40 years and two loos

Last weekend felt the most ‘normal’ in a long while. We ate dinner out on Friday evening in one of our favourite local restaurants, which somehow we hadn’t managed to get along to since last autumn. The food was as glorious as ever, and it was great to see it so busy and to be warmly welcomed back. Then after an impromptu booking after seeing something on Facebook of all places, we found ourselves at the Barbican on Saturday night.

I hadn’t realised that the Barbican is celebrating 40 years, which doesn’t seem possible. Nor did I know that MOH hadn’t been to a concert in the hall there. We’ve been to away days with work, visited the conservatory and exhibitions and even been to the cinema there - and well, it seemed a good opportunity to set that straight. Checking out the seating plan we could book end of aisle seats in the circle and so we booked.

The event - Songs in the Key of London - was curated by Chris Difford (of Squeeze) and DJ and presenter Nihal Arthanayake, with guests who were familiar to us and a good few that weren’t. However, it didn’t matter that we didn’t know their names, every single performer was brilliant.

Marc Almond topped the names of those I was keen to see - I was, and still am, a huge fan of Tainted Love from back in the early eighties. Other names we recognised were Harry Enfield, Ruby Turner and Brett Anderson (from Suede). Harry Enfield’s name stood out among the list, and so did his performance as an ‘audience member’ recalling a ditty or two about London, with a predictable but still amusing rude ending.

With a run time of 150 minutes, it was no mean feat for the band who were also excellent. The other thing we noticed, that even for London, people were talking to each other much more than we remembered from pre-Covid days. And that was a really nice thing too. The hall wasn’t as full as the seating plan had made out, and the people sitting next to us apologised for moving into some of the empty seats, hoping we weren’t offended. We really weren’t offended at all.

Unsure when the interval would be, and knowing that any interval means a long queue for the loo, I decided to make an early move while the performance continued - though when I got back MOH said I’d missed a great song. But when you’ve got to go, you know…

What I wasn’t expecting was the multi-coloured doors in the loos, the concrete yes - but not the colour. And it was great. As was mostly having the very large ladies to myself (it being large still didn’t avoid a queue later on though - there are never enough loos are there?)

I’ve no idea what these are, or if they have a purpose other than for people to wonder about them:

It was a wet and blowy night and I’d pulled on a hat, but that hadn’t really saved the ends of my hair - so I ended up looking more windswept than I would have liked. I’m sharing this picture though as the night was also memorable for losing an earring - and not the one you can see. The pair to the half moon you can see is a full moon, which I lost somewhere along the way.

I noticed in the restaurant we went to before the show - Cote just outside the Barbican - and that prompted searching through hats, scarves, bags and all sorts to no avail. And even though the replacement pair I’ve ordered have arrived, I still just went to check my hat again. That’s the thing about losing things isn’t it, you just don’t know where - and yes, I know if I knew where then it wouldn’t be lost!

While we were in our second restaurant of the weekend, I couldn’t pass up the opportunity of checking out the loos. So here you go, some quite plain but elegantly understated snaps of the loos at Cote - the colour of the wall tiles was gorgeous. For this visit to Cote I ventured off my normal safe, tried and tested menu choices, and wished I hadn’t! We’ll have to go back to our local restaurant or get another ‘at home’ delivery to check that this was just a one-off.

Losing things is never great, and it unsettles our minds doesn’t it?

The strange thing though was that I had felt something cold against my cheek as we were walking, which now I suspect was my earring making its way free, as those hook through type earrings do. But which I’d forgotten. MOH suggested retracing our steps, but we’d walked a fair way and even if we did walk exactly the way we’d come then it was no guarantee, and there was a show to see, and despite the earring loss it was so good to be out and experiencing more normal things along with everyone else.

It was much needed, and as we know, a long time coming.

Reflecting on my week #105

* This post contains items that were gifted by the London Graphic Centre

I’m not quite sure how it’s Tuesday already, but general opinion says it is. The weekend was a busy one, and the start of the week has continued. It’s quite usual for me to not know what day it is, but this week even more so. At one point towards the end of last week I thought I might be succumbing to the inevitable germs that seem to be in full flow around the office, but a concerted effort to actually eat the satsumas I’ve been carrying in and storing on my desk seems to have done the trick. So far at least, let’s hope that continues.

I had Saturday to myself - which is always nice - and even got some chores done, and completed my Christmas shopping. Unheard of for me, but also helped by the fact that my family ‘Christmas’ is actually on 30 November. I am done though. Apart from the wrapping. I’ve been so organised that I’ve even managed to buy MOH’s present to me, he’s never been so organised either.

One of the parcels I collected was from the London Graphic Centre, a favourite shop of mine in Covent Garden. It’s a shop that I used to visit as a teenager, in awe of its contents, and now not much has changed really, apart from me no longer being a teenager. When they got in touch, they’d asked what art supplies I was interested in, and so opening the package was a bit of the unknown as they’d selected items based on the crafts I’d given.

There’s plenty to keep me occupied, and what I’m most keen to test out is the dual brush pens with some modern brush-style lettering. My biggest problem, apart from getting started, is what my project should be. More thought needed, but not too much, as I’m itching to get started.

The weather changed this week too, with a distinctly more wintery feel. We had our first frost here this morning, and typically it was the day my car was at the garage for its MOT. I must have known though as I’d dropped it around to the garage last night, so at least I didn’t have to deal with a frosty car.

This weekend we will - most likely (weather dependent) be out in the gardening tackling all the leaves that have come down, and more I’m sure. There’s plenty to do out there, and it’s never as bad as you think once you actually get going.

Next door’s work is continuing, and from a peek out the window on our top floor, it seems they’ve got a bit of an unplanned pool on the flat roof. Of course, this might not be new, it could have been doing that all the time, but now it’s just more obvious. I’m sure the newest water feature will be staying…

It’s coming along though, but there is still much more for them to do. I can tell you for nothing, that I don’t miss having building work underway.

* The items in this post from London Graphic Centre were gifted for the purposes of a review, once that’s taken place I’ll be sharing more about the products and my project.

Untangling threads with history

We’ve been continuing to clear my MIL’s house, and sorting through what is no longer needed. It was the home that MOH spent his teenage years in, and holds many memories for the whole family, and it also has plenty of stuff, as family homes do. A fair amount of that has come back with us, and that includes some craft stuff which, as you can see, needs sorting.

What’s strange though is that now this untangling is soothing. Previously I’d not had the patience for it, and my dad and even MOH would help sort out tangles in wool, but over the past few years I’ve found the patience - and the satisfaction - of untangling reassuringly mindful.

A while back I bought a large bag of vintage threads, where thankfully the embroidery threads were neatly organised and wound around strips of cardboard. Remembering this I dug them out to add this jumble of threads to those.

And before long, they were unravelled and some new cardboard strips with notches cut out held the once tangled threads. Not all of the threads survived it, but a large proportion did, and they are much more usable like this.

I noticed though that the two strips of cardboard I’d added to, had much more character than my saved birthday cards. Or they do now, maybe my birthday cards will hold the same attraction in years to come, who knows.

The blues above are wound onto a card that once held ‘washing and boiling elastic’ and which ‘outlasts any garment never needs replacing’ - the mind boggles doesn’t it. The greens and yellows I added to the 'knicker elastic’ card which once held ‘the latest Improved Rubber Thread.’

Aren’t they a find? And I wonder if any of the packaging around today will seem as dated in the not too distant future!