Washing machine day

A little bit of Nunhead - this was Saturday evening and taken on my way to the Old Nun's Head for a welcome drink after my day at home and in the garden.

Now I know I need to be careful that I am not just writing this because I have a blog but hey Saturday was the day of the washing machine. I needed to replace the one that gave up the ghost the other day. Now there may be good reasons for this expiration as I have since learned that that I should have both cleaned out the filter at least once a month and also left the door ajar after every wash thus saving around four years in washing machine life. I did neither. For the six years I have had it, I have been systematically using and abusing it. So it stopped one night with a full load of towels and soapy water. Now I had a problem - washing machine or net book? The net book won and so I searched for a secondhand washer.

The new-old machine is about six years old and he is in my flat just waiting for the final connection. I found him on the East Dulwich Forum -a fantastic source of gossip and bargains http://www.eastdulwichforum.co.uk/ and yes he is cheap and a little rusty but as long as he spins I will be happy!

Tescoman collected the machine with me in his van and we put it by the front door for me to give it a serious clean as he went to work. As he left, a truck pulled up and out jumped two chaps who were only too happy to take it off my hands. Aha! I said you can't have this one but there is one inside that you can have if you can un-plumb it. With that they duly tackled the problem of getting the old one out from my rather bizarre kitchen space and told me that "whoever put this in had awkward hands, lady." I promised to call them if the new-old one turned out not to work either!

And then it was just me on the sofa and the cleaned up new-old machine on the doorstep waiting until my brother could arrive and help get it into the house and connected. I wasn't sure whether I was guarding it or it was guarding me but I was trapped. Some time later I was finally in and so was it, Except it is not connected because it is different to the other one. And the moral? I am beginning to think I should have waited for the net book.

sabbatical monday

It's the first day of my sabbatical and my first day of no office and no tea rounds and no commuting! Felt a bit lost first thing and weary after the last few weeks of saying goodbye to people and starting the letting go of London process. I gave myself one task to do today and was determined to do it whatever! So at 330 I was in Dulwich hospital having some blood taken. Nice to be able to go at a time that suits me and not have the hassle of having to make up the time or try and do it when everyone else is there too! So that is one big tick for today! Task done! I thne went shopping in Somerfield and had to laugh when a blind man asked my help with finding the bread. He must have thought it was his birthday and christmas all rolled in one when I offered to help him with his shopping. There followed a crazy game of me running off to find milk, cheese and baps for him! Yes, baps! A northern word for bread rolls. He was so grateful and wanted to buy me something for my time. I felt even more lost as I realised that helping blind people is what I do but not any more.

Now that I am on sabbatical (OS) I will be writing more regularly as I will have so much more to talk about - especially when I get to Madrid. I meant to write about the poetry performance which was amazing. However the best way to find out about it is to go to the website at cryptwriters.info and see the photos and words of David Canning. I had such a special time as so many friends came to support me and to hear me speak my words. They were all genuine in their praise and affection and just as good was their pleasure at attending a poetry event and realising what fun they can be. I have plenty of time to do lots of writing over the next few weeks and I am looking forward to finishing off some work and doing some new pieces. I have been exposed to so much creative work recently that has triggered lots of ideas. I have also been taking a lot of photos which I will start to add to this blog.

A funny thing happened today. I found my old blog that I lost! I don't know what to do with it now I have found it. Poor neglected old thing with only four posts. Hardly had a chance to live did it.

Art is on my mind because I spent yesterday at the open studios of my artist friend Tescoman. It was a really good experience and I learnt more about his art simply by being in his work space and asking lots of questions. I love the way that he works with bright colour and I really like the optimism of his work. He deserves to have more success as he is creating pieces that are marketable if he can reach the right audience ie music people. We went for mezze and he couldnt stop talking and I understood why. I was just the same after my performance. The adrenalin of performance or exhibition is good. We had a really interesting discussion about music and how when I hear music, I definitely hear it in a circular form - as in a needle in a record's groove, a CD spinning or a tape looping. I wonder if an mp3 track loops? When he paints circles of colour that spin like discs, it makes sense. Hypnotic glorious colour that bounces and shines and gives energy.