I am absolutely done in today. Pink Sky headed to Leighton Buzzard on Wednesday to stay with the wonderful host Hugh Davies in his beautiful house. We had a lovely meal at the local pub and then thought we’d better get an early night.  Unfortunately I was so nervous that I got half an hour of sleep. We had to get up at 2:30am, drive to Luton airport and then board the 6am flight to Madrid. I was astonished to see adults with their families having a beer in the airport bar at 4am!! Weirdos!

Anyhow, after a few wobbles I managed to board the flight and successfully flew to Madrid, which surprised me hugely. When we got off the plane it was straight into a taxi for the 20 minute trip into the city centre.

We arrived finally and launched straight into four hours of meetings in 40 degree heat (we were sitting outside in a very posh hotel under an awning but it was still sweltering!) I finally lost the plot around 3pm (I was too hot and due another dose of tranquilisers) and had to excuse myself to go inside for a while.  We had to cancel our 3:30 lunch but at least we got the business side done.

It was then back to the airport, where I actually fell asleep for 20 minutes on the floor, then boarding a slightly late plane. The flight back was delightfully uneventful (apart from a sore back) and then we had to drive back to Hugh’s, holding our eyes open with match sticks. We had a quick drink at the pub and then Hugh cooked and amazing Chateaubriand, it was delicious.

I finally fell asleep after a 22.5 hour day. It is now Saturday and I am seriously wiped out. I had 5 tranquilisers on Thursday after half an hour of sleep and had a 22.5 hour day. I also cannot drink tea or coffee, so you can imagine quite how tired I am. Still, I was pretty chuffed with myself for getting through it.

The hotel reception where our meeting was

The lounge

Reception

Roof of reception

Triple trouble

Me and Hugh

Mark was clearly tired and I didn’t know how long I should leave it before telling him his flies were undone!

Me in Hugh’s coat and wellies!

Exhausted traveller finally home

As you will probably know, I like (as a hobby) doing up reclaimed/recycled/second hand furniture and junk. We have just moved to a new office and the room that is currently looking most complete is the small toilet! However, storage in small spaces is ALWAYS an issue. What I wanted, was an old delivery crate to store toilet rolls in (these baskets made out of wicker and grass are beautiful but very expensive!)

I went to Reclaim, which is an excellent household recycling scheme where they sell off old furniture on the cheap, particularly to people on low incomes. As I walked in the door, I discovered, by chance, exactly what I was looking for. It was a very dirty old Schwepps box.

Clearly it had been in someone’s garden but I loved it! I shuffled to the ‘counter’ (someone’s old dining table) where ‘Craig’ sat, smoking rollies. “How much is this?” I asked. “Let’s say a quid?” Excellent. I took it back to the office where Mark sanded it for me and I applied two coats of matte varnish.

In context

Pink Sky’s loo

These sweet illustrations were bought at a craft fair when I discovered my old neighbour selling them. The pictures are actually of her, as drawn by her mother years ago.

Pink Sky embarked upon a well-earned night out last Friday. We met up with a few friends at the Jolly Brewmaster and then went on to the Beehive in Montpellier.  Through the crowds in the Beehive garden, I (Naomi) glimpsed a familiar face. It was the friendly face of one of my old university tutors! Perhaps with slightly shorter hair. Definitely him though.

Now, the ground surface in the garden of the Beehive is not very even, but far less so in high heels, a little dress and set against the backdrop of a (by then consumed) glass of wine. I tottered across the garden, weaving my way in and out of handbags, ex-public school gents who gesticulate wildly whilst talking about ‘the economy’ and a couple of 45 year old women out on the pull,  smoking fags and cursing over a mobile phone (I assume the battery has gone, much to the relief of the cornered young man whom they have decided to attack and ask for his phone number!)

Tottering complete, I reached my destination, squeaked out a (verging on operatic) “Hiiiiiiiiiiii!” and flung my arms wide to give my dear  tutor a big hug. It was only when I was within inches on his face that I stopped dead. “H..h.hello?” stuttered a bewildered man, whom I had never seen in my life.  ”Oh hello” I replied, blushing furiously, gritting my teeth and cursing under my breath. I managed to do the “Night Fever Night Fever” dance with my arms in order to return them from ’scarecrow mode’ to ‘penguin mode’ before shuffling inside wincing with agony.

“We know how to doooo it!” I sung quietly (and inexplicably) to myself as I shuffled past the bar blindly, looking for a way out. Aha, there was another door to the garden, by the toilet. I would make my exit that way as if returning from the ladies’ room, albeit rather quickly.

Unfortunately (and little did I know), Mr mysterious was, in fact, himself trying to get to the toilet when I had launched myself at him the first time! My bumbling circuit of the bar and corridor had allowed him just enough time to squeeze through the mass of bodies and the fug of cigar smoke in the garden to get to the very same door that I was walking out of!

With great relief I escaped through the door, only to literally crash right into the very same man!! “B…b.but I’ve just seen you!?” he said weakly, with a pained expression. All I could think of saying was, “Yes….” “Are you lost??” he asked? “No…” I replied. We then did that really awkward thing where you both move to walk away at the same time, only you both go the same way and end up doing an Irish jig, face to face whilst trying to work out who is going to go which way.

I scuttled off to re-join my group leaving the poor man looking extremely bewildered indeed. He clutched his head as he wandered into the toilet, no doubt regretting the slightly hallucinogenic effects that his mild cider appeared to be having on him.

So now I am not in Spain on Sunday. I am in London Wednesday, Madrid Thursday (and back on a day) and then in Almeria 11th-12th August! Eeek!

So it looks like I am off to Spain next Sunday! Some of you will know that I have recently had to set up a second business called The Little Spanish Food Co. I can’t really explain what it is or the structure of it until I have been to Spain, as we will be finalising details there. However, I am going to have to overcome some serious anxieties in the space of 24 hours in order to survive.

1. A flight
2. Being picked up from the airport in someone else’s car and therefore being at their mercy for the whole evening and not being able to run away
3. A meal/meeting in front of LOADS of people at 10pm at night, who speak very little English (apart from our main contact who is English)
4. Staying alone (well, alone in my room) in a strange hotel

HELP! I am extremely nervous. I am looking at flights to Almeria this morning and wondering how I can put a few measures in place to make it a little more bearable.

Yesterday we decided to go to Stow-on-the-wold because I really love it there.  Of course there is my favourite shop – As Long As It Sparkles. I just think that the girl who runs that shop is a genius. She know exactly what her target market is (me!), what they like to buy and how to present it. Whether it is a rugged old wall hook for sale or beautiful sparkly jewellery, she manages to put completely incongruous things side by side and make them work.

JT particularly likes the kitchen shop there, where you can buy all sorts of cooking gadgets. We bought a silicon spoon, a frying pan thingie, a JosephJoseph saucepan colander (genius!) and a bottle topper.

There was also a church fete/flower festival which I insisted on going in. I have been brought up going to such ‘English Delights’, JT has not. I feel that it is my marital duty to educate him in the ways of buying little paper tickets to be chosen from a spinning barrel, in order to win a bottle or Panda Pops, a half-empty bottle of Badedas or a tin of Glenryck Pilchards. Actually, he did rather well and won a bottle of “Gaymers” (haha!) cider.

I also purchased some second hand books, entered a mysterious raffle and dropped a donation in a large glass bottle for the maintenance of the church building because I liked their motto “To serve God and the community”.  Such is the way of the little village fete.

After that, I did some more stray sock sewing. I am getting quite a lot of requests on Facebook! Can’t keep up…

The sock clan so far…  For no other reason than the fact that they are mindless and fun to make. All allocated! Any requests?

Yesterday I was very poorly, so I sent JT out on a mission to purchase a book for me called Stray Sock Sewing. It is brilliant!! Basically you make strange creatures and toys out of old socks. Here are my first efforts:

Sock bunny

Sock pig!!

I have a number of books at the moment that I am reading, or waiting to read:

I am currently reading the Chanel biography, the inspiration behind the film which I have not yet seen, ‘Coco before Chanel’. It is a fascinating book and really well written (very engaging). It speaks of how Chanel, when recounting her life, was often fabricating details or in fact, just making them up!  The story draws together accounts from people who actually knew her and tells of how she grew up in a family of itinerants, lost her mother and was taken to a convent. It then relays how she gained her nickname Coco (her real name was Gabrielle) and gradually how she made a name for herself. It is a very good read.

I am also reading the Festival of Britain Design book. The Festival of Britain fascinates me as a designer. It was an event that got written off in terms of its significance, particularly by Winston Churchill who ordered the main south bank exhibition to be cleared with the exception of the Royal Festival Hall, which became a concert venue with the profits from the festival.

The graphic designer for the festival was Abram Games, the official war poster artist. The design was brilliant and both that and the architecture was influential in 50′s design, which remains one of the most iconic design periods in history (particularly for furniture). The festival opened in 1951 and there were many buildings (including the Skylon, which looks a little like Phillippe Starck’s juicer!), art works by famous artists, exhibitions, etc.

The festival was designed to increase the public morale following the war years and introduce a new hope for the future of British industry.

The book is perhaps not an easy read but very informative and interesting

Next on the list and lying by my bedside:

The Bauhaus is one of those subjects that I refer to a lot in meetings, as it was so influential in the direction of both art and design. However, it is also one of those subjects where my knowledge is a bit like a child’s dot to dot puzzle with the lines missing that joins the picture together? I know lots of bits about the Bauhaus, but I don’t know its story properly, so I wanted to read a non-complex book that would explain it.  Here is what Amazon says about it:

Functional beauty Founded in Welmar in 1919, the Bauhaus school developed a revolutionary approach that fused fine art with craftsmanship and engineering in everything from architecture to furniture, typography, and even theater. Originally headed by Walter Gropius, the Bauhaus counted among its members artists and architects such as Paul Klee, Lyonel Feininger, Wassily Kandinsky, Laszlo Moholy-Nagy, and Marcel Breuer. In 1930 Ludwig Mies van der Rohe took over as the leader, but soon after, in 1933, the Nazi government shut down the school. During its fourteen years of existence, Bauhaus managed to change the faces of art, architecture, and industrial design forever and is still hugely influential today.

The other book is Friends in Exile, Wassily Kandinsky and Josef Albers, two artists who were great friends and colleagues at the Bauhaus until the Nazis shut it down in 1933. When it was closed down, Kandinsky moved with his wife to Paris and Albers to the US. They corresponded for 20 years.

Kandinsky has always fascinated me and I actually have a book to read that is just about him. He was a very deep thinker and in particular fused the notion of composing music with painting or creating art. He said “Colour is the keyboard, the eyes are the harmonies, the soul is the piano with many strings. The artist is the hand that plays, touching one key or another, to cause vibrations in the soul.” This is a little too deep for my liking, but what I love about Kandinsky is that he progressed through many different movements of art and yet all of them are beautiful. I particularly like his colourful impressionistic early work and then his later work which is clearly influenced by his time at the Bauhaus, as it becomes very architectural.

Also, whilst in London, we discovered a very cool place called Gabriel’s Wharf. It is a series of eateries and ‘arts’ (as opposed to ‘art’) shops near the Thames and near to the Tate Modern. It is quite near the OXO tower (where I also discovered JosephJoseph HQ, much to my excitement!)

I recently fulfilled an ambition that I have had for about five years…. I went to a butterfly house!!  Pink Sky were in London for two days so we visited the butterfly house at the Natural History museum. Mark was teasing me initially, suggesting that they would be on cork tiles with pins through them but I knew they would be real (alive) ones. It was about £6 to get in but worth EVERY penny, it was amazing!  Look!