302: Dracula doesn’t count

What do Just Like Heaven, Last Christmas, The Sixth Sense and Donnie Darko have in common? Only one of them has a giant bunny. All of them have hot male protagonists (yes, Bruce Willis counts. Don’t argue). One of them is set at Christmas. They don’t have actors in common or similar plot lines.

The answer is, of course, that they are all ‘dead guy movies’, which is a debate my bestie and I have been having for a large part of the past week. These are movies where a character has been dead all along, not just died in the early part of the movie (which means Truly Madly Deeply is but Ghost isn’t) or been part of the action despite being dead (Weekend at Bernie’s is not). Muppets’ Christmas Carol is, since it clearly states that ‘the Marleys were dead to begin with’. There are lots of horror genre examples too, I expect, but I’m less likely to watch those.

Where it gets sticky is when the undead (or mostly dead) get brought into the equation. There was a lively debate about Dracula, for example: he’s dead but undead so is still walking around the place, thus very much a grey area. Her family say it counts, mine disagree. Frankenstein is another grey area, as all the various bits of the Monster were dead to begin with but then get reanimated. Zombie movies are mostly not, as often they’re wandering about the place having been brought back to life. It’s more complicated than you’d think….

The difference 34 years makes

That same bestie was also my companion for a Christmas afternoon out on Tuesday, when we went to see Othello at the Theatre Royal Haymarket, starring David Harewood as Othello, Caitlin Fitzgerald as Desdemona and Toby Jones as Iago.

Toby Jones, after his performance in Mr Bates vs The Post Office, his gentle nerdiness in Detectorists and understated excellence in Mr Burton is in grave danger of becoming a national treasure. He was positively malevolent as Iago, manipulating everyone around him and driving Othello to jealous madness, culminating in a great pile of dead bodies at the end. David Harewood made a very angsty Othello, and Caitlin Fitzgerald was sparky and joyful as Desdemona. It’s easy to forget how much humour there is even in the tragedies, and Toby Jones broke the fourth wall quite frequently while confiding his plans to the audience, with his usual comic timing. Costumes were modernish, the set was minimal and elegant, and PJ Harvey’s score was understated. Highly recommended if you get the chance.

Both of us had ‘done’ Othello at A-level and had written essays on the ‘noble savage’ tropes. 34 years later we both felt Mr O needed to do a bit less listening to Iago and a bit more thinking for himself.

We went to the matinee performance after lunch at Rudy’s in Wardour Street. We shared a pizza and a salad – the pizzas are huge and if we’d had a whole one each we’d have slept through the performance. After the show we walked back through a Christmassy London (well, fought our way past the tourists) to Kings Cross St Pancras to catch our trains – we saw the latest probably Banksy, a lot of festive lights and a complete set of Mario Bros in the station for some reason. An excellent day out altogether, and home in time for bed!

Other things making me happy this week

A session at the new David Lloyd in Harlow with Miriam – a mix of yoga, pilates and meditation. Just what I needed but bits of me were most unhappy the following day.
Coffee and stollen with Sue, Jill and Heather on Monday
Christmas cake

Various early morning walks with dogs and people
Christmas Mass at All Saints Epping Upland with Miriam and our Thing 2s. I got to light the advent wreath!

Finally making the Lego bouquet that my Beloved gave me for our anniversary last February. Just under 1000 very small pieces, but a permanent vase (or coffee jar) of flowers in my lair
Finishing these little ‘reel mice’ that I’ve had in my mind for ages. I think they need scarves though.
Saturday at TT1s with many cuddles from the twins, and Christmas Day with TT2 and the mad two year old
Christmas Amazon vouchers to spend. Hurray!

This morning I may go for a walk, and then have every intention of lurking in my lair for a few hours. Same time next week!

Kirsty x

What I’ve been reading:

Night Birds on Nantucket/The Stolen Lake – Joan Aiken

A World of Curiosities/The Black Wolf – Louise Penny

The Dead of Winter – Sarah Clegg

Murder at Martingale Manor – Jodi Taylor

Strange Days – Violet Fenn

Nemi, vols I & II – Lise Myhre

291: embroidery envy

Saturday was the annual pilgrimage to Ally Pally to worship at the altar of fabrics and yarn and crafty gadgets, also known (this year at least) as Knit and Stitch. Heather and I were joined by Tor, one of her colleagues, and we had a most excellent mooch around the exhibitions and graduate shows before heading into the danger zone of trader stands.

I love the graduate shows – this year I was very taken with two who were using stitch to encode messages into their work. One had been inspired by a visit with their (very proud) mum to Bletchley Park when they were nine, and another had created Braille embroidery. I’d definitely visit an exhibition about secret messages in embroidery! I wish I had the vision and talent to do this sort of thing.

There were also many beautiful embroidered birds at The Embroiderers Guild, and some interesting materials in use – upcycled building textiles, plastics which mimicked natural forms and some Korean goblins (‘dokkaebi’) inspired by found objects like lost hats and socks.

We spotted large gatherings of Bees (the sewing kind) including some of this year’s crop, and stroked a lot of fabric as we wandered up and down the aisles. I was very restrained, coming home with some fabric for a new version of the Folkwear Basics Jacket, an embroidery kit which is all French knots and a beautiful embroidered bird brooch. I rarely wear necklaces at work as often have a lanyard, so I usually wear brooches or badges instead. I probably didn’t need another one but I really liked it…

We took our own packed lunches as the food is always disappointing and overpriced at these things – there’s never anywhere to sit and what you end up with is the world’s most expensive meal deal. A well-deserved tea in the afternoon while being charmed by an adorably smily baby was quite reasonable, and then we made it home. The magic laundry fairy hadn’t managed to finish sorting the four clean loads stuffed into the trug on my bed but what can you do?

Things making me happy this week

This beautiful tree on the way to the office in Islington
My cousin sending me pictures of toadstools from her early morning walks
Our third access panel meeting – we’re so lucky to have a generous group of people who are willing to share their experience and thoughts about our new Centre.
A personal best in the Cardiff Half last Sunday – 3 hours and 2 minutes on my Strava, and 3 hours 9 on the chip time. I really wanted to come in under 3 hours but I was very close! I was less impressed with the serious aches on Monday and Tuesday. The weather was great, and the crowd support all round the course was excellent. I was touched to see my lovely friend Jen at 13k, as no one ever comes out to see me! She even gave me a hug, despite the fact that I was a sweaty mess. My cousin Hev leapt out of the Rock Choir at mile 11 with another hug.

Ben and Jerry’s Minter Wonderland is back in the Co-op. It’s my favourite.

Today it’s Apple Day at Copped Hall, so Thing 2 and I will be manning my gazebo. She’s been making earrings with the content of my button tin and she’ll be selling them, while I’ll have my usual collection of crochet decorations and jewellery, including these googly-eyed sprouts.

Next Saturday you can find me in central London at the London Welsh Centre’s Autumn Market, probably also with Thing 2 in tow…

Same time next week, gang!

Kirsty x

What I’ve been reading:

The Lost Paths – Jack Cornish

A Rule Against Murder/A Trick of the Light – Louise Penny

Wine of Angels/Midwinter of the Spirit – Phil Rickman (Audible)

271: same blog, different river

Well, my feet have just about stopped aching after last Sunday’s Goring Gap half-marathon walk along the Thames, although stairs were definitely not my favourite thing until at least Thursday. I came in 119th out of 124 (and last in my age group!) but since I knocked 22 minutes off my predicted time I am quite happy with that. I quite like a half marathon distance as if you start in the morning you can be done by lunchtime and the rest of the day’s your own. Tan finished in two and a quarter hours, and I was in at three hours and eight minutes. There was some unscientific jogging in the first 5k (because I felt like it!) but mostly it was fast walking.

The weather was perfect for a walk – sunny and warm but not too hot, and the route was mostly flat. The worst bit of climb was the railway bridge at Purley at 10k which went up from the Thames to quite far up a steep slope. The last couple of kilometres weren’t a lot of fun either, on a flint path with a long slow climb. Even the field full of alpacas couldn’t improve it. It was a well-organised event with good signage and friendly volunteers at the two feed stations, and I got to see lots of cygnets, goslings, red kites and friendly hounds.

The cheese and ham sandwich and bag of Frazzles produced by Tan when we got back to her flat was the tastiest food ever!

Later in the week I was back over in Ealing with the rest of the team to catch a bus to Brentford for a tour of the London Museum of Water and Steam. We started with a team picnic in Waterman’s Park, watched by a the usual London throng of optimistic pigeons and overlooking the river where a heron stalked the island shallows, geese shared my crisps and a coot bobbled up and down pecking at weed.

We were taken on a tour of the steam engines which were HUGE and which raised questions about how these would have been oriented in our own little engine house in Clerkenwell. These water pumping engines have several storeys of water below ground, and rise up three storeys too. One of the water tanks has a population of goldfish, and another has a wonderful crop of ferns.

We met the museum cat, Piper, who lives in the office during the day and roams the museum at night keeping the mice down. Mice are inevitable in buildings unpopulated at night – I have never worked in a museum without them – so a cat is an excellent idea. We haven’t quite persuaded our Director yet but we’re working on it….

I was extremely excited to see the tailfeathers of one of the standpipe tower’s peregrine falcons peeking over the edge. The ‘Splashzone’ watery play area is immediately below – naturally we tested it! – and apparently the peregrines have a habit of dropping parakeet heads off the tower into the play area which can be a bit disconcerting for young visitors. You can see me below making the archimedes screw move water up – taken by one of my colleagues.

The museum is fascinating, telling the story of steam and clean water in London, and the sheer monumental size of the engines is awe-inspiring. When they were installed they apparently brought the beams in and then engineered them downwards. They have to be perfectly straight otherwise the pistons will catch on the sides and wear down so the level of precision needed for these huge machines is startling. The engines weren’t ‘in steam’ sadly but they do have steam weekends monthly which I bet are great fun. If you visit between now and October you can also see the beautiful interventions by artist-in-residence Dr Jasmine Pradissitto in the ‘Tender Machines‘ displays.

Other things making me happy this week

On Tuesday I joined Such Stories (aka Laura and Jo) for a family workshop, where we saw some of last year’s play project participants and made some new friends.
Discovering Resident Alien on Netflix (an excellent turn by Alan Tudyk) – very funny indeed.
Seasons 4-6 of Northern Exposure all appearing on Amazon Prime
A surprise parcel at work which turned out to be a Quentin Blake original from Kids in Museums – QB had drawn the ‘Museum of his Dreams’, and they thought we might like it.
The new Joanne Harris novel (a new sequel to Chocolat) appearing on my Kindle.
John Lewis-Stempel’s gorgeous nature writing. I love his books about his Herefordshire home.
Finishing Cahokia Jazz by Francis Spufford. A recommendation from a colleague, this has turned out to be one of the best books I’ve read in years. One of those books that – when you finish it – leaves you sitting there thinking about it. The ones that leave you feeling like Holden Caulfield in the Salinger quote below.

At some point this weekend I’ll go for a walk – I spotted a new footpath when we went up to collect Thing 3, which I looked up on my map and worked out a route back through to Ongar. I need to keep up my speed for Cardiff in October. I’d like to break the three hour mark!

Same time next week, gang. I don’t think I’ve got any river-related activities planned but you never know…

Kirsty x

What I’ve been reading:

Vianne- Joanne Harris

Demon’s Bluff – Kim Harrison

21st Century Yokel – Tom Cox (Audible)

Cahokia Jazz – Francis Spufford

The Running Hare/The Wood – John Lewis-Stempel

270: how does your garden grow?

This week’s adventure was to Myddelton House and Gardens in Enfield, which was the home of – among others – a chap called E A Bowles. It’s now the HQ of the Lee Valley Regional Park Authority and has been recently restored with the help of those nice people at the National Lottery Heritage Fund. I was shown around by the head gardener and we made some early plans for linking up with other organisations along the route of the New River.

E A Bowles was, apparently, never supposed to have owned the house: in the way of younger brothers at the time, he was destined to have been a vicar but his older brother died early so he ended up inheriting instead. By all accounts he seems to have been one of more useful members of the gentry, setting up night classes for local youngsters and giving them practical skills, hosting village events on the lawns, acting as a lay preacher and forming a local cricket team. Many of the ‘Bowles Boys’ went on to great things.

He was happiest in his garden, however, and it still shows. A crocus expert whose illustrations are held by the Royal Horticultural Society, he filled the garden with plants he loved rather than decorative borders. The ‘Lunatic Asylum’ area contains oddities – he was the first to propagate twisted hazel in the UK – while the walls and trees are draped with glorious swags of purple wisteria.

The New River (that again, sorry) used to flow through the gardens but he wasn’t allowed to plant anything in it, so instead he bordered it with irises which reflected into the waters and dug a large pond where he could plant anything he liked. The river’s course was straightened in the 19th century and a lawn now reflects the old route. The water was so hard Bowles was surprised he couldn’t walk on it: the result of the chalk aquifer and streams that fed it.

A leak from the river fed the Rock Garden, his most loved area. I was told that he used to bury empty bottles upright in the leak (or possibly leat, I don’t know) to capture the water and use it to water the gardens so none was wasted. The route from the main road crosses the New River although the river path is closed for works, but I did get to stand and look into the surprisingly fast flowing waters.

Attached to the main house is a gorgeous conservatory-full of succulents, and there are further glasshouses in the kitchen garden with peaches and more succulents. We’re going back in half term, hopefully, for a longer explore. Scattered about the garden are stone pieces – the old Enfield Market Cross (I also saw the Eleanor Cross in Waltham Cross on the way home), parts of the old London Bridge, and two tall wire ostriches who replaced original stone ones which now live in the little Bowles Museum by the tea room.

With free entry from 10-5 every day (earlier in winter) this is well worth a visit, and you could also take in Forty Hall and farm which is virtually next door. There’s some lovely footpaths and parkland to explore, and a monthly farmers’ market. Gunpowder Mills isn’t too far in between Waltham Cross and Waltham Abbey, but if you’re jonesing for more gardens Capel Manor is also very close.

Other things making me happy this week:

Seeing my sea creatures in the British Library’s new Story Explorers family exhibition. Our director and I were invited, so we explored outer space and the jungle. Running into ex-Young V&A colleagues was a bonus, as was a quick catch-up with storyteller Emily Grazebrook who worked with families to co-design the exhibition. If you have small people, go and visit – it’s free but you will need to book
Forest ramble to loosen up my legs before today’s half marathon in the Goring Gap. Glad the weather has cooled a bit!
New haircut thanks to lovely Jasmine at Salon 35

Thing 2 being very calm about the first week of her GCSEs. There’s been a lot of baking in the afternoons though!
The first tiny alpine strawberries in the garden

Right, if anyone needs me I’ll be tackling my walking nemesis….

Kirsty x

What I’ve been reading:

The Good, the Bad and the Furry/21st Century Yokel – Tom Cox (Audible)

The Running Hare – John Lewis-Stempel

The Darkest Evening – Ann Cleeves

Clete – James Lee Burke

Demon’s Bluff – Kim Harrison

Cahokia Jazz – Francis Spufford (Dad – you’ll enjoy this one!)

269: a trip back in time to 1693

I love secret bits of London and this week the work gang got to see the fabulous Oak Room at New River Head. Not the bit of New River Head that we’re turning into a brand new gallery and gardens, but the bit that’s currently a very grand set of flats on Rosebery Avenue. The header image this week is ‘London from Islington Hill, by Thomas Bowles, c. 1740. New River Head, centre-left, Upper Pond in foreground’. This is from British History Online.

The New River (its compulsory to say at this point that it’s not new and it’s not a river) was finished in 1613 and brought clean water from springs in Hertfordshire to Islington, and from there it was distributed to the City and later to further afield in London via elm pipes. The New River Company was one of the earliest – if not the earliest – joint stock companies, headed by a Welsh goldsmith/engineer/all-round clever chap called Hugh Myddelton. His brother became Lord Mayor of London (the Dick Whittington sort rather than the Sadiq Khan sort) on the very day that the New River was officially opened with lots of pomp and ceremony. There are several excellent books about it, including The Mercenary River by Nick Higham which is well worth a read. Even the King was a shareholder, putting up half the money to build the river in return for half the profits – which also worked to convince the local landowners to let HM dig a river across their lands. The river followed the 100ft contour, so gravity brought it down to London, with a five inch drop over every mile. You can find some pictures of the route here.

The river originally finished at the Round Pond, where the flats are now, and the Water House was where the offices were. The Oak Room was commissioned by the company engineer in 1693, and it was a mark of how important it was that the portrait of King William III that decorates the ceiling was done by the official court painter. The ceiling is covered in plasterwork showing some very fierce dolphins looking like Chinese dragons, swans and other waterbirds, scenes from along the New River, and is incredibly detailed. The dolphins reminded me of this figure we had in the ‘A Pirate’s Life for Me’ exhibition at Museum of Childhood.

It’s called the Oak Room, though, because of the oak carvings – probably done by Grinling Gibbons or at least his workshop. There’s an unusual unicorn in the coat of arms with a most excellently pointy horn, for example, and the carvings around the fireplace include a very cute crab, crayfish, fishing nets and other watery equipment, plants and various fish. Oak is apparently very hard to carve, and the intricate work here is quite stunning. We were lucky enough to be shown around by an expert on the history of the river, who also came to our offices to give us a talk a couple of weeks ago. In its original position in the Water House the room gave a view of St Paul’s Cathedral and the City, but has been turned around in its new home where it was installed in 1920. The head of the Metropolitan Water Board used it as a dining room, apparently, and had a special chair made from the boarding of the Round Pond when it was decommissioned. Now you can see our Engine House from it, complete with scaffolding where our construction team are busy bringing it back to life.

The block of flats itself is very grand, and the entrance includes the seals of all the water companies which were folded into the MWB in 1904. The seal of the New River Company has the hand of Providence over London and the motto ‘and I caused it to rain upon one city’, which made a change from everyone else’s gods and greenery. The ground floor has a huge open space where people used to come and pay their water bills – it looks more like a ballroom – and the carved MWB seal is still over the front door. Parts of the pond revetment can still be seen too.

Our next visit is to the London Museum of Water and Steam in a couple of weeks – can you detect a theme? I’m also going to visit Myddelton House and Gardens on the route of the New River. Lots of history incoming, London fans….

Other things making me happy this week

Dropping the first batch of sea creatures off at the British Library, including my very psychedelic crab. Needle felting all the faces was very therapeutic.
A long walk last Sunday rambling along the river Roding, seeing hares again and a whole lot of ducklings
All the Threads about President Barbie of the new country of Mattel. Apparently Crayola are drawing up the trade agreements. See also: Puppet Regime

Today is long walk day with only a week to go till the Goring Gap half marathon….must remember to hydrate and fuel properly to face my nemesis!

Kirsty x

What I’ve been reading:

Harbour Street/The Moth Catcher/The Seagull – Ann Cleeves

Interesting Times – Terry Pratchett (Audible)

The Good, The Bad and The Furry – Tom Cox (Audible)

Demon’s Bluff – Kim Harrison

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

224: channelling my inner Bilbo Baggins

It was my birthday on Wednesday and I had plans. Such plans! I wanted to go to The Manor at Hemingford Grey, where Lucy M. Boston wrote the Green Knowe stories and made beautiful quilts and planted her garden.

Once again my plans were foiled (foiled!) by circumstances beyond my control. So, I was pretty grumpy and feeling extremely hard-done-by and underappreciated when I got up on Wednesday morning. I went for a run, took the furry idiot to the vet again (she was pretty out of sorts too, and I have the scratches to prove it) and then decided I’d take myself off for a bit of pampering.

I started with a proper pedicure at the Nail Bar in Harlow, and while you always have to wait in there I had my sewing project with me so the whole thing was pretty relaxing. The pedicure chairs are also massage chairs so I even got a bit of a back rub, and came out with sparkly red toes and feeling much better. I got my eyebrows threaded (ow) and then went and had lunch with my book for company at Mui & Koko.

My mum always used to say that if I had tattoos I’d regret them when I was 50, and last year when I hit the half century I swore I’d have another tattoo. I knew exactly what I wanted, but I didn’t quite get around to it for a whole variety of reasons, so as I was in Harlow with a free afternoon I contacted a tattooist who’d been recommended by a few friends. It turned out he’d relocated his studio to Hertford, and wasn’t officially open till the following day, but he liked my idea and said he could fit me in that afternoon.

And so, like Bilbo Baggins, I went on an unexpected journey. I hopped on a bus to the train station, bought a return to Hertford and went on an adventure.

I’ve only been to Hertford once before, to see Rich Hall, and as I had some time before my appointment I had a good wander around the charity shops (many, but not as good as Bishops Stortford). I also visited the little museum, housed in a historic building on a pretty street and full of information about Hertford life and, apparently, the largest collection of toothbrushes in the world.

I liked the exhibit featuring all the things Victorian travellers brought back as donations, including a set of Samurai armour and some Japanese sandals, and I had a go at the low-tech ‘dress the Samurai warrior’ interactive. There were a few interventions like this throughout the museum, including an opportunity to design a postcard inspired by the embroidered WW1 postcards on display. There was a little shop for children to play in, and WAY too many scary old dolls for my liking, including a ventriloquist’s dummy.

And then it was tattoo time! The new Gumtoad studio is funky, with some futuristic masks on the wall (that not even I could be scared of), and the tattoo artist was lovely – very chatty and it turned out we’d both lived on Hackney Road at various times, and he’d lived in the village where we live now. It was a wide-ranging conversation covering all sorts of things, from children to urban exploring.

The tattoo took about 90 minutes, and was considerably less painful than the threading earlier in the day. I’d taken my picture with me and he suggested I’d get more detail if it was about 10% bigger. We tested out the best position on my shoulder, and once that was perfect we got on with it! I absolutely love it – it’s exactly as I imagined it, and having it done made my birthday. Thank you to my Beloved, whose birthday present paid for it…

For anyone who doesn’t recognise the character, it’s Snufkin from Tove Jansson‘s Moomin stories – this is him heading off to be alone for a while, as he does every winter while the Moomin family hibernate the cold away. He always comes back on the first day of spring though. I’ve loved the Moomins since I was a child and still reread the books on a regular basis. Snufkin is wise, independent and kind, and has an excellent hat, and this illustration has always spoken to me about choosing to follow the direction you want in life. Thing 2 is named after the author, which tells you something about my long-term love of these little Finnish trolls! Jansson also illustrated a Finnish version of The Hobbit, among other things.

And when I got home there was cake, thanks to Thing 2, and presents from sisters – a book on Boro and Sashiko stitching from Irish sister, and new adventure pants and Moomin biscuits from London sister.

Thanks also to Ma and Pa for the birthday Amazon voucher – guilt free craft and reading!

Other things making me happy this week:

The sunshine!
Finishing the black tote bag and marking out a new one with cat stencils from Mont Bleu Studio
Tea in the garden with neighbour Sue this afternoon
Finishing week 2 of couch to 5k
An afternoon sitting in the garden reading crafty books
Gorgeous peonies from my colleagues

Same time next week!

Kirsty x

What I’ve been reading

A Sign of Her Own- Sarah Marsh

Neither Here Nor There/Down Under– Bill Bryson (Audible)

Taken – Robert Crais

Shadowstitch – Cari Thomas

218: where have all the weirdos gone?

Yesterday Amanda and I ventured south of the river to tick off West Norwood Cemetery, the sixth of the Magnificent Seven Victorian graveyards – the original plan was Nunhead, but one of my colleagues tipped me off that it was their annual family open day and likely to be infested with Morris Dancers and small children rather than our usual cast of weirdos.

We met at London Bridge, where we both – separately – encountered a man wandering round with some rather grubby cards and a slightly desperate look on his face who was offering to do magic for people for some reason. South London hasn’t really featured on either of our radars, so it was new ground for us – we earmarked the RSPCA shop for a mooch after the cemetery, and we were quite surprised to find that the cemetery was very close to the station rather than a lengthy walk like the others.

West Norwood was the second of the seven to be built but is less higgledy-piggledy than Highgate and Kensal Green, with lots of mowed spaces and a newish rose garden for cremation burials where ashes can be scattered. There are wildlife areas – lots of wild flowers and birdlife, including cheeky robins and wagtails, noisy parakeets and magpies and the odd squirrel.

We are now getting to the age where mortality is making its presence felt and I think we’re quite pleased that there’s only one more to go on the list. We noticed a lot of child and baby burials from the 80s and 90s which made us sad. There are some great tombs, especially in the Greek quarter where there is a monumental chapel being restored with a Heritage Fund grant – a stonemason was at work, in fact, doing something with a chisel in the chapel. We didn’t find a single Martha on the stones – but there is always a Martha! – but did find lots of Elizas. We also found the wonderfully-named Carlton Parchment who, if I ever write a detective novel, will definitely be featured. Oswald Manoah Dennison is buried there, described on his gravestone as ‘The Columbus of Brixton and Empire Windrush pioneer’, which is a wonderful epitaph to be buried under. I love this poem by Dan Thompson I found about him and you can read an interview with him here.

Lunch was at Pintadera, a busy, friendly Italian cafe close to the station and an excellent suggestion by a friend who lives locally. Amanda had the mushroom and nduja pasta special, I had the ravioli with a beef and veal ragu which was delicious. We both had affogatos! Really reasonably priced, and highly recommended if you find yourself in the area.

The RSPCA shop trawl netted me a new pair of linen trousers and a skirt, a book and a pair of sunglasses for Thing 2. I do love a charity shop and this one was a really good one for clothes.

Other things making me happy this week

A girls’ night out to the cinema to see The Fall Guy, which just consolidated my love for Ryan Gosling (especially after watching La La Land earlier in the week)
Mental health awareness week – we went for a work picnic to get out of the office as the theme was movement. It was raining so instead of one of the local gardens we went to the Barbican, which was a great call by one of my colleagues. So good to step away from the desks and have a chat at the end of an exciting week.
And on the way back Esme Young from the Sewing Bee walked past us and I tried really hard not to embarrass myself.
Finishing Ashes to Ashes – the Daniel Mays character was completely bonkers, I still love the Gene Genie, but Alex was getting on my nerves.
Building an extremely long playlist based on blokes with guitars and angst. It’s great.
Coffee with Brian on Tuesday before work.
Finally being able to announce that our development is going ahead!
Running into ex-colleagues at the Museums and Heritage Show.

And that’s it from me for the week – this week it’s my Irish sister’s birthday (happy birthday!), and a session with my favourite teacher training alliance.

Kirsty x

What I’ve been reading:

Bubbles All The Way/Bubbles Reboots – Sarah Strohmeyer

The Monkey’s Raincoat – Robert Crais

The Lost Continent – Bill Bryson (Audible)

Pay Dirt – Sara Paretsky

Necropolis -Catharine Arnold

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

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