Dolls – Page 2 – slightly weird

6th June 20188th June 2018

Hackney Downs Park, Upper Clapton

Wednesday, 6 June, 2018

I’ve been making two dolls in sarees for Shahanaz. It was a real challenge but I now know how to wrap a saree, not that I’d like that headache too often! And to be really honest, after making so many cute dolls, I didn’t like them very much at all by the time I’d finished. So I asked Shahanaz to meet me so that we could rip out a few stitches and re-sew until they were right.

We were meeting on Hackney Downs since it’s halfway between us. I don’t go there so often these days.

**Tennis courts at the Bodney Street entrance**

**Mosaic, a mental health social enterprise inside the park**

Luckily, Shahanaz didn’t want too much to change. We changed the position of the shoulder areas and pleated the back a little and then we took a photo of them on the bench with their optional head scarves. Usually, we go for coffee – She’s discovering coffee! – but it’s Ramadan so I hope our next visit together is a bit more delicious.

**The finished dolls ready for delivery, and my feet!**

Krish has had a bad back ache for about a week. This is from an old injury that every now and again flares up. The usual announcement is a loud yell from the bed when he can’t move or get up from lying down. He’s reluctant to talk to doctors about anything and it might take a while to book an appointment, attend it, and get attention. So I suggested he try the Osteopaths at Core Clapton, where I went last year for a nagging shoulder pain. You can book online and there are often same-day appointments. I booked one for him for Wednesday, when I could go with him.

It’s a ten-minute bus ride away in Upper Clapton on Northwold Road so we headed up there and went inside.

**Somewhat minimal but flexible space at Core Clapton**

Several squinty minutes with the registration form later, he was in there while I waited and wandered around a little. Core Clapton is designed for accessibility. They have a range of pay what you can services and the atmosphere is casual but definitely not amateur. The fact that a smiling Krish emerged 45 minutes later and booked another visit was a huge relief! And it was a lovely day so we walked home.

**The Crooked Billet Pub, Upper Clapton Road**

**Clapton Station, one stop away from my nearest station**

Slice of a building - looks flat from the front! — **Slice of a building – looks flat from the front!**

Clapton Pond - not sure why it's called a pond! — **Clapton Pond – not sure why it’s called a pond!**

Along Upper Clapton Road is The Round Chapel. The impressive building as we know it today opened in 1871 but it began in 1804 when it was a nonconformist, congregationalist church in 1804 at the nearby Old Gravel Pit Chapel. The Gravel Pit Chapel was in turn a breakaway group from the Ram’s Chapel in Homerton.

Hackney has had a lot of groupings and regroupings since the 17th century, since it was always a nonconformist area. These churches didn’t conform to the rules of the Church of England. Abney Park and Bunhill cemeteries, for example, were nonconformist burial grounds – both within Hackney. There were also three nonconformist academies – Homerton, Newington Green and Hoxton – which produced nonconformist figures like Daniel Defoe, and hymn writer Isaac Watts.

By 1868 the population had more than tripled and the much bigger Clapton Park (“Round”) Chapel was built. The population of the area grew massively and more houses sprang up.Then at the turn of the century, the congregation dwindled as people moved away to the outer suburbs.

The Chapel is a Grade II building, in the top 4% of protected buildings in the UK. This is in part due to its architecture – the unique round shape and its cast iron columns, controversial since they were typically used only in music halls and railway stations. Today the Hackney Building Trust has taken over the main auditorium and some rooms, while the adjoining Old School Rooms are kept by the church. The building was refurbished and is used as an event and workshop venue.

20th April 2018

A visit to Haggerston

Friday, 20 April 2018

Summer heat has hit London. Temperatures are hitting as high as 28C for several days.

The difference this has made to the tree outside in the window in just a few days is remarkable!

The tree on Monday... — **The tree on Monday….**

...and on Thursday — **…and on Thursday**

Yesterday was an eventful day for me – unintentionally. Here follows a rambling account.

First I went to the doctor only to find out that my test results (expected two weeks ago) have still not arrived. sigh. But I had other things to do. I had to complete a sleepiness study to get back into the sleep clinic at St Barts hospital. and I asked about anxiety meds. Briefly – the doctors here have been refusing to give me Clonazepam despite my very good history with it. Every now and again I restate my case to get them. so I gave it another shot. He asked me questions and then said he was convinced that I should have it but needed to bring it up at the doctor meeting they had later that day. (He called me back to say the doctors said they also agreed but he had to now run it past the psychiatric arm of their practice. progress!)

Also I asked about the shingles shot and risks and benefits and they booked me in to see the practice nurse. she was one i’d seen before and really liked. so we chatted a bit and I got my shot, which instantly hurt like crazy – normal, she said. so far so good! feel OK. Arm a bit sore, was a bit tired but that’s not unusual these days.I then had to jump on a bus to get to my appointment at the volunteer office.

Chapter of accidents follows:

got in the bus
realised I was on the wrong one when it took the ‘wrong’ turn – got about three stops into the wrong route
walked the half mile to the road where I could get the right bus
knees hurt so waited ten minutes for a connecting bus
arrived 45 mins late!
told that I was in the wrong location for my appointment
walked with the receptionist another 1/4 mile to the right location
arrived an hour late!

Stupid thing is that if i’d realised where I should have been, there would have been no need for that connecting bus or the wait for it. Duh.

Anyway, Jane (the woman I had to see) told me that Shahanaz was already there. Shahanaz is the Muslim woman I’ve become friends with – one of those things where you are in a new group of people and somehow you end up becoming friends with the one you would least have expected! And the three of us had a great chat, most of which arose from Jane seeing my birth certificate and being fascinated with all the details. (it was an ID checking session). Jane mentioned that she had been to the Princelet synagogue one year and fell in love with it. Shahanaz was really intrigued by Jane’s story and asked me if I could take her. then Jane said we *must* include her. this whole thing felt really warm and inclusive – and curious in that there we were, one Jew, one Muslim, and one (Irish) Catholic – and I felt like we were a new circle of friends. that would be really nice actually. Anyway, the next open house is 10 September so I may not be in London but…

After the ID session, Shahanaz asked if we could go next door to the Waterhouse cafe – the place that catered our volunteer training sessions. This turned out to be a lovely space with a patio overlooking the canal.

I really enjoyed the brunch (poached egg with smoked salmon and asparagus) and Shahanaz asked if we could try a new coffee – she is discovering the world of coffee (sheltered!) through me. We chatted about our lives and then left to get home. When we got to Dalston Shahanaz remembered she had left her bag (with passport etc) in the cafe so she had to turn back. I came home and had a restful day.

My cheese is a week or two away from being ready to eat and my new dollies are enjoying the sun!

**Hoping the blue is the left one because that’s the one I pierced to encourage the blue veins**

9th April 20189th April 2018

Cheese! A new friend, Mare Street Market, Aunt Kay, and another doll

Monday, 29 April, 2018

The cheeses I made are coming along. I had a terrible time trying to work out which cheese was the blue one since they both have blue mould. I don’t want to think that they are both blue now but I did in the end pierce the bluest looking one (at the bottom) and will hope for the best. The French cheese meanwhile is ready I suppose and I need to leave it at room temperature, perhaps on Thursday. It looks a bit crispy to me but who knows! It may end up to have a soft oozy heart!

**The white and the blue cheese at three weeks**

I may have made a good new friend, Shahanaz from my Bump Buddies course. I’m quite fascinated by how different she is. It’s the first time I’ve had an intimate conversation with a Muslim woman, at least one who wears a scarf and conforms somewhat to her culture. And yet she speaks very openly, swears more than I’d expect, and has very quirky and non conformist ideas. She wanted to try ‘real coffee’ so our first venture – one of many, I hope – was to Pacific Culture Club. We each ordered a brownie and she insisted we also share an almond croisant. The brownies were the fudgiest I’ve had in London but the croissant was nowhere near as good as the ones I’ve had in Toronto.

I was explaining to Shahanaz that I had bad hair days almost all the time and that I sometimes just wanted to cover my hair like she does. She admitted that it was good she could cover her hair and not worry what it looked like but then smiled and said ‘but I have bad scarf days!’ I laughed! Apparently, sometimes she can’t tie her scarf properly and just can’t get it right. She told me that on special occasions Muslim women ‘bling up’ their scarves and she had trouble doing that herself. Also a story of how one friend got a tan that was in the distinct shape the scarf framed her face with and how they had all laughed. She’s a strong and funny woman.

Speaking of coffee, I was very pleased to see that the E8 coffee van is doing OK despite Black Sheep Coffee opening just opposite his pitch.

I popped into Mare Street Market for a coffee. It was less busy than on the weekend. A good coffee but the price of cake to go with it was over the top so I stuck with just a drink and taking some photos. The menu from the Open Kitchen looks really nice, though. Intrigued by the burrata and the sundaes.

On the weekend I went to see my aunt Kay. The journey was horrific. I left the house at 9:15am in the rain and wasn’t sure I could make it to Stratford for the 10am train I had spotted going to Westcliff. I made it just fine but the platform wasn’t one I was familiar with and the board didn’t know a train to that stop. There was a platform announcement about Southend and it went so fast, I didn’t hear it properly but I did know I had to get on the train to Shenfield and change there.

When I was safely on the train I looked online, as the announcement suggested, and saw nothing about this change so I called – twice. And got nowhere. The first person was completely clueless about the names of the stations and what to do and kept insisting on giving me train info for trains that had left Stratford two hours earlier – as if I could travel in the past. I decided that the best bet was to ask at the station. I was sent over to a rail replacement bus and off we went. And went and went It was a very long journey to Southend Victoria. I started to feel quite travel sick and almost despaired of ever arriving. But we did, almost three and a half hours after I’d left my house. Only then to be told that the taxi would be a 25 minute wait.

My aunt and I went to a Chinese buffet for lunch. It wasn’t bad. We chatted and later talked quite a bit about our mutual family. My aunt is also my cousin – my first cousin once removed, or my mother’s cousin. That confuses people and sometimes make them gasp since it sounds illicit. It’s not. Simply put, Kay (my mum’s cousin) married my dad’s older brother, Eddie. It was at that wedding that my mum and dad met properly and began a courtship.

I absolutely hate going up in the lift to her place but once up there it’s a great view over the Thames estuary, where it flows into the North Sea. It fascinates me that this sea narrows down to the great River Thames and when I’m standing on the banks in London, it’s part of that body of water that I’m seeing. I suppose I’ve never thought of the rivers and seas flowing into each other, like great veins of water around the earth.

My newest doll is a bit shy despite her bright colours.

17th March 201812th April 2018

Wildes Cheesemaking workshop

Thursday, 15 March, 2018

Today was the day I took my cheesemaking workshop. it seemed so far away when I got it as a gift from Krish over Christmas but suddenly it was time.

Lisa’s husband, Richard, had taken a cheesemaking workshop before and even showed me how he made goat’s cheese one day. So I had a bit of a clue. I knew I would be on my feet, working, in a cold environment so I was somewhat prepared.

Wildes Cheese is a small artisan cheesemaking business in Tottenham, North London – not so many miles from here. It was founded by two men, who I assumed were a couple – Philip (the kooky, extrovert one) and Keith (the quieter, gentle one). Keith was the original hobby cheesemaker and now they have a small business, operating out of a little space on an industrial estate in what’s basically a residential area.

That morning I travelled by train to White Hart Lane and began my journey to cheese.

**Leaving the station at White Hart Lane**

**This area of Tottenham is stiflingly (for me!) suburban and residential**

I’d say it was uneventful but first the station had lost power for the Oyster machine so I have to call Transport for London to claim a refund – they charge the maximum when you can’t ‘tap out’ on the Oyster machine. The second thing was taking a wrong turning (or not taking the turning) to go up to the dairy. Smooth journey, not so much.

The industrial estate was just a yard, not the sprawling expanse I expected from my Canadian experience. The space was small. An ante room where we had talks and food, Two larger rooms used for making cheese, and two small rooms that were cold rooms for cheese storage. It amazed me that they were producing such quantities of cheese from there but produce it they do!

Philip is hysterical, ribald, warmer than he likes to pretend (I’m dead inside, he said, more than once.) After tea, biscuits and an overview of the day, we went into the cheesemaking room and were put into pairs. My partner was a quiet man, whose name I didn’t know. We barely spoke a word but it worked out OK. In front of each work station were three basins, a collander, a J-cloth, a wooden spoon, a thermometer and a blue straining cloth. It looked practical and basic!

We separated out the basins and waited for our milk. The milk used here is delivered from the cow to the farmer to Wildes each morning. It’s pasteurised but unhomogenised. We got to taste the milk alongside some supermarket milk and you can bet there’s a difference!

We ended up with three buckets of milk each, placed into its own basin of warm water to raise the temperature. The first two buckets had ten litres of milk, the third only three or four.

**The buckets here have the culture added to the milk and are now resting**

Xavier, who's from Spain and apprenticing at Wildes — **Xavier, who’s from Spain and apprenticing at Wildes**

The apprentice, Xavier, was weighing and packing cheese over in the corner. The little jars you see contain the bacterial culture (‘the mother’) that determines the type of cheese that will be produced. The granulated cultures we used were for a hard white cheese, a blue cheese, and a French-type cheese. These granules were added into the milk and much stirring and checking milk temperature followed – it can’t go below 30C.

In the other room we looked at a soft cheese that was developing for us to use later. And we saw some of the harder cheeses sitting for us to check out. There was also a large heated vat where Philip told me they stored the milk that was delivered. No need for other storage.

Cheeses sitting - not sure at what stage — **Cheeses sitting – not sure at what stage**

**Here you can see the whey separating from the curds of the soft cheese mix**

Continue reading “Wildes Cheesemaking workshop”

25th February 201825th February 2018

Housebound and Votes for Women

Sunday, 25 February, 2018

Its been a mad few weeks. I was housebound with either a mild flu or a nasty chest virus. After a week, I went out to an event at the Hackney Museum — Making Her Mark: 100 years of women’s activism. Not feeling as well as I’d hoped, I didn’t take a lot of time in the exhibition and managed to sit through a presentation called Radical Portraiture, which examined various portraits of women involved in the early days of feminism – a movement which has strong roots in Hackney. All of this led to women finally getting the vote. Apparently, there were many years before that where a large percentage of men couldn’t vote either – it was considered a privilege only for the upper classes of Britain. I plan to go back and look more closely at the exhibit and visit some of the other events during Women’s History Month (March 2018) – it’s the centenary of the 1918 Representation of the People Act, which gave the vote to some women for the very first time.

**Some of the exhibit at Hackney Museum**

I had booked a table at the new Brook vegan restaurant for Lisa and me. We ordered four dishes, two of which I quite liked. I’m not a keen fan of veganism – in this case there was a little bit too much deep frying. I think the brunch menu might be better, with some fresher, more salady options!

**Our ‘tapas’ meal at Brook – my favourite was the squash crostini**

I really wasn’t well enough to be out yet but it was a welcome change from my housebound existence since this started. I no sooner began to feel more myself than Krish got sick too. What a crazy month for the two of us!

Being sick did mean I was home a lot and I made a new doll and a Valentine’s heart for Krish.

Two sides of a Valentine's heart — **Two sides of a Valentine’s heart**

My newest doll is a study in orange and purple - love that combination — **My newest doll is a study in orange and purple – love that combination**

I had two events this month that I wanted to be well enough to attend. The first was an assessment day for a new volunteer position with Bump Buddies I’m considering becoming a mentor and, when trained, Ill be paired with a mother-to-be, who is in need of extra support. I’m not sure how I will feel during the training. My knowledge is pretty strong but needs a bit of brushing up. Also I have zero clue about the experience of pregnancy or childbirth in the UK. Localising what I already know will be my biggest challenge, and that includes finding some humility, as well as learning to listen and adapt what I know to this new environment.

The assessment day went pretty well and I’ll be going every Wednesday and Thursday until 15 March for a four to five hour session each day. A bit daunting. I was probably thirty years older than the oldest person in the new mentor group so fitting in will be the other challenge.

My other event was Esmeralda finally making it back to the UK after being away for fourteen years. We spent part of Thursday and part of Saturday together, exploring a little. I’ll save that for the next blog post.