It was suggested we should write a blog as well as the reflective journal, I may combine it with this. Everyone seems very friendly, curious about the "old lady" but happy to chat.
Wednesday, 7 September 2011
Student!
First day of real work I had to draw a picture of a photo of myself aged about 4. I remember the dress so clearly, a white&aqua striped party dress with at least one petticoat. I loved it because the fabric was so soft, still a real weakness, what I wear must feel nice. I also wore a turquoise, pearl & gold brooch, a christening present from my Godmother, Big Jane. The drawing was a bit better than expected as it's the first time I've really done a portrait.
It was suggested we should write a blog as well as the reflective journal, I may combine it with this. Everyone seems very friendly, curious about the "old lady" but happy to chat.
It was suggested we should write a blog as well as the reflective journal, I may combine it with this. Everyone seems very friendly, curious about the "old lady" but happy to chat.
Tuesday, 6 September 2011
At Last
Finally enrolment day! Not much to it I suspect, get ID card, car park pass, pay fees & get timetable. I've had some panic art gallery visits & painting sessions! I went to Tate Britain & Tate Modern the other day. Discovered a new-to-me artist, John Craxton, I recommend him!
I tried some pictures in his style, I may add them.
I tried some pictures in his style, I may add them.
Saturday, 3 September 2011
Next 10 Travel Memories, Haiku 32
31. More sleepless-with-fear-and-excitement nights before leaving everything and going to India for six months, friends seeing me off with champagne at Heathrow.
32. Arriving and being taken straight to a cricket match, never been a fan, trying to stay awake.
33. More in Calcutta than the brain can take in, noise, bustle, chaos, smells, smoke, animals and people living on the streets, decayed opulence, the Kali Temple, Tibetan Market, long Hindi Movies, Marble Palace, Jain Temple, pugla tree...
34. Buying a stone Ganesh in Mahabillipuram which I still have, carrying his bulk for weeks.
35. Getting bed bugs waiting for the ferry to Sri Lanka, waking on the sleeper to Colombo in a transformed landscape. (see haiku)
36. Visiting the tea estate, Concordia, in Nurawa Eliya where my Mother was born and brought up, hearing the invisible bullfrogs in the mist, white arums by the stream.
37. The Taj Mahal by starlight as well as in full sun, one of not many places better than the best pictures. Much less white, much smaller and inlaid with semi-precious stones, large numbers of bats in the surrounding buildings.
38. Cycling through Jodhpur, colliding with a camel, sitting with a sadhu watching red-vented bulbuls in his tree.
39. The Jain Temples at Mount Abu, superlatives cannot do justice to the delicate subtle-colour-intricate-saints-and-lotus-flowers carvings.
40. Travelling all the way to Ootacamund to find real cheese, finding red bananas, good bookshops, a terribly British rowing club and church, but tasteless processed cheese.
32. Arriving and being taken straight to a cricket match, never been a fan, trying to stay awake.
33. More in Calcutta than the brain can take in, noise, bustle, chaos, smells, smoke, animals and people living on the streets, decayed opulence, the Kali Temple, Tibetan Market, long Hindi Movies, Marble Palace, Jain Temple, pugla tree...
34. Buying a stone Ganesh in Mahabillipuram which I still have, carrying his bulk for weeks.
35. Getting bed bugs waiting for the ferry to Sri Lanka, waking on the sleeper to Colombo in a transformed landscape. (see haiku)
36. Visiting the tea estate, Concordia, in Nurawa Eliya where my Mother was born and brought up, hearing the invisible bullfrogs in the mist, white arums by the stream.
37. The Taj Mahal by starlight as well as in full sun, one of not many places better than the best pictures. Much less white, much smaller and inlaid with semi-precious stones, large numbers of bats in the surrounding buildings.
38. Cycling through Jodhpur, colliding with a camel, sitting with a sadhu watching red-vented bulbuls in his tree.
39. The Jain Temples at Mount Abu, superlatives cannot do justice to the delicate subtle-colour-intricate-saints-and-lotus-flowers carvings.
40. Travelling all the way to Ootacamund to find real cheese, finding red bananas, good bookshops, a terribly British rowing club and church, but tasteless processed cheese.
32
spacetimetraveller
trains bustlenoise steamsmellsoot
junglemist valley
Wednesday, 31 August 2011
Next 10 Travel Memories
21. A sleepless-with-fear-and-excitement night or two before going to stay with family friends in Singapore in what would now be called a Gap Year. Then it was just waiting to go to Medical School.
22. Watching the Moon Landing in the middle of the day in Hong Kong, Granny stayed up all night to watch it at home
23.Falling in love with Hong Kong ( a place always sounding so exotic as to be mythical, like Kota Kinabalu and Timbuktu) and going back to study there for two months in 1974.
24. Wanchai at night, the lights, smells, sounds and trying the wok food on sale along the streets with a Canadian-HongKong-Chinese And Greek-Australian student, also both visiting Queen Mary's.
25. An epic journey in a 1950s Standard Vanguard in the first summer vac. Down through Spain, seeing cork-oak plantations, to Morocco (briefly), Algeria and Tunisia, then up through Sicily and Italy . The original plan was to go to the pyramids, but Gadaffi had just taken control of Libya, and tourists were not popular.
26. Being offered hedgehog cooked in clay by a local farmer, then missing a scorpion sting by 1/2 an inch, the firelight flared up just in time to see it.
27.Driving by night in starlight as the engine could not cope with day-time temperatures.
28. Having the "annulo pistone" replaced in a tiny village in Italy, they were just the same size as a popular motor bike.
29. The car finally being scrapped a few miles after dropping me at home, the others didn't quite make it back to Bristol.
30.Fulfilling a lifelong dream of driving over the Alps in an open-topped car, although a 2CV wasn't what I'd imagined!
22. Watching the Moon Landing in the middle of the day in Hong Kong, Granny stayed up all night to watch it at home
23.Falling in love with Hong Kong ( a place always sounding so exotic as to be mythical, like Kota Kinabalu and Timbuktu) and going back to study there for two months in 1974.
24. Wanchai at night, the lights, smells, sounds and trying the wok food on sale along the streets with a Canadian-HongKong-Chinese And Greek-Australian student, also both visiting Queen Mary's.
25. An epic journey in a 1950s Standard Vanguard in the first summer vac. Down through Spain, seeing cork-oak plantations, to Morocco (briefly), Algeria and Tunisia, then up through Sicily and Italy . The original plan was to go to the pyramids, but Gadaffi had just taken control of Libya, and tourists were not popular.
26. Being offered hedgehog cooked in clay by a local farmer, then missing a scorpion sting by 1/2 an inch, the firelight flared up just in time to see it.
27.Driving by night in starlight as the engine could not cope with day-time temperatures.
28. Having the "annulo pistone" replaced in a tiny village in Italy, they were just the same size as a popular motor bike.
29. The car finally being scrapped a few miles after dropping me at home, the others didn't quite make it back to Bristol.
30.Fulfilling a lifelong dream of driving over the Alps in an open-topped car, although a 2CV wasn't what I'd imagined!
Sunday, 28 August 2011
25: Meal!
Today I cooked a meal in Middle Eastern style as another challenge, I think Amy suggested this, a new style from somewhere I've never been. I usually cook things I'm familiar with, and rarely follow a recipe apart from getting general ideas. I took the recipes from Claudia Roden's 'Middle Eastern food"
We started with what she described as Moroccan 'boiled carrot salad', not a good description for carrots puréed in cumin, paprika, chilli powder, garlic, ginger,olive-oil & vinegar, with strips of pitta. It all went.
We then had chakchouka,basically eggs poached in a mixture of onions, peppers, tomatoes, aubergine and courgettes with potatoes simmered in tomato with onion, whole garlic cloves and chickpeas.
Pudding was sholezard, a very sweet saffron rice with almonds and cinnamon, it would have gone down better if we hadn't eaten so much before.
The carrot & main courses are worth repeating, not sure about the pud!
We started with what she described as Moroccan 'boiled carrot salad', not a good description for carrots puréed in cumin, paprika, chilli powder, garlic, ginger,olive-oil & vinegar, with strips of pitta. It all went.
We then had chakchouka,basically eggs poached in a mixture of onions, peppers, tomatoes, aubergine and courgettes with potatoes simmered in tomato with onion, whole garlic cloves and chickpeas.
Pudding was sholezard, a very sweet saffron rice with almonds and cinnamon, it would have gone down better if we hadn't eaten so much before.
The carrot & main courses are worth repeating, not sure about the pud!
Thursday, 25 August 2011
Enrolled! Count:24
I've done it! Enrolled on line, so I'm really going. 6/9 is the start date, enrol in person, then workshops & lectures for the next 2 weeks before the serious work starts. Really scary! I hope it will give me a lot of new things, I'm a bit behind, only 23 completed, although Emma suggested reading the Count of Monte Cristo should be one on its own, as it's so long. I'm happy to go along with that, but will still try to reach 60 books in total eventually.
I was delighted to hear from Vicky in S Africa that my book-travel is working. I have several more to leave, so we'll see where they go.
I was delighted to hear from Vicky in S Africa that my book-travel is working. I have several more to leave, so we'll see where they go.
Tuesday, 23 August 2011
next 10 Travel Memories
11. Getting on a train at Tunbridge Wells just with my brother, to be collected at Charing Cross by the fierce Aunt
12. Finding a tree frog & a praying mantis in Southern France.
13.Trying to walk up to the snow in the Pyrenees, finding it was too far in the thin air.
14. Choosing a trout in a large tank for the waiter to catch and take to the chef.
15 .Michael & I collecting sugar lumps in a variety of wrappers, One set, coloured dominoes, was particularly attractive, we had emptied the bowl before the astonished waiter’s hand left it.
16. Hunting for small coins in sand dunes in the South of France, hoping to collect enough for an ice-cream by the end of the day. I was misled into believing it was the Gobi Desert for several years.
17. Finding an octopus and little black fish with luminous blue stripes while snorkelling in the Adriatic.
18. The red soil in Devon, on the way to a favourite uncle whose sons played the “vile-din”
19. Collecting our own coloured sand at Alum Bay.
20. Bringing a white heather plant home in the remains of a broken Brownie Box Camera, it grew for many years in the rockery, may even still be there.
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