Africa and the East End

I went to a fantastic Lebanese cafe today called Le Comptoir Libanais that had great North African decor. The walls are covered in huge pictures of Lebanese sweets, and the knives and forks are held in old chilli tins.

The boat is also going to be African themed (South, North, whatever, I'm not fussy), and here are two cushions and a curtain I made today for it. The Obama one is from some fabric my brilliant sistaire bought me in our favourite shop in Cape Town. The next pic shows the back with the limo. The red rectangle is a lovely Algerian picture frame Frank bought me. He put in the picture of me, which was taken in Bulgaria.

The floral fabric I bought in a great shop just off Brick Lane in East London. It's run by a Jewish family who have owned it for about 100 years. They have a huge black and white pic of their whole family standing outside the shop in about 1925. It's really near where my granny was born in 1906. She's ill in hospital at the moment. We don't know if she'll make her 104th birthday on 13th Feb.

East London

Went for a walk in Victoria Park. The lake was partially frozen with birds sliding around on the surface. A joker had changed the warning sign (see below). From there we walked along Regent's Canal all the way to Limehouse, Canary Wharf and the Thames. It was freezing - literally. We saw a huge dead fish caught in the ice of the canal (see pic), as well as lots of exciting narrowboats.
It was quite amazing to get to the Thames, which was at high tide and splashing up and over the walls on to the pavement. I love London!

check out my first film

So, a while ago I asked you guys what to call a film competition I'm running at work. The idea is for people to submit short films (up to 5 mins) about their experiences of health or healthcare so that we can use them to teach medical students.

We ended up calling it Reel Health Stories and we've just made a demo video for the website
the first time I've ever been involved in making a video.

Safety in South Africa

Everyone in South Africa seems to be obsessed with personal safety. South Africa (Jo'berg in particular) has the highest murder and rape rates in the world, so perhaps this is the reasoning behind it. My sister and I were strongly advised not to walk through the city centre on a Sunday at noon.


This was in the shopping mall in central Cape Town. Carjacking, murder, child abuse, it's all there. Click on the pic to read each card.


This is a security guard in Jeffrey's Bay. Not sure exactly what he was doing.

Thoughts about Cape Town

The next few posts will be pics of South Africa, with some accompanying musings.


This is the view from outside the first place we stayed. Cape Town clings to the side of fantastic moutains, the most famous of which is Table Mountain. It's the most climbed mountain in the world apparently.




We stayed in Bo Kapp, which is very picturesque, but a bit edgy. These are the famous Bo Kaap painted houses. It is a Muslim area. The oldest mosque in Cape Town (possibly in South Africa?) is here - 1834 from memory. Sometime around then.

Fair Trade hat - not knitted by me thank goodness

My own knitting leaves something to be desired, so after several unsuccessful attempts at making a hat, I ended up buying a beautiful purple alpaca wool one from the Fair Trade organisation Mamacha .

The stall I bought it from was manned by the boyfriend of the founder. She sounds like quite a remarkable woman. Also, from the pic on the website she looks about 25 (so did he, so she probably is).

I can't tell you everything else I bought because they will be Xmas presents (and you never know who's reading this) but all will be revealed after Christmas.

Also had fun today making a short film about a scary experience I had with a GP. More of that later too.

Brand new Lewis Carroll book!

Check out the new biography of Lewis Carroll by none other than Jenny Woolf (no relation...cough). This is the American publisher, but it's coming out in the UK too - have a look on Amazon.

Arrived in Cape Town

Still feeling spaced out after an overnight 11 hour flight, but the vast blue sky and bright sunshine are helping, as did a vastly delicious creamy iced coffee.

Currently in an internet cafe on Long St - the main young-person tourist hang out. It's a really strange atmosphere here, probably partly because the shops shut at 2.30pm, which means there aren't as many people as you would expect on the street on a Sat afternoon. Lots of vintage shops, independent clothes and craft shops, antique shops, and bars. The busiest place was a pool hall.

Will find a way to upload some pics.

One Eye Grey at Brockwell Lido

One Eye Grey, a penny dreadful for the 21st century, held an evening of ghost stories by the water last night at Brockwell Lido, near Brixton in South London.

We drank mulled wine and ate roast pumpkin by the poolside as Chris, the guy who runs One Eye Grey, told tales of spooky happenings in London's under- and overground rivers. The waist-high Roman Legionnaires haunting walkers on Fleet St, built over the Fleet River, was a favourite.

Nigel of Bermondsey and (some of) his London Dreamtime, including me, provided the musical element of the evening, and a drunk woman asked him if he could "do Elvis".

Here are a couple of pics.

Pro surfer

Well, not quite, but on the way there at least...

Just booked myself into surf camp at Jeffreys Bay in South Africa.

I went on a surf camp in Portugal couple of years ago and ended up with a white, bruise-covered body, and brown neck, hands and feet. But it was well worth it - I had an absolutely brilliant time.

5 minutes to speak

With my new job, and with Co-op and boat duties I seem to have no time whatsoever to do anything except rush around worrying about things.

How do people manage to lead interesting lives and have a decent job, without completely wearing themselves ragged? And how do people with children do anything at all?

Anyway, on a more positive note - the boat is officially mine! I've signed all the paperwork and here are some pictures.

Here's the outside. Mine is the one in the middle. I like to think of it as "down to earth".



Here's the inside - any ideas about decorating welcome...


Here's the weir by the marina.

music makes happy

Had a wonderful afternoon playing to a crowd of relaxed sun-warmed Brick Laners with Nigel of Bermondsey this afternoon.

I realised that making music that sounds lovely is important to me. And Nigel's music is that, particularly with Tamara's added harmonies.

The weather is stunningly beautiful. A buttery glow glides over every surface. It feels like a remembered late summer from childhood.

F is in the paper

He's currently in South Africa, his football team having won an all expenses paid trip to play with a local team. They won 1-0, with F in defence, ensuring a clean sheet was kept.
So proud of him!

This is the article explaining everything, which is in today's Evening Standard. This online version of the article also shows the film they made to win the trip.



Apart from playing football, he's been on safari, whale watching, shark cage diving and is going surfing tomorrow. He's also eaten a hell of a lot of free steak.

Here are some more pics on Flikr .

Bought the narrowboat

Wow.

Feeling pretty strange. Agreed to buy the boat in Henley. Have just paid £10,000 out of my savings and the rest to follow tomorrow.

I have never spent that kind of money in my life. And there is more money to come for the doors, the blacking, and the insurance.

Thank goodness I'm getting a pay rise!

Can't really imagine what it's going to be like taking my own boat out on to the river. God I hope I enjoy it, and that everyone else enjoys it too.

I can see a lot of weekends sanding, painting, sawing, sewing and so on coming up. And several mornings waking early, and venturing out on to the stern to watch the waterbirds as I drink a steaming mug of fresh coffee and munch on a croissant. WOW!

Bestival

Sorry haven't written for ages. Seem to be running around frantically. I'm really hoping that the boat will enable me to have some chilling out time.

Spent the weekend at Bestival on the Isle of Wight. Have had a total of about 14 hours' sleep since Thursday so feeling pretty spaced out, which is appropriate because "outer space" was the theme of the festival!

I went as Venus, goddess of love. Bought some fab red heart-shaped sunglasses that flash.

The festival was totally packed to the rafters with people in fancy dress. Surreal. Oxfam had a tent where they would dress you up and take your photo for a donation. J & K were Elton John and Kylie.

Saw F's mates Fight Like Apes who were BRILLIANT. Best band I've seen for ages. Really interacted with the crowd and got us going. The singer said "Ok, this is our last song" and the crowd started booing. She said "brilliant! After we play this song, you're going to really want to clap, but don't. Boo instead. I want you to chant 'Fuck you apes! Fuck you apes'". So we all did. It was hilarious.

Kraftwerk were also pretty cool. As F said, more like an art installation than a band to go mental to. But perhaps that's because I was so sleepy by that point...

Here are some pics.

Carnival

Went to Notting Hill Carnival yesterday. Great craic. Managed to squeeze in to Sancho Panza for the last hour and a half, a third of which I spent queuing outside some horrendous posh boy's house to use the toilet (and pay £3 for the priveledge of watching him high-five his friends at all the money he'd screwed out of people). The music and dancing was great though, and F started a crowd chant, which pleased him no end.

We were observed throughout from high windows by the most bored looking police I have ever seen. What a job. Reminds me of G being alone up a searchtower in Northern Ireland at Christmas, watching the family the army were observing opening their presents in front of the tree. What fun!

Actually it's really interesting going to people's houses to use the toilet at Carnival. The first one I went in to belonged to a middle-aged jamaican woman, and her daughter was there collecting the money (£1). The daughter was very friendly and chatting to everyone as they waited in the queue. Her 4 year old son, wearing a "mama ain't raisin no fool" t-shirt, helpfully blew his carnival horn outside the bathroom door if anyone was taking too long. It was a lovely house full of proud photographs of the grinning family, souvenirs from trips abroad, books etc. The bathroom itself was clean and had a stick of incense burning to make it smell nice. How thoughtful.

Needless to say, one of the highlights of the day was seeing the narrowboats moored at the Grand Union pub ;)

Danced until the pub shut at 11pm and got home at a civilised 11.30pm. How very pleasant.

It's not a holiday!

Going to Malaga for a conference. No-one is interested in my protestations that it's not a holiday. Will be giving a talk tomorrow at 11am, so think of me.

I actually went to Malaga on holiday at Easter. Here is a picture of that trip. This one will be much more lonely (sob). God life is hard sometimes.

I'm buying the boat!!

Just put down the deposit, so subject to a decent survey, it will be mine!!!

Extremely exciting. It's going to be called "68B" after 68 Grand Drive - our family's home whose sale enabled me to buy the boat, and B for boat.
Here it is .

Feel a bit feverish.

Just bought a copy of "Waterways world".

My brain says...

....BoatsBoatsBoatsBoatsBoatsBoatsBoats

Went to see a nice boat at a beautiful marina on Monday. Made an offer, was met halfway almost immediately. Haven't given my decision yet.

Just can't decide if I really want a boat. It seems so difficult to tell. I doubt I would have made an offer if I weren't serious, but I just can't trust my own judgment and feelings.

Also so so so busy at the moment, I haven't really got time to think properly. I am going to see it again on Sat I think, this time with F. Encouragingly he says he is really keen to learn all about boats and has committed to spending one weekend a month on the boat. So I won't be doing it all alone...

Also everyone seems very keen to come and stay on it - in the summer no doubt. Although I love the idea of getting the wood burner going and drinking cups of tea all wrapped up in the cosy cabin or on the bow.

a warning to the lazy/scared

If I had not left it 3 years between dental appointments, I might not have to shell out £600 for a root canal.

In other news, F won an all-expenses paid trip to South Africa!!

A weekend summing up

Lovely weekend. The weather is just how it should be in August. 28 degrees, full sun, deep blue sky. England raised the ridiculously small cup after winning the Ashes.

I ate out, drank out, went to the country to visit my Granny, admired narrowboats on the Kennet and Avon canal, walked around Bankside, saw a narrowboat chugging South Eastwards down the Thames, played a gig in Southwark Park with Nigel of Bermondsey (his home turf), saw Stringer Bell get killed.

Going to see another boat at Henley on Thames this evening.

But first the DENTIST this morning. AAAAAAAAARRRGGHHHHHHH

More houseboat

So, went to see the boat yesterday. I feel all mixed up about it. When I was there I was almost ready to hand over the cash. It's a lovely boat. Quite old (20 years) and a bit on the tatty side, but laid out really well with nice wooden walls, a good dry smell and a nice warm feel about it. We arrived just as the sun was low in the Western sky, casting a beautiful warm yellow glow over everything. And the massive plus point is that the marina is only 22 minutes from Paddington by train, and is also on the end of my tube line at Uxbridge.

The main problem is that the engine wasn't working. It needs new injectors and I noticed that the well deck had some oily water in the bottom. There are automatic bilge pumps, but when the owner ran them, no water came out. He said this was because there wasn't enough water in the bilges for it to come out.

I told him I really like it and would like to make an offer, but I needed a cooling off period. He said he would make a good working engine a condition of sale, but I think I need to see the engine fixed and go out on the boat before I lay down a deposit.

I felt sick when I left. Pretty terrified at making this kind of committment. What if I don't want to hang out on the boat all the time? I'd have to spend one weekend in four up there, and take at least one holiday a year on it. Is that what I want? I don't think I can really know until it comes to the push and I have to lay down the cash.

If he phoned me and said the boat had been sold to someone else I would be very sad.

More about boats

I'm going to see a narrowboat on Thursday after work. It's moored near Uxbridge, so easy to get to - only 22 minutes by train from Paddington. I'm ridiculously overexcited. In fact I'm a bit worried that the excitment really is ridiculous.

The last time I went on a narrowboat holiday I was three years old.
I don't know ANYTHING about boats, or engines, or pump out toilets. I'll have a survey, but what if I spend £25,000 on an old banger? Should I go through a broker?

I am learning though. I know what a British Waterway Safety Certificate and a Boat Safety Certificate are. I know I'll have to get insurance. I know the mooring costs £2,800 and they have 24h shower facilities.

I absolutely love the idea of having somewhere that is my own, that I can make what I want. I love the idea of cruising around the countryside, exploring, sitting in pubs, chatting to boat people. I love the fact that I could lend it (sorry, her) to friends for holidays.

I also think it's about time I took some proper responsibility for something. I can't run away from being a grown up forever. But is buying a boat responsible?

I'll go and see it, and see what I think. I'll also ask some people who own boats what to do.

Just because it's difficult, doesn't mean I can't do it, right?

What about a houseboat?

http://houseboats.apolloduck.co.uk/

Moored outside London. Adventures ahoy.

Go Ape

The skin on my teeth is rather ragged after yesterday's hectic but enjoyable adventures in Kent.

Eight of us were supposed to go to Go Ape at Leeds Castle yesterday afternoon. Four of us made the 12.18 from Victoria just as the doors beeped closed. Another two missed that train and ended up in a taxi from Maidstone East. Another two found themselves at an entirely different Go Ape in another part of Kent, misguided by SatNav (after they explained what had happened, Go Ape very kindly let them complete the course at the other site, free of charge).

Feeling sweaty, excited and a bit nervous, six of us strapped ourselves into our harnesses for a half hour briefing on attaching ourselves to cables, zipwires and tarzan swings, after which we were free to spend hours swinging about wherever we wanted in the treetop adventure playground.





Everyone's favourite was the zipwires - some of them so long you spent a good minute whizzing through the forest and over a grassy valley until landing in a pile of woodchips that ploughed their way into your socks, shoes and pants. Luckily it was a lovely sunny day. I wouldn't have fancied soggy woodchips in my knickers.







Other parts of the course were less challenging: there were a lot of rope bridges which we tried to cross without using our hands to provide an adrelanine rush. Also, having to attach and detach yourself from cables at every rope ladder at every crossing slowed the whole process right down, which meant there was a lot of time spent chatting as we waited for the person in front to complete the next bit of the course. It was a bit frustrating, but actually made it a chilled out sociable affair and gave less opportunity for the more macho amongst us - in which category I include myself - to rush through the course at breakneck (literally) speed.





After 3 hours monkeying about we unstrapped ourselves and headed to the pub to recover. Naturally we had to return to the pub after missing our train, running to the platform only to see it pulling out before our eyes. But trains weren't too infrequent, so only an hour later we were on our way home as the Kent countryside, beautifully bathed in evening sunshine, zoomed past.

Some pictures of Bulgaria

A hungry man and his hungry dog buying food in Sofia.

The Archangel Michael painted on the wall of the church inside the Rila monastery.

Rila monastery first thing in the morning.

F exiting a waterfall pool near Veliko Tarnavo.

Glacial lake on the way up to Maliovitsa Peak (2650m).

Do I really need to get on the property ladder?

As dedicated readers will know(you're out there, I can feel it...), I live in a housing cooperative in a lovely bit of London. It's very cheap, and if I ever multiply (you know what I mean) they will provide appropriate housing, still in the same part of London. I'm a lucky girl.

The housing cooperative I live in affords no right to buy. This I approve of. The right to buy council housing is one of the reasons for the current shortage of affordable housing in the UK.

I could theoretically however buy a property that I could not reasonably live in, and still remain in my cooperative. My job is in London with no possibility of transfer. Thus I could reasonably buy outside of London without compromising my London flat.

This would mean I would have to pay my London rent whilst also paying for a mortgage on a place outside London. I'm not sure I could rent a place outside of London and remain in the cooperative. Buying outside London would potentially have advantages for my extended family (there are various issues to do with care for elderly relatives who live outside London) and I could just about afford it at the moment - low interest rates and no dependents - but it would mean my lifestyle is quite restricted. At the moment I'm lucky enough to be able to shop in Waitrose, go on holiday, give to charity, buy nice clothes, and go out when I want.

Also I'm not sure I want to spend all my weekends visiting the same place.

So if I were to buy outside of London:
a) is this ethical?
b) would the financial and hassle aspect of it be worth it to get on the property ladder?

Farewell Bulgaria

Have spent the last 9 days in Bulgaria. Coming home tomorrow, which is a shame because I could quite easily see myself getting the overnight train to Istanbul instead...

Our last night in Sofia and I'm in the internet cafe...Got back from the mountains this morning and spent the afternoon wandering around, looking at and in churches and at late 19th c and early 20th c paintings by Bulgarian artists. Saw a sculpture by the man whose house we stayed in when we first arrived Friday before last: Andrei Nikolov.

My legs are still aching from yesterday's climb up to Mount Maliovitsa (2650 m). At one point we came across a huge boulder, over 30 ft high and 30 ft wide, which appeared to have been thrown off the peak by a giant. It had split to reveal a dark interior marbled with white quartz. It was very misty and foggy, so too cold for a swim in the glacial pools, which were so clear you could see the giant rocks lurking at the bottom like glowering beasts. Managed to get a bit surnburned despite the thick cloud.

How annoying to be leaving just as we start to master the Cyrillic alphabet.

Another day...

...another interview.

Bring on the summer holidays.

East is east

Getting excited about going to Bulgaria now. My eyes feel as though they will fall from my head any second. I need a holiday!
Saw S & C this evening, back from 8 months travelling. Made me think some more about where to go and what to do...

Stick a pin in the atlas?

Trying to decide where to go on my big adventure, and more importantly, what I will do when I'm there. I think it will be in November and for a month. England is grim at that time of year. I will be going on my own. I fancy doing something where I can be a bit sociable and productive. Possibly creative. Or useful in some way.

A colleague at work is walking the Inca trail. She mentioned it to two other colleagues, both of whom immediately said "oh I've done that". I don't want to go on a holiday everyone else has been on.

Great Saturday in London

It's great when you can look back and feel you've made the most of your Saturday.
Yesterday I:

- Took a picture to the framer's.
- Hoovered my flat.
- Took up the hem of a dress.
- Went to the British Museum and had a look around the Ancient Egyptian, Assyrian, and Greek section. Absolutely fantastic. I can't believe I don't go there more often. The Egyptian stuff is so old and enormous. Loved the hieroglyphs. F pointed out one that's a grumpy face. My favourite was the snake/slug. Wonder what they mean?
The Assyrian giant winged horses are spectacular. There was a photo of them in situ and surrounded by locals, which was taken in 1853. I felt quite sad that they had been removed, but I don't really know the context.
Then you get to the Ancient Greeks and Lykians the beauty of the sculpture is quite stunning. Amazing dancing godesses with flowing robes and giant horses with nostrils flaring.
Decided not to spend £8 each on going to see the Indian painting exhibition this time, but had a peek at the catalogue and I'm definitely going to go back.
I hope the British Museum manages to stay free entry when the next Government comes in.

- Went to F's work for a quick sandwich. Tooks some pics of the film equipment there for posterity. Here's one below. Not sure how long they will be using this sort of kit for.


- Went to White Cube in Mason's Yard to see Gilbert & George's Jack Britain series. Very technically good and visually arresting, but I can't say it did much for me emotionally.

- Went to Shoreditch Festival.

We sheltered from the rain in the Dance Dome where a karaoke band (!! stolen our idea!!) were playing. Much as it pains me to say it, they were actually really good. We only have 6 people in our karaoke band, but they had about 9 including a saxophonist, and their female keyboardist also plays the fiddle. So bonus points for that I suppose. F said Someone Else's Wedding (our karaoke band) is more banter though. It was brilliant being in the crowd for once though, there was such a good buzz. Avoided paying £6 for jerk chicken and instead...

- Went for pie and mash in a traditional shop on Hoxton St. No bullsh*t place. I asked what vegetarian pies they had. The man in rather grubby overalls pursed his lips and said: "they'll take about 12 minutes". So I had a meat pie, real mash and licker. Felt like a true Londoner, although F called me a tourist when I took a photo of my meal (on film, so can't show it here).

-Went to B's house for BBQ dinner. Couldn't eat as much of it as I would have liked because of the aforementioned pie and mash, but had lots of fun.

- Went to the Palm, in the middle of Mile End Park. Proper old geezer's pub with proper barmaid who can remember a 6 drink round and add it up in her head. There's a photo on the wall of her as a teenager with an old Frank Sinatra. It's also quite a trendy place, but that hasn't put the locals off. Every weekend they have a resident band of old blokes who play 1950s and 1960s music in the corner. Here's a pic of us going through the park on the way to the pub.


- Got the last tube home.

Hello toad

Feared I had somehow accidentally killed my resident toad, but last night's deluge must have encouraged the slugs and snails out to tempt him. We stared at each other fondly through my french windows, although, to be honest, I'm not entirely sure my warm feelings were reciprocated, but what can you do.

Donate your body to medical science (if you like)

Apparently there's a shortage of people willing to donate their bodies to medical science.

Presumably our future doctors need to understand human anatomy, and cutting up dead people is how they learn it.

Would you donate your body to be used for this purpose? Should donation be automatic unless one opts out?

Nigel of Bermondsey in Southwark Park

Played the motorised accordion with Nigel of Bermondsey in Southwark Park yesterday, supporting the Blockheads. Despite the peristent drizzle it was great craic, as F might say.

There was plenty of Great British Spirit around - here's a pic of some local people determindly enjoying themselves.


Nigel of Bermondsey played his new single - an ace cover of "This is how it feels" by the Inspiral Carpets. Check out the video on Youtube here.

A piece of music trivia for Madchester fans: heard Clint Boon of the Inspirals talking about the song on XFM . He said he wrote it because he felt so awful about being unfaithful to a long term girlfriend, so the chorus is "this is how it feels to be lonely, this is how it feels to be small, this is how it feels when your WORD [my emphasis] means nothing at all". I always thought it was "when your world means nothing at all".

Beautiful gardens at Southwark Park too.