ALF @ London Bloggers

 

I joined the London Bloggers group last summer, to help myself out of the Brexit Blues and to connect with other possibly like-minded people, although my experience of life is that like minded people probably don't exist.

After some encounters online with other London Bloggers I was really looking forward to an evening out and to meeting a few of them in real life. April 25th 2017 was a cool spring evening, there was even sleet at one point, but by the time we reached the newly improved Tottenham Court Road Tube Station the weather was pleasant and sparkling.

After a pizza in posh pizza place, Vico, Amy and I made our way to the Seven Dials, Covent Garden, where the mysterious pub, the Escapologist, awaited us. We headed down the stairs to the underground bar, past the surreal mock Victorian artwork. On enquiry about the London Bloggers group we were directed to a hidden door behind a large cryptic painting, very Harry Potter.

Once inside the starry ceilinged, plush, lower basement area we proceeded to have a really good evening, meeting, among others, Abbi, organiser of the event and ex-pat, Filipino Food blogger and Elle, a fitness blogger who runs the London Bloggers group. 

 

We also met the lovely people behind Fourfits, Passionate Zoe, Page to Stage Reviews and Edward's noneedforpostcards blog. Mollie brought fitness promotional goodies with her and I had made 'Promote the Vote' cards, which all went down very well.

  

 
The Escapologist was a lovely venue for this special event and Amy and I really enjoyed the atmosphere and company, not to mention the prosecco, the passion fruit cocktails and the death by chocolate pizza.

At many social events these days it is rude to be on your smart phone engaging in social media, but the group mostly knows each other because of social media, so it all felt quite natural. I learnt something about Instagram, Twitter and hashtags which hopefully will be really useful in the future.

The evening ended with a promise of future events, karaoke or a picnic perhaps, we shall see.

Pictures for an exhibition

Amy was a talented artist as a small child and continues to be an artistic teenager. These are a few of the artworks she has created in recent years. You can find more of her pieces on her Amythestjasmine Pinterest channel.

A craft fair and a concert

Sunday 2nd April 2017 was an unusually busy day. It began at 2 am with seeing my dauther off for a school trip to Pompeii.
 

After a brief sleep, mum and I headed out of the house for the Easter 'Load of Hay Market' Craft Fair in South Ruislip. This was the tenth outing for my craft stall so I wanted it to be special. The day did not disappoint.

        

The Star Heart Cafe was in good company; the other craft stalls included paintings, jewellery, ethical leather goods, face painting, cloth bags, woodwork and African fashion. The South Ruislip community centre is a special place, old fashioned and light with a stage, green curtains, painted wood and a lot of pot plants set in a pleasant park. It was also a really lovely spring day.

The craft fair was quite popular, with people coming and going all day, a few of the customers were my friends and former colleagues and I had good conversations with all of them. My stall had some considerable success. I sold quite a few cards and also items from each of my other product lines. I sold a purple brooch card to a very appreciative young woman and a gadget pouch for a hearing device. I sold a couple of lavender scenters and notecards. I sold a book of my 'Still Life' poetry to a lovely lady called Carmel who wanted me to sign it for her. I sold a Star Heart Doll with blond hair and a lilac dress for a little girl called Sophie Amber. I'm really pleased I took part in this event, it was a very positive experience.

There were only two hours between the craft fair and the concert, barely enough time for a cup of tea.

The music evening at St Mary's was varied and enjoyable. I was last on, after various singers, violinists, a recorder player, an organist, three poets and other piano players preparing for exams. I have no exam to prepare for so I just play what I want, though I am contemplating Jazz Piano Grade 5. This evening I played two pieces by Einaudi, Ombre and I Giorni, they went down very well, mum said they were very smooth and relaxing.

          

After the concert we retreated to the pub across the road for a jacket potato and a half pint of guinness each and to reflect on a very rewarding day of activities.

Doll Accessories

I make my Star Heart Dolls using a range of different needlework techniques including sewing, embroidery, knitting, crochet, ribbon and feltwork. A work colleague showed me how to crochet in 2011 and since then I have been producing small crochet flowers which I use to put on my doll's hair and knitted shawls. I learnt how to knit when I was seven and went back to it as an adult after watching 'Kirstie's Homemade Home'. I knit my dolls' hair and knickers and knit triangles which I use as their shawls. After watching 'Kirstie's Handmade Christmas' I realised what a lovely material felt was and now use it to make the dolls their shoes. I did use it to try to make bags for my dolls, but decided that knitted bags were more successful.

Wisdom and friends

I was in the mood to make another doll, so I made a boy doll with the material I bought from Shepherd's Bush. I have called him Wisdom. I also gave three of my other dolls a makeover. The two girls are called Mercy and Passion and the two boys are Wisdom and Candour. I've put more pictures of them on Instagram which, despite my initial reservations, I am getting on much better with.

 

Knitted gift bags

I love knitting, especially small projects like these knitted gift bags, which contain little Colouring Calm books. I am looking to expand my range of woolly bags, I knitted these purses in 2015 at Christmas.

London Interrupted Part One

Living, working and studying in London can feel rather relentless. On my way to work the bus can hardly get down some roads because of all the building work going on. So I decided to call my new series of London adventures, London Interrupted, when I catch my breath and savour contemplative moments in London, some secret and others more well known.

Our day started in King's Cross Station, at Platform 9 3/4. We first visited this small Harry Potter attraction in 2012 when it was a lot less busy. It has become quite touristy now and there was a large queue of people waiting to have their picture taken in front of the platform sign with the disappearing trolley below it, the trolley is a lot more impressive than when my daughter was photographed holding onto it. There is now also a Harry Potter gift shop next door which was also very busy. I love Harry Potter myself, having read all the books and watched all the films, my favourites are book number three and film number six.

We moved on from Kings Cross to St Pancras, which is a far more attractive station, with wonderful red and yellow brick archways and a tall clock tower. Inside is the great metallic statue of a kissing couple, but my favourite is the wistful statue of John Betjemen which is accompanied by several circular poems you can walk over. Kings Cross and St Pancras have a special place in my heart because they mark the beginnings of holidays with my family. From King's Cross we took the train to Edinburgh and from St Pancras we boarded Eurostar for Paris.

Next door to St Pancras Station is the British Library. I work in a library all week so don't relish spending too much of my day off in one. However the British Library is exceptional. It still looks new, we used to talk about its construction a lot when I was in library school. The fore court is full of greenery, symmetry and brick work vistas. Inside it is cool and welcoming. There is a dark, permanent exhibition of library treasures to one side; illuminated manuscripts, first editions, bejewelled binding, famous illustrations and classical texts. I have been to the reading rooms before when I consulted old editions of Aubrey Beardsley and Edgar Allan Poe, in my pre-Amy days. These days I mostly go in to enjoy a cup of coffee in the library cafe. My favourite spot is just in front of the glass covered shelves, where sit row upon row of gorgeous, leather bound volumes.

The main reason mum and I were in the King's Cross area was to visit the Camley Street Natural Park. It is situated at the back of St Pancras station next door to Regent's canal. It was talked about in my Secret London book and we were blessed that the March day we chose to visit it was beautiful and spring-like. I think it is a very precious place especially in this massively developed area. There were parties of small school children here, who really seemed to be getting a great deal out of the experience. The place is a haven for London wildlife, which needs all the help it can get. I was most impressed with the stag beetle refuge. Mum and I had a wonderful, all-be-it brief, wander around; a highlight was the kind foreign gentlemen who took lovely pictures of mum and I sitting on a wooden bench.

After our morning in King's Cross, mum and I decided to spend the afternoon in South Kensington, home of the museums and the Royal Albert Hall.

Part of my latest writing project involves a character at college, so I was keen to spend some time in a London college with a busy campus and canteen. A brief google search pointed me in the direction of Imperial College on Exhibition Road. Imperial is a science and technology college and they also had a lot of building work going on, so it took a little while to find the pleasanter places where students congregate. Eventually we found the green square in the middle of the site and the lively student hangout of the library and the canteen. The canteen was large and retro with wide circular tables, 80s style furniture and brown tiled pillars. The food was good and simple, but not really aimed at visitors like mum and me. The canteen was being emptied at 2.15 and it wasn't until we were looking for the ladies that we realised that the library cafe was the place we should have been; a proper cafe, contemporary, friendlier and more permanently open. We managed to leave Imperial by the proper visitor's entrance and decided to have a little look at Hyde Park before heading back to the V&A.

Hyde Part is huge and you could spend the best part of a day there, visiting Kensington Gardens, with the statue of Peter Pan, the Princess Diana memorial fountain, the Serpentine and Kensington Palace. The last time we spent a lot of time there was probably 2011 when we visited Winter Wonderland in January. Then, Hyde park didn't seem wholly alive and the wonderland was glittering and lively, but also a bit overpowering and artificial. Spring brings a different perspective, today there were blue bells.

The Natural History and Science museums are wonderful, but these days I prefer the arts and crafts in the Victoria and Albert museum across the road. There are lovely displays of stone work, iron work, tapestries, sculptures. There are classic paintings including ones by the pre-Raphaelite Edward Burne Jones and the windswept watery impressions of JMW Turner. There is jewellery, fashion and a theatrical exhibition I find rather creepy. Also are collections from Japan and the middle ages and a lot of old pots.

 Mum and I were looking for a cafe where we could talk about her trip to Barcelona and my daughter's trip to Pompeii. The cafe at the V&A is stunning. A circular room with ornate tiling from floor to ceiling, massive stain glass windows and great globe glittering chandeliers. There is a piano in the centre of the room and this afternoon we were even treated to brilliant piano playing as we drank our lattes.

I have a good feeling about the London Interrupted project and am busy thinking of more places to visit and reflect on, including doing more work on My Favourite London Walk.

Challenge Island

I have written two stories inspired by the concept of computer games; Challenge Island and Duchess Doom. Challenge Island is a much longer story than Duchess Doom, it is something I felt compelled to write. The story is about a flightless fairy from Sanctuary called Demura who wakes up one morning in a place called Terror Town. As the story unfolds and Demura learns how to navigate through her new world, she finds friends, loses friends, finds people to help and people to help her, she discovers much about herself and her own resilience. These are the different levels Demura must travel through before she can return home.

On the ice

When I was at a book supplier's day a few years ago, as part of my library work, I was introduced to the concept of 'thinking like a dandelion', regarding approaches to the internet and social media. With this in mind I have tried to 'spread myself' about a bit both in the virtual and the real world. Part of this approach has meant some of my videos are on YouTube and Vimeo. I wanted to share my 'On the Ice' video from Vimeo, but YouTube won out again. You can find my Vimeo videos here.