2026 Week 35

I have many posts I'd like to make about my summer, but really I need to save as much writing energy as I can for finishing the dissertation, so I will content myself with just a brief update about the past week. 

I spent last weekend down in Kent with my family, Mother Hand grew up there and wanted to take the grandchildren back to see it. We rented a house right next to the beach, so I got up each morning, donned swimwear and my dressing gown and then went out and got straight in the water. What a dream! I suppose I wouldn't be able to do this every day in my everyday life but I do wish I was living by the sea again. 

It was the usual family saga. I won't bore you. But I had a lot of fun with the niblings. 

I drove home on Monday and have spent most of the rest of the week seated at my computer, doing mark reviews, prepping school work or (the bulk) working on the dissertation. I'm just over 14,000 words now and feeling like the end of the first draft might be in sight. Maybe. I want to try to finish my results section today. 

There was some social activity as well. On Thursday I fitted in a quarry swim and dinner with my friend Caroline, whom I haven't seen in person for nearly two years. We had a great catch up, she is so much fun to hang out with. Then on Friday I went to the opening of the new Coconut Tree on Bristol centre with my local Bristol friends, our first get together since Christmas. Also lots of fun although we did not have great service, in spite of the fact there were at least seven people working front of house. They did comp us the drinks, at least, and the food was good, but it was a bit painful. Nevermind - more time for catching up. 

I also made it to hot yoga and we tried a new location for knitting group, which was indeed pretty dark. The hunt for a central, accessible cafe with gluten free and vegan options that has enough space and light for us continues (spoiler: it doesn't exist). 

I finished knitting the blue jumper I've been working on for a couple of months, only to realise that it is very similar to another jumper I have already knitted - but without the big lightning bolt, so probably a bit easier to wear. I might make a post about it when it's dried from its blocking and I can photograph it.

No reading, but I started a new audiobook on the drive home from Kent, How the South Won the Civil War, which seems like it will be very interesting. I finally finished watching Euphoria, they really have ensured that's not coming back though I feel there might be a Fay/Wayne spin off hinted at. Mr Z and I have been watching Legends which is really very good, we're a bit sad it is only six episodes and one season but presumably that's how it's going to stay very good. 

Throwaway Thursday: cassette cases

An occasional series that I might also title, 'Things in my house that are basically rubbish but I am a borderline hoarder and cannot bring myself to throw them out'. The idea is to memorialise such things here and then bin them for good.

In case you hadn't guessed, I've been doing some clearing out over the summer. My main aim in life is to get to a situation where everything I own and use can be stored away in a sensible and accessible location. Thus, I decided that keeping things I use when travelling (rubber ring, mosquito plug in, sun hat, adapter plugs) in a box under the spare room bed was not supportive of this goal and I decided to clear out/consolidate the boxes in the office, to make room for this stuff. 

As part of this, I found a new home for my old cassette tapes. These lived in my school shoe bag and, in the last round of clearing out, I could not part with them. Before I opened the bag, I reorganised the box of DVDs that I brought home 10 years ago, when I left my last place of employment, and got rid of about a dozen DVDs so I'd have room for the cassettes.

I know, it just doesn't have to make sense though, OK?

Space cleared, I opened the bag. Ah, the cassette mix I bought in Tenerife in 1996! My Now double edition tapes! And...oh wait, this seems to be a tape recording of my Uncle and Aunt's wedding from before I was born, they got divorced at least 20 years ago, I probably don't need that. Oh but my mix tapes!...but wait...there are no tapes in these cases.

No. Tapes. In. These. Cases.

OK, now this is where it not making sense actually is a problem. Why did I choose to keep these? 

Short answer: I no longer have. They're easily recycled as they are all plastic. I took pictures of the carefully-recorded track listing in each one and can make myself playlists so I can relive the Walkman days. Well, some of them anyway. Having dived deep down a hole on YouTube, I can confirm there's a very good reason why I don't remember some of these songs.

Throwaway Thursday: electric toothbrushes

An occasional series that I might also title, 'Things in my house that are basically rubbish but I am a borderline hoarder and cannot bring myself to throw them out'. The idea is to memorialise such things here and then bin them for good.

A complicated feeling, this one. Mother Hand bought me these toothbrushes for Christmas and it was not very long ago. I asked for one; she picked up a two-pack by accident, which undoubtedly cost her a lot more money, as Mr Z pointed out a day or two later. I used them both: one while the other charged. 

At some point, though, I got seduced by an online advert for Suri. I was excited about the prospect of travelling with no additional chargers and being able to send brush heads back for recycling, so I bought one, intending to just use it for a travel toothbrush. But then I liked it, a lot, so I stopped using the old ones. They have sat on the bathroom windowsill now for a year. 

So - a complicated thing to throw away. Firstly, I have daughter guilt about throwing away something Mother Hand spent a fair amount of money on. Secondly, they're not dead yet, though the rubberised handles have no gone sticky with disuse. Thirdly, they are small electricals and, although I will put them out for recycling, I'm not 100% convinced the small electricals I send with the kerb collection actually get recycled. 

This is why I have so much stuff in my house, isn't it? I will tell myself (1) a present, once given, has done its job and what happens to it next is nothing to do with the original; and (2) and (3) one day, they will need to be binned. Nobody is going to be horrified at not being offered the opportunity to use my second hand electric toothbrush. Waiting longer won't make them more recyclable. 

They can go in the green box for the next collection. I absolve myself of any guilty feelings. 

Throwaway Thursday: the purple folder

An occasional series that I might also title, 'Things in my house that are basically rubbish but I am a borderline hoarder and cannot bring myself to throw them out'. The idea is to memorialise such things here and then bin them for good.

I can't tell you how long I lusted after this folder. I saw it, this exact shade of shiny lilac, in a Ryman, circa 1994. There was no Ryman in Portsmouth. I had no need for a ring binder - I hauled all of my notes around in a lever arch file that I had plastered with bits I'd cut out of magazines, with notes from my friends written on the inside covers. (That makes me a little sad because I'd love to read those notes again). 

With no easy access to a Ryman and no need for a new folder, this folder remained unpurchased for a long time. My lovely Mother Hand tried to get me one like it, but it was never the right purple or it wasn't shiny or it didn't have white insides or some other absolutely miniscule detail that was exceptionally important to me as an ungrateful swine of a teenager. 

I can't remember when I actually bought this; it would either have been when I was studying for A-level Business Studies in the year before I went to uni, or while I was at uni. Or perhaps it was after. I don't remember the exact, choirs of angels, halo'd in gold moment when I finally parted with hard-earned cash for it. But I remember very clearly the visceral desire I felt for it, over a period of years. I'd visit it in Ryman every time I went past one. This has meant that I haven't thrown it out, even though it is faded, and scratched, and has lain empty for a number of years, since I decided notes on educational ICT from 2002 were probably never going to be useful again. No, I have hoarded it. 

It turns out, though, this is actually from Woolworths. Somewhere along the way, my Ryman dream merged with something more accessible and the lack of stickers, notes and otherwise suggests it arrived in my life some distance past full-time education. So it is a cuckoo. It is not the totem I had convinced myself it was. 

I'm not throwing it out though; it can come to school and start a new life as a sixth former's day folder. It, too, deserves stickers and graffiti from friends. 

Adventures with dyeing: Boden coat

It occurred to me when I posted my last dyeing post that I think most of the people who read this are very accomplished dyers and my little machine dyeing escapades are not that adventurous, but I will keep posting about them because I am always pretty excited with how things turn out but have a terrible habit of taking a few pictures and then never sharing them anywhere. 

Such as - possibly my most successful attempt yet - the Boden coat. 

I actually blogged about buying this coat back in 2008. All summer long, I had marked extra (and this was, I believe, real paper extras) to build up the funds for a purple and purple spotty coat from Boden. It would have been my first proper coat. For some reason, I did not buy it - instead, I bought this cord version, which was machine washable and warmer and cheaper. It has been an exceptionally wearable and useful coat. There are many, many picture of me wearing it over the years. Here are my favourite things about it:

1. As stated, it is machine washable - and it has been through the machine many times. 

2. It only has four buttons but they are spaced so well that one could wear it as a garment. 

3. The third button down nips in at exactly the right point, just above my waist, to create a very flattering empire line. 

4. It is warm and, although it really isn't waterproof at all, it will absorb the rain and keep me dry. It does then need a day off to dry out, though. 

5. It has good deep pockets. 

I have a number of coats now but this is the one I kept coming back to, until I didn't. I realised a couple of years back that I never reached for it anymore and tried to think about why. It was clean and I'd resecured the buttons, but it had done that thing that navy garments do when they are washed a lot, which is that it had started to become a little brown, especially around the collar. It had gone from faded navy to really very faded and actually perhaps it is grey now navy. I might have used the word drab. Even worse, it was kind of patchy.

I did think about giving it to charity, but I thought that it might end up in the ragging pile and I really think this is the perfect coat. Boden don't make anything like it since they took that VC money and got really big - they do some cord blazers now and then but nothing you can put in a machine to wash (actually you can't even spot clean them, they are very poorly dyed, I fear to get caught in the rain in mine). So I decided I would try to revive it, based on Mr Z's old adage of 'If it's not something you're wearing anyway, you might as well try anything because you've got nothing to lose'.

I removed all the buttons and the little faux belt on the back. I said goodbye to the colour of the lining, which I realised was also going to go, though exactly how I could not be sure. I then machine dyed it - this one took three pods of navy machine dye. Sadly I forgot to include the faux back belt so I had to scrap that, but I was not overly sad because the results of the re-dye were splendid. 

Here's Lenin, inspecting it. 

When I say it is like a whole new coat...I have had many compliments, many people asking where I got it, many more wears out of something that had been sadly neglected for too many years. Here it is, hamming it up with me on the streets of Almaty a month after it was dyed:

Just a whole new lease of life! It dyed very evenly; the lining retained its pattern, if you look hard enough, and the sleeve lining stayed olive green. There is a little bunching on the inside around the hem, probably as a result of being washed and spun three times on the bounce without any shaking/smoothing, but I have taken to fidgeting with it when I'm wearing it, to work the inside seams flat again and, anyway, it's one of those things I don't think you would notice unless you were wearing it. 

I do think this is what clothes should be, right? This is going into its 18th winter. I live in a city and work in a school so my coats are not going to take a lot of abuse. I hugely appreciate something that I can clean myself and rework when it gets a bit past it. Kind of sad that Boden don't espouse those values any more. 

2026 Week 31

Five weeks since I've managed a Sunday update! In that time, I've managed to finish off (allegedly) the summer exam series, complete the last three and a half weeks of the school year (which included four days in Birmingham and a sports day, but very little actual teaching) and add about 3000 words to the dissertation. There has been much lolling around doing little silly bits on the computer and playing endless hands of Freecell on my phone. There has been some arguing with pension providers because the exam board managed to get my date of birth wrong when they updated their payment system earlier this year. That's all the annoying stuff, anyway. 

On the plus side, there have been trips - I went to Oxford for an overnight to do dissertation work right after we broke up, which included a swim in the Thames at Fiddlers Island, off Port Meadow. I have wanted to swim here since my first uni visit to Oxford but have not been brave enough to go in alone. This time, I walked over there promising myself I would only get in if other people were there, and there were, so I did. Of course, being me, I could not get in where everyone else was, so I waded in at a likely-looking spot that was so deep with mud it almost tugged off my sandal. I spent the rest of the swim slightly concerned that I had a footful of leeches or some other problem - I did not. 

It's very pretty there and the water flows from two places, rejoining under a bridge, off of which some lads were leaping. I overheard them telling some dog-walker that they'd travelled all the way from Aylesbury for a swim. At that point I was gently swimming towards the middle arch of the bridge; one of them said, 'Oh I will just jump in once more' and came to right above where I was, climbing onto the parapet to prepare to jump. I really think he did not even see me, so I had to take swift evasive action and he landed a few feet away. I know there's a whole thing about middle aged women being invisible, but come on. 

I quite fancied a jump from the bridge but then decided I couldn't know the depth and didn't want to deal with wet hair, so I contented myself with just bobbing about. Said boys then moved on to going off a rope swing, though I noted with interest that they were ever so fraidy about letting go - not that surprising, maybe, because poor timing might have landed them painfully on the bank. It made me think about the fear. On the other side of me were a couple of girls who were contemplating one day bring like 'that lady' (me) and going out of their depth. There was me, contemplating jumping off the bridge. Then there were the bridge jumpers, contemplating going off the swing. I wonder if there were people on the meadow, contemplating getting in the water. I am not sure what might be scarier than going off the rope swing. 

I got a fair amount done in Oxford but not the full first draft, as I wanted. I was supposed to work on it all this week but I managed an hour on Friday, pretty pathetic. But it will get done. I have convinced myself that it could now be completed in one 48-hour burst - not well, but finished - and so I have lost any motivation to work on it. It will come on holiday with me and maybe I will find my groove again. 

After Oxford I hot-footed it off to London for many excursions and catch ups. I did 37,000 steps in two days and my knee is still talking about. I began in Richmond on Sunday, with a visit to Ham House with Burhan (very little ham, but not one of those NT houses where the owners don't really want you there, so that was good). From there I went to my hotel by St Paul's and had a drink in their slightly disappointing rooftop bar, great views but poor service and what seemed to be a pre-mixed cocktail. It was deliciously cold up there, though, which was very welcome. There were a couple of women I'd given directions to earlier in the evening, huddled on a sofa, wrapped in blankets like old nonnas. I lasted one drink and one chapter of Dracula and then went to bed. 

Monday was the busy day. I went to the sauna first thing, marred by the pumping Europop (why?!); then I went to St Paul's and immediately climbed to the roof to enjoy the views. I scouted Ally Pally and took a picture of it. I returned to ground level for the tour I'd booked, taking in Tyndale's bible - which involved reclimbing a whole bunch of stairs. From there, I hot-footed my way over to Somerset House for the Escher exhibition, which I really loved. I even managed to piss off a man by not doing what he wanted, bonus. 

From there, over to the V&A for the Schiaparelli exhibition. I loved this, such fun clothes, but I didn't realise there was a modern iteration and I'm not sure if it was really my thing. The old stuff though - superb. Loved it. I could have spent a lot longer there, but I was getting a bit browsed out by that point, so I went back to the hotel for a micro-rest and then over to the ladies pond on Hampstead Heath for a swim. It was much warmer than last year and a lot busier, but also a lot more ducklings - so cute. 

Sample conversation:

Girl 1: Our limit it 2.3

Girl 2: And what is Matt putting in? 

Pause

Girl 2: 1.1? 1.2?

Girl 1: 1.4

Girl 2: So you're capping at 900,000? Well you work hard enough...

Girl 1: Stop, it's...Mind your business!

Girl 2: You are my business.

Hampstead, eh? 

From there I went over to AP and took a picture of St Paul's, so I could meld them together for a morning/evening comparison. 

I'm way too excited about this. 

I met one of the exam board guys for drinks, which was fun. We normally only see each other once a year at a conference but this year we have managed three. We never seem to run out of things to talk about and chatted until I was much colder than I realised. 

The next day was meant to be another sauna and a swim before my haircut and getting the train home but I managed to leave my swimmers at the pond, so gutted. I managed to find the bikini top for sale on ebay and bought it right away, but had to replace the bottoms with some other bottoms - which are actually a better blue, it must be said. And those bottoms were starting to go a little white-thready, like when the elastic goes. But I hate losing things and so that was pretty annoying. I even joined the Facebook group for the pond and someone went to look in lost property for me, to no avail. Ah well. I hope they are off having amazing adventures on someone who really appreciates them.

I should note, here, that I did not need to replace them. I have too many swim items, I can't stop buying bikinis since they started to be more commonly available in my size. But - I repeat - I hate losing things. Even telling myself that I could have lost something more valuable - my phone, my headphones, my purse, my laptop - didn't make me feel better. 

What else has happened? I had lunch with Alex, back from Kazakhstan before starting a new job in China (new place to visit). I had dinner with my friend Vanessa. Mr Z and I celebrated 20 years of marriage by having his family over for ribs and cake. 

I've been working on the sleeves of the jumper I'm knitting, they are going slowly but they are going. Mr Z and I watched The Hawk on Netflix this week, which we enjoyed: I feel like Will Ferrell is a very safe pair of hands for comedy. I started watching The Five Star Weekend and I need to finish Euphoria, I have put it on my summer holiday list. 

I finished reading Dracula, I had forgotten how abrupt the ending was and so it left me a little HUH. I dived straight into Yesteryear which everyone seems to love but I just didn't. I like the premise but the story wasn't especially well-developed. I wonder if I don't really get on with books where every character is meant to be unlikeable, or whether I don't like books that have no redemption or happy ending, but it wasn't for me. I was left feeling like the author had a great idea for a book, and then the film studios got wind of it and made her write it how they wanted it to be - so it's the book of a series that hasn't yet been made, sort of thing. That would explain why it felt like it lacked depth. Happily, it only took me about three days to plough through it and I made a start on a library book, At First Light, that I will need to set aside from tomorrow because it is holiday time!