Things I do, things I like and everything in between

31 Dec 2011

Happy 2012

Since it's been a while, I thought I'd pop by. See how you're doing. That kind of thing.

What a year 2011 turned out to be.

The best things:
- becoming an aunt for the first time and falling completely in love with a little boy who, right now, only knows good. It's been so much fun seeing him learn and grow up and best of all he's about to be old enough for burgers. Hoorah!

- changing careers and starting teacher training. It's hard to believe now that a year ago I still hadn't completely decided I'd accept a university place, if it came. Yes, it's been an incredibly challenging few months and yes, my life has changed beyond recognition and oh yes, I miss parts of my old life so so much. But overall I'm still happier. Phew.

- an unexpected consequence of my PGCE - meeting new people! The trainee teachers on my course are just brilliant and I can't believe 6 months ago I didn't know any of them. London is about to get a whole bunch of awesome new teachers. Good news if you have kids!

- and I was lucky enough to go on some great holidays this year: to Berlin, camping in the north of Spain and my first festival. I loved every one, and I think big camping trips might get even more popular in our house next year...

The bad things:
- I miss everyone. And everything. I can count the number of times I've met up with friends since September on one hand. Sad times.

- we lost our lovely little dog, Meg. This Christmas was our first without her and heck. Not the same.

You can see why I think 2011 will be a tough year to beat. But let's not forget: it's the year I graduate! And hopefully start getting paid again. And we have
Olympic tickets. Whoop!

I hope 2011 was a great year for you. But that 2012 is even better.

Becks x

3 Oct 2011

And now for something completely different

So. 3 and a half weeks into my PGCE I'm going to admit defeat. Life has got busy. And not because of food. Or films. Or fun bike rides. Or any of those things I like writing about. My birthday celebrations were a last hoorah, and now I'm spending my time shuttling between home, uni, and soon, my school.

So. I spy a blog break. I'll pop back ever so often, if I have something to say. And if not, I hope I'll see you in about 9 months, when I'll be one step closer to being a teacher.

It's been fun.

Becks x

ps. I am blogging my way through my PGCE, when I can. They call it "reflective writing". I call it therapy.

http://0newteacher0.wordpress.com/

26 Sep 2011

A London holiday at The Zetter

So first this happened.

Which I know some people would think is A Bad Thing, but it led to me spending the night here

so I'm really not going to complain.

Spending a night in a London hotel is actually one of my favourite things to do in the world. I say this like I do it all the time. I have done it twice, but each time I've *really* enjoyed it, so I think it's ok to make that claim. It might just be for one night, but it's amazing how that one night can make you feel like you've been on holiday, and staying in another part of the city gives you a great chance to see somewhere from a whole new angle. To me, Clerkenwell always used to just be where I worked once. Not any more!

I ummed and ahhed a lot about which London hotel to stay in, mainly because there are so many gorgeous/pretty/stylish places to stay. But in the end The Zetter seemed the most charming, and also lovely, and also it's in walking distance (just) of the Hawksmoor in Spitalfields. Nom. And as soon as we checked in I knew I wouldn't be able to recommend it highly enough.

Mainly because, well, it was just lovely. We stayed in a corner deluxe double, but the bed? Well, I'd say it was for 4. Minimum*.

*I have no experience to back up this claim, but it was wider than I am tall. Wow.

The furnishings were cute and stylish, with helpful things like some old Penguin paperbacks, an iPod dock and umbrellas included.

I liked the thoughtful little touches.

A lovely snuggly dressing gown and slippers

Lovely bath products (and a rain style shower that, if I could have dismantled and taken home in my bag, I would have.)

And a light that turned the room red. Seriously. Just flip the red light switch.

It felt kind of like being at home, if I had a lot more money and time to make spending my home perfect. You know? Yes, my home has an iPod dock. And pelnty of paperbacks. But it's not half as lovely as this...

OK, it's not cheap, but if you're looking for a special London night away that will make you feel like you never want to live in your until-now-actually-quite-nice London home again, stay here. Because it's just lovely.

Becks x

11 Sep 2011

Quick iPhone case knitting pattern

So I lost my favourite iPhone case in the world... I know. Sad face. Or, an excuse to spend a day crafting up a new one, if you're a glass half full kind of girl. Which, you know, I try to be. So on Friday I sped down to John Lewis after university (they changed their haberdashery section! It's amazing!) and browsed a while, trying to work out what I needed to make a new one. I considered and quickly dismissed felt, and instead decided to fall back on knitting up something using some yarn from my stash at home. And so my quick and easy iPhone case pattern was born.

Now given the rough and adventurous life I lead (ha!), I decided to make a reasonably bulky case to protect my phone from all the drops I like to test it out with. So, this pattern is for a double thickness case. But, if you're not a dropper*, you could probably get away with just making the inner sleeve. The way the yarn is knitted up means it's still quite padded.

Pattern

(Apologies for the way this is written. Think of it as a rough guide and hopefully you can make sense of it.)

Yarn - Rowan handknit cotton, two skeins in contrasting colours.

Needles - 3.5mm and 3.75mm

Inner sleeve

Using the 3.5mm needles and the yarn you want to line your case, cast on 15 stitches.

Knit 4 rows of k1p1 rib.

Switch to 3.75mm needles.

Row 5: seed stitch: p1 (k1,p1) to end.

Row 6: seed stitch: p1 (k1,p1) to end.

Continue working in seed stitch until you have a long stretch of fabric that almost wraps around the phone, lengthways.

When the fabric almost wraps around your phone, switch back to the 3.5mm needles and do 4 more rows of k1p1 rib.

Case off, in rib pattern.

Sew up the two sides of your case.

Outer sleeve

If you want to make an extra padded case, now do exactly the same as the above using the other contrasting yarn AND cast on 17 stitches, rather than 15. This one needs to be a tiny bit bigger to go around the inner case, too.

Once you have your two sleeves, turn the inner one inside out and push it inside the outer sleeve. Then stitch them both together around the top.

Ta da! You have a lovely new iPhone case. And you hardly spent a penny. Pat self on back. Admire. And make a whole bunch more in colours to suit your mood.

Becks x

ps. *Dropper:

8 Sep 2011

The Olympic Park and a ride by the river

So today is my last day of freedom before being chained to university timetables! I have no idea where the last 6 weeks have gone, or how I'm going to adjust to getting up and actually being places on time again, but I have about a day to work it out because I have my unofficial first day at university tomorrow, and then it all kicks off next week. Blimey. To say goodbye to my freedom, today I took one last non-commuting bike ride. But rather than ride to get somewhere, I just thought I'd ride for fun.

Now if I'm honest, (south) east London is no west London when it comes to riding for fun. No Richmond Park around here! No. But we have industrial estates and docks and all things like that. Yeah. So today I decided it was time to go right through them and head north of Blackheath till I got to the Olympic Park. First, I headed to Greenwich and crossed the Thames through the foot tunnel. With Harry. Yes. That's right. The foot tunnel whose TWO LIFTS AREN'T WORKING.

I don't really know how I got him down, given the large group of German school kids shouting SMILE! the whole way down the stair case. Or, a least I don't know how they all made it down... But we did. And we crossed the river and enjoyed a very pleasant* cycle ride northwards till we hit the park.

*OK. No, it wasn't particularly pleasant. I told you, south east London doesn't do pleasant. But it was straightforward and easy and around here that's as good as it gets.

Eventually I hit the enormous Olympic Park site. And I kind of wandered around for a bit because it's not clear exactly where you can and can't go. But eventually I decided to just follow the coach loads of pensioners being given tours (seriously - retirement looks AWESOME) and ended up being taken right to the south viewing area, where you see this.

Nice, hey? Yup, that's a completed Olympic Stadium. And this!

Yup, that's the Anish Kapoor sculpture, in progress and, currently, looking a lot like a helter skelter. Which would have been awesome, by the way.

Here's proof that I got all this way with Harry.

And that's kind of it. Oh, apart from that you get a really poor view of the Aquatics Centre. Which looked better before they put the sides on it. But they probably there for a reason. Maybe seats or something...

Looking good, hey? I mean, to be honest, it's very hard to imagine that a year from now the Olympics will be over and all of this will be just a really really good sports area in the middle of East London... Especially with all the mud. There's still a lot of mud. But there were a lot of people working there and they kind of looked like they knew what they were doing so I'm going to say yes, it all looks about right. (But if you have tickets, MAYBE bring wellies.)

Olympic Park viewing session over, I decided to take a ride down the neighbouring canal to see if I could see anything else. At one point I got to see the velodrome, a bit...

and I'm sure I cycled past a big car park and media centre, but that was it for my Olympic spotting. Probably I should have carried on exploring, but it's a little disconcerting how unmarked many of the routes around the park are. And many of the cycle routes have been pushed out of place by the building work, so it's not always clear where it's safe to be*.

*I wimped out.

So instead I decided to just enjoy some of the local sites instead, cycling along the path by the side of the River Lea (maybe. It was a river. I think it's the River Lea. Damn, I'm bad at this kind of thing...)

Which I guess is what inspired our charming Olympic logo...?

If you fancy visiting the Olympic Park, I would certainly recommend a bike ride, although you can get there very easily from Pudding Mill Lane DLR stop too. There's a nice little cafe at The View Tube (see what they did there?) and you can even hire bikes there and go exploring yourself. Oh, and I think you can still do proper tours of the park too.

Becks x

6 Sep 2011

Sky ride 2011. Wind, rain, smiles, but also...

See, I know just the thought of cycling around London in the rain and wind on a Sunday should have been enough to make me reach for the hot chocolate and the duvet, but the lure of a whole 10km of cycling in London with no cars was just too much. So last Sunday we got up and headed out to London Sky Ride 2011.

Being cheap sorts, these days, we cycled there rather than take the train. It was a hairy ride. There weren't many cars about and we just took my usual route from Blackheath to Tower Hill, but I do hate cycling with Mr Me. I ride in fear that a bus will hit him or a taxi or a pedestrian or a helicopter or basically just ANYTHING. So, usually, he cycles behind me, but then I'm constantly nervously looking over my shoulder to check he's still alive. It's a horrible feeling that I think could only be abated if we got one of these.

(Just £1053.95! Bargainous. Also, unlikely.)

Anyway. We made it to Tower Hill in two pieces and hopped right into the middle of this year's Sky Ride. The route this year was, like last year's, along Victoria embankment, up to Buckingham Palace, down the Mall and then back round to embankment and up to Tower Hill again. If, like me, this route is one of your most regularly cycled routes - it's an absolute delight. Grin as you speed through the Tunnel of Death! Marvel as you speed down the middle of embankment and comfortably cross lanes without fearing for your life! Oooooo and ahhhh and you ride down the Mall without taking out a well-meaning-but-terrifying group of tourists along the way! And generally smile at the sheer joy of it all.

But, at the same time, feel a pang of sadness that cycling in London can't always be like this. That usually we're squished in on roads that aren't made for cyclists, shoved on to small, pot-holed cycle paths or left to fight against drivers that don't want to observe the cycle boxes at junctions, thanks very much.

It's a funny day, but one I think is worth attending, even in the rain. Even if it's just to show that London is a cycling city after all. Maybe one of these days the Mayor of London will come along to a Sky ride and, instead of thinking, "Look at all these yellow bibs! Hooray for Sky ride!" He'll think, "Look at all these yellow bibs! You know, maybe we should be doing EVEN MORE to encourage all of these cyclists to come out on the road even more often than once a year and make London a happier, friendly, safer, greener city for all".

Just a thought.

Becks x

ps. This was Sunday's #30daysofbiking ride. On Monday I went even further and cycled all the way to Southfields, using a cycle superhighway (or in other countries, a decent bike lane) for the first time. It was exciting. Can Blackheath have one too, please?

3 Sep 2011

30 days of biking

It's September! It's 30 days of biking time, and this month I am in the country, at home and able to ride every single day. Woo hoo!

30 days of biking is a global movement to encourage people to cycle every single day for the 30 days - or every single day in September. From what I can gather, people do it for all sorts of reasons. Me? Well. Firstly, because I enjoy challenges like this. (I like a good project...) Secondly, because I want to see just how much I can do by bike, if I really commit to it. Thirdly, because this month I have finally become a fully registered student, which means that when I look ahead at my diary I can see there are some "study days" where I don't have to leave the house, but I know if I don't I will actually go crazy. 30 days of biking will be my perfect excuse to do something every day. And lastly, well hell. It's riding my bike every day! It's like signing up to 30 days of chocolate. Hmmmm... I think I can manage it.

My 30 days of biking, so far...

On day 1, I cycled about 30km to my new university and back (you have no idea how EXCITING it is to type those words). It was a gloriously sunny day, I was totally overdressed and, well. It was not that pleasant...! I also realised pretty quickly that I don't want to go to uni the way TFL's cycle planner suggested (through the city), so next time I'll take another route which will hopefully lead to me wanting to scream at fewer clueless pedestrians. (If I screamed at you on Thursday, I'm sorry. But probably you deserved it...)

On day 2, I just took a very short trip to a nearby train station so I could go and pick up the boy I do voluntary work with and take him to Brighton. You'd think something so easy would be uneventful, but it was early and my brain wasn't switched on and I realised when I got to the train station I didn't have a lock with me. So Harry came to Ben's house and spent the day in the garden and I felt like a complete lemon.

And day 3, today. Today I will cycle to my local library to try and rent a copy of The Boy in Striped Pyjamas on DVD because I just reread it and then literally that day realised half an hour too late that it was being shown on TV. Oh. I have to get better at things like that...

Hopefully some ever-so-slightly more exciting rides may follow, too! And don't worry, I won't blog ALL of them... ; )

If you feel like taking part in 30 days of biking and just need an excuse to start commuting by bike etc, there's absolutely nothing you have to do apart from 1. cycle every day in September. 2. tell people about it using #30daysofbiking on twitter or by blogging or on Facebook. It's a whole month to celebrate cycling! Why not join in?

Becks x

ps. Don't forget it's London's Sky Ride tomorrow!

26 Aug 2011

My festival first: Green Man 2011

Ah remember a year ago when I had just turned 29 and I thought - I'm going to have the most awesome year doing all the things I really want to do before I turn 30?

And then, you know, life happened? And my 30th year became less about spending money on really well cut jeans and more about being an aunt to my favourite little man in the world and also changing my career and becoming a teacher. I wouldn't have it any other way. But I am glad I managed to sneak in one of the list items, all the same. Because last weekend I had the most brilliant time at my first ever festival.

Reasons why I had never been to a festival before:

1. I was scared of bad toilets.

2. I didn't really like the idea of being in an enormous big pop up town with so many people.

3. Too many horror stories of people being robbed in their tent/going to their tent to find someone in it already/drowning in mud and other things that to be honest are too horrid to be typed (but did get told on many a Friday afternoon when I worked in the Guardian's offices...)

4. I don't drink really very much, so how fun could a festival be?

5. I like my bed.

Reasons why Green Man 2011 was brilliant:

1. The toilets were on the whole *really* not that bad and never ever ran out of toilet paper.

2. It's a pretty dinky festival.

3. It was so middle class and familyish that the biggest horror story I can tell is of a father waking his sleeping daughter up in the middle of Saturday's headline act to feed her olives.

4. I didn't need drink. It was still bloody awesome.

5. Urm, we might have slept in the quiet camping area. We might have gotten 9 hours sleep a night. Woo hoo!

6. Great food, great music, great-ish weather, and it was just a lovely lovely place to be.

(download)

7. And, last but very best of all: Tim Minchin.

I didn't expect to have so much fun. I can't wait to do it all again. (Now if someone could convince my husband that he feels the same...?)

Becks x

18 Aug 2011

Camping around the north of Spain

We're just back from a blissful two weeks, camping around the north of Spain. I love camping. I didn't think I liked Spain very much. So, you can see how mixing the two really could have gone either way... Luckily, it was just brilliant.

The north of Spain is such a mix of places. We started relaxing in San Sebastian, in the Basque country. San Sebastian is a charming little town with a lovely old centre, a huge beach, and bloody good food...

Turns out, sometimes that's just what I need.

We then packed up our tent and drove a couple of hours down the coast to Santillana del Mar and Comilles.

Santillana del Mar is a medieval town, restored to its old glory. I loved walking around it and imagining the fine gentlemen in their fancy houses. In my head they all look like they've been painted by El Greco...

Imagine to have lived there then!

We also spent some time eating tapas and swimming in the sea at the wonderfully lovely Comilles. I actually think I left a bit of myself there. And I don't even like beaches... (turns out that's not true.)

From towns and beaches to Spain's magnificent Picos de Europa, first shrouded in cloud...

and then...

But not for long.

So we sun searched back to the coast, where we stopped off at the Cathedrals beaches on the Coast of Death.

Who could resist a name like that? Also - the waves were AMAZING. Such a fun place to be in the sea.

Further along the coast we found A Coruna, which had pretty glass fronted houses...

And then we drove right to the end of the world, Finesterre.

(Note. Not actually the end of the world. Not even the end of Europe. But when you're out there, gazing across the Atlantic, it feels like it.)

Last stop: Santiago de Compostella. Tiny winding streets, little tapas bars, incredible steak, and one hell of a cathedral.

The town was full of pilgrims (religious or just adventurous), many of who had walked or cycled the 900km holiday we'd driven... Eek.

We got off the plane and nothing was booked. We knew roughly where we wanted to go, but we were happy to let the holiday just take its course. And it did, just wonderfully. Spain redefined itself to me. It's no longer a city of slightly grubby cities or tacky coastlines. It's surprising and fun and relaxed and easy and varied and beautiful and I think it's probably impossible to take the holiday we did and not have a just marvellous time.

Also - camping in Europe = the bestest thing ever. Look out for a lot more trips like these in the future!*

(* by future, think maybe in 3 years time. I start my PGCE in 3 weeks. No holidays for a while!)

Hope you're all having a bloody brilliant summer too.

Becks x

30 Jul 2011

Dear Meg

You bounced into our lives as a tiny little puppy. You were all eyes and ears, with a skinny little tail that didn't stop wagging. You were the first dog our family ever had. We didn't really know what to do with you. But you showed us the way.

You were a boundless ball of energy that would break into sprint around the living room, just because you could. You were so happy and fun, you would smile and get up and dance on your back legs when my friends came over. Everyone loved you, Meg. And you loved everyone, especially men. And especially Vromice. Do you remember Vromice? The other little Westie who lived down our street? The one you used to flirt with whenever you went on a walk? The one whose garden you'd break in to, just to have a good sniff? Ah, Meg. You used to have us in stitches, with your moon walking across the living room carpet and your somersault party trick. And every day we'd come home from school and you'd be there, waiting for us, watching at the window. Meg, you were a wonderful friend. Just awesome.

Then we got older, I guess. I left home, and missed you terribly. When I came home to visit, you seemed just the same. Maybe you didn't sprint so much, but you were still cheekily good fun. And heck, you could still give the squirrels a run for their money. You never forgot who we were, and every time we came back you'd stretch out from your basket and go find us a present from your toy box. I'm sorry I wasn't more grateful, for the scraggy bones and your purple hedgehog. I wish you could bring me them now.

As you got older, you got more... characterful. You'd hog the fireplace, watching the flames (or as Dad called it, Flame Academy), and, when it got around 10.30, you'd tell Mum and Dad it was time for bed, stretching up from your napping place and barking at the door. You still enjoyed a good play though. Every night after dinner. Hunt the chew stick. You were rubbish at it, but you didn't care.

Now we know this is your last weekend, Meg dog. I can't really understand how it's come to this. In my head you're still little Megglesworth. Big eyes, big heart, daft as a brush. I know you're being spoiled rotten right now. You're probably wondering what you've done to deserve it. Well, Meg, for 13 years you've been the bestest dog ever. That's what you've done. The bestest, cheekiest, nosiest, prettiest, sweetest, funnest dog ever. You even wore my hand knit dog sized Hull City scarf. That's how ace you were.

Meg. I'll miss you and think of you every single day.

Thanks for everything, you sweet little thing.

Love and bum scratches.

Becks xxx

Things I do, things I like and everything in between

Happy 2012

And now for something completely different

A London holiday at The Zetter

Quick iPhone case knitting pattern

The Olympic Park and a ride by the river

Sky ride 2011. Wind, rain, smiles, but also...

30 days of biking

My festival first: Green Man 2011

Camping around the north of Spain

Dear Meg

becksldrt

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