Lately

One of the great things about working in education is holidays; though I don’t get as many as the teachers, couple weeks off between the terms is great. By its very nature, the school year is varied in its busyness, and from now till the end of the academic year, things will be hurtling forward at dizzying speed – there will be exams, events, another arts festival, all on top of all the regular things. Like most people returning from the holiday, I feel the sort of slight guilt that comes from not doing all those things I intended to do – read piles of books, redecorate the house, bake cake every day… I did manage however to visit one place I have never been to before – the National Portrait Gallery. I love museums in general, and occasionally seeing the “original copy” of a familiar picture, like Vanessa here, can be incredibly riveting.I also finished my socks and did some other crafty things too.
I love candles. My favourite smell in the world is a mixture of stearin and coffee – it’s the smell of my childhood spent eating cake after Sunday church service. I picked up a rhubarb and raspberry -scented candle in the M&S, and found a warning printed on the label: harmful to aquatic life. The candle also had a list of ingredients long as one’s arm, and that caused a mild consumer panic. A quick search online later, I happily ordered some Beefayre organic candles, which are dolphin and bee friendly, burn nicely and smell good. The packaging doesn’t hurt.
The spring creeping forward, despite bitter, cold winds.
At the end the hols, I went to the Isle of Wight for the first time ever, with some friends. We sailed across the Solent from Portsmouth and stayed in the Yarmouth marina; having grown up by the sea, I miss it every in the terribly landlocked Oxford. The sea is both constant and ever changing to me, a bridge – I cannot imagine how living deep inland, hundreds or thousands of miles away from sea is like, but think it must feel terribly isolated.