Saturday, 30 November 2024

November 2024

I think I ended last month's blog saying 'hope I'm less sick in November!' — guess that was kinda tempting fate! My body sucks!! (Maybe I need more vitamin C?) — still, it's not been the worst month.


First off though, here's a drawing of an oil tin I saw left in the street that I loved the design and colours of

My partner is probably sick of my grossness by this point (and I wouldn't blame them). The good news is that once this cold worked its way out of my system a couple of days later, all of the fatigue I experienced throughout October also left, which had been worrying me — I guess it was just a long, slow virus which needed another virus to boot it out?! Is that how things work?!

Jessie likes to roll in things but for the first time ever she rolled in something truly disgusting and we had to just avoid her for a couple of days

For once this year I'm actually not HATING it being winter. I genuinely credit a lot of that to my heated sofa throw. Darkness sucks though. 

Ran a workshop with my students to think about what their dream studio space would look like, and designed mine while I was at it (one day?!)

The day after the US elections I was part of a job interview panel on the top floor of the LCC tower during a terrible grey cloudy day, and in between every candidate me and my colleagues were just utterly despairing of it all (good candidates though!), sorry not sorry for this horrible drawing

Did another exercise with my students which involved giving them a large number of celebrations chocolates. That's pedagogy!

Occasionally V comes over to my house or I go over to V's house and we just hang out together and work on whatever we're working on, and as a freelancer it turns out that is a really nice thing to do with another freelancer sometimes. V showed me a really cool book of these patterns with originate in African folk art, wherin the creator would draw a grid of dots in the dirt and then use a finger to draw a continuous line between them in a wide variety of different ways, and the skill was in not hesitating or making any errors. I traced this and it was still hard! They're all really gorgeous.

Between teaching, freelance work, and completing my PG Cert, I am VERY BUSY at the moment, but sometimes it's important to find a couple of hours to go to Ikea and get plant balls for lunch. (I love living so near Ikea)

Me and Lucy went to visit some open studios near her house — mostly to see a fellow Brighton uni alumnus, Kaye Blegvad, but we were also lucky to bump into Alex Simpson and Claude D'Avoine as a bonus! We also saw a load of incredibly cool artists studios, including this one.

The open studios were near New Cross Gate and I was very enamoured with some of the typography I saw in signage there (especially Uncle Wrinkle Chinese Takeaway), so the next day I made this fun photomontage and typography. I have been playing a bit with using photography in my visual diaries sometimes — I can't escape the feeling it's a bit like cheating (obviously I could never do that when I was doing them by hand) but it also feels like something fresh to experiment with, and I do take a LOT of photos, so it's nice to have an outlet for some of them.

Crystal Palace Station is weird and beautiful, and even more so at night

Still having A BIT OF A TIME as I rediscover my glorious (!) natural menstrual cycle which I had switched off/muted for the last 20 years thanks to the pill. I stopped taking the pill to see if it improved my mood (after a particularly bad mental health summer). I DO feel better, but not like, dramatically transformatively so, but I am also sort of loathe to go back on it again in case it has made a difference. I've definitely been doing periods on easy mode for the last couple of decades though. On the bright side, I am hopefully WELL over halfway through all the periods I will ever have...

One of my freelance clients invited me to a christmas party at their offices on Regent Street 'to see the lights', but hilariously the one set of lights outside their window were not working. This is a bad drawing of some lights not on (which is actually very hard to draw?!)

A couple of months ago I agreed to spend this weekend dog-sitting for a friend in Brighton, but they decided not to go away, and I found myself a little disappointed about not getting to go for a mini break... so I took myself on a different one! And a great opportunity to visit more piers!!

First, I headed to Clevedon, (and many thanks to old friend Peach who drove me there from Bristol as there's no train station in Clevedon). Clevedon pier is BEAUTIFUL (and it was a totally gorgeous day). I really enjoyed myself.

Then I stayed in an Airbnb in Weston-super-mare, and the next day I visited the UK's shortest pier (Burnham-on-sea), and the two piers in Weston-super-mare, one of which is derelict. I walked a huge distance and had another glorious day by the sea (even if it was very grey)

The journey home was a bit annoying due to engineering works and an overtime strike at GWR, which sent me somewhat round the houses and on more trains than I would have wanted. Got back okay in the end though.

 

My friend Vicky took me to the sauna! I was too much of a baby to plunge pool so I overheated and felt like I might faint. Sauna amateur! I think I prefer the type of spa that has lots of pools instead, though I do feel like I'd go back again if asked...

(I like my teaching job)


 

ANOTHER FUCKING COLD!!! CURSED!!!

Feeling very crumbly and fragmented. Time to take a day off I guess. (I mean I never REALLY take a day off, there's too much to do, but sometimes at least I can do it from bed)

And then, in the midst of my horrible cold, I dropped my phone directly, precisely, on the toe I broke three years ago, and felt pretty convinced I'd broken right through it again. Felt thoroughly miserable at the prospect of being severely limited in walking AGAIN (having sprained my ankle in summer). CURSED!!

Dog always needs walking though. And actually I could still do it, if I took it slow and wore very forgiving shoes. The weather was AWFUL.

This LOOKS bad, but actually at this point I started to think maybe the toe wasn't actually broken again, just severely bruised. Phew.

Felt better enough to go visit some of my partner's friends all the way in exotic Leyton

I've been having therapy for the last 3 months or so and it's been super helpful in working through a whole bunch of messy brain stuff, but I simply cannot afford it any more. I plan to return in a few months, having finally found a therapist I don't hate. (This is a drawing of the waiting room at Crystal Palace station, where I sit and wait before going to therapy because there's no waiting room at the therapy place so I have to arrive bang on time. It's really creepy)

There she is! Not the dog I wanted, but the dog I got. We're still doing our best. She's a good girl (very) deep down.

Had an extremely nice night out with pals Ellis and V at a fairly-nearby boardgames cafe where we played FIVE games! Always delighted to find cool places and see nice people like, 20 minutes from my house.

And then the next night I had two of my three fav boys over for dinner!!! Davey all the way from Montana and Dav all the way from York! And both with absolutely stinking colds, so I am probably doomed to get sick again now, but it's worth it.

And today I walked another (part) section of the London Loop, from West Drayton to Uxbridge. I really enjoyed it (toe feeling almost totally better now!) though is was a bit of a mission getting there and back, to the far north west. 

On balance it's been a nice month of being quite focussed on my work, seeing lots of nice pals, hiking around lovely wintery places, and occasionally not even being sick!! I wonder what December has in store...

Thursday, 31 October 2024

October 2024


Well, if my summer was marred by poor mental health, my autumn has thus far been marred by poor physical health. Very much hoping to be doing better soon...


 
Historically, autumn has been a gloomy time, but I actually quite enjoy meeting each new year's batch of students and gesticulating excitedly at them about how EXCITING it is to be a new student (because, it is?)
 

At the moment it feels like life is all tasks. But long time readers of the visual diary will know that my life is always all tasks... Is this the life I have built for myself!? Is this everyone's life?! The trouble is, the only tasks that feel optional are usually the fun ones (like visual diary!)

A bad drawing of my park in the setting sun. I tried the grass about four different ways and couldn't get it right, so I gave up. I like the sky though. The main thing that made me draw this was I loved the way the dandelion seedheads were glowing in the setting sun.

I was really smug about getting the COVID and flu vaccines for free, that was until they DESTROYED ME. (And we all know the worst feeling is just wanting to sleep but being haunted by the duolingo owl)

After being wiped out for a day and a half, I still wasn't feeling great, but forced myself out to go see the model food exhibition at Japan House with my partner, and we loved it.

But I still felt like shit! None of the other vaccines knocked me out this long! Miserable!

No rest when you've got a dog though. (I've walked Charlie across the Yorkshire moors in the pouring rain while sicker than this, I can cope)

I was really excited to embrace red lipstick this year but after a few weeks I just can't decide if I like it. Also the maintenance is extremely tedious. Hm.

I save a LOT of recipes on instagram so I've been making a point of actually going back and cooking some of them. This one was quite a lot of work but as a (former) filet-o-fish fan I loved it.

I also adore lovingly drawing delicious food, so here is a passionate tribute to the absolute best lunch you can get in London for under a tenner (possibly for any money) —the cauliflower and tofu bowl from Pochi in Borough market. I could eat this every single day.

Still feeling like shit?! Getting increasingly anxious because my main symptoms were/are severe fatigue and all over body aches/stiffness. Like, every time I stand up from being sat down for a while at the moment it takes a few steps for my legs to be able to fully straighten. I feel like I've suddenly aged about 20 years overnight?! And all since I got that bloody covid vaccine? (Don't get me wrong, you should still get vaccinated if you can! But it has not treated me well and I am a bit frightened about whether this is going to be forever now)

Had a nice outing round Croydon with my former colleague honor to see some art (and think about trams)

Yes I went to see the play about the guy who designed the tube map, yes I loved it (thanks to Vicky for inviting me!)


The park is her buffet. (Having previously had very stable guts she has had terrible poops twice this month!)

On my good-packed-lunch game

I walk SO MUCH around just one park with Jessie, and I'm such a people watcher, that I feel like I know every single person who goes there regularly. The sad thing is, because Jessie is such a dickhead we have to keep our distance from everyone, which is a shame, as most of the other dog walkers seem to have a cute little gang that I wish I was part of :(

Until this week now I REALLY am sick, I had been persisting with the couch to 5k, I got to the point where I could run for 25 mins without stopping. But while all of my progress thus far (including getting up to the 25 minute marker) had felt easy, suddenly my entire body is protesting with every stride. Is it the running that's causing my all over body aches, or do I have unrelated all over body aches which are making my running horrible?! I hope I feel able to pick it up again soon because I was quite enjoying it until it became nothing but suffering

 Luckily the aches and pains have (mostly) not stopped my persistent stomping — a nice 8 miles or so round the outer edges of Heathrow with pal Jay, continuing the London Loop.

Love 2 think about festive imagery in October (no really I actually kinda do)


My partner has been getting really excited about cooking Indian food, I for one am not complaining.

Therapy is in bougie Crystal Palace which means I spend a lot of my walk there thinking about weird other lives I could live based on the high street shops (pottery club, pole dancing studio, milliner, exotic animals)

CAUTIONARY TALE!!! I started noticing my coats had a lot of what I thought was dust or dandruff on them, so ignored it for a while, until I realised the dust was ALIVE. I automatically assumed moth larvae, so duly ordered some parasitic wasps. But... I don't think they ARE moth larvae?! Because after cleaning all my coats and tidying the entire area, I traced them to their source — I carry a rucksack with me whenever I walk the dog that has a few essentials in (water, poo bags, pepper spray, keys, bit of money etc). I'd also stashed some treats in the bottom of the bag in case of a goodie emergency — I'd thought they were shelf stable but they'd actually totally rotted and were covered in horrible mould from which all the little guys were emanating (I drew larvae here but actually they're more like TINY white beetles). I then made the crucial mistake of putting the mouldy bag in the bin and not immediately emptying the bin. Within 24h every surface of my bin was CRAWLING with THOUSANDS of the bugs, I swear it was like something out of a horror movie. After a bit more research I established that they're more likely to be mould mites which means that unlike moth larvae, they seem to die after just a 30-40 degree wash (moth larvae need 60 degrees or freezing). I took all my coats outside and waited until they were bug free for a couple of days before returning them to the house. I took the bin in the garden and repeatedly bleached it day after day until the mites stopped emerging. In theory this is dealt with BUT my wheelie bin is perhaps forever doomed (because I then put the infected trash in there like an idiot, when I should clearly have like, incinerated it or something)

Anyway, tl;dr, mould mites are gross and bad, don't be remiss like me, if you find them, deal with them right away

Had to come home from work early due to intense fatigue, aches and sharp sore throat. But then it didn't really materialise into a fully fledged cold?! I hate this!!


 She patiently waits

BATTLE CONTINUES

Maybe if I could sleep for a couple of extra hours every night my problems would be solved?!

My partner's friend Arpit unexpectedly invited us to their huge diwali dinner, perhaps because of their current aforementioned interest in making Indian food. It was INCREDIBLE and I bought home an entire tupperware of idli for lunch the next day.

At Quaker church on Sunday someone talked very articulately about freedom vs responsibility and how the two play out and intersect in a life well lived. He said it more articulately than I can, but I tried to diagram it...

 Got some great spooky eyes nails for halloween

Having spent most of the month feeling a bit ill, I am now FULLY ILL!!! (With terrible sore throat, snot, classic cold, negative covid tests) Hoping this gets it out of my system because frankly I have a lot to do. Ugh. Onwards to a maybe feel-better November?!