August 2025

August has been a month with plenty of free time and not enough money — a frustrating combo, but hopefully I have mostly managed to make the best of it.

 
I went to see my old friend Reggie at the start of the month, in the confusingly named Soho Theatre (confusingly named because it's actually in Walthamstow). A fun show, though due to crossed wires and both of us being too laissez-faire, we totally failed to actually successfully find each other and hang out after the show. Luckily my work-friend Alex came with me, so I still had a good time!

 
I did have some £££ treats this month, specifically going to see some great exhibitions. Pictograms at Japan House which is an absolute masterpiece (and FREE!), and both exhibitions at the Design Museum — 'More than Human' and 'Splash!' A century of swimming and style. Both v v good.

When we got this dog we thought her name was Jessie, but it turned out her old owner called her Kelly, and the rescue changed it for some reason. She doesn't respond especially well to either, so I mostly call her KJ, these days (and also loads of other things). 

EVERY SUMMER freelance work totally drops off a cliff, and EVERY SUMMER I freak out about it and come to believe it'll never recover. (But... it always does?! Fingers crossed this year continues that trend...)

Towards the end of last month I told you about my time spent teaching in Bournemouth. This was just PART ONE of a sweet summer school gig I got, working with a gang of 12 Chinese illustration students in their teens (as part of a bigger summer school with groups across loads of other creative disciplines). Part two ran over the next two weeks in Norwich — I had a halls room for the duration of a 9 day period, but only had to teach for four days dotted throughout that. A pretty sweet deal, as it meant free accommodation and lots of time to roam the area. I also like Norwich a lot more than Bournemouth, so this essentially felt like a bit of a holiday I was somehow getting paid for! Dreamy!

Anyway, I got there and met up with my old pal honor, who drove me out of town to the legedary ROYS of Wroxham, and also took me to their weekly Mah Jong meet up. This was VERY EXCITING for me as I have never played Mah Jong before IRL. (If anyone wants to be Mah Jong buddies in London please hmu)

 

The next day I was teaching at the lovely arts university. It's a really nice place and the staff were great!

Then a day off, in which I got the train up to Cromer, ticked another pier off my list (yessss!|) and then walked along the coast to Sheringham — also very lovely, and an excellent heritage steam railway there. A beautiful day for it and I had a thoroughly nice time.

Then another teaching day — enjoying the incredibly close proximity of my halls room to the building our studio was in — just along the river, like 3 minutes walk. (The top pic is the view of my halls from the studio, and the bottom pic is the view of the studio from my halls). Norwich is a really beautiful city, and the arts university buildings are just charmingly dotted around it. V nice.

 
I had been planning on coming home over the weekend, but I was having such a nice time in and around Norwich, I stayed! On the Saturday I went to see two more piers in Lowestoft (good to get them ticked off, but Lowestoft is really shit), and then got the bus out to the University of East Anglia Campus (to see the 'ziggurats', brutalist student accommodation) and the Sainsbury Centre (big weird philanthropic arts institute with sculpture garden). These were much better.

On the Sunday I stayed in Norwich. I went to Norwich Quaker Meeting for their morning service, which was lovely, then during the rest of the day I visited both the city's Cathedrals, another super cool old church full of antiques, and two lovely gardens — the Plantation Garden and the Cathedral's Herb Garden. All very lovely and very holiday-feeling in the hot sunshine.

Monday was another teaching day, but this ain't about that. My best pal from primary school days, Naomi, lives up in Oban with a menagerie of dogs, cats, chickens etc. She is an incredibly skilled dog trainer and photographer (though her day job is algae scientist!) and her dogs have quite probably the best lives any dog could ever ask for. Throughout our whole childhood and teenage years she was always obsessed with having pets, but was only ever able to have hamsters as her and her mum and sister lived in rented accommodation. So when we finally all finished univeristy, she was the first of our tight little friendship group to get a dog, way back in around 2010. 

That dog was Eska — a reactive rescue border collie, and all round grumpy darling. I was very fond of her, though admittedly haven't been up to Oban to visit since around 2015, but I do follow all their escapades online.

Anyway, it was finally time to say goodbye to Eska, and I did shed a few tears. I am v weak to dog death emotion at the best of times, but Eska had lived such an extraordinarily long and happy life with Naomi, I was so sad that was finally coming to an end. Naomi sent me a beautiful sad picture of Eska's grave, looking out across the stunning, remote Scottish landscape where Naomi lives, and the grave was filled with all sorts of flowers.

So I did this drawing, felt sad, thought about how dogs deserve only the best.

The next day was my last day off in Norwich, and I got the train out to Great Yarmouth, which was indeed great! Two more piers, got to see rock being made (it's amazing), and had a really nice long walk in the sunshine. Also saw LOADS of great signage.

And then after one last day of teaching, it was time to say Bye to Norwich! I had a very lovely time and kinda hope I get to go back and do this again next year, as I feel like I could quite happily spend another week exploring the city and surrounds.

 
9 days is a long time to be away from home though! Had a lot of tasks to catch up on.

 

Travelling home from Samaritans late at night, a small section of the Jubilee line was blocked, THWARTING me. I enjoyed rapidly brainstorming the surprisingly large number of alternative solutions for getting me home. (Because I am a big nerd)

 Still catching up on chores...

Been a while since a proper self portrait, so hi. Selfie with ipad.

Helped an MA student with some urban walking based research, in which she asked me to tell her about everything I saw on a walk that interested me. I am not sure she was ready for how many things interest me.
 

Oh man, somebody tell me to chill out over this fictional dude, swoon. I have thoroughly enjoyed the Yakuza spin-off pirate game, its only failing is IT'S TOO SHORT. Gimme more Majima! It's fine, I am going to go back and play Yakuza 0 next, so I am sure there is plenty more fan art to come. (I thought I'd nearly finished the game at this point, but actually had missed a massive side quest, but I really have nearly finished the game now...)

I used to do a lot more 'my tummy hurts' visual diaries when I first started out with this whole thing. I guess it's good that my tummy is less bad than it once was, but it is still BAD sometimes!

My partner was like 'just use the tap-root tool' but it turned out I didn't know which one was the tap root tool or how to use it. I am disappointed at my general under-motivation when it comes to the garden — I had truly hoped to be better but there is almost always something else I'd rather be doing. (Luckily my partner is mostly motivated enough for both of us?! I do try to do my bit though.)

The Central London Samaritans building has moved, and we used to have a deal with a nearby Pret that we got their leftovers at the end of each day. They couldn't find a Pret near our new building able to make the same deal (boooo) but now we instead go get leftover Gails when they close. It's not as good because it's mostly pastries (I don't like sweet pastries and they're not vegan) but we do also sometimes get leftover loaves of bread. (This is good! Lunches all weekend!)

This particular day we got SO MUCH BREAD that I realised about 20 feet down the street that I was incapable of carrying it the 3 minute walk back to the branch without constant breaks for my weak little arms. All those fancy gails breads are HEAVY!

In other garden news, I am still SLOWLY painting the garden fence. Slowly because I hate it. It does look great though. Only two more panels to go!!

We live in the same neighbourhood as a major London football ground, and on match days there are TOO MANY MEN being annoying.

My partner, adamant that dinner would be RUINED without saffron, sent me round our local neighbourhood on the hunt for some. I treated the whole thing like a video game side quest (as I often like to do in life) and had quite a nice time with it (after visiting 6 different shops, finally found one selling it in a particularly enchanted looking vial, further increasing my feeling of being a wizard looking for an exotic potion incredient).

 

I first went to my GP with throat problems in 2021 after getting COVID, and am ONLY NOW getting lung function tests, sob (a combination them not running them until like, late 2022 because of they didn't think it was possible to sufficiently sterilise the machinery during COVID so there was a massive backlog, some notes getting lost at some point, a consultant going on long term sick leave, and them SAYING I didn't answer a telephone consultation call when actually my phone just never rang, and not offering me another one for 6 months). Sigh. Actually a lot of sighing, and huffing down a tube, in this gamified breathing experience which I was... not very good at.

 

 That's my stinky girl.

Current status: hair woe. (It is fun to be growing it out again though)

Had a particularly lovely day tabling at a zine fair in Newhaven, hosted by some old friends, and alongside my regular tabling buddy Jade. It was surprisingly busy! I might have broken even! (j/k, I spent more than my earnings on other zines, the classic story)

Did autumn always start in August? 

I am constantly on a quest for the perfect trousers. Will I ever find them? Probably not. But these new barrel legged, slightly stretchy uniqlo ones are gonna have a go at trying for a bit. (I am v glad about the current 'barrel leg' trend because I think it is great and have done for years).

Now, onwards... to a hopefully not too rainy September...

July 2025

June was a very fun month, so I guess in the name of fairness, it was only right and proper that July got off to a STRESSFUL start.
 

Our dog Jessie (aka Kelly, aka Kelly-Jessie, aka KJ) started just, vomiting, a lot, and then bad pooping, a lot, with blood, and unlike with Charlie (the flashbacks, oh no) I was not about to ignore this. So we took her to our local vet, who in turn told us to go to the emergency admission vet, but the local one in Streatham was full so we had to drive (in hire car) all the way to bloody Victoria (from Croydon)

We had initially thought maybe she'd got some kind of obstruction from swallowing something she foraged in the park, but it turns out she had pancreatitis. Absolutely no idea what bought it on (could have been one of many things, or indeed, no particular thing). (Also did not even know what pancreatitis was until then)

She had to stay in for days! She was still refusing to eat. I went to visit her and was not emotionally ready for how rough she looked.

Eventually on day 4 in doggie hospital, they sent us a grainy video of her finally eating a little bit of chicken for her breakfast

And we were finally able to bring her home on day 5 (despite the vets best efforts at cleaning her up, she'd poo'd on herself several times and absolutely reeked to high heaven. We had to hose her)

This whole affair cost around £4,200 in vets fees, so here's my semi-regular reminder to all pet owners: PET INSURANCE IS WORTH IT (we actually are wishing we got the policy with £10,000 vet fees not just £5000, as if she gets sick again before her renewal next April we're fucked) 

Silver lining — for one day a year we can't walk her in our local park because of the community festival. But because she was recovering, she didn't need a walk that day! I had a nice walk around the festival by myself (even though it rained again)

Our former housemate Camille came over and we played old fav boardgame Quacks of Quedlinberg

My laptop continues to be on its last legs, and especially on days when temps get above around 25, everything gets..... very...... slow

Went to a super fun workshop as part of London data week about nature data! (These are all photos I took for the iNaturalist app as part of one activity we did)

Got a tattoo! The top image (black) is the sketch I sent to the tattoo artist a few months ago when I booked, and the bottom image (black) is what I got! I love it.

Went to the LCC staff conference, in which I went to a workshop where we tried to make collaged zines critiquing some of the university's new slogans (but it was 33 degrees with no AC and my IBS was flaring up and it was the first day of my period and I felt like death so it was quite difficult to be very thoughtful)

July is the month for cute lil outdoor events. Very much enjoyed the annual garden party at my Quaker meeting house. 

Occasionally I imagine that I could be green fingered, but the truth of the matter is I never have been and never will be. My partner is the plant pro.

Sometimes I think KJ could take or leave me, but me and my partner took her out for a walk together, and then I decided to stay back and pick blackberries while they went home to make dinner, and Jessie sulked the whole way about me not coming

It's GRADUATION TIME!! Somehow can't quite believe that I got to have a graduation from my PG Cert, but... I did?! I don't love the ceremony but it's fun to wear the silly hat and robes, innit. 

Look, putting all discourse about how landfill is terrible and how wasteful and irresponsible as a society we are: I love to go to the tip.

Used aforementioned blackberries to make a lemon polenta blackberry cake which I initially thought was shit but was actually... fine?!

An unusual number of (partial or entirely) analogue visual diaries this month?! Collage fun with Heidi at her birthday gathering at the Circular Space in Shoreham

And the next day it was my partner's birthday! I baked a much more successful cake than my lemon and blackberry cake: a carrot cake (at their request — I think carrot cake kinda sucks)

It's been a bad IBS month for some reason, idk. Had to take a day of sitting at home. Not sure I am very good at this 'relaxing' malarkey

 Relatable, I'm sure

Tummy felt better enough for BIG HIKE! Finally — my last London Loop was way back in Feb! Nice to get back on it again. Can't say the area between Hatch End and Elstree and Borehamwood has a huge amount to recommend it, in all honesty.

An ode to... a shower cap?! This is being in your late 30s I guess

I will never stop making these visual diaries which attempt to capture the essence of a depressing rainy day

Had a nice time going to the summer exhibition at the RA with mum, as is our tradition. The RA is a bit like a Where's Wally scene, except it's all women who look like my mum (but which one is my mum)

Made a sandwich so good it reminded me of that scene in Adventure time (except I actually got to eat it)

Have YOU also been seeing way more Jersey Tiger moths than ever before this year?! They are very pretty

And then, to Bournemouth! I've got a bit of a summer hustle going on, teaching on a summer school for Chinese students — some online teaching in week 1, for week 2 we're in Bournemouth, and for weeks 3 and 4 we'll be in Norwich, at the respective cities' arts universities. I am only teaching for two days, with a day off in the middle, which means space for a cute lil outing. (I also needed to travel down the night before to ensure on time arrival). I am staying in student halls! Which is fun! (They're actually really nice)

I've spent time in Bournemouth before (back when I worked for Kings Education, who have a campus here) — I can't say it's my favourite place in the UK (too many big weird wide roads? Everything is annoyingly far apart?) but I do love the long skinny park and being by the sea.

On Tuesday the students thought about sequential images and creating designs to be painted across two ceramic tiles. I did this sketched version of lots of the things I'd seen in Bournemouth so far!

 
Wednesday was a day off teaching but I still had a halls room to stay in, so I took advantage of this by going on a PIERS JAUNT!!! Exactly how many piers did I see?! Unclear, somewhere between 1 and 5. (Between Weymouth and Swanage). I also had a ride on the heritage railway to Swanage which was absolutely A+

 
Another day of teaching and then a train back to London this evening. However, just 15 minutes or so away from London, just before 7pm, someone jumped in front of our train at Wimbledon station — I've never had that happen to my specific train before. Turns out — that takes a long time to sort out, and we ended up being stuck in place for around two and a quarter hours while they did what they had to do. (With Wimbledon station and all lines in and out of it being closed) I was weirdly zen-like about it all (as someone who normally gets very antsy on a stopped train). Luckily it was not a busy train (they told us there were 177 people in total across the 10 carriages — which is decidedly chill), the wifi (mostly) worked (until they turned the power off), the toilets were functional (until the last 15 minutes or so), and despite warnings that when the AC went off it would become stifling rapidly, there were few enough of us that it did not. Initially there was no on-board drinking water, but they bought some along for us eventually (and I was fine as I'd come prepared). My main woe was HUNGRY FOR DINNER, but I'm big and strong enough to tough that out. Did stare longingly at Wimbledon Waitrose a lot though, and spent much of my time doing this loving rendition of it, from my vantage point. 

Anyway, obligatory plug for Samaritans here (not that it worked this time, sigh) — if you're ever feeling even a little bit low (you don't have to get to 'might jump in front of a train' levels of low, though we're here for that too), give us a ring on 116 123. (I say us. Probably not me, but, occasionally, me)

I am FINALLY home like 3 hours later than expected, and I'm ready for AUGUST (though mostly ready for bed).