Tuesday Ten

Ten little joys of the festive period

There have been so many lovely little things about this Christmas holiday, I am spoilt for choice, really. 

1. I started with a haircut. No picture, because the weather ruined the blowdry before I even got to the tube, but it looked fabulous. 

2. Secret Maps exhibit at the British Library. I expected this to be heavy on the 20th century and was pleasantly surprised by how many early modern maps there were to scrutinise. I particularly liked the one setting out the Canadian border after the American Revolution, that was apparently hidden by Britain in a later border dispute because it support an American claim. Classic. Love the idea that maps could just be hidden in a cupboard or something. 

3. Dinner with very long-term friend Richard, who I hadn't seen since 2019. He's a dad now. So weird. Love it. 

4. A stay at the NYX hotel in Holborn, with a visit to their spa. They gave me sweets on check in, amazing. I think I had a short stay booked here in April 2020 that I had to cancel: I remember the pool, which seems to have some sort of glass portion to the floor so you can see what's underneath it, whatever that is. I didn't have my glasses on, obvs. Also in London: a wander around Liberty (Christmas heaven) and then Fortnum and Mason (Christmas hell, solely due to the 30 million people all doing the same thing).

5. Dinner with Saff and Kate, enjoying a Jamaican feast, as in days of yore. 

6. I finished the Christmas jumper! Pictured here on its way to a carol concert, when it was not finished (I had not embroidered the berries across the back) but I completed it during a work meeting on the 22nd, perfect timing. 

7. A little blue Tiffany box of joy from Mr Z, who managed to buy me something I love that I didn't even know I wanted. I ordered him a much less indulgent gift and it hasn't even arrived yet, eek. 

8. Boxing Day walk with Mother Hand. We played Pooh sticks and fussed other people's dogs. 

9. A number of visits to the newish community sauna in Bristol that my knitting group friend Jess told me about. It's quite rustic but it does what it needs to. I haven't braved the 5 degree cold plunge yet...maybe tomorrow. 

10. A trip to hot yoga. I hadn't been since 2021; when I downloaded the app to book the sauna and it told me I already had a login, I realised it was the same app I used to book the hot yoga before, so decided to let fate guide me back. I picked a class with an instructor I used to see at bikram, who remembered me, which was nice. I don't mind doing yoga in a heated tent but I really do think I sweated more than anyone else and their showers seemed to be, once again, out of order. I remembered that that is why I didn't go back in 2021, when the showers were off-limits due to covid. I did not appreciate having to put a woolly jumper onto my clammy self. I want to go back but will need to make better wardrobe plans. 

Bonus: I've managed almost a whole week of 8+ hours sleep. Mostly 9+ hours, truth be told. I have completely stopped waking up at 6am. I am partly attributing this to the new Christmas PJs and new Christmas bedding (Christmas hit this house hard this year). Next week is going to be B R U T A L but I have enjoyed this week. 

2025 Round Up: Reads

It has not been a good year for reading! My poor brain. She has been so overwhelmed. There have been any number of academic articles pertaining to assessment sprinkled throughout the year, so my downtime (that's what I call my daily commute) has been full of music and radio rather than audioobooks. Audible probably think I've died. 

Fiction:

Amor Towles - Gentleman of Moscow. A hangover from 2024, I did enjoy this so much and it had an ending that I found satisfactory, when that might not have been the case. 

Michiko Aoyama - What You are Looking for is in the Library. A secret Santa gift. Translated from Japanese and with a crafty theme (needle-felting) - a collection of loosely connected stories. Not something I would ever have chosen but it was a great January read. 

KJ Maitland - Rivers of Treason; Plague of Serpents. The last two in the quartet. I smashed through the first one really quickly but the final one took some time and, if I'm honest, it just wasn't very good. I loved the first of these, which was set in Bristol, but these felt a lot more hurriedly written. 

Angela Slatter - All the Murmuring Bones. Not what I was expecting at all. I don't know how I came across this book but I enjoyed it a lot - the idea of mer people as a menacing threat was compelling. 

Kathryn Stockett - The Help. I have watched this film many times. Each time I watch it now I can spot the gaps where they clearly cut scenes (or important story bits) for time and so I thought I'd read it and see if I'd correctly filled the gaps. Mostly, yes. Emma Stone was not tall enough for that role though (but I love Emma Stone so I will overlook it). 

Yaa Gyasi - Homegoing. Overlapping stories of descendants of west African people caught up in slavery. This came highly recommended and it did not disappoint. The stand-out moment in the book for me (without trying to spoilt it) was the mum yelling at her son that she hadn't dragged them out of slavery for him to make such bad choices - it has stayed with me. 

Bonnie Garmus - Lessons in Chemistry. This might be my winner of the year. It is very light but exceptionally humorous, I lol'd a lot, much to Zoe's bemusement. I like the occasional scenes through the eyes of the dog. 

Maggie O'Farrell - The Marriage Portrait. The language in this was sumptuous. I'm impressed that a whole novel grew out of one line in a poem about a portrait. I haven't read Hamnet and probably won't, since it's been adapted now and I will watch that, but this encourages me to - she writes so beautifully. I still think about the interaction with the tiger. 

Kiran Millwood Hargrave - The Mercies. I like anything set in Scandinavia, particularly in the winter months because dark and stormy is such a vibe, particularly on a summer holiday. I should probably have read it BEFORE I went to Norway but, meh. 

Gabrielle Zevin - Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow. This had a strong 'A Little Life' vibe for me, possibly because it is human relationships followed over a number of decades; that meant that I fully anticipated one of the big twisty moments in the book. But it didn't spoil it. I really enjoyed the nostalgia vibe of this - gaming and early internet in the 90s. I was on the edge of that culture. 

Malcolm Saville - Lone Pine Five. Mother Hand returned this to me in the summer. I don't remember it from my childhood but I had written my name in it so...

This had a very strong Famous Five vibe but those 1940s gender stereotypes were very strong. It also finished quite abruptly. But it was a good palate cleanser at the end of the summer.

Toni Morrison - Beloved. Put it off in the summer because everyone talks about how dark it is; I'm still only 60% of the way through. It's good but not gripping me. 

Non-fiction:

Silvia Federici - Caliban and the Witch. Such an interesting book! I haven't finished it yet but I crashed through half of the audiobook on my journey to and from Wonderwool in April and it gave me such a useful insight into medieval life. The gist (as far as I can work out) is that the subjugation of women happened as a result of the rise of capitalism, rather than religion. Federici also highlighted that the best time to be a peasant in Europe was the end of the middle ages, when European peasants ate an average of 100kg of meat a year - this must outstrip the meat consumption of the poorest in Europe today by some margin, even with factory farming. 

Honestly - fascinating. Cannot wait to have more brain power so I can listen to the rest. 

Sarah Wynn-Williams - Careless People. Not at all surprising, none of it. I'm amazed Facebook is bothering to sue her for defamation, isn't this just a description of how all the super-rich behave to protect their wealth? As if they care what anybody thinks of them, I hardly think they're weeping into their enormous piles of cash. 

It was pretty grim to hear the algorithm that serves teen girls beauty ads just after they delete a selfie laid bare, though. And possibly more horrifying that the top brass didn't seem aware that this was happening. 

I was also reminded of an article I read back in 2016, that I haven't been able to find in recent years. Tim Harford retweeted it and I can find the original tweet in my Twitter archive but it's a shortlink that has since expired. Anyway - it was somebody theorising that Big Tech wanted a Trump win, even though they purported not to, because censorship and low taxes are in their best interests. It was a very interesting read. Almost ten years on, in this barren landscape that used to be a thriving internet community, I feel it. 

Autumn Goals

Having a goals list for this past term has been a little bit of a lifesaver. I know I banged on about being overworked but this week, when I have some downtime (last night I watched the Bake Off final and then went to bed, what a treat), I'm appreciating even more how busy it was. However, thanks to The List, I did prioritise some nice things and even did things I might have otherwise cancelled because I'm very much a list-ticker. 

Not too bad. Let's start with the non-ticks. The kayak did not come out, though I did make plans with my friend Lizzy to go on a joint paddle, but the weather wasn't really friendly and, as Lizzy has recently moved, she didn't have much time either. I did one glow swim but couldn't manage to fit another one in, Thursdays have been busy. And 11 gym visits is not too shabby, especially when combined with almost weekly PT and yoga sessions. I'm noticing the benefits of not having taken the summer months (when I'd usually go to the quarry to swim) off the gym. 

I fitted in the woodland walk this past Sunday, when we went to Lacock for a wander and then a Sunday lunch which was much-hyped but ultimately quite disappointing as we waited ages and the food was tepid. But nevermind. The foliage was beautiful (thankfully not all blown away) and it was that gorgeous crisp sunny autumn weather. 

As you can see, Mr Z was overjoyed to be there. 

I got out the tin of pumpkin that I thought was a couple of years old, only to find it had gone out of date in 2021. I opened it with trepidation and it seemed good, so I made it into pancakes with this recipe - the loaf cake I like so much needed a bit more than one tin and I couldn't find any for sale, and couldn't be bothered to make my own. 

Trick or treating with the smalls happened. Lara went as Tinkerbell and had the best wings. Mati was Peter Pan in what looked suspiciously like a Robin Hood costume. We got rained on towards the end but it did not spoil my second year in a row admiring the efforts of Kingston residents to spook the local children. 

Matching jumpers. I should also have bought matching torches but you live and learn. 

I saw Poppy's play in Bath, it turned out an old colleague's husband was one of the musicians and I think I saw an ex-student in the audience. The back garden could definitely have had more tidying but it is much much better than it was. I need to do a tip run, really. I made mango chutney and crab apple jelly.  I wore all the old BPAL autumn perfumes I've got and decided I've gone off them, so I should probably get those on eBay at some point; but I did rediscover one that I really like, so I've started wearing that more. And I have ticked the Christmas jumper because I have knitted about a third of it, but it's the complicated third with the colourwork, so I am hoping it will now be plain knitting and I can get it done by the start of December...it's on the Autumn 2 list as well. 

And I now HAVE THE BOOTS! As previously mentioned, I did hope they weren't going to fit but, they do, and they are lovely. A bit hard on the toes as I'm not used to pointy shoes, but I will persevere. And cut my toenails. 

Don't be judging my dirty mirror, I am much too busy to clean you know. 

2025 Week 42

10 weeks left of this year! Time flies when you're working hard. 

An exciting development in my work life this week, as I was actually able to finish writing a to-do list. Up until this point, the to-do list just finished when the space ran out and not everything was on it. This week, that list had an end! I didn't reach it. But it was there. If everything goes to plan, I might be able to have next Saturday as a full day without any work. This is overwhelmingly exciting. I can tell you that my last such day was August 17th. 

Workwise this week, I have been working on a task for another exam board, after applying for a side hustle with them; chipping away at a poor version of the first part of my dissertation, which I shame-facedly submitted even though I felt it was awful; writing a paper, or trying to; and marking Y8 books for the first time in a number of years. This last task has been more of a pleasure than I was expecting. I haven't taught that year group for a while and I love the curriculum; I'd also forgot how exciting it is when you start to see those first whispers of them understanding the point of what you're doing. I saw the week out at an assembly some of our sixth formers did on colonisation and language. Even thought I didn't teach them any of the content that they shared in the assembly, I felt immensely proud because I feel like our curriculum gave them the skills and motivation to go and find out more. This is the sort of thing that reminds me why I'm in the job.

Just when I think I'm getting out, they pull me back in. 

No reading has taken place but Mr Z and I are now at the end of series 3 of The Wire, which is technically a rewatch but I never got past the middle of series 4 and Mr Z can't remember much. It's such smart drama and so interesting to watch story arcs unfold over a number of episodes. Dominic West's accent though...ooft. You can sort of tell they had no money for actors in the first series or they wouldn't have cast so many Brits. 

While watching, I've been knitting the Christmas jumper and have divided for the sleeves and done the collar, but it's cooling off for a bit while I try to churn out a second unicorn jumper for Nibling number 2. I am seeing them for trick or treating in just under a fortnight so I have quite the deadline. Hoping I can get through the last ten rows of colourwork tomorrow and then it's plain knitting for the rest of the week. 

I went to see Nicola Sturgeon at her book tour talk in Bath on Thursday. One of those that I was not especially drawn to, but I felt like I had to hear her, yknow? She was as charismatic as you'd expect a successful politician of 37 years' experience to be and even spent some time talking about her favourite books, which I loved, of course. 

Can't believe we're already this far through October. It was fully dark by 7pm tonight. I had a pumpkin spice latte today from a local cafe and it was actually nice (I cannot cope with the sugary chemical flavour of the Starbucks version). Tomorrow, I might even don some tights. We'll see. Maybe I will try to make it to half term bare-legged. 

2025 Week 37

Today would have been Father Hand's 75th birthday. I had quite a vivid dream about him this week, during which we had a conversation, where he told me he was going to go to prison for a while (in a way that made it sound like a choice he was making, rather than due to a crime) and he thought he might give heroin a try, because he'd never tried it and wondered what it was like. I have noted that my dreams have been increasingly more vivid and uncomfortable than ever this summer, but this one was really odd. 

Happy heavenly birthday, Father Hand. Stay off the smack. 

This has been a week of epic length. It started with Mother Z's funeral. She received a terminal cancer diagnosis just before last Christmas and lasted for eight months. During that time, in typical Mother Z fashion, she got absolutely everything relating to her departure organised to the letter, down to the shop where her immediate family were to buy their black funeral suits. She chose the music - recordings of choirs she was in - and the pictures for the slide show. She even wrote her own eulogy. It was exactly as she would have wanted it and it was standing room only. A sad occasion but a good celebration of her long life. 

The rest of the week was a chaotic whirlwind of work. I began with heavy overwhelm but had started to see the wood for the trees by Friday. The to-do list is gradually abating and I have had the 'I need to quit my job' conversation with Mr Z that he reminds me happens every September. There is definitely a little shadow over my shoulder of the dissertation that I have made no further moves with, but it has been less than a fortnight since the launch days so I think I will be OK. 

What else has happened? Hmm, hmm. I spoke at an online conference on Thursday evening. I came down with a horrible cold on Wednesday that swept on very quickly, so I skipped yoga and went to bed at 9pm. Happily I felt better when I woke up, though Mr Z has since succumbed to the same and we wonder if it might be covid. We did at least make it to brunch yesterday. 

Progress was made on the nice goals list. The fancy boots arrived and they are gorgeous and they do actually fit, which is good, really, but I was anticipating sending them back as they were quite spendy. Now I just have to make sure I wear them. I also did a lot of preserving last Sunday (hence the no blogging, I was at capacity) and churned out nine jars of crab apple jelly and six jars of mango chutney. 

I am at row 34 of 50 on the colourwork chart of the Christmas jumper and feeling slightly less worried about running out of yarn: for some stupid reason, I bought the yarn required for a size L when I was in Oslo over the summer, as opposed to the 2XL that I am knitting. This isn't an easy problem to fix: according to the pattern, I am 100g of sport weight and 50g of laceweight short. However, based on current progress, I think I will be OK. I have some ideas for getting round it if I run out, anyway, here they are in order of preference: knit it slightly cropped; add green bands to the sleeves/waist to save on the white; knit it with elbow-length sleeves; contact the yarn shop and ask if they can ship me some more; find someone in Oslo and ask them if they can go into the shop, buy some and send it to me. I think the most likely scenario is that I will have enough sport weight but run out of laceweight, but as they're carried together, I can get more of the laceweight (which is more easily available in the UK, thankfully) and even though the dye lot will be different it probably won't be THAT noticeable. It is the undyed colourway, after all. 

To go with the knitting, I had to find some things to watch, so I worked my way through the first eight episodes of Ken Burns's Vietnam War, which was actually much better than I was anticipating. Then it was removed from Now TV, because of course it was. Trying to decide if I want to see the end enough to buy the final episodes on Amazon Prime. I reckon if I just wait long enough, it will pop up on another service. The Mr Z declared it was time to rewatch The Wire (I never finished it all on the first watch through anyway) and I decided today that I would give Yellowstone a try. The jury is out. I like the landscapes but it doesn't really feel like it is for me. 

Tuesday Ten

Ten goals (plus two more goals) to achieve in autumn (deadline: November 1st). 

I made a list. It had ten things on it. Then I went to Oxford and my friend Poppy told me she was going to be in a play and so I added her to it. Then I remembered the very spendy boots I wanted to buy last year and had been dithering over again throughout August, so they made it onto the list too. So now it's 12, not 10. But I think a 'number of gym visits' goal doesn't really count, does it? 

No wait, it does. Tuesday twelve is better than Tuesday eleven. 

The boots are arriving tomorrow. The kitchen is full of preserves. The Christmas jumper is on the needles. I smell like some kind of apple and pumpkin pie. Autumn, I am in you. 

Summer holiday goals

I mentioned in my last post that I wrote a summer holiday list, inspired by an online friend who did the same to try to give his summer a bit of structure. It made me nostalgic for when I used to do monthly goal-setting on this blog. I'm not going to say I will restart because, well, yknow, I don't need any more deadlines in my life to feel guilty about not meeting. But I liked this and am going to work on an autumn version. 

Not too bad at all. I tried to keep it mixed and all fun stuff. Ginge is my car and Mr Z washed it for me last week, love him. 'Night out with friends' was my slightly more sanitised version of 'get drunk' because I never allow that anymore, I can never afford to lose the next day to the inevitable eye-wateringly early wake up and therefore essential afternoon nap that a lot of alcohol causes, but I decided this was me being a bit too controlling of myself and so we had the wine flight with the tasting menu in Oslo and then went for cocktails after. It is classic me to aim to get drunk in what must be the second soberest capital in Europe (our tour guide told us Norway is a lot of seconds...second greenest capital, second highest coffee consumption...). 

The house clean jobs turned into a bit of a decluttering mission but I think that's OK. I pulled out all the bags that were jumbled by the fridge and counted them...why did I need 64 reusable shopping bags, when I do the vast majority of my grocery shopping online?

Spot the horrified Lenin in picture one, appalled that a new space has become available to explore in the kitchen but there is this enormous barrier suddenly in front of it. 

It was quite hard getting rid of some of these, turns out I am weirdly emotionally attached to some bags, but I was inspired by the tote that said 'collect memories not things' (the irony) and so over half of these got donated to the local foodbank. I also had eight kitchen aprons, of which I need to ditch six. Sorting for charity shop and ragging must surely be a job for this next season. 

I didn't mean to count PT sessions and yoga towards the gym visits so really I only made it to five. I intended to go today but, here I am, just clearing the decks before I pop off to Oxford for my dissertation workshops, so I guess I paid them for the month of August and didn't use it. But that's OK. I am looking forward to getting back to it.

I will have to put the kayak on the autumn list. I haven't had her out once yet this year, shame.