi dress in River Island reduced by more than half, and the jeans I was after were also half price. It was foggy and cold, so the buses running to time was definitely a bonus – though heating was apparently too much to hope for!

I know I really ought to be doing some useful things (like finishing the quilt I started in the summer) while I’m off but I’m quite enjoying watching TV, doing the odd row of crochet blanket and spending some quality time snoring with the cats. The ironing won’t do itself though, sadly, but I do have a nice new iron thanks to my amazon voucher as my good one for sewing has taken to tripping the fuses in the house every time it steams. For those of you worried about me, I spent the rest on a new leather jacket as mine is as old as Thing 1 and definitely looking a bit battered.

Normal service will probably resume sometime next week – we’re babysitting for GT2 on New Year’s Eve so coffee tequila won’t be on the menu this year!

Same time next Sunday…

Kirsty x

What I’ve been reading:

Two for the Dough/Three to Get Deadly/Four to Score – Janet Evanovich

The Perplexing Theft of the Jewel in the Crown/Inspector Chopra and the Million Dollar Car/Murder at the Grand Raj Palace – Vaseem Khan

BBC Dramatisations of Terry Pratchett’s Discworld novels (Audible)

249: move along, please

Aaaand…breathe. The out of office is on, most of the presents are wrapped*, the turkey crown is in the freezer** and the cake is marzipanned and practically hiccupping with the amount of rum it has ingested. The presents for France are in Ealing ready to go over with London sister today, and we had a very delicious lunch at Remoli complete with aperitifs and pudding (affogato, of course). Christmas can now happen.

*Despite definitely having finished the shopping last weekend, I still ended up in Flying Tiger in Ealing Broadway as the stocking presents didn’t look enough.

**We are going to TT1’s for Christmas lunch but the utter horror on Thing 2’s face when she realised this meant I wasn’t doing Christmas dinner was a sight to behold. Yes, I am a sucker but at least I drew the line at buying a full turkey just so I could make soup, despite the face. Boxing Day will be dinner for us then!

On today’s mooch round Ealing we visited the Christmas markets that seem to be popping up in every available shopping centre – the best was at Pitzhanger Manor, but even that was only about ten stalls. London seems to have taken the idea of these markets but hasn’t really managed to get the hang of them. The one in Ealing Broadway Centre was six stalls, half of which were overpriced food and the others were overpriced tat. There is a limit to the number of scrunchies and Swiftie-style bracelets that any one person really needs, and this is coming from someone who remained faithful to the scrunchie throughout the noughties and still has a bagful in case I decide to grow my hair our again. I went to Winter Wonderland in Hyde Park once – when it was free to enter – and swore never, ever, ever again. Having said that, the one on the South Bank is nice but there are way too many people at it, and if there’s one thing I cannot be having with in London it’s people who dither about the place. Chancery Lane tube station has been plagued this week by people in rush hour who go through the gates and then just…stop. Even my sunny disposition has been somewhat taxed by these muppets. Add to this people who can’t read the ‘stand on the right’ signs, people who choose to stop in the middle of pavements for conversations, people who walk slowly in busy places (I would have voted for a slow lane on Oxford Street) and anyone who hangs around by the entrances to tube platforms.

Even less fun this week was trying to despatch a parcel to World of Books – Royal Mail was not an option, only InPost or Collect Plus, so I chose InPost as they had two lockers in Epping and Collect Plus are in weird little shops. One locker was full, the other was broken – so I had to go to Ongar. It cost me more in bus fare to post the stupid parcel than I was earning from the books. This is the downside of living in a village in between two small towns, of course. Well, that and the buses which are a nightmare at the moment thanks to roadworks in at least four separate places on the route.

Things making me happy this week

Coffee and a catch-up with Rhiannon and cuddles with baby Otis on Friday, and the best (only) mince pie I have had this year made by Raf.
A Christmas drink with my lovely colleagues on Thursday at St John
Cat socks
Starting a non-Christmas themed crochet project
The library getting all the books I’d requested in at once – binging Vaseem Khan’s ‘Inspector Chopra’ series. Highly recommended.
Richard Franks’ take on teaching A Christmas Carol
The expression on my idiot cat’s face when caught with his new catnip banana

Today I am having coffee with Miriam and Edith after a chilly swim with Jill – and then I am going to do as little as possible for several days!

Kirsty x

What I’ve been reading:

Midnight at Malabar House/The Unexpected Inheritance of Inspector Chopra – Vaseem Khan

Hogfather – Terry Pratchett (Audible) – and the collected BBC dramatisations of various Discworld novels

Two for the Dough – Janet Evanovich

Making Thinking Visible – Ron Ritchhart, Mark Church, Karin Morrison

248: festive fatalism sets in

I had my hair cut on Saturday afternoon and during the usual chat the stylist said she wished she was as chilled out as me about Christmas. Anyone who knows me knows that at this stage in the festive month it’s less about being chilled out and more about fatalism: whatever I do or don’t do, it’s going to happen anyway so I might as well give in. The outside lights are finally up so we are longer the sole dark corner of our little Essex street, and the shopping is all done bar the food and the presents actually being delivered to my house to wrap and then cart over to Ealing to hand to my sister next weekend. Thing 2 and I braved Harlow today, which was exactly as horrible as I expected it to be, so stocking presents are also sorted. (T2: Do you want me to come in Superdrug with you Mum? Me: It’s up to you – do you want the magic of Christmas ruined or not?) There were people singing carols, a tree walking about the place, a talking postbox that must have been driving the Trespass team to unprecedented levels of fury, a crammed Santa’s grotto filled with frazzled parents and WAY too many people.

The trip to Harlow was also to go to the cinema to see Paddington in Peru and to get her very belated birthday ear piercing. This was her first needle piercing and the lady said she was the best fainter ever – I was less impressed, as I had to catch her before she hit the floor. I manoeuvred her onto the bench, but it was a close call!

Paddington was enchanting, with Olivia Colman as a not-suspicious-at-all nun, Antonio Banderas as a lot of people, and the usual stellar support from an A-list of British actors. Julie Walters as Mrs Bird gets a bit more airtime in this instalment, Sally Hawkins was missed as Mrs Brown (Emily Mortimer is just a bit too mumsy) and the return of Phoenix Buchanan was worth waiting around for. Considering the time of year there were no trailers that really jumped out at us for our next outing, but I suppose Moana 2 is already out there. (As an aside, my Beloved is watching the new version of Ben-Hur – honestly, doesn’t he know that biblical epics are for Easter??)

We’ve been hitting the Christmas watching quite hard this week too, with Violent Night and Elf making the cut, as well as a nostalgic treat with the BBC showing the Box of Delights for the 40th anniversary (ouch). The special effects and language are a bit dated but the story remains magical. I looked up the book on Amazon as I don’t think I have ever read it and, lo and behold, the most recent version is illustrated by none other than Quentin Blake…

…whose Box of Treasures is also available on iPlayer – a series of animated versions of his picture books. The two latest instalments, Angel Pavement and Loveykins are now out, and to tie in with this our team at work have been working with BBC Teach to develop a Live Lesson for Key Stage 2 based on Zagazoo, another of the treasures. These live lessons are great, supporting the curriculum and complete with downloadable resources. They’re completely free and remain online afterwards for teachers (and home educators and so on) to use, and you can watch it online from 9am on the 17th or ‘live’ and interactive at 11am. How was that for a brilliant segue?

Other things making me happy this week:

An impromptu team lunch on Monday which left me craving a jacket potato with cheese.
Coffee with Amanda
Taking my little family out to dinner on Friday
A lovely community event making festive gifts in Holborn
My Christmas Spotify playlist

Today I’m off for a chilly swim with the woolly hat gang, a trip to Tesco to do the Christmas food shop and some baking later on. Even though we’re off to TT1’s for the big day the kids were horrified that they wouldn’t get a Christmas dinner at home so guess what I’ll be up to on Boxing Day?

Same time next week, unless the interminable drizzle has washed us all away…

Kirsty x

What I’ve been reading:

One For The Money – Janet Evanovich

Hogfather – Terry Pratchett (Audible – both versions!)

A Child’s Christmas in Wales/Under Milk Wood – Dylan Thomas (Audible)

Midnight at Malabar House – Vaseem Khan

247: 80% fabulous, 20%….what?

I think my brain is already in switched-off December mode while, unfortunately, it still needs to be in switched-on-work-mode for another fortnight or so. Luckily I have an interesting piece of research to be getting on with and this year’s Spotify Wrapped playlist to help me focus. Once again this round-up of the year proves that 80% of the time I have excellent taste. The other 20% of the time caused near hysteria in my friend’s teenage daughter.

The research is into illustration as a teaching and learning tool across the curriculum, with our national schools plans in mind: obviously we know illustration is all about communicating information, but I think teachers may require a little more convincing if I’m going to get the whole nation on side. ‘Because I said so’ almost never works after all.

Something else I’ve had to do this week is put all the things in my head that have to happen before we open in 2026 down on paper so other people also know them: this meant a couple of hours with a bit of A3 paper, felt-tip pens, a ruler and a nice handwriting pen creating a fabulous colour coded chart on which to download my brain. There’s a lot, but at some point I am hopeful that there will be more than 1.4 people to do some of the things as right now (like everyone else I work with) we are all trying to be several people at once. I wrote these imaginary people on my chart, anyway. Thing 2 used to do something similar: She’d scrawl something on the calendar and say it was a ‘bardi’ (party). If it was on the calendar it had to happen, in her mind – let’s see if it works for me!

On Thursday the team went out for Christmas lunch – this year we went non-traditional and headed to Islington Square for an Indian vegetarian banquet at Omnom, where you can also do yoga and stuff. We did not do yoga but we did eat until we were ready to explode, so not doing yoga was probably wise. The food was amazing, from the aloo bonda to start to the kulfi ice cream in basmati rice pudding to finish.. I had a Laal Laal Mojito with rum, lime, strawberry pomegranate syrup and soda, accessorised with an enormous sprig of mint. Their mocktails were apparently good too – one of my colleagues doesn’t drink and is often frustrated by the boring menu options. The director brought crackers and chocolate coins, bad jokes were told, and hats were worn – not by me though, as it was a damp day and the paper crown was not designed to go over my enthusiastic curls!

The office Christmas lunch was also the Secret Santa moment – we have a theme which this year was ‘baubles’, a maximum spend of £5 or handmade, and it’s lovely as everyone takes part although it’s not compulsory. My outward gift was a crocheted robin in a bobble hat, and I received a gorgeous glass Moomin bauble – they know me way too well! One of the team only joined after the Secret Santa was organised, so she had a crochet gnome as no one should be without a present on these occasions! Other gifts included knitted tortelloni for our Italian colleague, as this is a traditional Italian festive food; an intricate folded paper bauble; and much sparkle. I’ve been very lucky over my years in the sector to work with lovely people, and this bunch are among the best!

Earlier in the week I visited Kingston School of Art, where I got to meet the MA Heritage students last seen at the start of their course when they visited New River Head on their first day. They’d spent the intervening weeks using material from Recycle Archaeology to create museum-quality storage and interpretation. They’d also worked with illustration students to design activities for adults. They’d presented these pieces – ranging from potsherds to toothbrushes – at the Illustration and Heritage Conference which I hadn’t been able to attend as I was in Manchester. One student had created a cabinet of curiosities; another an adaptable display case inspired by V&A Storehouse which showcased clay pipes very cleverly. The activities were well-thought-out, and we all contributed to a comic strip showing the journey of porcelain from China to London through the dragon gate, and drawing the people who used the 17th century china objects. The objects were mudlarking finds, mainly, from the foreshore at Fulham and the bridge in Kingston. I didn’t know that objects from construction sites excavated with no context were recommended to be reburied or sent to landfill. I am hoping that we may be able to give a home to some objects that date from the same period as the New River was being constructed, for handling as well as inspiration, and am looking forward to working with this course again.

The advent (see what I did there?) of Storm Darragh on Saturday mean that Epping Christmas Market was cancelled at the last minute. This was probably a good idea as the market moved to gazebos a couple of years ago rather than the solid old-style market stalls and they’d have been making a break for freedom in the gusts outside. I have another fair today in north-west London which I am looking forward to, so hopefully public transport will behave….

Things making me happy this week

Crochet pengwings. Pegwins. Pingwins. Whatever.
Discovering that our site fox was still about and making his mark.
Coffee with Amanda and putting the world to rights before a day at work.
A meeting with someone which ended up in a local cafe where a very friendly cat made herself at home on my lap and Emily’s. Good coffee too.
The blast of rum fumes as I open the cake box to feed the Christmas cake.
No market so Thing 2 and I put the Christmas tree up and made the fireplace look pretty.

The thing not making me happy this week is Duolingo’s sudden hard push to make its free experience significantly worse. I’ve been using the app for five years now and it’s been fairly constant apart from removing the support and updates for the Welsh course and making weird learning path decisions but in the last two weeks they have removed the ability to practice to earn ‘hearts’ (lives), made it so you’re demoted a level if you don’t finish in the top five of your ‘league’, stopped the double-XP ‘chests’ you could access if you did lessons in the morning or evening and generally made it a bit rubbish if you don’t want to pay for premium. I’d consider premium if they were still developing the Welsh content – which has always been significantly underinvested, without the stories etc that other courses have – but now I’m looking for an alternative.

Right – I must get ready and start the trek to the wilds of Willesden. Smoke me a kipper, I’ll be back for ~~breakfast~~ dinner.

Same time next week!

Kirsty x

What I’ve been reading:

Now or Never – Janet Evanovich (Audible)

The Strange Disappearance of a Bollywood Star – Vaseem Khan

Bad Monkey – Carl Hiaasen

A Christmas Carol – Charles Dickens (Audible)

Hogfather – Terry Pratchett (Audible)

The Guest Cat – Takashi Hiraide

At The End of The Matinee – Keiichiro Hirano

246: stormy weather and marmalade sandwiches

On Monday I was given charge of the remote controls and decided that it was a good time to watch the Paddington films again: the weather outside was miserable, as Storm Bert and then Storm Conall were making their presences felt with rain, wind and general mankiness, and I was in the mood for something gentle and funny.

At home with the Browns (*Paddington*, Studio Canal/Sony 2014)

We loved the Paddington films as soon as we saw them – the casts are great, they are funny and heartwarming and Ben Whishaw voices the little lost bear beautifully. Hugh Grant is making a proper career out of being a bit of a villain, too, and camps it up well in the sequel while the role of the explorer’s bitter daughter suits the rather icy Nicole Kidman very well. Julie Walters and Sally Hawkins are always great, of course. Thing 2 and I are plotting a cinema trip to see the third one soon.

In this house we have a list of family films that we love and are happy to watch whenever we find them on the TV. They’re Sunday afternoon films, stuck-in-the-house-and-feeling-poorly films, bad weather films and – as it’s that time of year – I’m going to share some of them with you.

Nanny McPhee/Nanny McPhee and the Big Bang. Excellent use of Emma Thompson, and all the children end up well behaved in the end.
The Railway Children. Ideally the original but the remake is OK too. You cannot go wrong with Bernard Cribbins.
Five Children and It – Suzy Eddie Izzard as the Psammead.
Hugo – early Asa Butterfield and beautifully filmed.
Fantastic Mr Fox – Wes Anderson does family friendly, with a great voice cast.
Slumberland – a more recent entry, magical mayhem with Jason Momoa.
Stardust – I’m still cross with Neil Gaiman but this is a great film, full of magic and ghosts and skypirates and Robert De Niro in a dress.
Batteries Not Included – tiny aliens! Big business getting its comeuppance!
Hook – Robin Williams as an aging Peter and Dustin Hoffman in an excellent wig.
The Spiderwick Chronicles – more magic, and a grumpy house gnome addicted to honey
Bridge to Terabithia – even though I cry every time.
The Princess Bride (duh).

Jessica Tandy in *Batteries Not Included* (1987, Universal Pictures)

There are of course many more films that I will watch every time they are on, but these are the family favourites that even the grumpy teens will join us on the sofa for. I was excited to discover that the BBC are finally reshowing The Box of Delights, starting next weekend: more E. Nesbit transformed into TV magic. And Christmas film season starts tomorrow!

Things making me happy this week

The first of the Christmas fairs, which went very well. I’m glad I’m still making little robins!
The second National Illustration Day: so many people shared the illustrations they use and see every day, and the director made an excellent cake.
Coming back to work and finding paper chains all over the office.
The Asda order having everything in stock!
Tiny Christmas jumper brooches.
Clear skies so I see stars when I leave the house and dawn when I get to London.
Baking the Christmas cake that I definitely wasn’t going to make this year.

Things I’ve been giving hard stares to this week:

The weather, especially when it causes traffic chaos like floods and road closures.
Decisions made by the local council which add to the traffic chaos.
People who have no idea where they are going in tube stations and decide that the best place to stop is immediately beyond the ticket gates.
Evri drivers who claim to have delivered the parcel to the delivery address, when in fact they have delivered it to a house in a completely different road. At least they got the number right, which minimised the ‘excuse me, is this your doormat’ conversations.

Today I’m going for my first swim in ages and am expecting it to be cooooooold….

Same time next week, gang!

Kirsty x

What I’ve been reading:

Going Rogue/Dirty Thirty/Now or Never– Janet Evanovich (Audible)

Wayward – Hannah Mathewson

The Guest Cat – Takashi Hiraide

Bad Monkey – Carl Hiaasen

245: I predict a riot

Saturday night – post-writing of the blog – degenerated into a noisy card game called Sussed where we proved that we all know each other way too well (yes, family, the best invention for me would indeed be a remote control to stop people talking!), a hot tub complete with cheese buckets as we didn’t think the cheeseboard would float, and much listening to tawny owls squawking in the trees around us, possibly in hopes of us sharing the cheese.

On Sunday I walked the Christchurch to Symonds Yat Rock trail in blissful solitude as I knew there was going to be an extremely peopley week ahead. There were deer and evidence of the wild boar, though none came into sight, and some excellent dogs to make friends with. Tan and Jane caught me up at the viewpoint, and a very confident robin hung around for a while.

In the afternoon I headed up to Manchester to be an operations lead for the World Skills UK National Finals. I remembered not to change at Crewe for Preston – Crewe station was as gloomladen as ever – and Miriam picked me up from Piccadilly and dropped me at my hotel. I was quite concerned that there was a chain on the inside of the door but not as concerned as I was when I noticed it had been smashed through at some point. The bathroom door handle came off in my hand but that seemed less worrying…

I had dinner in the ‘Pub and Grill’ which was possibly the noisiest hotel restaurant I have ever been in. ‘A good time guaranteed’ is the strapline, and if you like football being blasted at you from three massive screens this may indeed be the case. This is not my idea of a good time, which would be a lot quieter and probably involve being allowed to read a book. Still, the cheeseburger stack was excellent.

There was NOTHING on the television so I ended up watching What We Do In The Shadows on iPlayer, crocheting tiny Christmas jumpers and having an early night.

Monday came, and despite the state of the door I had survived the night. Breakfast was anaemic bacon with grilled tomatoes, large flat mushrooms and toast, and then I had to negotiate the Manchester public transport system to get to the day’s venue. The tram was very exciting, the buses less so – one went out of service and the other was on a long diversion so the journey took an hour. The possibility of snow was in the air, with up to 10cm predicted, so we were all slightly worried that no one would be able to get to Manchester the following day. Over the day I clocked up 17,000 steps, mostly between floors as I put all the competition things in the right classrooms. My packed lunch had been delivered to the other site, so I made a dash to the local Greggs – no corned beef and potato pasties! What is the north coming to? I had Asian-style salmon fishcake for dinner, followed by a M*A*S*H four-episode marathon on the TV and yep, more crochet. I was told ‘you seem very capable’, which is nice if somewhat patronising – I’m not employed for decorative purposes, after all!

Tuesday began with a sprinkling of snow, far from the predicted 10cm, but it was apparently enough to stop the bread deliveries. The hotel had no bread or waffles, and breakfast carbs were represented by only a few stale croissants and no jam. I was seriously considering rioting , probably joined by the hordes of dismayed Cadent, Fire and Rescue Service and other van-based service people also looking for carbs. Coco Pops and a stale croissant with honey had to do instead of Marmite on toast.

Most of the morning was a stark reminder of how much I hate spreadsheets, especially those which are not sorted! The whole day, in fact, was a chaos of spreadsheets – I have some strong opinions on how these can be better organised, to say the least. The reception in the evening, catered by the hospitality and catering students at the college, was great – excellent cheeseburger sliders, battered fish on giant chips, caramelised onion and goats cheese tarts, and tiny caesar salads on little gem leaves.

Wednesday was bitterly cold but sunny – but they had bread for toast and Marmite in the morning so I was quite well-disposed towards the world. The morning was quieter as almost everyone had registered the day before. I was in charge of group photos, so spent some time herding the teams into their t-shirts and posing nicely. They don’t seem to understand that not everyone can be at the back…. I had a good natter in the morning with fellow Welshman (from Penarth) Mark, who was in charge of the results process. I ended up doing several tours with various groups of people, escorting them around the competitions – I suspect that while our comps aren’t very exciting to watch, they will have some lovely outcomes from Graphic Design and Digital Media Production! I like the fact that the briefs for these mark on soft skills and problem-solving as well, as these are quite useful attributes in the real world.

Dinner was a very salty pizza with Miriam at my hotel, followed by more M*A*S*H and crocheting of tiny mitten ornaments.

Thursday began with toasted waffles, although the item missing from the menu that day was maple syrup so I had to make do with honey again which is not the same at all. In the cab ride from the hotel to the venue I listened to the competitors (from two different digital media production teams) discussing their strategy for the day and a competitor from another team who was apparently trying to get them to form alliances to take other people down. He was, according to them, too tall (but in a weird way) and in his neon blue jacket and red hat bore a striking resemblance to Papa Smurf.

The catering students produced another excellent buffet lunch, this time aimed at teenagers on a tour of the competitions: pizza, fried chicken, sausage rolls and cheese and potato pastry, pasta salad and sandwiches. The visiting students were certainly appreciative of their efforts.

The relief on the competitors’ faces as they arrived back in the restaurant as they finished their tasks was huge – even the Cyber Security team were positively chatty for a change. I learned about Sigilkore and how much it is to get into a club in Ibiza, for a start! One of them had had their 18th birthday on Day One of their competition so they were telling me about their adventures in Manchester that night. By the end of the competition days I’d spent a lot of time with the teams and had got quite invested in what they were doing.

Snow started coming down hard about 6pm, as I was waiting for the last of the teams to finish and for all the judges to complete their marking – it was freezing as it hit the ground so the trek back from the tram stop to the hotel was interesting. Dinner was a burger and salad, and I treated myself to a ‘Frozen Hot Chocolate’ dessert as I think I had earned it. No crochet, as I’d started a new book the night before and I was hooked. It’s called Witherward, and it’s excellent – an alternative London peopled with warring magical factions, highly recommended. (Turns out there is a sequel, which is excellent news)

On Friday I was sent to the other college campus to look after the final day of activity, so after breakfast (cereal and fruit, and Marmite on toast) I skated back to the tram stop and found my way over to Beaufort Road where the engineering competitions were being held. I had a hug from a robot, and scored a rather nice Middlesex Uni fleece which was much needed on a very cold day!

The site was clear of kit by early afternoon so I hopped on the tram* to central Manchester to check into another hotel before the medal ceremony that evening – this time, the Leonardo where they put me on the sixth floor. The room was compact but I was so tired all I needed was a bed.

The ceremony was at Bridgewater Hall and I was tasked with the helpdesk, checking in guests and people who despite many reminders still managed to forget their lanyards. One very breathless family turned up saying their son was due to play the euphonium in the band at 7pm, and were insistent it was at the Bridgewater Hall – it transpired that they actually needed to be at the Manchester Hall on Bridge Street, and there was no way they were going to make it.

I managed to watch the medal ceremony until ‘my’ competition winners had been announced – I got quite emotional when G, a Cyber Security competitor, was awarded the gold medal. He was so painfully shy, and it turned out he had been working full time and studying at the same time – he got very emotional backstage – his family were all watching online. And then his flight back to London the following day was cancelled due to Storm Bert and I think it was the final straw. I was unable to resist telling them ALL how proud I was of them…

Miriam and I made it back to the hotel with ten minutes to spare before the restaurant closed -I had steak frites, and it was very good. And then I slept…..after breakfast (no mushrooms or Marmite!) we leapt in the car and braved Storm Bert to head down the motorways in time for Miriam to meet some friends at the Tiptree Team Room while I wandered round the rather disappointing ‘craft village’.

Either the cats have missed me or my reappearance triggered their dinnertime clock, but they were the first to greet me at the door. I think everyone missed me….

*I find trams good in theory and they were a novelty but I have decided I do not like sharing the road with them. It’s weird.

Things making me happy this week:

Snow. I love snow.
M*A*S*H. I love M*A*S*H.
Uninterrupted evening reading. I love reading.
Not getting on the tube for a week.

So this week it’s back to the day job, where I’ll have to look at emails and make my own packed lunches. Still, it’s been great to stick my head over the parapet again, to make some excellent new contacts across the UK and talk to some FE lecturers about National Illustration Day. Next weekend is the first of this year’s Christmas markets so I’d better get on with things!

Kirsty x

What I’ve been reading:

The End of the Matinee – Keiichiro Hirano

The Last Words – Elly Griffiths

Witherward/Wayward – Hannah Mathewson

244: scrappy tits and chunky squirrels

This week I am coming to you live from the Forest of Dean in darkest Gloucestershire, where we have spent the morning sitting in the hot tub watching nuthatches, tits (blue, great and coal), blackcaps, robins, blackbirds and some cheeky squirrels stuffing their faces with birdseed. We’re here to celebrate Tan’s upcoming big birthday at Forest Lodges near Coleford.

Tan knew we were joining Jane and Sal (last seen on a beach in Aberporth a few weeks ago) but wasn’t expecting cousin Hev and Irish sister Steph to be here waiting for her either. We’ve been plotting this for months. Tan is not very good at surprises at all, and has packed for every eventuality, including four – four! – first aid kits and a number of hats. She gets quite grumpy about things, you see, and she’d only been given a short packing list.

After a giggly, slightly boozy pizza dinner followed by Sal’s layer cake, Hev, Sal and I tried out the hot tub under the light of the supermoon. The lodge has three bedrooms, and these were distributed according to how badly each of us snores and whether we were likely to get up early or not. Jane and I, as we’re guilty of both, bunked in together (with our earplugs) and sure enough we were up just after six and out for a walk in the forest at seven. I found Tan on the sofa when I got up as Steph is apparently now a snorer…

We followed the walk with coffee in the hot tub, watching the birds flying in and out snatching seeds from the deck and being menaced by squirrels attempting to help themselves to dregs of coffee. Breakfast was very late, with much toast and boiled eggs and watching the birds out of the window.

Saturday afternoon saw the gang head over to Puzzlewood, an ancient woodland near Coleford where the Romans used to mine for iron ore.

Nature has reclaimed the area in spectacular fashion, with fantastical mosses and rock formations. It’s a temperate rainforest and ancient woodland, and paths were laid in the early 19th century to make a tourist attraction. It’s been used for filming Doctor Who, Star Wars: The Force Awakens, Merlin and lots of other stuff, as it’s such a unique landscape. We stashed Steph and her broken foot in the cafe while we explored, had a good wander round all the paths with MANY photos taken on the way round. Autumn has got itself together at last, so the colours in the trees were gorgeous too.

Both Tan and I spent a lot of time in the Forest as teenagers with various friends and boyfriends, so we know the area well. My first ‘proper’ date was to see Buster at Coleford Cinema (yes, we had to cross the border to get to our closest cinema). It’s so lovely to be back here with all the cousins, too, and we’re getting better at doing more of this!

Other things making me happy this week

Coffee and cake with Sue and the Bella-dog
Babysitting for TT2’s little one so she could have a night out – I’d forgotten the joy of a warm sleepy baby snuggled on your chest. The midnight Sesame Street binge when he woke up was also fun – he’s a big fan of Elmo, it turns out

Today I have to hop on a train from Hereford to Manchester to work at the World Skills UK National Championships. This is the train I used to catch when I was at uni in Preston so I just need to remember not to change at Crewe.

Next week I’ll be back in sunny Essex and gearing up for National Illustration Day on Friday 29th. See you then!

Kirsty x

What I’ve been reading:

The Kamogawa Food Detectives – Hisashi Kashiwai

More Days at the Morisaki Bookshop – Satoshi Yagisawa

Fortune and Glory/Game On/Going Rogue – Janet Evanovich (Audible)

We Solve Murders – Richard Osman (Audible)

At The End Of The Matinee – Keiichiro Hirano

The Last Word – Elly Griffiths

Wild City – Florence Wilkinson

243: if he worked on a checkout this would never have happened

Dear readers, this is my text for the week and the reason I spend a lot of time wishing to strangle my Beloved. Obviously I love him dearly, and he tolerates my snoring and the fact that my cooking is usually singed as I’m so easily distracted, but he does have one terrible habit.

Recently I have been watching Sons of Anarchy – I like the soundtrack so I thought I might enjoy the series. It has Ron Perlman and Katey Sagal and Jimmy Smits and Henry Rollins and other good people in it. It has redemption arcs and romance, and while I want to tell Charlie Hunnam to pull his trousers up I am, indeed, enjoying it. Yes, it’s all about a biker club who are – by their own admission – breaking the law and generally not being very nice people but (and this is an important but) it’s a work of fiction and thus requires the suspension of disbelief. This is the whole point of fiction.

What, I hear you ask, does this have to do with wishing to strangle my Beloved? Surely he is also enjoying it? After all, there were seven series so it must have had something going for it. Make yourselves comfortable and I shall tell you all…

My Beloved, bless his little cotton socks, can be positively transported by hours and hours of hairy-footed hobbits, orcs, appalling space operas like Zack Snyder’s truly bloody self-indulgent and awful Rebel Moon I and II (which he is watching again, and if anything didn’t need a director’s cut it was that), smug pointy-eared blonds elf-splaining Elven lore via inescapably dire scripts like Amazon’s latest Middle Earth epic, Vikings with suspiciously perfect teeth, and Korean zombies/demons/spirits from the vasty deep. He waits with bated breath for the next series of all these things and insists on rewatching the previous series before starting the new one. This can get wearing, especially when he rewinds a bit in case he missed something important in this series he’s watched before. Bear in mind, please, that he frequently cannot remember that he’s seen the film at least twice before, until something completely minor happens and it brings back total recall. I call these his Father Dougal moments.

He cannot, however, watch a single moment of SOA without loudly critiquing their every move for not being realistic. They made their choices, he says. They are criminals and her husband was a criminal so of course she was killed! Live by the sword, he declares. Die by the sword! She is an accessory after the fact! Guilt by association! She is aiding and abetting! Why does no one come and shoot them at home? I, on the other hand, accept that it’s fiction and not a moral fable, at that, and am happy to see where the story goes*. If I wanted a factual account of biker gangs in California I would be watching a different programme on a different channel: I don’t, so I’m not. He also argues with Midsomer, most other crime dramas and – actually – most of my other TV choices on the same basis, up to and including Doctor Who. He says these things loudly and in a tone of mild outrage and disbelief, as if fiction is not allowed to be unrealistic. This, dear reader, is why I am the patient, tolerant being that you all know and love. It’s the act of not strangling him for twenty years.

*My main question about SOA is how Katey Sagal hasn’t changed a bit in 30 years and looks younger now than she did in Married with Children in 1987.

Things making me happy this week

Taking part in the Miller Knoll Day of Purpose on Tuesday, helping them prep for a community event in December. Cutting and sticking and making stuff! Fabric galore! A tour of their showrooms! Excellent chairs!
A five mile walk on Saturday morning – no baby cows but a happy pig snuggled up in his straw bed and a friendly cat.
Starting the countdown to National Illustration Day with a series of weekly challenges
The end of the anticyclonic gloom being in sight – can we have some sunshine now please?
Tea and a catch-up with Miriam
A Saturday sticking PDF patterns together and cutting out fabric to sew up on Sunday, painting boxes for my stall and making a new sign
See the works on site underway – sh*t’s getting real….
Putting my pixie hat on and getting the office Secret Santa underway…

And now it’s sewing time!

Kirsty x

What I’ve been reading:

Babes in the Wood/The Ghost of Ivy Barn – Mark Stay. Also The End of Magic by him but it was so awful I returned it. Luckily it was on Kindle Unlimited.

Unruly – David Mitchell

Wild City: |Encounters with Urban Wildlife – Florence Wilkinson

Twisted Twenty-six/Fortune and Glory – Janet Evanovich (Audible)

242: not a dolphin in sight

Well, here I am back in a cloudy Essex after a week in cloudy (but not cold or rainy) West Wales. No dolphins or seals this year, but we still had a lovely time once we’d recovered from the drive down. Today’s cover photo shows the cottage we stayed in – the blue one! – taken from the beach so you can see how close we were.

Sunday started with an early solo dip, accompanied by a rather insouciant cormorant ducking and diving near the rocks. I named him Kevin, and he didn’t seem to mind. The water all week was around 14 degrees, and completely flat – not a wave to be seen.

At lunchtime our cousins Jane and Sal (last featured in this blog when we did Race to the Stones) arrived in Sal’s camper van Hetty. After coffee and things with chocolate on we headed back to the beach for an explore: Thing 2 was keen on rockpools and we found Thing 3 en route. He was all about the solo walks, as apparently he doesn’t like walking with ‘old people’.

We wound up the day with a family swim, even convincing Jane to come in although I am not sure she enjoyed it! Sunday dinner was cooked by Tan (with prep assistance from Thing 2 and I, in the shape of vegetable peeling and chopping. There was a gadget for doing julienne veg but not a peeler, so it took a while and a lot of mangled carrots) complete with amazing Yorkshires and cauli cheese.

Monday started with an early dip with Tan and Sal (Jane hung out on the beach and made friends with dogs). Despite the drizzle, once we’d warmed up we took the coast path to Tresaith to see the waterfall. We had lunch in the Ship Inn watching people fly kites on the beach and then walked back to Aberporth in the sunshine. Thing 2’s geography learning has had practical applications this week as she talked about erosion and meanders, and compared the caravan site to a favela (I’m sure they’d be delighted!)

On Tuesday, leaving the kids with strict instructions to stay out of the sea, off the cliff path and to get a chippy lunch (Thing 2 had popcorn cockles again), Tan and I headed back down to Raglan to say goodbye to an old family friend, Little D, who for a tiny person will be leaving a big space in the world. We spent many holidays in Wet Wales with her and her family, watching them attempt to put up their caravan awning and find a signal on the telly. The memorial service was lovely, an outpouring of memories and lots of laughter as well as tears. We had coffee in the Beaufort Arms before, where we met a group of elderly ladies chatting away in Welsh. One of them liked my hair colour, so we ended up chatting to them as well.

Poor Tan got sleazed at by the local barfly – honestly, I leave her alone for five minutes and a disgraced politician hits on her.

We called in on lovely Faye who fed us banana bread and tea (hello Faye!) and marvelled at the fact that the Wicksteed horse is still in the park despite it being quite lethal. The drive back was foggy and autumnal – the trees had turned in just a few days, and were showing off gorgeous oranges and yellows.

On Wednesday I hopped back in the sea first thing, and then we went to Cardigan where we wandered round the town. There’s a lot of crafty gift shops, and the town felt busy and buzzy. We had lunch in The Fisherman’s Rest, where Thing 2 ate crab and Thing 3 ate a lot of cheese.

In the evening we had a message from Mum to tell us that one of our favourite writers, who had become a friend of hers over the years, had died. Phil Rickman wrote atmospheric crime novels set in and around Herefordshire and Glastonbury, and we always looked forward to new books. If you haven’t read his novels you’ve missed out.

Thursday took us to Aberaeron, where the harbour is mostly inaccessible while they reinforce the walls and improve the flood defences. After a wander we headed up into the hills to Bwlch-Nant-yr-Arian to see the red kite feeding. Thing 3 had stayed in Aberporth as his toes were hurting, so we did one of the walking trails and then had pasties in the visitor centre before making our way down to a bench to watch the kites being fed. A few crows have taken to chancing their arm (wing?) for a share of the chicken pieces while the kites are still feeding. I hope that Natural Resources Wales keep this centre open, as it’s so well used by walkers, cyclists and geography students from Wolverhampton as well as the kites themselves. On our return we coaxed Thing 2 into a wetsuit and headed in for a dip.

Friday kicked off with a dip for Thing 2 and I, and then we headed back to Aberaeron with Thing 3 in tow as well. We bought pasties from Y Popty and went back down the coast to New Quay for lunch on the quayside, where we were watched intently by a hopeful seagull and a jackdaw. The dolphins and seals were nowhere to be seen, so we had an excellent ice cream and went down to Mwnt for a walk – we visited the tiny church and climbed the mwnt, then went down the steps to the beach. I love the waterfalls that parallel the stream, and the little wagtails that skip around them.

In the evening we went to the local Indian restaurant for dinner, which was delicious but also entertaining – the waitress is very local and was carrying gossip from table to table. Asking for dessert came as a surprise to them – quite possibly no one had wanted one for a while!

The drive home was much more straightforward than the drive down: we knew the A40 was closed again and so hit the M4. Less scenic but behaving itself for a change! And now back to work we go on Monday….

Things making me happy this week (other than holidays):

Helping out behind the bar at the annual school & Scouts firework display – I love fireworks, and this is always a great village event.
Working on a jigsaw with Thing 2 (we didn’t finish it so we’ll have to do it again at Christmas!)
Not politics, which seems to be loopy all over the place.
Not having to get on public transport of any kind.

And that’s it! See you next week.

Kirsty x

What I’ve been reading:

The Spellshop – Sarah Beth Durst

Our Lady of Mysterious Ailments/The Mystery of Dungevan Castle – TL Huchu

The Crow Folk – Mark Stay