Here we go: the countdown to Christmas starts here

23 November 2012


How the devil are we back here again with Christmas just around the corner? Tomorrow sees the start of many festive activities that our weeks are peppered with from now until the end of the year. It's not our lives that are a social whirlwind, but rather those of our children. As of next week come the nativity plays, carol concerts and parties. 

Tomorrow is Lily's school Christmas Fayre. Again this year, I am 'head of crafts'. Sounds a rather grand title, but it basically means I spend the duration of the fayre and the two weeks running up to it knee-deep in glitter and spend many hours pre-folding paper and cutting out cardboard reindeer antlers and such like. It should however be fun and a fitting excuse to eat a mince pie.



Fireworks + Politics

6 November 2012



Yesterday we took the kids to see our local fireworks at Hove Cricket Ground. I love fireworks night: I've never grown out of it. It hasn't been until recent years that Lily has embraced fireworks. We had a couple of false starts taking her to displays when she was younger only to have to leave seconds into the display as she was clearly petrified of the bangs and unfamiliar darkness. So it was with a little hesitance that we took Arthur to his first fireworks display last night, aged three. He told me that he really wanted to go and that he didn't mind loud bangs as he was three and could deal with it. He was right. He was so full of expectation. He sat, as good as gold, waiting for the display to start and when that first rocket launched and exploded into a riot of glitter in the dark sky his eyes were wide and his smile was priceless. He sat there drinking it all in. As a result, I think I spent more time watching his reaction than the actual fireworks. 

On an entirely different note, though equally topical, Lily today asked, in all sincerity, if she could vote in the US elections. She was rather miffed to hear that she couldn't. She has apparently been following the pre-election campaigns on Newsround and had already decided who she would vote for. 

It says a lot when a seven-year-old can clearly see who should win this election.

Poster Lust

1 November 2012



 


I recently stumbled upon Swissted, an ongoing project by graphic designer Mike Joyce, owner of Stereotype Design in New York City. Drawing upon his love of punk rock and swiss modernism, an unlikely pairing, he has designed these fantastic typographic posters. I absoloutely love them: they remind me of Penguin book covers from the 1960's. The question is would you opt for your favourite band or your favourite design? Your answer probably says quite a bit about you.