Goodness, it’s been another weekend, another storm for the UK and while we are far from suffering as some around the country are the timing - for every weekend - is starting to wear a little thin now. I know that I am very fortunate not to be more severely affected, and that feeling a little miffed is nothing in the scheme of things, but even so.
Saturday I needed to pop to the shops, as normal, and I thought I’d timed my outing well. It seems not, just as I was ready to head out the door down came the rain, and along came the wind. The only positive was realising that the forsythia fence around the corner from us was doing its best to look cheery. And guess what, yes, as I got home the weather dramatically improved. Hmnnn. I’m not taking it personally.
After marvelling last week at how light the evenings are, I left work again at a reasonable time and though I can’t claim to have made the most of the daylight it was good to catch up with friends at a leaving drink, and then on Friday at the opening night of the new Tatty Devine exhibition taking place in the University of Greenwich Galleries.
The founders, Harriet and Rosie, gave a talk about their story and explaining the exhibition, their creative drive and it was fascinating. They both seemed really nice people, and I’m always pleased to discover that the people behinds the brands you know are. If they aren’t, then it taints the brand for me. Tatty Devine is a brand I’d been aware of, and admired but somehow never really bought from before. Last weekend I decided that should change ahead of the exhibition and with the magic of online shopping, I was fully prepared and necklaced up for Friday evening.
The exhibition contains hundreds of items to celebrate their 20 years and it evoked so many memories of the past twenty years, that it made me wonder how I’d managed to not have anything of theirs, or perhaps I had and in a rare fit of minimalism discarded it. Though I find that quite unlikely, but who knows.
It was great to see their sketches and the resulting necklace - the one above is called ‘Still Life’ and while it’s not my thing seeing the thought process is absolutely fascinating. One of my memories that the exhibition prompted was my love for Silvine notebooks - I’d forgotten that my love of notebooks started at an early age. I know where I bought them from too. There was a shop in the high street of South Norwood where I grew up, and while the name of the shop escapes me, I could tell you the layout of the inside.
If I didn’t buy them there, then my other stationery haunt was near Grants in Croydon. Again I’m not sure if it was part of Grants or next door, but I remember you had to walk through a corridor at the back of the shop to get to the things I was interested in. I had the size notebook shown below, exercise books and the spiral bound ones too. Always with a red cover. I don’t have any now, and it’s unlikely that there’s any at mum and dads, and even if there are I dread to think what the contents would include.
You may be familiar with their lobster necklace, which Rosie was wearing on the night. She carried it off superbly, I think I’d have been fiddling with it - but what’s more, as she spoke it’s pincers moved and just completed the whole effect. My purchases were a little bit more low key, well definitely in size. The colourful parakeet was around my neck on Friday, and one of my colleagues returned from the exhibition to exclaim that “they had my thing (pointing) giant sized, hanging in the window” and he seemed impressed to know that people knew of the exhibition hosts. Technically though, I had their thing (or a smaller version) of it around my neck…
We were hoping to do some gardening yesterday and the weather was probably ok for it. MOH has been missing a good long cycle (see comments about the weather above) and so took his chance to put that right. He arrived home annoyed with himself and a bit dazed, having fallen off after hitting a pothole less than half a mile from home. He has a few bumps and grazes, but is otherwise ok and grateful to the two pedestrians who stopped to help him up, check he was ok and gave him a sweet before he went on his way. I know he’s feeling the bumps as for the first time ever he’s actually following the advice of RICE (Rest - Ice - Compression - Elevation) and has done it every couple of hours. We’ve also been to the bike shop for a check over too, just in case, and everything’s fine there too.
Phew.