This week, on our fortnightly cinema trip, we eschewed our usual action/superhero/sci-fi fare, and opted for this one-off comedy-drama: the true story of a working-class man called Kempton Bunton who stole a portrait of the Duke of Wellington from the National Gallery in 1961. I was truly surprised when my husband suggested seeing it (he … More Film review: The Duke
Do you remember last weekend, when we had a glorious (and brief) March summer? Well, luckily enough we had booked a weekend away in Cardiff, to visit some old university friends and their baby. It was a fantastic opportunity to take my new camera for a spin. First at the castle: Then at Bute Park, … More A Weekend in Cardiff
Unsettled Ground is a novel by Claire Fuller, published in 2021. I picked it up as a daily deal on my e-reader, purely because I read the blurb and thought it sounded interesting. In the end I found it strangely compelling, but so depressing that I struggled to dredge out the valuable messages that it … More Book review: Unsettled Ground
I have previously written about re-committing to the habit of reading. I wanted to share a couple more changes that I have made in the last year which have assisted in this endeavour. The first is that I bought a Kobo e-reader. In my previous post, I said that I was “more inspired by the … More Reading with Ease
I have long been interested in photography. Always as an amateur, mind – I don’t profess to have any great skill! I just enjoy taking what I believe to be good photos. When I was 16, I got an SLR, and for a few years took the photography hobby quite seriously. It was a Canon … More A Picture Perfect Birthday
I recently entered a competition to win a couple of tickets for GWR’s Night Riviera: a sleeper train. Unsurprisingly I didn’t win. But I was proud of my entry, so I thought I’d post it here! The task was to complete the sentence “My ideal romantic journey would be…”. I took certain liberties with the … More A Poem
My husband and I love the BBC programme The Repair Shop. He’s particularly interested in it because he does a lot of woodwork and other crafting in his workshop – but I’ve picked up some tips and ideas too, which I ended up applying to a Christmas present this year. In early October, we went … More A Little Restoration
Two Christmases ago, I was given a crocheting commission by my mother, a fact which had completely vacated my brain by the following Christmas. This year I remembered. It was a very small project, taking me all of half an hour. Let me present you with a couple of photos. I wonder if you can … More A Festive Make
This week I’ve been snowed under with work – mainly writing a document to allow me to transfer officially from the MPhil track to the PhD track. This involves writing the first chapter of my thesis – which is exciting to get started on, but hard work! I haven’t had much free time on my … More Film review: Ghostbusters
Warning: contains spoilers, I suppose. I knew the absolute bare minimum about Gucci before I went to see this film. I knew it was an Italian fashion house. I didn’t know anything about the family, the history, the style: nothing. This was both a blessing and a curse. The blessing was this: the end was … More Film review: House of Gucci
Cryptic Meg 