Off we go again

The travelling companions were eager to be off once more.

Travelling with friends, the journey was problem free, though Heathrow was incredibly busy.

Our flight arrived on time and we were soon on our way into the city.

Drive on the left!  As if we needed a reminder.

The last time I posted so many green photographs we were in Libya!

Needless to say, we are most certainly not in Tripoli today.

We’re starting another road trip, a little closer to home this time and look forward to enjoying the aran knitting,

the poetry

the music

and the craic.

As if you didn’t know already, we’re in Dublin, where (a different) Mary reckons that Molly Malone was selling more than cockles and mussels, if you ask her.  And only now, whilst uploading the photograph did I notice which part of sweet Molly Malone gets the most attention, too.

The sun was shining, the city was buzzing and our road trip is off to a cracking start.

But of course, I had to take a photograph of this sign in Avoca, by the notebooks and so on.

Grrrrr!   (and I now know I’m not alone – thank you for the reassurance)

How hard can it be?

I didn’t intend the first part of the next adventure to be on a hobby horse, but forgive me for having a small rant this morning.  I’m a member of a mailing list which is particularly active right now, discussing the topic of stationery.   That’s right, pens, paper and so on.

This week, I placed an order with my favourite BureauDirect and as always, had exemplary customer service with a query I had.  There is was again, that word stationery.

Earlier this week, though, I read a report about a woman posing with a “stationery animal” she’d just shot.  That can’t have been difficult, can it?  Less of a hunt, more of a paper chase don’t you think?  Then, there were those discussing a “stationary club” which they were thinking of joining, except I don’t really think they knew the difference between pens and paper and things which stand still.

I can’t be the only one who is more than slightly irritated by bad spelling, can I?  For some reason, this particular mix up is a special bête noire of mine and during the last few days I seem to have noticed it more than usual.  The icing on the cake was this:

“Stationery, Boxed Stationary & Stationery Sets Online Store ...www.papyrusonline.com/stationery.html”

Two different spellings of the same thing used in a single phrase!  Wow.

Try doing a google image search for “stationary” and see what I mean.

All work and no play

Well, we know what that makes me, don’t we?  So, it’s just as well that most of the time in my life, it’s hard to draw the line where work stops and play begins.

Yesterday was definitely a play day though.  No. Work. At. All.  Well, if you discount the flurry of emails flying to and fro and the little side conversation with another colleague about something altogether different.  The ease of mobile communication means the edges are blurred all the time, doesn’t it?

No, we weren’t at the seaside yesterday, though, but meeting good friends for lunch at OXO Tower which gave us a chance to explore a little corner which was totally unfamiliar to us.  Great lunch, lovely (and lively!) conversation and a fun time all round.

In the late afternoon, we took the #23 back to Oxford Street and met Edward and Amy for drinks in Harry Gordon’s Bar in Selfridges, fearful of the effects of the tube strike and preferring to be within easy reach of Paddington.  We didn’t need to worry really and we easily caught our (almost empty) train home with no hassle at all.

Earlier in the week, I’d been in Newtown, Powys, at Oriel Davies gallery, where there’s a fantastic exhibition on right now – Flora.

The two glass screens were holding a hundred or more red gerberas, which are quietly decaying and changing throughout the duration of the exhibition.  Hmm.

I wonder what the cleaning staff think of it?

I found it interesting that the exhibition could not really be described as “pretty”.  That a show of “flora” totally managed to avoid the twee and the cliche.  I loved Ori Gersht’s work

and that of  Emma Bennett too.  These black canvases with beautifully painted (sort of) still life arrangements looked stunning in the gallery and I really appreciated the space each piece had been given.

How could I call this work then, when I’m somewhere as interesting as this?

But work it was and yes, I agree, it can’t be so bad, can it?!

Maybe it’s just my frame of mind this week, because even the “normal”, the “routine” places of work somehow took on a summer look.

On Tuesday, I returned to the Folk Museum where Marion and I did an interview with Pete Wilson, of BBC Radio Gloucestershire.  Still looking good, thank goodness, and only a couple of minor slippages

More work today but then…adventures on the horizon!

Are you ready?