GoGoGorillas!

Summer has finally reared its beautiful head, and upon completing my PGCE year, the time has come to make the most of Norwich before I disappear! Although I did have to return to school on Monday and Tuesday of this week, there was no need to prepare for the two days and so last weekend was well spent ‘relaxing’ in the only way I know how... by wandering for miles. A most exciting occurrence in the form of a friend returned from a year abroad in America meant that a very English weekend was in order; so we became tourists in our own county, and in what has been our own city for three and four fond years. 

The summer in Norwich is always full of surprises, and last week the gorillas descended! During one of my teaching practice placements, one of the teachers had been commissioned to paint a gorilla, so I’ve been very excited to see them, and my first weekend off seemed the perfect opportunity! GoGoGorillas! are a collection of sculptures painted by local and regional artists, community groups and schools. Each one is sponsored, and will eventually raise funds in an auction at the end of the event for Break charity and the Born Free Foundation. There are 53 large gorillas, and an additional 66 baby gorillas decorated by local schools across Norfolk; it is currently rather difficult to walk more than a few paces in the city centre without being accosted by one in a shop window, or bumping into one as you turn a corner!

As a self-confessed walkaholic, I didn’t think that 53 gorillas in a day would be too much of a challenge, but it turns out that Norwich isn’t the tiny city I think of it as, and the gorillas are pretty well spaced out! However we did manage a respectful 30ish, and many more babies! At this point I don’t feel that writing about them does them the best justice, so here are a few of my favourites to speak for themselves (absolutely, definitely worth doing the trail if I may say so - I am determined to finish it at the next opportunity)

(Claim to fame gorilla - saw him/her in the progressive stages)

More gorillas this way; possibly the most colourful of my Facebook albums!

Post gorillas there was recovery in the form of summer cocktails at The Assembly House (which I will miss HUGELY), and a very tasty macaroon selection from Macarons & More (which I can’t believe I’ve only just discovered)!

The next day we bounded off to the Sainsbury Centre and prompted by a staggering collection of artefacts from around the world, created a bucket list of countries to visit, before paying a visit nearer to home to the ponies and donkeys at the sanctuary behind the lake. A picnic on a jetty, and a good old fish and chip lunch the day before; I do believe I’m quite good at being typically English (particularly good at being stubborn in my determination to walk everywhere; our feet HURT by the end of the weekend - so much for 'relaxing'). 

Duck Egg Designs

African Elephant Fabric Print

In most of my spare moments lately, I seem to find myself longing for a home of my own, or at least dreaming of putting my own stamp on a place next year; I complete my post-graduate degree in 7 days, and have a job to go to in London for September! Thus, I’m in a constant state of extreme excitement and nervousness. I'm excited because I suddenly feel as though everything really has been worth it, and the potential for me to live my dream lies ahead of me. I'm nervous to start a new job, move to a new city, and begin a new phase of my life – I just have to make sure it all runs smoothly now! Having always been extremely interested in interior designs since the days of Changing Rooms and Laurence Llewelyn Bowen, dreams of how my own home may take shape have certainly changed over the years; but are always in the back of my mind nevertheless. Of course I won’t be buying a home of my own for next year, but this time, I’ll be renting indefinitely as opposed to for a fixed term as I have been while I’ve studying at the UEA. In Norfolk I seem to be in interior heaven, and as the summer approaches I envisage I shall be making frequent visits to the many antiques barns, independent designers around the coast, and the open studios filled to the brim with stunning art work. I’m spoilt for choice (if money were no object at least)!

Most recently I have come across Norfolk-based (although not entirely Norfolk-based as they also have ‘nests’ in Chelsea, Kent and Gloucestershire) Duck Egg Designs and can’t stop browsing the beautiful products on their website;

http://www.duckeggdesigns.com/

Child's Wicker Chair

The staple colours in their designs are light and fresh and would make the inside of any home feel like it was on the coast, or at least in the countryside. What with currently being in the process of looking for residence next year, I am extremely aware of how much I will miss the coast when I move to London (as if my love for the coast wasn’t blindingly obvious enough)! For that very reason, I can imagine my home next year is going to be scattered with nostalgic items and decorated in ‘beachy’ colours and memorabilia to make me feel at ease. Although I obviously moved out of home to come to university, the move over this summer feels a little more real as it will be on a more indefinite basis. Suddenly I feel a little more grown up, which at the moment seems to be drawing my inner child back out of me. For the past few weeks, I have been listening to all the music I listened to when I was a young teenager, and as I browse the Duck Egg Designs website, the beautiful items for children leap out at me! When I was growing up, we used to move around quite a lot as a family, so memories of moving into our current family home are very striking. My favourite thing about our move to our current family home was the trip to a huge antiques barn where I got to choose some furniture to go in my bedroom. The most memorable piece was a cream wicker chair that sat in the corner of my room. It was my first chair and I used to sit and read in it for hours! This lovely little sky blue wicker chair is even child-sized (and admittedly slightly more expensive than mine was, but certainly in much better condition, particularly by the time mine had been abused by our builders on their smoking breaks)!

Norfolk Crab Fabric Print

I first came across Duck Egg Designs on an episode of Kirstie’s Vintage Home where a couple created their own print fabric to make into a blind. All of the fabric prints are so pretty, but I particularly love the Norfolk crab print (can’t wait to go crabbing this summer!) as it’s so characteristic of my Norfolk, but my personal favourite are the African elephants as I have a penchant for anything elephant (as can be seen from my ring collection)! The Norfolk-themed items really strike a note with me; as well as the Norfolk crab print, the Blakeney, Burnham and Wells stripe fabrics reflect beautiful, seaside colours.

Something I’ve been looking for for a while now is an antique mirror and the oval mirrors by Duck Egg Designs are simply beautiful. I’m a firm believer in mirrors everywhere and anywhere (not just because I take so much pleasure in my own face, but also I’m a lover of light, and mirrors are great for bouncing what little light there may be in a room to every nook and cranny!), and I could see any of these mirrors sitting on the wall in various rooms around the house!

Painted Vintage Oval Mirror, White Oval Mirror, Vintage Oval Mirror

In all honesty, I’ll probably end up living in a cardboard box next year. But it’s always nice to dream. 

Field Day

Ben Pearce, Stealing Sheep, Jacques Greene, Dark Dark Dark, Solange, Bat For Lashes, Four Tet.

Having had such an amazing time last year, decided to grace Field Day with our presences again last weekend, and so glad we did! Ultimately, I’m still not that accustomed to festivals as although I have now attended a few quite a few times, I tend to return to the same festivals so have hardly had a broad experience. I only mention this factor, as things that I now go on to say that ‘I love about Field Day’, may indeed be things that I’d love about other festivals too if I gave them the chance!

Ecstatic over SO MUCH NACHO

Obviously the notable thing for me about Field Day is the way that the line-up suits my musical taste and attitude to a T (tee? tea? One of life’s little mysteries)! Whilst last year it was Andrew Bird who caught my attention, this year I was lured by Four Tet and Jacques Greene. Although I go in with a very definite plan of what I will be seeing, at the same time, each year I have been introduced to new likes as I find myself sitting by a random stage while I graze the various food stalls (another great thing about Field Day, the INCREDIBLE food selection)! As I write this post, I am listening to Stealing Sheep who were the accompaniment to my enormous portion of nachos with piled up toppings this year.

Not only does the festival have a great line-up and amazing food on offer, but it’s all for an extremely reasonable price too (which is probably the main selling point while I’m still a student if I’m honest)! This year there are even super early bird tickets on sale for £35 which I've leapt at!! It may sound like a potentially risky move to buy this early, but having perused ‘Field Day Past’ (and had my mind blown by the price for consistently incredible line ups of the past) on Facebook, I’d say it's a risk worth taking;

https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10151689481950820.1073741826.312769280819&type=3

I didn’t actually see that many artists due to a lot of unfortunate clashes, but I love how Field Day is a festival where the sun decides to shine so that lounging around and just taking it all in is made entirely possible, acceptable and highly enjoyable. This year ‘i’ from The Independent was available at the gates with the complete set-list and timings - yet another money saver, also providing somewhere dry to sit on ground that

Technicolour dreamcoat

Beautiful balloons

had unfortunately been rained on for a few days prior to the festival, as well as reading material for in between sets. My highlights were definitely Bat For Lashes and Four Tet, made even better by the fact that they followed on from one another! Both were highly aesthetically pleasing, with Natasha Khan in her shiny, rainbow cape and two-piece, and Kieran Hebden’s release of giant, colourful balloons which floated around above our heads for his entire set. I've been waiting 7 years to see Bat For Lashes as I’ve never actually made it to one of her gigs, so was very excited to see her at Field Day! She played a good mix of her old and new, her energy was boundless and she seemed so happy to be playing in her ‘back garden’ as she referred to Victoria Park; obviously her performance of Laura went down very well with me too, beautiful! I’d also never seen Four Tet live, and despite the silly males nearby who were only there to be in a good position for Animal Collective (although they did prove to be of excellent comic value), I was totally in my element! Thanks to a dastardly cold (IN MAY??) I hadn’t got the most energy on Saturday, but could not stop dancing the whole time – music and balloons is absolutely the best combination!

I don’t want this to turn into a review (if it hasn’t headed in that direction already), so won’t go through every act one by one, but had a truly beautiful day and can’t wait to be back again next year!

Festival festivities

Festival season is finally upon me and so far has been thoroughly enjoyable! This weekend marked the end of the Norfolk & Norwich Festival, and although I haven’t made it to as many events this year as I sometimes do, I’ve really enjoyed those I have made it to, and have loved the buzz about the city for the past two weeks!

On the first night I headed to the Cathedral Close for the opening performance of Réve D’Herbert by Compagnie des Quidams. Each year the opening night involves a walking performance of dramatics, art, light, and music. In the past I have walked the highstreet following gigantic, robotic, pyrotechnic wolves, and enormous dinosaurs flying above my head. I admit that this year was initially less spectacular, although it did culminate in something quite mesmerising indeed! At first we stood for a long time watching tall, white figures with scarily painted faces wandering around between the crowds. Suddenly however, they stopped, forcing a circle to form around each one, and gradually whirled around on the spot, inflating and finally lighting up. Their giant inflatable heads then stuck out far above the crowds, lighting the audience around each one like beacons around the close which by this point had become very dark and ever so slightly eerie. Off they wandered again, this time less carefully, and I found myself ducking and diving to avoid giant, inflatable behinds! Still ever so slightly bored, it wasn’t until the end of the performance, which was further into the close, that I was truly hypnotised by floating orbs which lit the night sky, as large white balloons floated around the audience. As always, it was pretty magical and certainly very surreal; quite the experience.

On the fourth night, I saw Woodkid at the Theatre Royal. Having been to uncountable musical performances of a vastly varying nature, I often find it very difficult to answer the dreaded question ‘what’s the best gig you’ve ever been to?’ Nevertheless, I emerged from Woodkid’s performance absolutely reeling, and spent the entire time inside on the edge of my seat with butterflies all over the place! It may be that as a weak and feeble female, I’m automatically won over by the melting dark chocolate sensation that is his voice, or it may have been the fact that the lighting and set-up of the stage and the attire of the many strong men standing over enormous percussion instruments was so perfectly coordinated and just my colours (or my black I suppose I should say), but whatever it was, it was beautiful and quite the experience and I would absolutely definitely see the show again and again recommend that anyone who even likes Yoann Lemoine’s work a little bit should absolutely definitely see the show for a first time! Certainly a contender and an easy answer for the dreaded question if nothing else!

On the ninth night (this is beginning to sound like some kind of traditional tale), I was whisked off to the Spiegeltent for a Swing Spectacular! I very much enjoy dressing up in vintage-style clothes and dancing around to music from the 40s and 50s. There’s something about being transported back in time to an era that didn’t even have me in it that really excites me! The Spiegeltent is my favourite NNF venue so I had to make the most of my night in there for the Bo Nanafana Swing Spectacular as sadly I haven’t attended any other events in there this year. On approach to the tent I always feel a bubble of excitement rising in a child-like sense as it’s just so inviting and colourful and pretty and has a real presence! The interior is even better, with the beautiful dance floor (which every dance floor should be like in every way!), the booths, the bar, the ceiling, the stage, the stained glass; it’s all very magnificent and unique. Graced with the presence of Mr B The Gentleman Rhymer and his banjolele, it was quite the spectacular as promised!

One of my favourite things about the NNF is that it takes me to new locations, and my favourite place that has been open for access this year is The Undercroft at the top of the market! It may well have been open for festival installations another year, but I’d never been in there until the tenth day! It’s All Up In The Air is an art installation by Rhona Byrne and consists of hanging black clouds assembled from modelling balloons. Yet another surreal experience, I have taken a few people to see the clouds since my first encounter where I stumbled upon some ‘ninja knitting’ as apparently other people are loving the secretive nature of the location too!

Another year over and already I’m intrigued by what next year may have to offer... 

Grabbing horns, bobbing along, childhood nostalgia, and a little history

I can’t believe how long it’s been since I last wrote! I’ve been a crazy kind of busy, and by the time I ever have a moment to sit down and write, I feel like whatever has happened is suddenly rather irrelevant (it’s not just a case of nothing interesting happening, honestly)! I can’t deny I am a lover of being busy and I certainly feel as though I have an awful lot of purpose at the moment, which is never a bad thing! So I write to you with some of the ‘best bits’ of the last month I suppose; just to prove that I haven’t just disappeared into a deep, dark cave somewhere (although there’s still time).

Something that this year has taught me is that I need to grab opportunities and take risks. In a nutshell, there’s been a lot of bull-grabbing – or at least the horns of bulls. One pretty big ‘event’ over the past month has been my weekly swimming lessons! I’m still pretty ashamed to admit that I’m an adult taking swimming lessons, and apparently it’s quite unbelievable that someone who loves water as much as I do can’t actually swim in it? The decision was spurred on by my visit with a year 4 class to the public swimming pool where I had my own school swimming lessons. Memories of watching all of my classmates move up into the ‘big pool’ until I was the only one left in the ‘baby pool’ surrounded by many floats and with no clue how to actually move came flooding back, and the fear of slipping, falling in and just sinking slowly to the bottom made me think it was perhaps time to face my fear. I’m almost at the end of my 6 weeks of lessons now, and my confidence has certainly improved no end; so much so that I will definitely be booking in more lessons, and not just because I still can’t actually swim on my front but because I really enjoy bobbing about, and the exercise can’t be doing me any harm?

View of the Church from Cromer Pier

Talking of swimming, took a very lovely trip to Cromer a few weekends ago (not that I even paddled actually, it was FREEZING and very, very windy so I was a little too wrapped up). The last time I was there I’d been singing in the Church with the Festival Chorus and getting very chilly! It seems I’ve been experiencing a lot of nostalgia this month, because this time I was reminded of trips there with my family as a child when we would stay in West Runton and go off to Cromer for the day just for a change of scenery. I think it may have brought out my inner child slightly as I got all excited along the pier, and was a little over-enthusiastic about the Henry Blogg Museum where I made my very own medal with a fancy press. I have a bit of an affinity with the RNLI as my very own Grandad was on the lifeboats, and apparently in a picture or two at the Museum – which I thought I’d made up so sadly didn’t spot him this time – I’ll just have to go back.

My 'medal' from the Henry Blogg Museum

I’m not usually one for an interest in history, but personal history is always a little more appealing. My violin and bow have now been in my possession for (I think) about 10 years (how awful is it that I can’t actually remember how old I was when I got them even though I remember the whole experience so very vividly??) but I’d never actually looked into the history of my violin until very recently. There is an old concert programme that has sat in the case since the day I took it home, and I’d had a quick flick through it and kept it because it was quite cool having a programme from a concert that the previous owner had performed in.

Concert programme from June 1960, newspaper cutting of a
 photograph from the performance, and my beautiful violin

Little did I know that the owner was actually a pretty big deal in the violin and orchestral world, as concertmaster of the Hague Philharmonic for many years of his musical career! Theo Olof actually only died last year, and has left a huge legacy behind him – I can’t help but wonder if I’m even meant to have his violin or whether perhaps it was stolen many years ago and is still in the process of being recovered? For anyone who has got a bit lost/bored by this last tit-bit, MY VIOLIN IS ON GOOGLE IMAGES, it’s cool. He's also on Spotify performing a bit of Britten (quite apt for this post I'd say):

Theo Olof – Violin Concerto Op. 15 (original version): II. Vivace - Cadenza -

I’m deluding myself if I think that all of this would ever fit on a postcard. Hoping to have a little more time for ramblings so I won’t have to let a load out at once again in the near future! 

Therapeutic fish

It's the little things.

abowman.com/google-modules/

Food, glorious food

Food at home is always a rather wondrous thing, so I do dread the return to fending for myself, particularly for my stomach’s sake. For this very reason, each time I’m back on my own I endeavour to eat well – and it usually lasts for all of a week (but so far, it’s going extremely well – depending on your definition of ‘well’!) I might now be back to the ‘hard graft’ that is the week following extended birthday celebrations, but I’ve been fortunate enough to have had some very lovely guests to stay over my Easter holiday!

I absolutely LOVE playing the hostess, particularly to guests who will happily pander to my ‘rustic’ style of cooking. I’m also a huge fan of guests who will chip in rather than sitting back and watching as the kitchen burns down around me – experimental cooking is not always highly successful, and beyond the safety aspect it’s more fun with two anyway? I’m not someone who can actually create many dishes, but I’m quite skilled at the throw-everything-in-a-pan-and-see-what-it-tastes-like approach, as I have now tested out three times this week. Things that can always be found in my fridge/freezer/cupboards:

Courgettes

Aubergine

Onions

Garlic (of the smoked variety right now – smells AMAZING)

Tinned tomatoes

Orzo pasta

Pearl barley

Tuna (although had a horrendous realisation yesterday that currently, there is none!)

Quorn mince

Sausages

Insanely large amount of tea

Honey

Porridge oats

For me, and so for anyone fortunate (or perhaps unfortunate) enough to be staying in my house, breakfast in the week days is always the same; bowl of porridge with a LOT of honey. It’s nothing special but it keeps me going, and is probably one of the only things I can really stomach in the morning. Of course weekends are a little more special and there might be pastries or crumpets involved... but let's not get too carried away! Lunch consists of whatever ‘lunchable’ items are in the house, and finally tea comes around. I’m not someone who likes to make a huge effort with cooking, particularly after a day of being on my feet (and even more particularly after a day at work in a café!), and I also like to avoid washing up – hence the throw-everything-in-a-pan method. So the method was deployed on Tuesday of last week, to the praise of my friend – even if he didn’t eat it all because he has a small appetite (what is one of those and where do I get me one??).

Filled with confidence, I went a little more adventurous with my next house guest; pearl barley risotto with courgette and asparagus, YUM. For some bizarre reason, I then let her attempt to roast a whole aubergine on the flames of my gas hob – definitely something that needs another attempt because it was very tasty, if not completely cooked (had to keep rolling it around the work surface as the charred bits set alight, we know how to add drama to cooking)! The aubergine was accompanied with smoked garlic mushrooms and salted pasta, making for a rather forlorn looking plate but so, so tasty.

Of course with all that Norwich has to offer, I have no choice but to take people out to eat too. I’m not a food critic, I just love food. For this reason (and just because I don’t like my posts to be too long and rambly and this one has already gone beyond an ‘easy-reading’ length), I will just say that everyone should make a visit to:

The Workshop; Gin & peach juice and Chair stacking

The Workshop on Earlham Road; incredible food, great drinks, amazing ambience, very tolerant staff, and a host of games to play. This time we had halloumi, fig and honey, artichoke, aubergine and mozzarella and the infamous Workshop pizza to accompany games of Rummikub, Jenga, Chair-Stacking and Scrabble with way too many tiles!

Grosvenor Fish Bar; have become a rather huge fan of their ‘Big Mack’ burgers served with a slice of lemon and lots of healthy salad, very fancy! Best fish and chips, great prices, lovely, friendly staff, and of course the added bonus of close relations with The Birdcage making for the perfect place to have an accompanying drink.

Waitrose; not for general shopping you understand, I am a poor student. But when the sun comes out there is nothing nicer than a walk around the lake at the UEA, a wander along the river, and a picnic by the mill or on a jetty consisting entirely of fancy, unhealthy bits and pieces from Waitrose. Pork pie with apple and fig chutney, watercress and salmon quiche, potato and leek tartlet, butterscotch and pecan yum yums and two extremely large and unhealthy slices of cake were the components of our picnic last weekend.

Food is my favourite.