Catherine’s Blog

Five years ago there was a tube strike in London. I know this fact because I arrived at Heathrow for the very first time five years ago today.
Five years is a long time, I am quite a different person than I was then. I was fatter but unfortunately not that much. I had more hair and a different colour. I was not as experienced in my work and had worked in the same sector since 1996 or so. I moved sectors, moved back, hated it and although still in the Education sector am in a less stressful sector.
I have lived in different parts of London, North and South. I have gone from flat sharing with randoms to sharing with one important person and a house truly becoming a home.
I like the UK, I don’t love it. I have found the last five years to be full of adventure, friends and love. It has been good and I have not regretted extending my six months stay. I do find the long grey days more draining than I thought possible and I miss my family, a lot. I have had experiences in the UK and Europe that I would have never had anywhere else. I have found acceptance as well as castles.
I am ready to go home, the weather of the past few days has highlighted that for me. I miss the outdoor lifestyle, my family, the weather, long drives and stark light.
I will miss castles, green hills, hedgerows, weird accents, a wide variety of gin and beer, concerts and general London life. Hell, I will miss the tube.
In five years I have cut my hair, changed three different dress sizes, worked in four different jobs and gained a husband. A lot of change.
If it was not for London I would not have met Anthony. And he is the greatest gift/change I have had. One of the most important people in my life that is for sure. The reason my flat is a home and that my most important possession is a single white gold band and that I can say one person can change your life.
I like London but don’t love it and after five years the choice to leave soonish feels very right, there are other places to explore and to make home. I thank London and a lot of the people reading this for the past five years.

Hmmmmm

Originally uploaded by LPM

I turned 35 today.
I am not terribly pleased with this. I usually am very excited about a birthday. This one carries a lot more weight than others.
I had a BBQ at the house today, I did not advertise why. We had some lovely visitors and it was a really good day. Good food, good food and great company.
I have had some lovely presents, very thoughtful.
I think that is enough before I really navel gaze.

Last weekend was quite relaxed, same as the weekend before.  Nothing special really, just pottering around home.  For me, a lot of sewing, I have made a little bag (pictured), ideal for the good old pocket watch.  I have no idea if it will sell but one can only wait.  I am a little quiet at the moment because I am madly trying to promote the shop and generally try sell stuff.
I did not go out on the weekend, unless you count the gym, I should have gone twice but on the weekend ended sleeping a lot on Saturday afternoon.  I suppose I have not been sleeping well and needed the catch up.
I also tested the lemon curd and almond ripple ice cream Ela and I made the previous week end.  This recipe is for filament magazine, had to involve lemons.  It turned out well.  I tested it on the neighbours and Anthony.  We also drank the Champagne Joyce bought back from France.  It was a perfect accompaniment.
The Summer solstice has past so it is officially summer now here in the UK.  The weather is not as miserable as it was last year, I have even managed not to wear a singlet for a number of days and we have had the house open as well.  We have some truly glorious weather and we have had some picnics in the park which have taken full advantage of the weather.
Anthony’s tomato plants are slowly taking over the garden but I am thinking that the pumpkins may make a tactical advance any moment.
Anthony is still job hunting.  He has had a couple of phone interviews and some face to face ones.  He is confident that he will get a job soon, there are a couple of good leads on the horizon.  Recently he has been working at rejigging this website.  Bringing the front page up to date and stripping the rest back.

Happy anniversary

Originally uploaded by LPM

Anthony and I have been married for three years today. We have given each other leather presents (or in Anthony’s case PVC). I received leather shoes and gloves, two CDs as well as cards and paper with twee teddy bears!
After work, Anthony met me and we headed off to Ketteners, at the recommendation of my boss, it was lovely! That including French champagne, our celebration tipple of choice.

There was cake, good cake! (I know he does not look like he was having fun but he did honest, see the one below.)

Then I surprised him by taking him to see Les Miserables, which was lovely for my fourth and Anthony’s first time. Apparently it follows the book “at a fair clip”.

Sometimes it feels like yesterday we married sometimes if feels like thirty years. Still love the strange man.

You can tell either my life is busy or boring. I think at the moment it is a combination of the two. We have a mouse of a houseguest in the form of Graeme, the only indication of his presence is the scrabbling sounds and the bread disappearing. We had Ela over for dinner on Monday, it was a jolly night with friends pottering around. We cooked steak and experimented with kosher and heathen steak. There was plenty of red wine drunk and it was a relaxing night. Sunday was a potter around the house with pattern drafting and gym on the cards, not that exciting but Anthony was there which is always nice. I attempted to finish some projects that have been hanging around for an age. Saturday I spent mainly at Sue’s house, adjusting outfits and helping her go through her clothes in an attempt to downsize her huge wardrobe! I got some good stuff done but it was very tiring. Anthony can home on Friday from a trip to Cape Town, he had been there almost two weeks, dealing with the house and the final bits and bobs. This week has been a little stressful with a tube strike and work is odd, I can not put my finger on it but it has been strange. This week end, I think will have sewing and ice-cream in it.

Last night I attended the launch of the much anticipated magazine “Filament”, a new erotic magazine aimed at women without celebrity gossip and other crazy stuff.  I have known about this project for a long time and feel Surya’s determination to crack a market that is full of crap and put some substance with nude men is more than a little admirable.
The launch itself was a lovely gathering with people from all walks of life from alternative times to suited business types.  The atmosphere was of genteel conversation with a distinct of overtone of celebrating the male form in an erotic context.

The entertainment was quirky and erotic.  Boy burlesque from the delightful Cherry Loco, a very dashing Scottish fellow who performed with fans and in hot pants.  His power and movement with the fans was a delight to watch as he pouted and sizzled at the audience.  With beautifully applied man make up (make up that is not drag but is make up, theatrically) that put my slap applying to shame, he shimmied and flounced through a very entertaining act.
Suryra produced one of the most memorable speeches, using a spoken word performance, accompanied by a saw playing siren.
The final act of the night, before the DJ’s, did leave me a little more than breathless, a dynamic display of male strength and beauty.  Taking on the diet coke ads, this delightfully muscled performer, Edd Muir, used his strength on the Chinese pole in a display that that was sensual, erotic and beautiful.  His cheeky demeanour as well as focus made a very engaging and ummm, lusty performance.
There was also performances by the group Kiss Mummy Goodnight as well as life drawing upstairs.

My personal highlights, including Edd Muir, was also meeting some women from the British Porn Industry.  I am sorry I can not remember their names, they were all doubled barrelled.  There followed some wonderfully conversation about the rights and wrongs of mainstream porn.  Also Surya asking me to write recipe of the next Filament magazine, involving lemons, I will be undertaking this with Ela.   This was really exciting!
The launch embodied what Filament is all about making you think whilst displaying luscious men for perusal.

Last week and this week I am home alone.  Anthony is in South Africa, organising the house renovation.

I have been busy.  I have decided to try and sell my sewing online.  Mainly gothic and steampunk wear.  At the moment it is just waistcoats with some sporran type bags on the way as well. Vegan ones made up out of the left over scrapes from the waistcoats. I may expand into shirts although not the winged collar styles as they are very easy and cheap to get hold of.  Maybe some high collared ones.  I have been having fun being creative, having some fun pattern drafting and generally sewing for relaxation.  Now to hope they sell.
Work has been interesting.  I have been applying for jobs internally and getting no where, after a couple of attempts to get more money or a change and more skills this is disheartening.  I had earlier, expressed an interest in moving campuses.  I had said I was happy to go to Harrow.  Harrow is outside of central London quite a way but reasonable close to home.  There is also a possibility of driving as well. The fact that there will be no Zone one means the cost of public transport will be minimal.  Also there is not as much food on tap, this hopefully will help with my waistline, although things like the post office will be difficult.
Another plus is all the art and fashion subjects are out on the campus, my skills maybe finally be put to good use.  At least I will have very good access to an interesting collection.
Besides that very little has been happening besides cleaning and general house stuff.  I have been enjoying pottering around and leaving the dishes, opps.  The weather has been lovely, around the 25 degree mark, very pleasant.

Joyce and Arnie are back in Australia, safe and sound if not a little tired.
This means I can update you all on something that happened last week.
Anthony was made redundant on Thursday, a victim of the credit crunch and possibly big business takeovers as well.  His original company Conchango was taken over by EMC last year.  He has received a modest payout which was a relief as him losing his job without that could have been a little mental.  We are planning a possible bonfire with his business cards.
So, at the moment he is playing with his CV and pottering in the garden.  He is off to South Africa for two weeks on Sunday to look at the house.
The other exciting thing is the fact our landlord appears to be playing silly buggers with our lease which is frustrating.  Frankly more than a little more stress than I can cope with at the moment but as normal we have to do these things.
Another sad piece of news is that Arnie’s best man, Jeff, passed away on Tuesday.  We were expecting it but still it is very sad, last time I saw Jeff, he was looking very frail at our Australian wedding reception.  My thoughts are with his wife, two sons and their families.

Getting back from Ireland has been an attempt to get back into a routine of sorts.  It has not really happened, there has been some upsets to the applecart but at the moment I can not say much until I have spoken to the parents who apparently are painting Tokyo red.
Saturday was spent shopping for fabric to start selling waist coats online as well as other steampunk and goth gear.
Sunday was trying to get the shop set up as well as a hundred other things, well it felt like it.  I am finding life in general too busy at the moment, I think I need to start using my time better.

Originally uploaded by LPM

Finished, completed and I am really proud of a few of these.
I have completed 52 weeks of taking photos of Anthony. I am very happy with the result. There are some bad ones but there are some lovely ones as well. I am tempted to do it again but for the moment this is enough.
thanks to Anthony for being patient and taking a lot of it in good humour.

For all the pictures, http://www.flickr.com/photos/cjsteele/sets/72157605432424149/detail/