Month: October 2023

My week .. the London edition

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And so to a much needed half term break. I always like the October half term week, to me it signifies the transition to dark nights, cooler weather and the time when I really up my Christmas planning. It is of course the week to catch up on appointments, I’ve been to the hospital, doctors, salon and had a flu vaccination this week. However, we also try to organise a special occasion. For my daughter and I it was a trip to London, whilst the boys spent time with Grandad in Bristol.

When you look at the photos from London, its hard to believe that it is simply one day in London, the weather started misty and cloudy, turned to bright sunshine, finishing with showers in the evening. We had the best day, the highlight was the Chanel exhibition at the Victoria and Albert for which I have done its own blog post. However I am a queen of planning and had designed an itinerary to pack in as much as we could. My plan was a piece of art, timings, tube lines, walking routes all noted down. London has been a big part of my life, I am a London born girl and frequent visitor prior to family life so do feel confident navigating the city. I love London, there is a buzz and atmosphere that makes it unique. Our day started by walking from Waterloo and seeing the Houses of Parliament, the London Eye and a Netflix production being filmed along the South bank! We then took a river bus to the Tower of London, I had never done this before and it was a great way to show some of the sights to my daughter. We then caught the tube to Knightsbridge and Harrods. As a young girl we always went to Harrods for their Christmas shop so this is what we did and bought a new decoration, we also popped into the food hall and bought the best takeaway lunch, sushi for my daughter and a salad for me. Both dishes were amazing, eaten in the courtyard of the V&A in bright sunshine. After the exhibition, we took the tube to Piccadilly Circus, for its iconic location, before walking to Fortnum and Masons, again for their Christmas shop, there is a theme here as we also went to Liberty’s Christmas shop! We then headed to Leicester Square (and the M&M shop), China Town and Covent Garden, where we had one of those magical moments both singing along with a busker singing classic Oasis songs. My daughter, unbeknown to me, took a video and we both look and sound so happy. We also explored Regent Street and had the obligatory stop at Nike Town so my daughter could spend some of her money. We then walked back to Waterloo (35k steps walked on this day) passing by Downing Street, Parliament Square and the London Eye all beautifully lit in the dusk. It was at Waterloo we hit the only problem of the day as there was major rail disruption due to an earlier incident. As we were on a late train, we were fortunate to only have a 40 minute initial delay, some people had been waiting hours for a train, however the disruption continued and our train went so slowly that we were entitled to a full refund as it was more than an hour late. The train journey was lovely, we found ourselves sat within a group of women, and despite it being such an Un-British thing to do, we all spent the time chatting and having wonderful conversations. We were a diverse group but it was a thoroughly pleasant and fun way to spend the journey. The delay meant it was midnight before we got home, and after leaving at 6.30am it was a long but brilliant day to be treasured.

After such a busy day in London, you would think we would have taken it easy on Wednesday, but no. I had an early doctors appointment and then was taking my daughter over to big town to meet her friends. This did give me some time to pop into B&M and Home Bargains, and after an appointment at the salon, we then did collapse onto the sofa for the evening and ensured that Thursday was a quiet day.

Today has continued to be a quiet day, the boys went to football and returned very happy with the result. I volunteered and ran at our Halloween parkrun. It was a fancy dress event but I am saving my Halloween dressing up for work on Tuesday, so just wore some ghost head boppers and had fancy nails as a nod to the event. Its been such a wet and windy day (post parkrun) that I am delighted to be cosy inside.

Gabrielle Chanel: Fashion Manifesto at the V&A

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I was delighted this week to visit the Chanel exhibition, Fashion Manifesto at the Victoria and Albert museum in London. I had booked it on the day the tickets were released (after waiting in a virtual queue for 8 hours) and in preparation had read the Chanel biography by Justine Picardie, attended a Zoom Chanel presentation by the V&A and read reviews and articles on the exhibition. To me it simply wasn’t an exhibition but an opportunity to really learn about Chanel and to have this knowledge to be able to view the exhibition. I was so excited that I’ve had a little countdown widget on my phone, counting down the days.

The exhibition didn’t disappoint, it is spectacular and such an interesting reflection on the social history of Chanel’s lifetime. One of my favourite items was a pair of shorts and blouse, with a psychedelic pattern in bright pink, designed by her at the age of 86, totally fitting in with the fashion of the day of the swinging sixties. To still be so creative and innovative at that age is remarkable.

Chanel’s work is exquisite and the attention to detail, stunning. Some of the finishing had to be seen to be believed, the individual petals on a dress, neatly cut and sewn were awesome. For both my daughter and I it was the dresses which were the highlight, so many different designs and colours but all so beautiful. There is a fantastic display of Chanel suits too, a rainbow of colour, but my memories will be predominantly of the dresses.

The Chanel exhibition was all I had hoped for and more, I was pleasantly surprised by the sheer number and variety of outfits on display covering her whole career. The settings were very well thought out and designed, the room of mirrors was perfect for the staging of the dresses. I keep flicking through the photos on my phone and have ordered the accompanying book to be able to look at the detail at the dresses and dream a little dream of wearing a Chanel dress.

My weeks .. the one with the indomitable Lemn Sissay

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There are some weeks when there is plenty to write about and others where I do my entries fortnightly as there is less. Our life recently has consisted of work, school meetings and the humdrum of everyday life. We’ve done proper adulting on Sunday afternoons, and have sorted our finances and pensions, written a will and researched and renewed insurance policies. It may not be exciting but at least its given us clarity and peace of mind. Also it seems all our household insurances and plans, and car servicing, MOTs and insurance are due at a similar time, so our work is now done for another year.

Life is just ticking over, we are planning on transforming the children’s playroom to a more adult type of snug for them, so I have been looking at possible colours and home furnishings. We need to wait for the roof repair before we can proceed further. I have also been getting very creative at school so have been trying a few arts and crafts at home first. There are a small amount of stones in our garden which may have been accidentally spray painted white and silver with my experiments! I have continued with my weekly parkruns and am delighted to be running my fastest 5ks of the year. In pure coincidence, I was 80th on my 80th parkrun, of which I liked the symmetry.

My highlight of the fortnight was my first ever visit to a Literary festival to see the poet, Lemn Sissay. I follow Lemn on social media and have read his previous anthologies and his memoir, My Name is Why. I recommend this book to everyone, it is a tough read, but contains threads of hope. When I saw Lemn was appearing locally, I really wanted to go and see him, so got two tickets for me and my daughter. I wanted her to see someone who had come out of the care system and had been able to follow their passion to make a successful career. I wanted her to see a positive story. The timing could not have been better as she had had a really difficult week at school. The evening really was perfect, we went over early and enjoyed a girlie dinner date where we were able to talk honestly and openly about the week. Lemn was amazing in his sell-out session, we were all enthralled by him, he was very witty, thoughtful and entertaining. Halfway through the evening, my daughter just turned around and said I love this man and when he read a very poignant poem on being placed into care, she whispered ‘that hit hard’ I am so pleased that we got to see Lemn, in the words of Gretchen Rubin, live the bigger life.

My weeks .. parkrun tourism, Quentin Blake and Bake Off

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I am now into the rhythm of autumn and my weeks seem to follow a pattern, full time work Monday to Friday. Saturdays start with a parkrun and mum taxi duties which take me around the county, followed by a late afternoon cooking in the kitchen and listening to the football, before settling down to watch Strictly. Sunday is a day for a family walk, little jobs around the house and prep for the week ahead. Its a life which brings comfort and contentment.

Over the past few weeks, there’s not much to report on. I have a new silver ring, a belated 50th present from my parents, its an unusual style, more an oval than round but I love it and its totally me (well I did choose it!) I have done two local(ish) parkruns, both are near the ‘big town’ where I have needed to drop my daughter each week. The deal is we go early so I can do my run. Last week we returned to my old ‘home’ parkrun, where I have still done the majority of my parkruns although this stat will only last for a few more weeks. By a lovely quirk of fate, I had friends running there and the event was also celebrating its 250th event, so it was a wonderful morning in the autumn sunshine. This week, I ended up at a venue I had not been to for nearly 4 years, it has an amended post Covid course and I so much more enjoyed the new course, it was my fastest time for a year. It is also really well located so I got to have a shower at the neighbouring sports centre and could feel a little nicer pottering around town. I took the opportunity to visit a Quentin Blake exhibition at the arts centre. It was well worth a visit.

As the autumn draws in, television is so much better, Bake Off and Strictly are my must watches. We have also watched a miniseries, the thriller Safe by Harlan Coben, it was a decent watch, even if the plot line was a little stretched at times.

Our Sunday walks have been lovely, warm, sunny walks in the woods and fields. I do feel that the sunshine on my face and breathing in the autumn air is therapy to me, a walk clears the head and focuses on the present.