Yes ok, its bit crazy, but sometimes I buy things like pretty trays, just for the joy of it.

I have quite a few, and each has its own story. Some are old, others are older. Some are new and likely made in their thousands, e.g. the Bright Birdy Tray which is from Ikea. It doesn’t matter to me because fun prints make me happy and with enough shelves, trays can be propped up or even hung up, like art.

Yesterday, walking by the window of the British Heart Foundation charity shop, I was stopped in my tracks and compelled to buy a new tray for my collection. I deliberated over it, not because it was expensive (it was in the sale at £1.99 – BARGAIN!), but because I really don’t need another tray.

But it spoke to me with its Bauhaus-esque repeating hearts, its simplicity, and the fact that it was all for charity. I knew, just KNEW, that if I didn’t buy it right then and there, I would go home and think about it and want it and wish I’d bought it and have to write it on my list of things to do to go back and get it.

1 Comment | In: Happy Things | tags: bauhaus, birds, British heart foundation, collections, floral, ikea, pretty, tray, trays, vintage. | #

So the sun came out today, probably not wearing a hat, but bright and cheering anyway in the cold, harsh early days of January. Normally this is a bleak time, very bleak. But not today.

The glorious brightness of the sunshine made me want to fling the windows open wide, hang washing on the line, feed the birds their summer fayre and wear florals and pale lipstick and my short sleeved jacket. Memories of summer came back to me; birds and bees doing their thing, flowers in bloom and the reassuring warmth beaming down from the sky.

Weird how something so simple, so basic, can have such a profound effect really? And we’re still technically in winter. Obviously its too cold for short sleeved anything, but with gloves, not so bad. And the afternoons are getting longer already; so there’s hope. Definitely hope on the horizon for the warmer weather and the exciting possibilities of Spring.

This time last year it was snow and ice and burst pipes. I’m certain we have some slates off the roof and a slightly unstable chimney thanks to hurricane bawbag and its big ugly brother, but because the sun shined today, I felt bright and vibrant and happy to be alive; wind in my hair, the joy of wearing two scarves (one silky ladylike affair, the other all wool and warmth), my pink converse splatted with paint and peachy-pink blusher like the bloom of a rose.

“A rose is a rose is a rose” as Miss Stein once said. Happy January:)

No Comments | In: Happy Things, Lifestyle | tags: bawbag, florals, happiness, joy, lipstick, pink, rose, sunshine. | #

So I bought an orange. A while ago. It sat in the kitchen for some time, moving between the fruit bowl, by the tea bags, on top of the tea bags, next to the popcorn and then over the sugar. It got around.

The thing is: I don’t eat oranges. I don’t like them. Never have. Not since I wanted one as a child – “ooh, bright, dimply pimply thing” – and my Dad made me eat it, bit by bit by bit, all the while the fleshy pithy orangeness churned around my mouth like cud.

I just hadn’t expected it to be so chewy; so bloody unpalatable. But it was. And I was stuck with it for my childish yearning.

Ever since then the mere hint of anything from the general Family of Orange (clementines, tangerines – how does anyone ever tell the difference?)  has been avoided in general. When people eat oranges near me, or I see their pathetic white peel with its stringy segmentations, I cringe inwardly and scarper.

That was up until last year, when dining in an Indian restaurant, the waiter brought a plate of juicy looking segments with the hot flannels. After the spicy richness of a bhoona there was something so refreshingly zesty about a bright beacon of orangeness. And I quickly realised that under such circumstances, it was quite acceptable to delicately suck a segment rather than attempt to peel the peel with bare hands.

So I gave it a go. I did it. I’d never had a problem with orange juice, and I LOVED it; I wanted it ALL!

Since then, I have cautiously approached the orange aisle in the supermarket, and bought the occasional orange to enjoy after a meal in a palette-refreshing way. And it was in this way I ended up with a stray orange nestled atop the Kilner jars in the kitchen.

I eyed it suspiciously and day after day, decided I would have it the next. I couldn’t remember if it had been there since Dad visited in September, but then surely he would have eaten it himself? Then I started to worry if it was past its best. Gone, over, sour.

The curious thing is it didn’t seem to age. No mould ever formed on its robust and taught skin. Lemons – you know where you are with them because they quickly mould over if you aren’t watching. This orange was different: even after I took its photo, I left it for another week or so. Still nothing. And this time I was counting, scrutinising, supervising the situation.

Finally, yesterday, although it seemed to look ‘OK’, I decided that enough was enough and the consumption of fruit beyond three months old was not decent for 2012.

I threw it in the bin and vowed never to buy another orange ever again.

I should have drowned it in the mulled wine while I had the chance.

2 Comments | In: Lifestyle, Rebecca, Trends | tags: clementines, food fears, orange, oranges, segments, tangerines, zest. | #

So, after beating Nano and writing a huge chunk of my first novel (using none of the ideas I had previously been working on…), it’s time to switch my attention to the business of selling. As well as my Dainty Dora shop on Folksy, I have a whole weekend of selling lined up. Yes – me in person, selling. It’s been a while.

First up, Make Do & Mend at Platform, Easterhouse on Saturday 3rd December from 11am – 3pm. A super fantastic venue, a vintage vibe, a production of ‘A Victorian Christmas’, a vibrant cafe and a multitude of stalls selling wonderful wares – a top day out for sure.

Find me with my oh-so-popular handmade button brooches, vintage domino brooches, corsages, fabric necklaces, maybe a fascinator or two…AND a selection of beautiful hand knitted baby blankets, cardigans and booties by my very own Mum:) She is always in demand for her knitting!

Oh yeah. See you there for some crafty chit-chat and a chance to bag some unique, handmade gifts for that Christmas stocking.

All the deets are here. Ooh, nice stand, who made all those amazing items? I wonder….

 

*** AND IF THAT WASN’T ENOUGH ***

 

The following day – Sunday 4th December – will find me setting up stall for the very first time at the brilliant Little Birds Market at Sloans off Buchanan Street/Argyle Street. That’s INSIDE out of the rain and the wind, in the stunning ballroom upstairs. It’s a regular indoor market and I’m very excited about my debut, just in time for Christmas. There will be some amazing goodies, surprise gifts and treats on the day. Fabulous. 12noon – 5pm.

Hope to see you at one of these events next weekend, which both have totally FREE ENTRY!

Rebecca x

No Comments | In: Lifestyle, Shopping, Trends | tags: christmas market, easterhouse, gifts, glasgow, little birds, little birds market, make do and mend, platform, Shopping, sloans, treats, vintage. | #

In November I have mostly been writing. Writing, and not reading it back or editing or even correcting simple typos and words underlined automatically by Microsoft Word in red or green. No time. NO TIME! I shout to myself. I’m doing the NanoWrimo Novel-Writing Challenge.

Words are my friends, they are my enemy. I need to write more, more, more and the backspace button is not my friend. Pruning is not allowed. Quantity over quality is my aim. I think.

It’s not that I want to write crap and congratulate myself at the end when I (hopefully) have 50,000 words in a document, sitting smugly and boasting about my achievements. The idea is to break down the barriers to writing, to get SOMETHING down on the page, which can then be edited and re-drafted at a later date.

Analysis is the enemy of the novelist; too much agonising over choosing the correct word, crafting the most perfect sentence, or browsing the net in the name of crucial research. These things can be ironed out later. BASH IT OUT NOW and then you have a framework to play with.

I’ve heard some talk of a mass re-draft session kicking off in March each year, post Nano, post Christmas, post the depressions of January and the skurge of sales and diets and misery frozen in window panes nationwide. The re-draft is a challenge for the future.

For now, two weeks in, here are the 10 things Nano has taught me about myself as a writer:

1. I’m not a planner
2. I didn’t need to give up my job to write a novel
3. In fact I NEED TO HAVE A JOB to write a novel
4. I can squeeze writing into small blocks of time, like 500 words between Paisley Gilmour Street and Glasgow Central
5. I don’t need silence; in fact I thrive on background noise. It could be some classical tunes serenading me in the background (thanks Cara!), or my Mother chattering to my Auntie on the phone…
6. I am totally comfortable leaving the research until later (preferably to someone else)
7. I feel like writing is my life and my perfect career…BUT I’m glad I have come back to it at this juncture in my life
8. A novel is like an exam question – your mind is working out the answers while you are doing something else entirely
9. If I sit down to write, ideas channel through my finger-tips: I am a vessel for communication.
10. I have punctuation hang-ups since High School English, when I was accused of being a ‘comma splicer’. These are in the main, unfounded and should be wiped from memory.

Onwards with the journey.

18,000 words is not good enough for day 13….

1 Comment | In: Rebecca, Writing | tags: 000 words, 50, nano, nanowrimo, national novel writing month, novel writing challenge, writing. | #

Sometimes pictures are better than words. That’s how I feel about the streets of Havana anyway – mainly Havana Vieja (Old Havana) - in all their gory richness; the dichotomy of grand, colourful buildings basking in a halo of sunlight, replaced by shadowy vestibules of crumbling brick, exposed wiring and rotting trash round the next corner.

When I think about the explosive, corrosive, all-encompassing bath of heat in Cuba now, it feels like I over-exaggerated it even to myself. I guess it’s hard to put myself back there while wrapped up for winter wearing furry slippers with the heating at full blast. Maybe.

Comments Off | In: Lifestyle, Photography, Travel | tags: buildings, cuba, cuban architecture, havana, havana city, havana in pictures, havana vieja, holiday, hot, streets. | #

This is a short piece I did in response to my new writing class – Inspiration & Realism for Writers - focusing on using the senses to convey story. We were played a beautiful, symphonic melody with hints of dolphins conversing. At least that’s what I made of it. The emphasis was on the sense of ’sound’.

It was a tranquil moment amidst a busy day, and a chance to let the imagination take over.

At first it made me think of a ballet dancer intent on her poses; perhaps like Natalie Portman in Black Swan. Then came the aquatic overlays which led me to the strict regimen of a synchronised swimmer – acting alone yet part of something bigger.

Floating.

The first notes amplified  in the still water. Water slippery around her face, her skin wet then veiled with fine droplets like lace clinging to her pores, clinging to the tiny hair follicles.

Symbols clashed their signal and the group moved in unison. Limbs pointing straight out, toes primed like a ballerina mid-plié.

Then up, out of the water, the air clasping smooth skin in its embrace. Plunging back down, fanning out, coiling in. Hands together, holding, synchronised. Face submerged. Notes subside.

The water is still again.

I wonder what this week’s class will inspire?

No Comments | In: Writing | tags: inspiration and realism for writers, music, personal writing practice, sound, synchronised swimmer, university of strathclyde centre for lifelong learning, writing practice. | #

How difficult is it to have a conversation? Not difficult at all you might say. Only I’ve noticed recently that it can be fraught with interruptions and that each train of thought is derailed so many times the point being made is infinitely diluted to the merest nothing; a cosmic vapour; sound bombs lost in a chilly October wind.

Example 1

The Scene: City Centre Car Park with Husband

The Scenario: Constant noise/situation pollution stamps out all attempt at sustained conversation

Upon exiting the car, I being a conversation (can’t remember what about now…) Having parked on the roof of said carpart, we have to walk downstairs, passing through a stairwell that stinks of piss. I hold my breath. Doors are opened and held and closed. I carry on my thread of conversation. We have to show our car park token to an attendant and wander along the busy platform of the train station. Falling back into step, I continue, only to be interrupted by a tannoy announcement about a delayed train. OK – carry on. The tannoy announcement is repeated. Start again. Refuse free newspapers/magazines, and wander along the street. Building work, pneumatic drills, noise pollution so loud we can’t carry on a conversation. Walking uphill, people in front smoking so I get a lungful of second-hand smoke. Thanks. I forget what I was saying and give up.

Example 2

The Scene: Shopping with the Mothership

The Scenario: Visual disruptions make conversation futile

Me (with burning desire to off-load facts): “So, you know how I told you about [key topic at forefront of mind]…”

Mothership: “Erm, remind me again. Ooh, look. Aren’t they lovely. Shall we go in [passing a shop window]?”

Me: “OK. Yeah so remember…”

Mothership: “Oh before I forget did I tell you I won £5 on the Thunderball again? I meant to say on the phone. It really is better than the normal lottery. Anyway, go on.”

Me: “Right, well the thing is…”

Mothership: “Is that [random person] over there?”

Me: “No.”

Mothership: “Sorry. You were saying…I must just nip in here to get those special porridge oats actually. Hang on a minute.”

Me: “Shall we go for a coffee so we can sit down properly?”

Mothership: “Good idea. I’ll just nip to the loo.”

Me (internally): Why do I bother?

 And it’s not just these scenarios that leave me irritated by interruptions and unable to converse. Restaurants are places where many crimes against conversation are committed.

Picture the scene – you meet up after work for a mid-week meal out OR set out on ‘date night’ for a romantic evening. Shown to your table, you order drinks, bit of chit chat, peruse the menu, then the evening can begin. Soaking up the atmosphere, recounting anecdotes from the day, catching up on conversation…until they bring out the bread rolls and butter, swap some cutlery about and perhaps uncork a bottle of wine at the table. Then the candle – if not already – has to be lit/swapped/snuffed. All of these interruptions take place at non-consecutive times, giving you just enough time inbetween to start out on a protracted thread of convo, but stare awkwardly at each other for the duration of the interruption, de-railed and confused.

“Are you ok for drinks?”

“Bloody fine – we’re having a convo, yeah?”

Then the meal arrives. Great stuff. Starving. Start eating, then just as you have a mouthful of food, they come over and ask if everything is OK.

“Mmmph. Thanhgihgks.”

When you finish eating, you just want the plates cleared and they are NO-WHERE TO BE SEEN, OR, you’re so thirsty and need another drink and can’t do anything to grab someone’s attention.

Dessert. Maybe. You’ve got a few questions perhaps about what each one includes/entails/is made of. Your heart is set on the mouth-watering-brilliant-super-seductive-whatever-with-ten-cherries-on-top. Oh but they don’t have that. Didn’t they say when they gave you the menu? Ooops.

Right, just the bill then. But everyone is gone; in hiding. It’s like a ghost-town and no-one wants to rattle your chains. You’re so full, you’re glad they didn’t have that sumptuous-sounding dessert. But now you just want to get home/get to the pub/lie down and die in super-soft pyjamas.

Not for nothing will they notice you now. You’re over as far as they’re concerned. If you aren’t ordering anything more and they’ve pumped you for all the coffee you can drink, what’s the point in wasting their energies on you? Until you start getting your scarf, hat, gloves and coat on. That does it. The conversation though? What conversation.

So it’s just the interminable wait for the card machine to crunch through your plastic; everyone staring at it, willing it to work, to spit out the thin papery trail of your romantic evening as you suck on a mint. Unless you want to add some gratuity?

No, I WANT TO BE LEFT IN PEACE TO HAVE A PRIVATE CONVERSATION!!!!!!!!!!!!

1 Comment | In: Lifestyle, Wannabe Journalist | tags: carpark, city centre, conversations, interrupted, interruptions, noise pollution, restaurant, Shopping. | #

It’s a month now since we woke up to this amazing sunrise squeezing up between the buildings of Parque Central, Havana.

Full of verve for the day ahead we were greeted with the Cuban version of Bucks Fizz as we entered the breakfast room. An omelette chef was on-hand, as all around tables bulged with fruits, pastries, cereals, cakes, cheese, cold meats and the usual cooked fayre. What was all that about a shortage of food?

Suitably fuelled, we ventured from the luxuriant cool of the hotel – for the first time since arriving – quickly accosted on all sides by men asking if we wanted to take a ride in their rickshaw or yellow Cuba Taxi; women asking us to buy dinner for them and their many children… It was akin to visiting the pyramids at Giza when we were pestered by hordes of locals to buy bags and ornaments, or just hold them – for a fee - and couldn’t properly enjoy the experience.

Tempted to bolt back into the hotel and up to the rooftop pool, we persevered, eventually stumbling into La Habana Vieja – Old Havana – rather than be tricked into Havana City with the lure of a non-existent Salsa Festival. It’s not that Cuban’s want to harm or murder us you understand, we were later told. It’s just that they want our money. The idea would be to lead us into the dodgiest part of town, the parts where tourists are told to avoid, and then rob us blind. Oh I see, OK, well armed with that knowledge we feel MUCH better about the whole thing. Which way is it then, this festival?

Clearly, wandering the narrow, often dirty streets of Havana is no time for relaxing thoughts. With names like Cuba and O’Reilly, they had open bins, rusting cars and kittens strolling around huge puddles from the previous days’ thunder storm. The heat mutated into an almost visible evil genie, slapping us in the face at each corner; spitting at our clothes, stealing the oxygen from the air.

We stood out as obvious tourists; our large-brimmed sun hats, pale skin and confused facial expressions. Toothless indistinct persons shouted out to us; ‘Kissy Kissy’ girls grabbed our arms, encouraging us to take photos of them dressed in Cuban lace and finery, then pay for the privilege. Others followed, asking where we wanted to go and had we heard there was a Salsa Festival just round the corner?

Within minutes we were hot, sticky, lost, confused, heat-debilitated and thirsty. Passing a collection of open doorways where vendors arranged their wares for the day – leather and crochet handbags, shell jewellery, canvas paintings, fridge magnets and trinkets – we took refuge in a leaf-canopied cafe/bar where I ordered a reviving Pina Colada.

It was 10am and I felt rather decadent. Then little bits of blossom and bark trickled down from the canopy above into the creamy froth while sweat ran down my face.

No Comments | In: Lifestyle, Travel | tags: breakfast, cuba, cuba taxi, fake salsa festival, havana, havana city, humidity, Kissy Kissy girls; Kissers, La Habana Vieja, o'reilly, Old Havana, parque central, rickshaw, sunrise. | #

Preparing to land at Varadero Airport, Cuba after circa 10 hours, I started to get impatient as the little TV map showed us hovering over the Bahamas, teasingly, agonisingly, making what seemed like little progress despite a gradual descent.

Then, as the landscape revealed itself, flanked by dreamy topaz seas, I was surprised to see lush fields and hedgerows knitted together; a mesmerising geometry of green, tan and brown akin to all we had left behind flying out of Manchester, and even more so, back home in Scotland. Some patches of green boasted etchings of rooftops and of industry, others were zigzags of grey with Afros on matchsticks – the Royal Palm an official symbol of Cuba as its national tree.

The heat of mid-afternoon burst into every pore within seconds of disembarking; our walk to the airport a concoction of excitement and of exhaustion.

Security was quite intimidating as we took it in turns to stand in front of the passport control officials, staring into a tiny camera hanging down from the booth. Despite forty weeks of Spanish lessons I managed to mumble ‘hello’ rather than ‘hola’ or ‘buenos tardes’, and struggled to understand when I was asked, in English, how long my stay was for. I blame travel-weary ears. A buzzer indicated admittance to the country as the door was unlocked. 

Dragged from my giddy anticipation by the strict formality of the situation, there was another security check for hand luggage through an x-ray conveyor, before we could reclaim our suitcases.

Sniffer dogs were paraded around, monitored closely for signs of excitement or agitation - do they just bark? – as the same few bags looped round and round and round and round. We started to worry that ours were not going to appear, but it seemed like nobody else could see their bags either and eventually they appeared. All the while security guards watched us intently, and I felt sure I was guilty of something and would be hauled away to some Cuban pension for torture and interrogation. It’s OK – I wasn’t.

There was a scramble to the exit en masse; a jumble of suitcase wheels colliding, tripping, cutting each other up, and out into the sun again. It was all very efficient getting to the right bus, with gloriously aggressive air con. We waited in line to change some English notes into convertible pesos (CUC’s), and then it was off to Havana.

Our tour guide was way too chirpy for a bus full of British people after a 10 hour flight. He cracked jokes and asked about sport and football teams and how William and Kate were getting on. No-one responded. We hurtled along winding roads and through a small town. The sky darkened and I wondered if it was going to rain. 

It was two hours to Havana, and we all just wanted to get there and get unpacked and freshened up. Instead the tour guide decided it would be fun to stop off at a roadside bar for Pina Colada’s, and get into the Cuban way of life. This is what we soon came to know as ‘Cuba Time’ (as in, no point in rushing because everyone is working on Cuba Time where there is all the time in the world…)

Thirsty, about to pass out with weariness, I decided I wouldn’t be having a Pina Colada, but as we pulled in they were all laid out on the bar and just as he’d planned, I couldn’t resist. Bingo – so that’s why he urged us all to change money at the airport! We paid CUC 2.50 each for our drinks (less than £2), and they just pass you the bottle of rum and the cinnamon so you can ‘rum to taste’. I couldn’t imagine that ever happening in Glasgow, but was glad I decided to give it a whirl, and started to relax into it.

Until the wind whipped up and the thunder snapped and the rain hammered down around us, protected as we were by only a small makeshift shack with a palm/banana leaf roof. Brilliant. Everyone was huddling together, bear arms and flip-flopped feet unprepared for the onslaught of rain. We waited a few minutes, by this point soaked to the skin, watching the water flood into huge puddles half burying the wheels of the bus. Eventually we had to make a run for it, wading through inches of fresh rain water, which ten minutes before had been tucked up high in the clouds. Bedraggled, wet and freezing was not how I had envisioned arriving at our 5* hotel in Havana.

More jokes, (my favourite being “How to speak Japanese on the beach” – “Y u so tan?” hahahaha. Ha.), some hairy bends on slippery, rain-soaked roads, speeding along, and then we were there.

The Parque Central Hotel was a paradise, a haven in Havana of bronze statues, marble, discreet smoke-holes, quiet, cool, calm. Waiting for us in our room was a complimentary bottle of Havana Club Rum - 7 year old – and a chocolate cake.

The first thing I did was have a hot bath – I know – a hot bath! But I was so cold from the rain and the tiredness made me shiver if the heavily air conditioned room. Then, with hindsight, I made the most fatal error of the holiday and cleaned my teeth with the tap water, despite many warnings not to.

“It’ll be OK” I trilled, “I’ve got my travellers probiotics.”

No Comments | In: Lifestyle, Travel | tags: cuba, cuba time, havana, havana club rum, holiday, parque central, pina colada, rum, varadero. | #