Dear FOQ
This week, I have been mostly ...
Reading
OK, I say reading.
I now have two half-hour slots of uninterrupted reading time to and from work -- but sometimes it's that much more gratifying just to stare out of the window, and spot sheep, lambs, rabbits and wildfowl in the fields. I did love the little sojourn over the river in my previous commute but my new commute does sorta trump even that.
The cuttings of the railway are sporadically flanked with trees and stray branches, so it's not always easy to capture a clear photo of what I see every day but here's a tiny video snippet to give you an idea (this time so you can actually see the video ... lalala ...):
Watching
...
After a minor hiccup/drama-llama moment on Monday night in which an update of Netflix rendered the Unblock service redundant (boo!), I survived a whole
Not sure why I bothered though... Grey's is circling that drain with one near-dismembered toe already in the sewage outlet at the other end. Plane crash. Plane crash in the middle of the woods.
 |
| {Priorities, Yang.} |
Maiming nearly all of the key characters.
It was so cliché and so appalling that even Bailey made a fleeting reference to Lost as if to suggest that originality already, well, had been. Lost, that is.
The only redeeming feature of the uber-crash was the demise of whiny anti-feminist-icon Lexie Grey ("sob sob, I can't operate as a medic/likeable human until I declare my pitiful love for Mark 'Slimeball' Sloan") and the long-drawn-out coma-not-coma-actually-yes-a-coma of Slimeball Sloan himself.
Buh-bye.
 |
| {Ha! No you're not! Too bad!} |
 |
| {Don't make me spell it out for ya.} |
I'm not happy about that. Seriously.
WOMEN ARE ABLE TO FUNCTION WITHOUT MEN; IT'S NOT UNHEARD OF. Pay attention, Women of Grey's Anatomy:
 |
| {found on Pinterest, via Charlie} |
... Jane the Virgin's supposed to be the next big thing in binge-watching, so I've been told.
Anyhoo.
I also watched Carol on DVD.
Bit of a punt seeing as I missed it at the cinema (although I did read the book on which it was based) and I rarely buy DVDs of films I haven't already seen and reckoned, but this one was worth it.
There were distinct departures from the book, some of which I think were a liberty such as, Therese was supposed to be a theatre set-builder, not a photographer, but I suppose the photography device was a little less obscure and easier to execute in terms of props and things ...
 |
| {See, when I cut my fringe too short I didn't look nearly this hip. Curse you, Rooney Mara.} |
Still, it was all rather beautifully filmed, and I will have to resume my 'fight' with Evie for the Right to Be Cate Blanchett When I Grow Up.
*scours Netflix for The Aviator/Blue Jasmine*
Regressing
... but in a good way at the V&A Museum of Childhood
wherein lay a wondrous, small-but-perfectly-formed exhibit on the Clangers (yay) and Bagpuss (again yay and I've almost forgotten that when I was a child Charlie Mouse getting stuck in the neck of the ship's bottle gave me the heebs):
Ma QB and I headed up to Lahndon Tahhhhn (for I can do that more readily now I don't have to work in the City of Selfish Mindlessness) and met friend Maggie at Liverpool Street, before taking a short walk to Spitalfields Market (via this statue, officially titled I Goat, by artist Kenny Hunter):
The market itself is now quite mainstream, and the music was pumping just a little bit too loudly for our delicate suburban sensibilities.
 |
| {Ma and Maggie, market-mooching, Oh and there's a van covered in grass. OK.} |
 |
| {NOM. MUCH NOMNESS.} |
Cue quirky Instagram shot, a propos to very little, juxtaposing the glass ceiling of Liverpool Street Station with the brickwork of the museum:
The museum wasn't especially busy (but still busy enough) so we headed straight for the Clangers/Bagpuss exhibit -- Clangers, Bagpuss & Co -- and it was fabulous.
The MoC is geared towards children, so some of the exhibit captions are quite 'spelled out', but that's no bad thing when you have moderately limited time to read them.
There are models of quite a few of the stop-motion animated characters on show, from the original-design Clangers to the dolls and curiosities from Bagpuss, as well as the Pogles:
and moreover details on the creative processes of Peter Firmin and Oliver Postgate in the creation of Noggin the Nog and Ivor the Engine etc.
Ma QB and I were rather taken by this delightful, fond description of animator Oliver Postgate in a letter from one of his former employers at the BBC:
 |
| {"... this odd but valuable person."} |
The dress hanging up over Bagpuss' head is Emily's dress from the opening sequence:
 |
| {via the BBC} |
So now you know!
 |
| {The Clangers' original breastplate costumes were based on Twiggy's 1960s fashions!} |
 |
| {The froglets actually made me go 'eep'! They are my favourites. After Tiny Clanger, of course.} |
The Clangers, Bagpuss & Co exhibit is on at the V&A MoC until October, so plenty of time in which to go and stare in awe at these bastions of childhood.
Le sigh.
Strangely, nothing was said about Tottie: the Story of a Doll's House:
which was also a Smallfilms production but this may possibly have been because it originated from the Rumer Godden novel, rather than the imaginations of Smallfilms themselves.
There was also a 'not-really-for-children' exhibit on, on the very top floor, focusing on British child migrants from the 1800s to, alarmingly, as late as the 1970s: On Their Own runs until June and is worth taking in.
Cooking
Yes, you read that right.
COOKING.
Look, see? Proof!
This here, my friends, is a lamb shank slow-cooked in leftover mulled wine (because leftover non-mulled wine is not a Thing at QB Heights, at least not for long), with rosemary, onion and a bit of stock thrown in for good measure.
I'm planning to steam some veg, mash up some sweet puhtatuh and serve the whole caboodle up with, er, more wine later tonight.
I'll let you know how it all turns out.
Hopefully not like this.
I've also been baking: more lemon drizzle loaf in honour of new workmate Becky's birthday but no photos exist of that so you'll just have to trust me that it happened.
***VERY IMPORTANT LAMB-SHANK-RELATED UPDATE***
Hot diggity dog, it was good.
SO DAMN GOOD.
#mouthgasm
Pinterest Pin of the Week
Sadly I've not had a lot of time to Pin anything personal this week but I think this ought to suffice for now, being on-topic an' all:
- Are you a grammar pedant? This might be why ... | on The Guardian
- This week in sexist news | via NMP3
- This short video on the IKEA Art Event (making art accessible) | OK, so it's broadly commercial but it's a delicious insight into the photographers' visions and approach. Features Rankin, so well worth a look.
Side note: It helps if you can understand French and Swedish for one or two of these talking head clips ...
Well, I think that just about sums up the week's shenanigans.
Oh but as ever, big love to my Lovelies: Nats, Georgie, Charlie, Jos and Fernikins.
I'm off to, oh, probably just watch another episode (or four) of GA.
Just to get it over and done with, you understand.
qb xx
