This week I have been having great difficulty convincing my brain to stop being in full-on mode after two madly busy weeks with work. While this has been good in some ways, as Monday and Tuesday were very productive – mopping up a lot of things lurking on my to-do list, for example – its also had its downsides.
Tuesday was a case in point. When – as I expected – my alarm went off, I hopped out of bed, into the shower and was dressed before looking at a clock and discovering that it was only 5am rather than 6, and it was too early to go to work as we can’t get into our building till much later. At 6am my alarm actually went off, waking Thing 3 – as I found out when I was puzzling over it in the evening to my beloved. It turns out I’d dreamed my alarm, whispered at Alexa to shut up despite not actually being on, and got up.
It wasn’t until I got into pyjamas in the evening that I discovered I’d been wearing my bra inside out all day. The week did not improve.
Luckily, I had booked Thursday and Friday off as an ersatz weekend, as Saturday and Sunday (today!) are full of Christmas markets. Epping was yesterday: cold and sunny but not windy, which meant lots of people about and that the lack of sides on my gazebo wasn’t too noticeable. Thing 2 spent a couple of hours with me before heading off to meet the boyfriend – she was very useful when setting up! The tiny Christmas mice and mince pies were the best sellers, and it was nice to see familiar faces from previous years. I’ve done this event most years since 2009, when two friends and I shared our first stall. Today I am off to a school in north west London lugging an enormous suitcase of stuff – another repeat visit, which I am looking forward to.
And so I must go and get ready for the day! Short but sweet once again – at some point normal service will resume. I hope.
Other things making me happy this week
Coffee and a debrief with Amanda on Monday
Showing Paul Talling of Derelict London round our future site on Tuesday
A new haircut – I don’t think I like the grey coming through. I’m still not ready.
Seeing all the amazing illustrations coming in from schools after National Illustration Day
A week spent whirling from place to place, so this week you get some nice pictures and not many words.
Lena’s wallpaper going up
Monday was spent mostly at Angel Central, where we’d been lent an empty shop for the week and had lots to do. Here’s our Artistic Director Olivia putting up vinyl wallpaper designed especially for National Illustration Day by Lena Yokoyama. This was a proper team activity, with various members of the team footing ladders, plastering ourselves against walls while trying to hold up rolls of vinyl, and trying to match up the overlap. Next year we’ll get the printers to install it.
Eton’s tasteful Christmas lights
My annual stint as an external adviser at Eton College Collections– a meeting followed by a nice dinner. Celeriac soup, something chickeny, poached pears with hazelnut meringue and a sour cherry sauce. I sat between the charming Vice-Provost and the curator of antiquities and was highly entertained. I stayed at London sister’s overnight and was shouted at by owls, who nest in the tree outside her flat.
Wonderful Olivia Armstrong wearing the coat of many pockets
Finally the new schools session inspired by Quentin Blake’s book Angelica Sprocket’s Pockets was launched, starring Olivia Armstrong as the storyteller who forgot her coat and had to borrow Angelica’s. Featuring stories of the New River and local history, it went down a storm with the schools.
In the evening my Beloved was watching a Liam Neeson film when I fell asleep on the sofa and he was still watching it when I woke up three hours later. According to him it was a completely different film, but it looked remarkably similar to me.
Angel Central with Lena Yokoyama’s amazing window displays
More of Lena’s work, this time boards for window displays for the BIG DAY on Friday. You can just see the Mayor of Islington through the door. We invited lots of people through the door to help us celebrate. We asked schools to share what they made, and on social media we asked people to share the illustrations that were important to them. At one point we were trending 6th on X/Twitter and had almost 800 uses of the #nationalillustrationday hashtag on Instagram. We made the Radio 4 Today show, who had a live illustrator and interviewed Lauren Child. Illustrations made in the shop were scanned and added to our online gallery.
My contribution to our Angel Central gallery
Here’s my contribution to the online gallery – a self-portrait! Saturday saw more than 300 people come through the doors, including a visit from Amanda and an old college housemate. Hopefully Sunday will be just as busy.
Algorithms. eh? What’s that all about? I’m hoping someone out there knows the answer to this as I have to say they are leaving me somewhat perturbed.
Take Facebook ads, for example. You know, the things which – some days – are every other post on your feed and leave you wondering why you’re being targeted for all sorts of strange things that have no relevance to any of your interests or are so wildly off course that you’re tempted to actually click on them. Every so often I’ll be bombarded with promotions for self-published rubbish by ‘A N Other – Author’, or for sites posting celebrity rubbish or obvious clickbait. I go through the motions: hide ad, tell us why you hid this ad (usually I choose the ‘not relevant to me’ option as there isn’t an ‘it’s utter balls’ selection), hide all ads from this advertiser. Inevitably this makes no difference, and the same ad will reappear. So I click on the ‘why am I seeing this ad?’ option and it says ‘because you’re over 40’ or ‘because you interacted with content about history’. Well yes, I did interact with content about history – I like history – but the content you are attempting to show me is about Kardashians, or about people I don’t know who went to the doctor and found out something, or about this one trick that will help me keep my house permanently tidy/lose half my bodyweight/some other frankly unlikely outcome. Then it will give me the option to undo the ‘hide all content from this advertiser’ that I chose last time, in case I’ve suddenly seen the light: my god YES I AM over 40 and and I DO like history, why would I not want to see all this other stuff??? DROWN ME IN THOSE KARDASHIAN SHENANIGANS! I AM READY! *
Recently, however, I have am wondering whether the algorithm is trying to tell me something. As you may recall, I turned 50** earlier this year and I may have mentioned – once or twice – the joys of menopause and getting older. So, naturally, I have seen a fair number of ads for ‘the one menopause treatment you can’t live without’ and so on. This is fine and shows that sometimes the ads are at least vaguely relevant (I still hide them though, it’s the principle of the thing) but now I am starting to get a bit concerned. I have gone straight from ads for menopause solutions and to ads for funeral plans and the local burial ground, without passing through Saga holidays and the other fun things us quinquagenarians are supposed to be looking forward to now the kids are old enough to cook their own fish fingers and stuff. Should I be worried?
*I will never be ready. I cancelled my Grazia subscription when it became obsessed with Kardashians and Middletons.
**This whole 50 thing is a bit of a swizz, it seems – this year the government have moved the flu jab goalpost so I still have to pay. This seems unfair. Chiz chiz, as Molesworth would say.
Other things making me happy this week
Falling in love with London all over again. In an attempt to thwart the Central Line and achieve coffee with with Amanda I got an early train. Walking from Chancery Lane to Farringdon through the little Hatton Garden lanes, complete with sparkly Christmas lights and interesting old buildings before the sun was properly up (and before all the people arrived), reminded me how magical the city is. And we managed coffee.
Glow in the Angel yesterday – popping up at Islington Green with a star lantern activity designed by Jhinuk Sarkar and meeting lots of our future audience, followed by a drink with Amanda and Karen. There was a polar bear, a celebrity cat and lots of happy people.
Esme Young’s autobiography on Audible
The sweet elderly lady in Pret with her daughter and granddaughter yesterday – shed been watching me crochet little granny squares and when I turned one into a bauble she got very excited.
Celebrating neighbour Sue’s birthday with tea, cake, chatter and the Barbie movie
More crochet Christmas decorations – note to self, don’t leave the baubles out overnight as the cat steals them
Finishing the ‘Coat of Many Pockets’ for the new storytelling session inspired by Quentin Blake’s Angelica Sprocket’s Pockets – I can’t wait to see the sessions this week!
And now it’s time to get ready for a swim – later there will be a nap, as my Beloved’s (clearly haunted) toothbrush decided to turn itself on at 4.30am and would not turn off. I have been awake since.
Same time next week!
Kirsty x
What I’ve been reading:
Walk the Lines – Mark Mason
The Master and Margarita – Mikhail Bulgakov
Reaper Man – Terry Pratchett (Audible)
The Thursday Murder Club – Richard Osman (Audible)
So far today Thing 2 has asked me what the UK female equivalent size for a Chinese website’s men’s XXL, what it means when the website informs her that her order has been closed, and what;’s going to be for dinner in five hours time*. People keep asking me questions, in fact. Who didn’t put that dirty plate in the dishwasher? Where did this cup come from? Who left that here? Who does this toy/nail polish/empty wrapper belong to? What’s for pudding? How long till dinner? Is my grey hoodie washed yet? Where are my trousers? Have you got the stuff for my food tech lesson? Where is my bus?
I do not know the answers to many of these questions. Many are, in fact, rhetorical: my Beloved knows who left the plates there as that child has just left the room. We all know that dishwashers have been rendered invisible to teenagers, even when they have to walk past them to put the plate on the side (never the sink). It’s easy to see who the nail polish belongs to: it’s the child who has just sat next to you for two hours doing her nails.
Some of the questions are answerable only with other questions: did you put it in the laundry basket? Did you tell me about the food tech lesson? Have you checked the bus app? Where did you leave them?
Even now, mere seconds after my Beloved has walked through the front door, there comes a cry of ‘who’s left pasta on?’
Mostly I ignore them, as they do not require an answer, and shrieking ‘I DON’T CARE’, however tempting it might be, is not conducive to a peaceful existence. But it is true. I do not care. If the plate is bugging you that much, put it in the dishwasher or take it up with the offspring (there are three to choose from) who left it there. If you require something washed, it’s your responsibility to make sure it’s in the laundry basket, as I have enough washing to do without searching the house for more. Your trousers are almost certainly where you took them off, ditto your shoes, tie and blazer.
Here endeth the lesson. Now stop asking me stupid questions.
*cottage pie with cheesy mash, as it happens.
You may surmise from the above that my normally sunny outlook on life has been sorely tested this week by having to deal with:
Printers which suddenly take against a document and will not print it. Perhaps it was the document, as I tried two computers and three printers before finally succeeding)
Caffe Nero’s so-called ‘luxury’ hot chocolate (bring back the Milano, please)
editing Zoom recordings (I can’t. I hope someone else can.)
the Central Line, which has contrived to thwart my social life (OK, a coffee date with my bestie, but it counts, right?)
Having to prove my human status repeatedly to various websites.
The ironing, though I admit that that’s probably my own fault for leaving it to pile up for several weeks.
Waking up at 4am every day thinking about all the things on my to-do list (lack of sleep may be adversely affecting my sunny disposition).
Not all my week was bad-tempered, obviously. Things making me happy this week include:
The return of Christmas sandwiches to the supermarket meal deal
I must first start with an apology – it turns out I lied to you last week and I was not, in fact, refreshed and raring to go but rather coming down with a horrible cold which quite ruined the early half of the week. It was one of those colds where you can’t think straight, everything feels sort of achy and even your hair hurts. Not the best frame of mind for writing budget submissions, I think you’ll agree. My mind was so fuzzy that when I did a covid test in the office on Tuesday morning and the ‘C’ line came up, I freaked out, grabbed a mask and would have shot out of the door in the direction of home if my less-germy colleague hadn’t reminded me that the ‘C’ was for control and not Covid, and that I needed two lines for a positive test.
Still, by Wednesday I was almost human again which was just as well, as we launched our schools events for National Illustration Day with a CPD led by two of our illustrator-educators (Lily and Toya). They demonstrated the activities available in the free schools resources and some of the participants shared their work around celebrations: all the different things we celebrate that bring us together, human moments of contact and joy, as well as celebrating illustration itself. Now we’re planning the day itself – 24 November, for anyone who’d like to get involved. We have had some discussions this week about whether it’s appropriate to be celebrating anything, given what’s going on in the world, but our focus for schools was always on celebrating the fact that we are all different but celebrations bring us together…
…which, if I do say so myself, is a brilliant segue into Guy Fawkes Night and all its attendant celebrations: bonfires and fireworks and sparklers and lights in the darkness and things. Apparently we’re supposed to be celebrating the fact that Parliament and the King weren’t blown up. Personally, given the political omnishambles (I love this word) of the past fifteen years or so, I have developed more and more sympathy for Mr F and his co-conspirators. These days they may of course have contented themselves with a Change.org petition or a nice middle-class march from Hyde Park to Westminster with accompanying banners and memorable chants, but these probably won’t be being marked four centuries later with mass gatherings in muddy fields.
I love the whole family ritual of Bonfire Night, right down to that muddy field. Last night I volunteered to help at the local school and Scout group’s display, and ended up checking tickets on the gates. Seeing all the families arrive with the kids in snowsuits and earmuffs and wellies and bobble hats, all excited about the evening ahead, was lovely. People were coming through and telling us that this was where they’d been to school and it was the first time they’d been back in years, some of the teachers were there with their families, teenage couples were there on dates, multigenerational groups were out in force lugging grannies and grandads along for the fun. We were in competition with another, bigger display at the airfield, run by the local Round Table, so it was gratifying to see so many people.
The display was excellent and went on for ages with a satisfying mix of things that went bang and wheeeeee and fffzzzzz and pew and pop, making gorgeous showers of lights and sparks and causing ooohs and aahs from the crowd. Thing 2 (responsible for the videos above) was with her best friend, and they had a great time getting their shoes muddy. I walked home with them afterwards, with the pops and bangs of the airfield display and smaller garden versions echoing round the village. I shall look forward to next year!
Other things making me happy this week:
Asda only giving me 4 substitutions and 7 things they couldn’t provide – still double figures but at least they found some potatoes this time
A mooch round the charity shops of Bishops Stortford with my Beloved and Thing 2
A really interesting meeting at New River Head on Friday afternoon with two brick experts who work in historic building restoration and conservation
Not having to claim back all my tube journeys because of delays on the Central Line
Organising the office Secret Santa
This week’s Christmas decoration test
And that is it for me for another week – I have a day planned of crafting for Christmas markets (I’ll be at Epping Christmas Market on 2 December and Maple Walk School on 3 December), and still have a to-do list as I keep finding things I need to make!
Same time next week,
Kirsty x
What I’ve been reading:
Flip Back/Low Action/Attack and Decay – Andrew Cartmel (Audible)
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
I am not entirely sure what happened to or in this week but I do know that on Friday morning I had to make a choice between attending all the things in my diary and making a show of myself by having a meltdown, or clearing the diary and spending the day at my desk making sense of my lengthy to-do list and looking at exciting spreadsheets. November looms, and with it National Illustration Day, which has mushroomed from a small(ish) schools thing to something that’s going to engage all sorts of people: a celebration of our community projects with various Islington groups with a friends and family event; school sessions; three days of drop-in illustration at Angel Central; an unrelated but well-timed community lights switch-on event the previous weekend at Islington Green – and business as usual happening all around it! I am wondering whether setting up a tent in the pop-up space at Angel Central for the week is a realistic suggestion…
I chose to clear the diary: while I do pride myself on being able to prioritise my workload (you should see my to-do chart) and manage multiple projects, sometimes you need to step back and remember that not everything has to be done all at once. Friday’s diary included an online meeting, an offsite meeting and a workshop in the afternoon. Both the meetings were for timebound projects but not urgent, and the workshop was a ‘nice to do’. Having walked from the station to the office giving myself unsuccessful pep-talks and arriving on the verge of a full-blown panic attack, clearing the diary seemed more sensible.
One topic that comes up over and over again in job interviews is time management: how do you cope with deadlines, with multiple projects; how do you prioritise. I have even set prioritisation tasks for co-ordinator and contact centre roles and asked candidates to explain their reasoning (sorry, people! Although not you, Mr Patronising PhD man applying for a role you’re vastly overqualified for. Not you.). A better question might be about strategies people use when they are overwhelmed, making space for employers to show an understanding of the impact of stress at work.
Last year there was a lot in media – social and later mainstream – about quiet quitting and this year it’s been ‘lazy girl jobs‘. I can’t say I agree with the idea that you should just work to your job description, especially in a small team where everyone needs to pitch in with things to make a project work. Over the last couple of years I have seen this in action: ‘well, my job description says Monday to Friday, my job description says I finish at 5’, and – increasingly – sticking rigidly to ‘minimum’ onsite hours. This creates resentment within the team, particularly with those colleagues who are the ones who recognise that a job goes beyond the description and who are inevitably the ones who pick up the slack and ensure that schools are greeted, that evening events are staffed, that all the things that can’t happen remotely still happen. Over the years I have manned front desks, sat in galleries, shifted furniture, delivered emergency school sessions, ‘meeted and greeted’ groups, told stories, hopped behind the bar, cleared tables, made coffee, lugged boxes, and many other things that aren’t explicitly in my job description but which needed to be done. It’s in my management skillset: don’t ask someone to do something you’re not prepared to do yourself. It comes under ‘and other reasonable duties as requested by your manager’.
Residents at Lady Dinah’s Cat Emporium: advocates of both radical rest and work-life balance
I do, however, believe strongly in the concept of work-life balance, and that sometimes you have to say no. I’ve been very lucky over the last ten years or so to have managers who have understood this (all women – coincidence?) and who have modelled excellent behaviour for me as I’ve moved up the ranks. There is also a movement towards Radical Rest in the arts and culture sector, spearheaded by a group of sector professionals including my predecessor in my current role. Giving ourselves permission to rest (or to say no) is quite tricky, it seems.
Other things making me happy this week
Thing 2 is 15 today, and currently opening her presents with glee
Hot glue guns and Christmas crochet
Not having to get on the Central Line for another 10 days
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)
Yesterday was our crafty annual pilgrimage to the wilds of North London for the Knitting and Stitching Show at Alexandra Palace (‘our’ meaning Heather and I, partners in crafty crime). This year we’d decided to book a workshop, and found one on free-motion embroidery led by Molly Brown. This was something neither of us had tried before, and of the available workshops it was also the one we thought we probably couldn’t teach ourselves.
Molly took us quickly through the workings of the Janome Atelier machines we’d be working with, and then explained the process she used for making the tree embroideries. We started by tracing our trees onto pelmet Vlieseline, then delving into piles of organza scraps to create our background. We enclosed these in net and stitched around to hold them all in place (in my case, I managed to stitch the instruction sheet in as well), and then flipped the piece over to embroider the basic tree shapes.
Once the trunks were stitched we turned our trees up the right way and used the thread to ‘scribble’ in the branches, fill in the trunks and add any details we wanted. I added some smaller plants on the ground, and the ninety minute session finished far too quickly. It’s a technique I’d like to try again and I know I can drop the feed dogs on one of my machines, I just need to remember which…
The rest of the show was busy – I don’t usually go on Saturdays, for this very reason, and the usual crunch spots like Black Sheep Wools were packed with people rummaging through bargain bags. Anywhere there was a wandering Bee was also busy, of course! In a moment of sensibleness we’d taken packed lunches – food is reliably overpriced and disappointing – so we picnicked overlooking the ice rink before tackling the second hall.
One of the highlights of the Autumn Show is the exhibition section: graduate showcases, quilting winners, textile galleries and more. Many of this year’s shows appealed to my inner magpie, with mixed media pieces blooming with shiny things and found objects.
Janine Pound – Leaf LitterLouise Baldwin – OrbitingRosie Jones – Hi Vis TownPauline Medinger – MurmurationJessica GradyJessica GradyBethan Ash – Lazerlite
The final exhibition was The Duster Project by Vanessa Marr, which you can read about here. This is a collaborative project, which explores contemporary perspectives on the everyday lives of women.
Heather and I were very restrained, coming home with only a sewing pattern each and a few bits and bobs. This was mainly because neither of us have finished the kits we bought last year, and in my case also because earlier in the week I’d used the Obby voucher that was my leaving gift from Young V&A. I now have a jesmonite casting kit and a felted pebbles kit inspired by Kettle’s Yard.
Other things making me happy this week
Early morning coffee with Amanda
Ice cream and a wander round Roath Park
Getting up to date on the temperature supernova
Breakfast and speedview session at New City College
The Undertones supported by The Rezillos – so good!
Series 5 of Ghosts
Today is Apple Day at Copped Hall, so it’s family outing time again…same time next week?
Kirsty x
What I’ve been reading:
This Is The Night They Come For You – Robert Goddard
The Dictionary of Lost Words – Pip Williams
Written in Dead Wax – Andrew Cartmel (Audible)
An Utterly Impartial History of Britain – John O’Farrell
On Tuesday I woke up missing Ribena. Ribena was my go-to hot drink in the evenings and when I’d reached my coffee limit in the office. I know it still exists but in 2018 they changed the original recipe, replacing some of the sugar with artificial sweeteners and adding polydextrose to mimic the texture. Apparently this was to avoid the sugar tax, but they already had Ribena Light to do this and that’s what this new version tasted like so WHAT WAS THE POINT? Yes, I am aware that still being unreasonably cross about this five years later is probably pointless but I am. So there. I have managed to hold one grudge for 35 years (and counting) so five years is NOTHING, Ribena. NOTHING. And don’t even get me started on Lipton replacing sugar with stevia in their iced tea.
What my potatoes might have looked like. Photo by Pixabay on Pexels.com.
Other things I have missed this week included more than 20 items from my online supermarket order*, which were either substituted for other random things (paneer is not the same as halloumi, packers) or no substitutes were available. I find it very hard to believe that there was no suitable alternative for a tube of toothpaste, or a bag of potatoes. Perhaps a different brand of toothpaste, or some slightly different potatoes? I mean, I can’t tell the difference between King Edwards and Maris Piper, I just wanted 5kg of potatoes. If you can boil them or mash them or put them in a stew then they will do perfectly well. The delivery driver said they had some new packers in the warehouse and they weren’t the sharpest tools in the box (not all their Moomins were in the Valley, as they apparently say in Finland!) but last month they were unable to find a substitute for chicken breasts. When I place the order I have a whole range of things to choose from but I am beginning to suspect that they may not actually exist and we are merely being given the illusion of choice.
*I was also missing 2/3 of a packet of chocolate Malted Milk biscuits (working-from-home lunchtime biscuit of choice**) but I am pretty sure I can blame my Beloved for that. He will pay. Oh yes. He will. I still haven’t forgotten the Liquorice Allsorts incident.
**In the absence of chocolate Rich Tea. I miss those too.
Other things making me happy this week
Still watching Sex Education
The new trailer for the Doctor Who 60th anniversary episodes
An evening out in Cardiff with assorted cousins
Still making crocheted Christmas trees
Progress on the Hydrangea blanket
A quick swing by Young V&A for coffee and a catch-up – how to feel loved!
Haagen Daz x Pierre Herme macaron ice cream
A visit to my lovely hairdresser so I can stop resembling a dandelion clock
A sunny dog walk and chat with neighbour Sue and the Bella-dog
And that’s it for this week! Next weekend it’s the Autumn Knitting and Stitching Show and I am very excited for the workshop we have booked.
See you then,
Kirsty x
What I’ve Been Reading:
Death in Fine Condition – Andrew Cartmel. I love the Vinyl Detective but I am not sure he can write women.
This Is The Night They Come For You – Robert Goddard
Soul Music – Terry Pratchett (Audible)
Written in Dead Wax – Andrew Cartmel (Audible)
An Utterly Impartial History of Britain – John O’Farrell
What Kirsty did next 