One of the least fun things about any job these days is the performance management process, or at least the annual review bit of it. Don’t get me wrong – I have a lovely line manager, I work with a great team on a fantastic project and I’ve loved every job I’ve had in the sector, even in the tough times – and I tend to assume that if I’m doing anything disastrously wrong someone would have mentioned it. Still, every year I have several sleepless nights before the meeting and feel a terrible sense of impending doom.
For years in a previous role these reviews were a meaningless process, as I was on a spot salary so didn’t get any annual pay rises anyway. The year I did brilliantly, writing a unit for the London Curriculum and being learning advocate on a blockbuster exhibition, they actually took away the unconsolidated rise from the previous two years and gave me a 3.5% pay cut as no one was getting a rise that year. The letter telling me this was waiting for me when I got home from the glowing review meeting. It was also understood that only the people at the main site could get the coveted ‘purple’ grade – which I wasn’t. (For some reason it took this organisation a couple of years to get the Investors in People badge – can’t think why). Another year, they increased my targets by 28% and cut my budget by 32%, so we were set up to fail by a director who refused to listen to what was actually possible (think Boris Johnson in a badly fitting skirt). That director – not the team, the line manager or the job – was why I left that role.
So why, every year, do I spend several nights pre-meeting wide awake and tossing and turning with stress-related insomnia? It’s a complete mystery but I suspect its quite similar to that feeling of guilt you get when you see a policeman even though you know for a fact that you haven’t committed any crimes. Perhaps there’s something they know that you don’t, and they’re waiting to spring it on you. Perhaps there was a target no one mentioned to you and you haven’t met it as you didn’t know it was there. Paranoid? Moi?
My current job is in a small arts organisation (with big ideas) which is headed by actual humans so the review was very straightforward and positive and helpful and I still have a job. Which is nice.
I’m not sure what can really be done to improve this, really: we’re all held accountable to various standards and there has to be some way of measuring this. I think I should just be grateful that the kids haven’t cottoned onto SMART targets yet – they might start asking me to stop burning dinner or putting mushrooms in it, leave fewer random scraps of fabric and thread about the place and rationalise my books and shoes.
The Families in Museums Network meeting at Young V&A this week. Slightly linked to the above – where the amazing Ops team made the Front of House recruitment process radically inclusive and considerably less stressful for the applicants. However, it did make me feel that I’ve been knocking about this sector for a very long time…
Finishing my portable crochet project in time for the cold snap. It’s made of alpaca and it’s snuggly and soft. I’ve also made some progress on the blanket.
Choosing fabrics from the stash and a pattern for a quilt project (though not the one I’d been planning. Go figure, eh?) with puffins on. Here’s the ones I started with,, though not all have made the final cut. Some of them are sparkly.
Today we’re off for an icy swim (water temp was 1.5 degrees on Saturday – considerably warmer than the air though!) and wondering why we do this to ourselves. Wonder if I can take a cat with me to keep my clothes warm?
See you next week, when I’ve defrosted…
Kirsty x
What I’ve been reading
Ten Big Ones/Eleven on Top/Twelve Sharp/Lean Mean Thirteen/Fearless Fourteen – Janet Evanovich
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.
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)
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….
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
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!
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)
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!
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.
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)
“Suspension of disbelief or willing suspension of disbelief is a term coined in 1817 by the poet and aesthetic philosopher Samuel Taylor Coleridge, who suggested that if a writer could infuse a “human interest and a semblance of truth” into a fantastic tale, the reader would suspend judgment concerning the implausibility of the narrative.
Suspension of disbelief often applies to fictional works of the action, comedy, fantasy, and horror genres.”
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.
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)
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
This week my corporeal self has been in the office but my spiritual self has been journeying to Wales. Flashes of scenery from the very well-known journey have been popping up in my brain: familiar views, landmarks (not just those where my sister threw up, which is often how the family measures journeys) and glimpses into the near future. It’s been very distracting, especially while I’m trying to concentrate on things like research into illustration as a learning tool, emailing everyone I have ever met about National Illustration Day 2024 and how they can celebrate it with us, thinking about evaluation, schools programmes, funding applications and what on earth I’m going to cook for dinner. My brain is so fuzzled this week that I forgot the name of the filesharing website I needed and had to ask the team. Luckily they knew but my mind was a complete blank. Spotify has helped – our office is on a mezzanine floor above a comms company and some days it’s very loud, so I plug into a playlist and get my head down. In the ears this week have been They Might Be Giants, Rusted Root and Dolly Parton.
It hasn’t helped that Thing 1 has inherited TT2’s inability to respond to an alarm and has them going off constantly from 5am. Apparently they sink into her subconscious, but I think its more that they wake EVERYONE else up and we all go and shout at her. Not that that works either, but we feel marginally less furious.
The journey to Wales, when it finally came, gave me a LOT of time to look at the scenery. It took us five and a half hours – the usual length of the journey – to reach the border due to unexpected road closures, tractors who were thoroughly enjoying leading a holiday parade, standstill traffic on the M25 and surrounding roads. We avoided the M4 as it was a mess, and kept to the M40/A40. Once we hit Wales it was pretty plain sailing apart from another unexpected A40 closure, with no diversion signposted, and the route we found took us over Mynydd Epynt and the Epynt Range complete with vans full of soldiers in camo paint and the odd group of squaddies in full kit appearing as if from nowhere, sheep roaming the roads and big signage telling us DO NOT STOP and that the road was open to the public that day (phew). The views were amazing, and we could see the training town on the next ridge over. We eventually arrived just before 7pm after leaving Essex at 10am. The views will be lovely in daylight!
Chip butties for dinner with popcorn cockles rounded off the day. The out of office is on, we are in Wales, aaaaaand…. relax. The cottage overlooks Cardigan Bay, so hopefully we’ll see the dolphins and I can’t wait to get in the sea.
Things making me happy this week
Watching Season 4 of Slow Horses which was way too short, and starting Bad Monkey based on Carl Hiaasen’s novel. I love Vince Vaughn.
We celebrated Thing 2’s 16th birthday, with a Wiggles the Caterpillar cake (other caterpillars are available, much to M&S’s disgust) and dinner of her choice which this year was tacos.
Seeing skies full of stars in the mornings and London at dawn, with the ludicrously Gothic old Prudential Assurance Building looking at me as I exit Chancery Lane station
Late Autumn sunshine, although it makes dressing tricksy.
What Kirsty did next 