Lifestyle – Page 5 – slightly weird

11th October 2019

Repurposing and Regeneration – a local look

Thursday, 10 October, 2019

I don’t have to go very far to see how much things are changing in London. Right here in Hackney the amount of regeneration and repurposing is enormous. Last week, Liz (my sister-in-law) gave me a back-handed (or something) compliment. She said that she really enjoyed my blog, the Hackney one, and I made it look really nice, much better than it really was. I thanked her and thought, huh?

The fact is that Hackney isn’t all nice. It’s a long-deprived neighbourhood where crime and vandalism and neglect were the norm when I first arrived here. I’m sure it’s still there but…Hackney is a huge borough. This little bit of it has a lot of old, rundown parts, mixed in with the regenerated new parts, mixed in with the very urban parts, mixed in with the fields and parks. There’s ugly and there’s beautiful. It all adds in to the whole.

There’s the suprising little living wall made in front of the abandoned pizza shop. I mentioned it in my Everyday Life in Hackney blog post. It’s coming along so well. It’s a great example of repurposing, taking something that’s just sitting there and making good use of it.

The pizza shop wall before it was planted

There’s a little street by where I live. When I moved here it was a rundown street with a derelict factory on one side. Then the builders showed up. They didn’t pull the factory down but made it into a fancy apartment building. I’ve been looking at that road in the last week or so and today I went to look a bit closer. It’s not looking quite as sparkly as it did when it first got its new face, but it’s interesting to see nevertheless.

Looking down the road. The blue is the wall of a college. That wasn't here when I moved in. — Looking down the road. The blue is the wall of a college. That wasn’t here when I moved in.

On the other side, an old factory has become fancy flats

At the end of the road there’s a sort of road that runs perpendicular all along the railway bridge. It’s really just a back alley with railway arches but in the last several years there has been construction. More fancy flats on one side, facing the arches. When they started to build here, I was shocked. These back alleys along the railway arches are scary. They’re dark and they’re away from the main traffic. I told Krish that I didn’t think anyone would want to live there. Walking home at night would just be too frightening and why would people buy expensive flats on such a derelict road. But they have.

Fancy new gates in the old factory building

Ground floors of even the fanciest flats are marred by these safety screened windows

On one side the old railway arches, on the other fancy flats I thought no one would ever want to live in

Close up of the flats - crowded in the alley by parked cars — Close up of the flats – crowded in the alley by parked cars

I know I’ve talked about railway arches. London uses every space it has. Across the city where there are railway arches there are shops of all kinds built into the space the arch has provided. In many areas these are trendy restaurants and shops but in my neighbourhood, they are little manufactures, businesses and, in this case, body shop after body shop. (That’s auto repair shops for the Brits reading this.)

Opposite the pristine fancy flats are the decrepit arches body shops.

There was a bit of an argument going on between some customers and an owner so I held back a bit and hid my camera. Hackney still has its seedy side and I’m aware of it. One day, while taking a photo from across the road to these arches, a man started to yell at me, ‘Did you take my photo?’ I yelled back, ‘No.’ He persisted and, I have to say, I did start to feel unsafe. I stood my ground and told him he was welcome to come see the photo for himself. He backed off. I’ve not forgotten that day!

And I’ve not forgotten the lovely wall art that used to be along these arches. Painted over and lost forever.

Continue reading “Repurposing and Regeneration – a local look”

6th October 201911th October 2019

Dolls, dolls, dolls and going to the theatre

Sunday, 6 October, 2019

I haven’t been to a movie in quite some time. I haven’t been to the theatre in even longer. Last week I did go to a play – a comedy called Dead Funny. It was put on by a local theatre group called The Tower Theatre Company.

I had actually seen this comedy advertised in the west end not so long ago but didn’t get to see it. Friends at the pub meet for Nextdoor told me they were going so I bought two tickets and along I went.

Dead Funny has five characters. Two couples and a neighbour. All but one is a member of the Dead Funny Society, a group that meets to honour dead comedians. When the news of Benny Hill’s death reaches them they plan to meet to remember him. Of course everything unravels. I’d say that it wasn’t as ‘dead funny’ as expected but in the second half there was enough slapstick, scandal, and mimicry of the great British comics to make it funny enough.

The Tower Theatre Company are called the busiest troupe in inner London, performing about 20 plays a year. They have taken over a building that has housed a church, a synagogue and a women’s gym, so it’s an intimate space. I’ll definitely go to see more.

Actually the funniest, and most embarrassing, part of the evening was near the end when my phone, which I was sure I’d silenced when we first went in, started to ring. I stumbled out of the theatre space to turn it off, and apologised all over the place when the play ended.

On Sunday, I did something new. I had decided to buy a table space to show (or sell) my dolls at a school fair. I didn’t expect to sell any but I was interested to see what it was like, what people might ask, and to ask them questions about the dolls.

I spent some time from Thursday to Saturday making props for the sale. I made two park benches, a Victorian lamp post, and I made a row of terraced houses with attics and chimneys, which I planned to stand up behind the park bench scene. I decorated everything with painted vines and flowers – not wanting to squander too many hours – and it was cute enough.

I made some notices to go with all of this and put together a tool box with things like tape, clips, pencils, paper and the like. A friend had said she’d take half the table and sell her baby shoes but pulled out in the week before. So I was on my own. Luckily, Krish said he could come along to carry things and help me out.

The morning was very rainy but I’d had an email with ‘rain plans.’ This was the first I knew that it was going to be held outdoors. I hoped that it would rain but it didn’t. Instead it was just very windy. Very windy! It was really clear that I’d need a lot of tape to keep the house pinned down to the table. I managed it but it took about three minutes to figure out that it wasn’t going to work at all. Things were flying around.

The playground with a play bus at the back

So I resorted to laying the houses flat onto the table and anchoring the park benches and lamp post as best I could. There wasn’t a hope in hell that my dolls would stand up to much either so I lay them flat on top of the sari fabric we’d taken along as a cloth. Its a miracle the cloth stayed put, with the help of a bunch of clips to weigh it down. A couple of dolls try to launch their way off the table but were rescued.

My table. Not the tidy plan I'd started with — My table. Not the tidy plan I’d started with

The houses firmly taped down and the dolls propped again the benches to try to anchor them — The houses firmly taped down and the dolls propped against the benches to try to anchor them

The dolls and scenery laid flat hair flying all over the place — The dolls laid flat, hair flying all over the place. The sari cloth heaped so that it didn’t get swept away

No sales. A few curious people came by and I chatted with them. I asked them about the value of the dolls and, if they had children with them, I asked about names for the one they showed the most interest in. They were surprisingly uninventive but of course Elsa was popular, as was Rapunzel. Two little girls wanted one but were scared away by the price. I’d decided to try £20 to see how it would go over. I’m still not sure.

The crowd was digital daddies and yummy mummies, the children somewhat precocious. As Krish observed, this was very unlike the Hackney Central crowd.

I wonder if the little house was for infants or the headmaster's family — I wonder if the little house was for infants or the headmaster’s family

We stayed about two hours of the four (very happy that I lasted that long) and wandered off to the main road to wait for a bus. The homes here were smaller than our area but quite gentrified.

At Homerton Hospital our bus was held up for quite a long time – Krish says it was ten minutes but it felt much longer – but we made it home with our stash.

I’ll do it again if I see another cheap table top sale. I’m not sure where I’ll go with this. I’m not keen enough to sell the dolls but I am keen to give them homes and regain the space they take up in mine. At the next one I’ll ask any children that show interest how much they want to pay and let them go. That would feel good so I’ll go with that plan.

30th September 2019

At the Pearly Kings and Queens Festival

Sunday, 29 September, 2019

Sunday the 29th of September has some significance – three ways for me! First it’s Michaelmas day – on Michaelmas day I start to notice the purple Michaelmas daisies and always smile to myself. Then it’s my brother John’s birthday, born eight years after me. And finally the last Sunday of September is the Pearly Kings and Queens Festival, the Pearlies’ biggest event of the year!

The London tradition of Pearly Kings and Queens began in 1875, by Henry Croft. He was raised in an orphanage in Somers Town and, when he was 13 he had to leave to work. Starting as a road sweeper in the local market, he made many friends. He was especially interested in the Costermongers. He was very drawn to their generosity, and custom of sewing pearl buttons, a symbol of status, along the seams of their clothing. He also admired that they took care of each other in times of illness and need.

Henry decided that he wanted to help others too, including the children back at the orphanage. So he drew attention to himself by collecting lost buttons in the market and sewing them to draw attention to himself. So as Henry swept the market streets he started to collect all the lost buttons he found in the market, and when he had enough he learned to sew. Eventually his entire suit was covered and a tradition was born.

The suits are designed and sewn by the Pearlies themselves. They can weigh as much as 30kg, with smother suits having the most buttons and skeleton suits having far fewer.

The designs are symbolic: Horseshoe = Luck, Doves = Peace, Heart = Charity, Anchor = Hope, Cross = Faith,
Wheel = Circle of Life, Playing Cards = Life is a gamble, Flower Pots and Donkey Carts = Costermongers.

You can find a statue of Henry Croft in Trafalgar Square. He and all of his followers to the present day are committed to charitable works for London.

So now you know!

You may have guessed that the reason for this blog entry is that this year I was determined to go see the festival for myself. I lingered in the morning. It was rainy and windy and I felt lazy and just wanted to stay warm and cosy. I pretty much made a last-minute decision to get dressed and leave. I thought that if the church service at St Mary Le Bow would be at 3pm, I needed to arrive outside the church at 2:30. I left the house at 1:40 at a trot. My plans didn’t matter much since the first train arrived at 2:05pm. I wasn’t too optimistic at that point but it’s an eight-minute train ride and I thought if I braved the underground for one stop over to Bank Station, I might just get there on time. And I did!

It wasn’t without incident. It was a long wait for my train to leave Hackney, then when I got on the Central line a tourist family decided to storm the door. Knowing how people have been killed by getting trapped in the door freaked me out a little – there’s another train in just a couple of minutes! – but they were lucky, although they held up the train. At Bank Station, the very long escalator was at a standstill with a half dozen people still on it. Apparently, a young man had been wrestling his case onto the stairs when he fell backwards. He was lucky – people caught him and someone had the presence of mind to use the Emergency Stop. Still, we did have to wait while some people streamed up the stopped escalator and until the station assistant could start the emergency escalator to allow us to get out. Drama, and my day had hardly started!

A subdued Liverpool Street station — A subdued Liverpool Street Station

Down the escalator at Liverpool Street to the Central Line

People climbing up the stopped escalator at Bank

My exit - there are 9 — My exit – there are nine.

12th September 201918th September 2019

Volunteering and babies – Haggerston

Thursday, 12 September, 2019

A few years ago…OK, almost four decades ago, I had a baby. Nobody could have been more surprised than I was that this ever happened. It was way too grown up and weird but there I was, having a baby. More about that another time.

However, after I had a baby I reinvented myself. (Not for the first time either!) I learned and experienced so much that i decided I’d like to pass that knowledge along. Yet another story for another time but I trained to teach prenatal classes. I absolutely loved it. I met the most amazing women, some of whom are still my closest friends, I learned so much about so many things, and it opened my life up in many, many ways.

For one thing, I became a published writer. I’d always loved writing, of course, but to be paid to do it was a dream come true. And there is yet another story to be told another time…but it involves strong and interesting women, coming to terms with the work of giving birth, and becoming a different sort of groupie in the birthing world.

Fast forward many years, here I am in London and long past my teaching and even writing days. When I heard about a volunteering opportunity where I could mentor a pregnant woman, I jumped at it. Back to the classroom I went to learn how to mentor and navigate the waters of birth and new parenting in the UK. I am now a Bump Buddy.

I actually waited more than a year to be matched up but I do have a mentee. I’ll keep her anonymous but she’s an older mum with a young baby and we meet once a week to talk about babies and so much more.

Luckily, I don’t get broody. I made a good friend through Bump Buddies too, Shahanaz. That makes it worth it.

Although babies don’t make me broody, I miss my time with pregnant women, teaching them, helping them understand things, helping them pull out the strengths they already have inside them. So satisfying!

On Thursday, Bump Buddies had a coffee and cake meeting – yes, please! They held it at Waterhouse restaurant by their office. Waterhouse is a social enterprise delivering chef training and support for young people who have faced challenging life circumstances; including homelessness, mental health problems, knife crime and gang violence. They do a fantastic job in there. The food is great and the prices are so reasonable. They catered all our Bump Buddy lunches. I recommend them!

Bump Buddies is part of Shoreditch Trust in Haggerston, the next neighbourhood over from Dalston in the borough of Hackney. Haggerston has a lot of old rundown buildings and factories but it also has some really cottagey areas too, a lovely park, a lot of new buildings, and it has the canal – Regents Canal.

New buildings springing up in Haggerston

Industrial courtyards along Kingsland Road

Looking from Kingsland Road over Regents Canal

The Glory, a gay pub on Kingsland Road at Orsman Road

We had a great meeting with Jane, the coordinator, making us aware of lots of changes and new opportunities. And I had a warm brownie and an apricot, both delicious. Well done, Waterhouse!

Continue reading “Volunteering and babies – Haggerston”

1st September 20191st September 2019

Superclubbing! The Nyonya Supper Club

9 August, 2019

I haven’t been to a supper club for years!

I’ve been reading a blog called The Boy Who Ate the World for about ten years. I can’t even remember how I came across it. The blogger is Guan Chua. He was born in Kuala Lumpur and lives in London, in the Whitechapel area. Guan used to be a financial analyst but then trained as a Cordon Bleu chef. He loves to travel and write about his foodie treks but best of all he loves to cook the Malaysian-Nyonya cuisine of his childhood.

Guan was a contestant on Nigella Lawson’s ‘The Taste,’ where he fulfilled his dream of being mentored by Anthony Bourdain. He didn’t win but I enjoyed his time on the show a lot. I knew he ran a supper club – better still, it was in the Whitechapel area! – but Krish isn’t keen on Malaysian food and I wasn’t keen to go alone, and spend the money! Instead I would just read Guan’s Instagram and think about the food. Emails would come in announcing a new supper club but typically I’d be too late to get a place, they’re snapped up so quickly.

One day a couple of months ago an email came in as I was sitting doing something else so I emailed back immediately – any date in August, please! This time I made it. I was going!

The night of the supper club, just as I was about to leave, a ridiculously unexpected and fierce rain and wind storm sprung up. I had to wait for it to pass, then saw that the next bus would be quite a while. I jumped on the next bus that took me anywhere close and we trundled along oh so slowly in the rainy, slow moving traffic. I found a bus stop for another bus to complete my journey and had quite a long wait again. By the time I reached Aldgate East station, I had only a few seconds to get there.

But I got lost! Dinner was feeling far far away. A few calls to Guan and I finally made it to his apartment block and into his small flat in the new complex I’d walked by so many times. I was at least 20 mins late but Guan greeted me with a lovely gin and tonic. I felt quite ready for it. I’d not had time to buy any drink for the table, as planned.

There were ten of us sitting down in the dining space in the open plan living room/kitchen. I was probably 30 years older than the oldest of them. These twenty and thirty somethings were chatting back and forth about their travels around Asia, and the food they’d found there. I felt quite overwhelmed with it. How had they travelled so much? What was going on? Somehow the world was leaving me behind, so I listened politely and waited for food. Definitely worth the wait!

Sambal Crab Bites - but I'm allergic to crab so didn't get the taste them — Sambal Crab Bites – but I’m allergic to crab so didn’t get to taste them

Guan had kindly made me my own crabless Sambal bites - Yum! — Guan had kindly made me my own crabless Sambal bites – Yum! (Although I lost my two temporary fillings crunching them up!)

This noodle dish was my favourite! — This cold noodle dish was my favourite! Kerabu Glass Noodles with crayfish and Nyonya Herbs. So fresh and mouthwatering. I want this recipe!

Drunken prawns. I wimped out and didn’t eat the heads

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