Sunday 31 January 2010

Whale of a time.

This afternoon I went to Biscuit in Greenwich with some girls from the W.I. We had 'I am' stickers and a special Party room all to ourselves.


I bought a hot chocolate (and after sampling Taylor's lemon cake decided that next time, there will be cake) and spent a long time debating what I was going to paint. Eventually I decided I have too many mugs already, settled on a ceramic ice-cream slash trinket pot and got down to some serious painting.


Among us we created several mugs, a couple of cat egg-cups and a few cups and saucers. Taylor designed an amazing whale-themed beer mug (inspired by the Book of Whale Insults :)) and a lot of fun was had by all.


All in all a lovely little Sunday afternoon. I can't wait to see the end result next week. And I absolutely intend to take all my friends pottery painting when they visit me in London (you hear that Charlotte?).

Saturday 30 January 2010

Where do all the ducks go?



Spoke to my mum on skype just now and she told me that J.D. Salinger died this week. It made me feel a little bit sad phoney inside. So much so in fact, that I might just go and put my deerstalker on and retire to bed with 'For Esm̩ Рwith Love and Squalor'. (If I don't make it to West India to see the Road in the meantime that is).

Youth in Revolt.

I really should keep track of things on here. More exciting bullet points for you :)

1. On Tuesday after my Shakespeare class I took a trip to Greenwich with Gabby and Jenny. We went to the Tai Won Mein by the Cutty Sark where the food portion to price ratio was overwhelmingly in our favour. As is my way however, I struggled to make anything but a small indentation in my chicken chow mein, so we boxed me up a doggy bag before we went on our way. We paid a quick trip to Mr Humbug where the service was unusually mediocre, but the 'golf balls' were not and then I set off to West India on the DLR for another Cineworld adventure. This time around I watched It's Complicated and Up in the Air; both funny, both left me feeling a bit unsatisfied. Love John Krasinski though. And I'm looking forward to the new Michael Cera film.



2. On Wednesday my dad was in London again and so we paid a visit to the Victoria and Albert museum. We spent a large amount of the time wandering around the sprawling galleries looking for paintings to add to my dad's art database. Indeed, my family's capacity for lists is truly overwhelming :) I noseyed around Covent Gardens while my dad was at a meeting, which involved a pret a manger hunt, Hope and Greenwood shrimps (I'm a good boy), Cath Kidston bookmark thievery and tea and biscuits stickers from the gigantic Paperchase on Tottenham Court Road. I met up with my dad before he left for our usual Nandos ritual and we discussed summer holidays and the like. Where can you see lions?

3. On Thursday Alice and I went to CyberCandy in search of sweety goodness. I was on the look-out for Big Red gum, but my quest was somewhat redundant. Instead I brought back the 90's with Nerds and Dairy Milk with popping candy. Afterwards, we met up with Jen and Gabby et al and took the bus up to the Wellcome Collection on Euston Road. We went to an exhibition called 'Identity: Eight rooms, nine lives', which I found absolutely fascinating. Delving into other people's lives? Right up my street :) I will definitely have to pay another, uninhibited visit at some point, if only to explore the room full of diary extracts in more detail. (Because we'd never been before) Alice, Jenny and I took a look upstairs at the 'Medicine Man/Medicine Now' collection while the others went to the shop. We got a little distracted along the way, as we discovered an interactive section with the option to illustrate a postcard and display it on the giant postcard wall. Gabby, Lydia and Ella joined us and together we spent a good half an hour colouring away with awesome crayola pens. Now by this point I was getting hungry (having eaten little bar a bowl of Frosties and a handful of cherry Nerds since breakfast) so we went for dinner at the Court. We had some trouble locating a table and a suitable amount of chairs, the food took a while to arrive and before I knew it it was kicking out o'clock and my housemates were a little bit drunk and emotional. The 188 ensued. 3am Gangs of New York tried to ensue, but did not succeed.

Tuesday 26 January 2010

Two fat ladies.

Wobble, wobble.
Mrs Flamingo's Bingo Wing Buffet in the Stretch tonight. We had our hearts set on the blender for shakeaway and smoothie making, but sadly we were pipped at the post. Gabby won some jelly babies however. Next time, we're bringing dabbers. Oh and in other fascinating news, dymo fun = extreme label making and Harry Potter geekery = ♥

Sunday 24 January 2010

Manchester, England, England.

On Saturday morning I set off for Manchester, in one large Jess-shaped rush as ever. I stopped at McDonalds along the way and ordered a sausage and egg bagel. Rookie mistake number one: apparently they take twice as long to make as a sausage and egg McMuffin, and so I found myself marching up the road, attempting to wolf down my breakfast as I went. I made it onto the tube and thus the clock-watching began; ten past. I said goodbye to Harry at London Bridge (bye bye Harry); quarter past. I cursed the tube engineer whose decision it was to locate Westminster station so far away from Green Park station despite their actual geographical proximity; twenty past. I changed onto the Victoria line and cursed the people with oversized suitcases and pushchairs; twenty-five past. I arrived at Victoria and tried to locate the coach station, cursing any commuter who dared to intercept my graceless running; twenty-seven minutes past. I arrived at the coach station, one big puff of breath and rucksack and looked up at the board of times in order to locate my bus; thirty-one minutes past and my coach had gone. So, I resigned myself to buying another ticket and sat down to wait with my copy of Middlemarch. Megabus/Manchester.

The coach journey itself was pretty standard: several hours out of London, another few hours on the M6, listening to other people's loud phone conversations, staring out the window and failing to read more than a few chapters of my book. We arrived in Manchester at five o'clock. I set off for the Arndale Centre - and was almost hit by a tram in the process - and was in the middle of looking for a card when I realised my book was missing: rookie mistake number two. I went back to the coach station - and was almost hit by a tram in the process - and there it was, sitting on the seat upon which I'd left it. Thank goodness nobody wants to read £2 George Eliot novels. Problem averted I went back to the shops and upon discovering that my friends would not be arriving for another three hours or so I set about the task of spending all my money: number three. I bought a skirt, a bracelet, a Hope and Greenwood book, Lucky Charms for breakfast, four 10p postcards from Paperchase and a birthday card for Jonny. I ate pizza and chips alone in the food-court, which brought back memories of university Open Days and hobbling round Manchester with an aching knee (thank you Snowdon). Eventually the shops shut and so I set off for Piccadilly Station to wait for the first arrivals. I set up quite a pleasant den for myself with hot chocolate and my purchases spread out around me and the Times crossword.

Catrin was the first to arrive and the others followed soon after. We went in search of our Travel Lodge, stopping at a Tesco Express for provisions along the way. Hannah and I bought mini wine on the merit of the bottles alone and had great fun with them once we got to our rooms. We changed and eventually set off in the direction of the town centre, Catrin's ankles bending on her heels the entire way. A drunken foreign man at Primark corner told me I was 'ugly girl'. I decided I hate Manchester. Or drunkards.

Regardless of this fact however, the night continued. We were cold and confused and lost, so we went to the Printworks. There we had too much choice, so we settled for 'Pure', the one venue to give us buy one get one free entry vouchers :) Inside we struggled to find the cloakroom, fought for space at the bar, did a little dancing, aching feet, aching feet, found Emma and Emily, did a little more dancing, aching feet some more and Jonny was mistaken for Prince William. We left a little early when foot pain got the better of us and stood outside attempting to formulate a what-next? plan. While we were deciding we played the 'pretend you've met a celebrity' game and Amber and Ashley convinced one boy that he was little Chris. In the end we took a taxi back to the hotel and after changing into warmer clothes and comfortable shoes we went on a food-hunt. At the nearby kebab shop I bought garlic bread and pizza, which we ate on the travel lodge floor with pyjamas and music channels. In the morning we checked out and went to Tesco to stock up on breakfast food. I bought copious amounts of fruit and capri suns, which I regretted later on the coach when I was longing for pasta and crisps. Then we went our seperate ways, I walked with Catrin to Victoria station and still had time to spend a little more money (moleskine notebook, bookplates) before I caught the coach back to London.

Friday 22 January 2010

Ask Frank.

On Sunday at the Hobgoblin Alice said to me, "would you like to go to a £5 concert on Thursday night?" I said yes and asked who it was, to which she replied, "Frank Turner." "Eeeeeee," I squealed, all the while thinking, "Charlotte likes him, I'm sure I'll like him too." So, I asked Charlotte to send me some of her favourite songs, spent the week listening to them constantly (suffice to say I liked his music) and come Thursday we set off for Kingston via Waterloo. We went to Wetherspoons along the way and I bought some chips (and chips alone, mind you) for which I was asked to show some form of ID. At the Hippodrome Joe was able to blag his way in with the excuse 'I'm from the North', yet I couldn't buy a spot of light supper without revealing my driving license, the shame. Frank Turner appeared at tenish after a couple of apple VKs and a short warm-up act, so I squeezed my way onto the sideline in order to watch. He played some great songs and twanged his guitar in a most lovely fashion and whether or not I liked him before, I most certainly do now. In particular the crowd enjoyed a rousing rendition of, 'the singer out of Slipknot went to Rome to see the Pope', classic :) Afterwards, the others made sure they got extra drunk (while I stuck to my VKs and considered the early morning at college ahead) and Alice took particular care to fall over on a number of occassions, at one point bowling over a crowd of young groupies in an attempt to get closer to Frank. Finally, we left the Hippodrome and set off by night bus back to our own little side of London, where we finished up a brilliant night with cheese toasties, hot water bottles and eggy bread ♥

Thursday 21 January 2010

Shizz.

Fun things are happening in the land of Jess. As told by bullet points :)

1. On Thursday last my dad was in town thanks to an unscheduled work-related jaunt and so we spent the morning in the National Portrait Gallery looking at everybody and everything, bar the Beatles to Bowie exhibition (which I'd like to see before it finishes on the twenty-fourth). I loved it because Holbein through Hockney, it was like one big history-art-and-literature lesson rolled into one. In the gift shop I had to resist buying several things I didn't need. Hum, perhaps I need to pop back with my Christmas money at some point. My dad skedaddled off to his meeting, I did some unnecessary shopping and later we ended up in Nandos at Euston station for chicken and chit-chat.

2. On Friday, I set off to New Cross in order to watch Taylor in the Shakespeare Society production of Hal V and I missed the bus, so I thought to myself, 'never mind, I'll go tomorrow'. On Saturday I missed the bus again and so, there being no tomorrow this time around, I found myself running all the way down Sanford Street with only a couple of minutes to go until curtains up. My oh my am I unhealthy. The play was pretty amazing and Taylor was in it a lot more than I expected, which was an added bonus. I am a little bit inspired to sign up to this acting malarkey at some point in the future. Afterwards I went home (little dog on the bus with painted toe nails, say wha?), met and vetted Zack and watched far too much Gavin and Stacey before bed.

3. We went to the Hobgoblin on Sunday evening to meet up with Lydia and Oli and as if by magic a pub quiz was produced. We came second = we truly are rising up in the quizzing world. Also, we spent some time devising a full and hearty list of shenanigans for the Scawen Road crew to complete over the next few months.

4. I had a well needed haircut followed by a W.I. meeting on Monday. We have so many exciting activities to look forward to this term, starting with:


I'm looking forward to the jiving and the knitting and the Lomography field day in particular (yes! practise before I buy :)). Afterwards we went to the Hob for drinks and a bit of a catch-up. I'm glad it's all go at the Goldsmiths W.I. again.

5. Small and useless fact: I saw a lot of foxes this week. One on Saturday, skulking in the bushes, two on Tuesday on the way up to Wetherspoons. I stopped the Tuesday night foxes mid-fight, just by staring at them (or as later Alice corrected me, I probably interrupted them in the middle of foxy-sex-making, oops). ALSO, Paris is booked :) tres excited.

6. My auntie came a-visiting this week. We ate pizza and gelato on the Wednesday night and talked long and hard about books and art and films, then we went back to SE8 to play word-related boardgames until bedtime (cozy or civilised or old? Who cares, I had a lovely time). In the morning we went to the Royal Academy to see the GSK contemporary exhibition, Earth: Art of a changing world, which took a good hard look at climate change, etc. in several different medias. In particular I enjoyed the Antony Gormley piece, the story of Sophie Calle and 'Doomed', the disaster movie montage by Tracey Moffatt. One of the exhibits - a small, gold and inconspicuous looking thing - is primed to explode one hundred years after its creation. A generic observation I know, but it really makes you think. Go see for yourself :)

Still to come this (lovely, busy bee) week:
Frank Turner concert, Harry to visit and Manchester ♥.

Sunday 17 January 2010

Poetry vs. Prose.

At the end of the autumn term we had to choose whether we would continue our creative writing course with the poetry module or the prose module, over the coming months. With two minutes to decide I went with my life-long gut reaction, which means no more last-minute poetry come assessment time (uh-oh?). Poems are quick and fun, but I don't really know how to write them. I think I made the right decision, what do you think?

First poetry exercise of the winter term, first prose extract of the prose module:

"I come from North and South,
Books and Rocks,
Farmers and Teachers
And cheese-and-chalk cliffs.
I come from Philip Larkin’s library,
From a seaside village,
A tourist town
Without any tourists.
Bucket and spade in hand,
A seagull on every shoulder.
The English stream,
The American Dream,
7:42 train to London Euston, 2 hours 56.
I come from Sunday School, ballet lessons,
Enid Blyton at bedtime
And pocket money sweets on a Friday.
I come from home-knit, woollen cardigans,
Smocking dresses,
A balled up handkerchief,
A Forever Friends lunchbox.
I am long car journeys across continents
With stiff joints and Meatloaf.
Unspoken ground rules,
Ball on stumps, loud howzat!
Two worn exercise books, fading ink,
The last word at home time,
A bag of shiny twenties, a first class stamp.
I am the Anglo-family tree
(a long line of churchmen on the Dover side)
With a red dragon on my cheek
And a sut da chi?"

or

"Drama school, class of '93. We met in the autumn, Newman theatre, Shakespeare try-outs. He bounced Laertes off my Hamlet and we jousted with wooden swords and nervous wit. We went out afterwards, bought beers and traded tales of the bard and the board and of yesteryear. Our knowledge of Star Wars quotations went unrivaled, he'd vacationed in my hometown, I admired his K-reg Polo and we talked horse power and gear boxes until last call. We left the pub like brothers, arm in arm, thick as thieves. Thieves. He stole my Ophelia, opening night, amid the stage props and the bustle. Four sweaty arms groping in the wardrobe, noise drowned out by the static of the gathered crowds. Later I saw him, Act i, Scene iii, lipstick smears and wandering hands when the curtain dropped. Incest of the first degree. So now I stand, with rock and glass cuts and petrol spilt, drunk on whiskey and post-show euphoria. I am Hamlet, King of Denmark. Laertes, bastard, K-reg, dies."

Wednesday 13 January 2010

Can we go to Paris?

You can tell I have an essay to write when my holiday plans are in full swing and not a lot else :) Paris at Easter with Hannah and Vicki, oui/oui? Right now my 'things to do in Paris' list is bigger than my essay plan. A little touristy perhaps, but that's neither here nor there:

Eurostar
I ♥ Paris tshirt plan
Eiffel Tower
Laduree macarons
Louvre
Arc de Triomphe
Amelie cafe
Moulin Rouge
Hot chocolate and pain au chocolat
Crepes
Notre Dame
Photobooths (Palais de Tokyo)
Disneyland Paris
Galeries Lafayette = ♥

Tuesday 12 January 2010

Disposable.

It was dark and cold outside but come eight o'clock I put my coat on happily enough and left the house for Tesco. Finally, my 'holiday' disposable camera was finished and the processed photos (ranging from June-December) were ready for collection :) I couldn't remember when or where I'd taken the photos so I was looking forward to seeing the end result. It had been several years since I last had film developed and I'd all but forgotten the pot-luck excitement of it all. When I got to the counter I decided I was going to 'wait until I got home' before opening up the paper wallet and taking a peek, but in reality I barely made it as far as the pasta sauce aisle before flicking merrily through this diverse selection; enjoy :)

Monday 11 January 2010

SE8.



London, I'm back.
As per usual I was the last one to leave home (bar perhaps Paris, who was well and truly snowed in) and dragging my feet about it, all the way. I did two times goodbyes at Vicki's house before I left and watched an awful lot of Gilmore Girls with my mum and dad, then went to bed on Saturday night wishing for a last-minute snow storm that did not arrive. As much as I put off my packing and refreshed the delay updates on national rail, the skys were blue, the trains were running, so back to the city I went. Today, I almost used the old 'couldn't get back because of snow' excuse, but instead I went to all my classes like a good girl. On the one hand, pre-Raphaelites. On the other, start as you mean to go on, eh? And on that note, I'm off to cook some food and read some Shakespeare and write some letters to all the lovely welsh people I miss already.

Wednesday 6 January 2010

Oh S-no-w!

Yesterday, I went to Chester with my parents. I bought an embroidery thread kit and a hairband and spent several unsuccessful hours searching for a cheap pair of brown brogues. Everything was just fine. Then it came to the return journey and all of a sudden it was a snow fest. Usual duration, Chester to Colwyn Bay: 45 minutes, max. ETA yesterday: 5 hours later. My dad drove an average of 10mph the whole way home, yet still we slipped and we slid all over the place. At one point I had a nap under a pile of coats while we waited for the road to clear. And nor was this our first snow-based calamity of the holiday. On the way back from Durham last week we were stuck on the snowbound A66 for a good hour or so, before we were able to brave the ice and the wind of the moors. We almost had an over night adventure in Penrith. Snow is perfect when there's a warm pair of mittens to wear and a snowman to build and a crackling fire to return home to, but when you're driving home on a dark and stormy night and people are abandoning their cars left, right and centre it's not so fun. More Day After Tomorrow. Hopefully a little igloo building will make things better today though :)

Sunday 3 January 2010

Salmon, like the fish.








My new year tidy up just descended into weeding out my wardrobe, putting everything else into a big pile and browsing through trailers on youtube. I'm looking forward to these films in 2010.

Friday 1 January 2010

Allons-y.

WORST. RESCUE. EVER.





Dammit, I cried.
Goodbye David Tennant, goodbye Ten. (I will miss your suits and your glasses and your Converse and your lovably manic running). Oh, I don't want you to go, either.
Best Doctor always ♥

Oh-ten?

After seeing in the new year and the new decade with party poppers, babycham, a lyric-less rendition of Auld Lang Syne, cleaning-up, throwing-up, sorting out, bed feuds, twiglets, duct tape, pork sandwiches, cleaning-up, sleeping bags, the best bacon sandwiches, Apollo 13, quiz questions, iplayer and a nice bubble bath, I thought it might be time to conjour up a resolution or two.

- Work hard, read all of my set texts on time
- Buy a moleskin notebook and write in it, write stories and poems
- Keep a diary
- Write letters, post them
- Buy fruit and vegetables, eat them :)
- Start craft projects and complete them
- Save money
- Travel more
- Stop procrastinating


Might have pinched a couple from last year's resolution list, but the sentiment still stands. Final David Tennant Doctor Who in an hour. I will not cry, I will not cry, I will not cry.