slightly weird

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.

10th February 201810th February 2018

Food and Dolls

I love going to La Chapelle. It’s a restaurant that is housed in what was the assembly hall of my mother’s old school, Central Foundation School for Girls. When I first came to London, they were in the middle of demolition and I was sad that it was disappearing. So I was pleased that a piece of the school was still standing. It was slowly transformed into a fantastic restaurant space, La Chapelle, by Galvin.

I’ve had almost perfect meals here, with a few exceptions. I always go for the discounted meals, a few pounds off or a free cocktail thrown in. It’s not the cheapest place to eat but it’s far from the most expensive.

My friend, Caroline, and I went to La Chapelle at the end of January. I chose the roast beef and she chose pheasant. In a way I felt I copped out but I knew they do a great job on a roast and I don’t make it at home.

A delicious meal and for once I couldn’t finish the whole three courses and had to go without my usual coffee, which is served with a beautifully presented bowl of treats – truffles and macarons. Another time!

**My soup and dessert -couldn’t finish!**

La Chapelle - a view from outside — **La Chapelle – a view from outside**

Anyway, look out for those deals and let me know how you like La Chapelle! Continue reading “Food and Dolls”

1st February 20184th February 2018

On the first, a visit to Sir John Soane’s Museum and then a walk

Thursday, 1st February, 2018

Once before I went to Sir John Soane’s museum when it was supposed to be a late closing but I got the date wrong that time. This time I double checked my facts and got the bus to Holborn Station to make my way to Lincoln’s Inn Fields. I was a bit puzzled on why the areas devoted mainly to the legal professions were called Inn (Gray’s Inn and Lincoln’s Inn being the ones I know). It turns out that this refers to the ‘Inns of court.’ These are associations that lawyers must belong to and in these fields there are facilities and offices they can use. That’s sort of how it is. We don’t know which is the oldest since apparently there’s a tradition to not tell. However, it seems to date back to the 1300 or 1400s with the squares and buildings themselves in the 1500s. Someone is going to correct me!

I knew nothing about Sir John Soane or his house/museum before visiting but I had heard it was worth a visit and I had a free day.

Lincoln’s Inn Fields itself covers 11 acres within a lovely large square set off by itself not far from the Royal Courts of Justice. The green space is very large and all around the perimeter sit beautiful houses. It’s far more grand than Gray’s Inn Fields.

Today I was sloppy with photos since I wasn’t alone. I shot wildly and quickly.

Sir John Soane’s museum is built inside the walls of his home. Sir John was a famous architect – he designed the original Bank of England, and Dulwich Picture Gallery. He bought three houses in Lincoln’s Inn Fields, demolished and rebuilt them almost two hundred years ago. He requested the houses be left as they were and become a museum.

Sadly, no cameras or phones are allowed. At the door they ask you to turn off your phone and then present you with a large clear plastic bag to put your bag into. A bit annoying to have to carry this around in your hand (I carry my bag on my shoulder so I can avoid that) but them’s the rules.

And it is quite a museum, being absolutely crammed with artifacts since SJS was a great collector – statues, curios, and even a tomb – that of Pharoah Seti II. Oh and small galleries with paintings by such as Hogarth, Turner and Canaletto. In various small ante rooms and courtyards and libraries, all of these things sit from floor to ceiling. It’s overwhelming, slightly oppressive, and very fascinating.

In one room they had an exhibition of Egyptology – items collected by Soanes and a character called Bolzoni. A video showed how they had created a digital image of the Seti sarcophagus and that the replica they would make from this would go back to where it came from. I was sad to hear the original place would get the replica and not the real sarcophagus. Plunder…

They do candlelight tours on some evenings. It would be a creepy tour to take but there it is. Besides the rooms of collections, there are the regular rooms that they lived in. These too seemed dark and heavy to me. Not a single spot to relax in. I wonder how his family life was.

I can’t share photos but this is a crazily dizzying look at the museum, if you want a taste of it. Continue reading “On the first, a visit to Sir John Soane’s Museum and then a walk”

30th January 20183rd February 2018

A street art walk around Commercial Street and Great Eastern Street

Wednesday, 30 January, 2018

The end of January! Did I mention how grey and dark it’s been? Yes, I have.

Today in my free time I wanted to go find the new street art pieces by Alice, one of my favourites. In view of my walking resolution, I had the route figured out to get to them and then make my way home, taking the bus after the thirty minutes were up.

Again, my map reading skills (or lack!) let me down. I wandered around on the wrong side of Commercial Street for a while, wondering where Quaker Street was.

Hoists — **My journey to getting lost did take me past these houses with the old hoists at the back**

Elder Street 1 — **Going completely the wrong way, I was on Elder Street, home to the great Huguenot weavers houses from the early eighteenth century**

Elder Street door — **Lovely door on Elder Street**

**Back on track on Commercial Street. One day I’ll go into Gardners to see if it really does just sell paper and polyethlene bags**

I always feel pretty foolish when I get lost. In this case, I know I have walked along Quaker Street many times. I can even picture it but Google had to guide me to it by voice. Hanging my head in shame.

Then when I found it, I discovered a David Bowie piece and a lot of reconstruction but no Alice!

New construction — **Through what I call the canyons of London, more building. This one with the characteristic pile-of-boxes look I’m seeing so much of in East London**

The whole neighbourhood is painted and pasted and I could never photograph it all, although I do keep trying. It wouldn’t matter since most of the time there’ll be something painted or pasted over what I’m carefully recording – it’s a full time job.

Continue reading “A street art walk around Commercial Street and Great Eastern Street”

29th January 20183rd February 2018

Walking resolution

Monday, 29 January, 2018

(Guess what? No photos!)

I love walking, especially if I can build in some new sights or I have a goal at the end. As an agoraphobic person, there were years I couldn’t get very far. I’m still far better if I take along my camera or phone for taking photos, or if I plug into the radio – I prefer talk radio over music, though. Best of all is radio drama! I wish I liked audiobooks more – I think it takes a while to get used to listening to a book rather than reading it but I may try that again soon.

Back in 1990 or so, I joined a class where we learned to eat less and move more – back then it was a bit novel to say that! We learned about food and we spent an hour exercising – it was mostly Latin dancing (our leader was a champion Latin dancer) and I loved it. I never missed a class. On our days off, we walked by ourselves. Half an hour of target heartrate walking, minimum. It was fantastic. Sometimes I’d get so energetic, I felt like running instead.

So a while later I took a running clinic at the Running Room in Toronto. I was very keen and went every week without fail. I wasn’t the fattest person in the class but I was certainly the oldest by many years. I didn’t give up. And then I had to.

They had a great system of one minute walk, one minute run, rinse and repeat, adding a minute or more run to each segment as we gained strength and experience. But it hurt. Every time. Nothing stopped the pain, not stretching, not time, nothing. As well, I’d overheat. I dressed as lightly as possible and even invested in one of those cooling gel headbands. These helped but didn’t elminate how hot I’d get – hot enough that occasionally I’d retch.

So I went to see a sports medicine therapist. She told me I had shin splints, acute tendonitis. Her advice? Don’t run. I was devastated. From now on walk, she said.

So I switched to the Walking Clinic. We eased up to 5k walks and then to 10. Then the pain and the heat smothered me again. Back to the sports medicine clinic. And again I was told not to walk either and to work up to a maximum of one kilometer.

Still, I walked. Five, ten, more kilometers. I rarely took a bus. If I knew where it was, I just walked there. And then I got arthritis in my knees. It started with feeling uncomfortable climbing up or down the stairs at Robin’s apartment. I didn’t think much of it until the doctor confirmed that I had arthritis and that it would continue to worsen.

On top of the arthritis, on a particularly tough walk one day I had even worse pain than usual. This continued for a few weeks until I was out with a friend and suddenly couldn’t step down from the coffee shop stall I was sitting on. An ambulance finally arrived to take me to the hospital A&E, where they told me I had torn my meniscus and gave me crutches.

I’m going to skip the details, although those are also clear in my mind.

My knee healed, I walked with a cane for ages. I had no confidence but one day I tossed it aside when another therapist suggested I try weaning myself of it. Now I can walk about 5k in all, as long as I have a nice break in there somewhere, sometimes two or three breaks 🙂

So starting with late last week I’m walking a minimum half an hour a day again. It’s a bit more casual than it was back in my Latin dance days and I stop to take a photo or ten along the way but it’s a good resolution! And it makes for a good photo walk blog entry too.