I have been AWAY
Oh man, I am both glad and sorry to have been elsewhere for this strange year, and perhaps especially for this strange and sorry week, where all the progress of the summer has come right unzipped. London is on watch, which means more lockdown coming, and judging by the range of substitutions in my Waitrose deliver today, there’s panic buying ahoy again. Ugh. Stop, people. It’s bad, but we’ve done this before.
But anyway, it was a good time to be in Bath.
I wasn’t really on holiday, but work were happy for me to do a solid morning and a short evening session most days this week, taking a day’s leave to reduce my hours for this one week. It was busier than I’d expected, mostly because I was participating in an international conference which took up a fair chunk of time. I was also a bit unnerved to be assigned to the exact same flat I had last July, when I watched the current government be formed from the same sofa I watched the PM declare the second wave this week. I… might not risk staying there again tbh.
Working:
But staying somewhere again was very much the plan for this week - it doesn’t seem to be a great time to be visiting somewhere unfamiliar. And work-holiday meant I really wasn’t keen to be somewhere where I’d feel like I was missing out. Instead, I went somewhere familiar, and shopped, walked, and ducked into a couple of favourite indoor places that seemed worth the risk. It wasn’t perfect - I missed out on going into the Abbey due to its early closing (4pm, ignore Google Maps which still says 5). And I’d forgotten how close my flat would be to the Thermae Spa, which has *just* reopened. I didn’t realise that, and didn’t bring a swimming costume. Not sure I’d have been comfortable in there tbh, I’m not sure how they could ventilate things. But I’d have liked to decide that for myself.
But some things worked out really well. My flat, despite its unfortunate associations, is just beautiful - a set of almshouses, more or less, now 10 holiday lets, in a super central position. Last year was their first, and I got it at a massive discount; I’d expected never to stay there again, but this year worked out nicely from that POV if no other.
It's lovely in all weathers - on the dampest day, the herb tubs smelt absolutely amazing:
My main plan was to walk, and specifically to go up some proper hills, which I’ve had no real chance to do this year. So I first climbed up and up Lansdown Hill, to the lovely crescents (Camden and Lansdown), which I’ve never bothered to reach before. They aren’t as fancy as the Royal Crescent, but the views are stellar, and I am also amused by how my camera can’t deal with the sharp angles of the crescents… (sorry, I have rotated them but imagine all the long sweeping shots of crescents being stood on end originally…).
And I also walked up to Prior Park, the landscape garden pretty much 180 degrees opposite Camden Crescent. I’ve been there often before, and it was a tricky visit in some ways this time, with a one way system in part forced because of major work on the lake dams in the midst of the landscape - being in a very steep and crumbly valley, they have deteriorated badly and are being slowly saved. It’s not a landscape it’s easy to get constructions vehicles into, as you’ll see…
It's now quite a hike down an open field path, to the topmost of the dams - a tad slippery on a damp day, but quite fun to own this space (I’m fairly sure it was full of sheep last time I was here)
Ancient bridge graffiti is always a mix of pleasing and irritating:
Being outside a lot, I did note flowers a bit more generally:
And limited my eating out, while still supporting lovely Boston Tea Party with a takeaway from very close by my flat:
But I did book the Pump Room. It’s not Bath without that - though there’s only one morning sitting, at 10am, and I had to duck out of a meeting to get there… (Morning is decent value; lunch and afternoon is an enormous grand tea which is just a bit depressing alone I think, and also ££££. I was happy with my tea, bun and pianist playing Barry Manilow, bless him)
And I did also risk the Holburne Museum, which is one of my favourite galleries. It’s really interestingly curated and always something to see.
Again, a bit challenging this time - some of my fave rooms are very small and need a lot of touching to see things (drawers full of treasures), and so was closed. Woe.
And a more specific woe, they were hosting a Grayson Perry exhibition, which was the first place you had to go to on a strict route: a room with a tight one way system and a pottery enthusiast ahead of me making it a long slow queue past crap. (No special shade to GP, whose later work I like, but this was all his enfant terrible stuff: two swastikas and a cock or three on a vase, with a slogan trying to make it meaningful… sigh. It makes me feel very old, but I can’t be bothered to think such adolescent poses are worth it.)
Still, it worked beautifully for me in the second room - lots more Perry juvenilia to the right, all the portraits I wanted to see to the left. Hurrah!
They have done a really nice job of quietly reassessing and relabelling their portraits. At least 80% of Bath gentry made money out of slavery, I should think, and they’ve just added in that part of the story so you can’t skip out of knowing what paid for the lovely frocks.
This merchant family were sort of okay, till you got to the son:
But this man was deeply involved in creating the Royal African Company, which facilitated a major increase in slave trading:
Which is what paid for this building, I’m pretty sure - it’s part of the Pulteney estate, which is based on sugar etc. It’s beautiful, but corrupt.
It was a bit cheering to be reminded of the grubby side of Georgian life - one of my fave things about the Holburne is they pick a few hero items to put in single cases so you’re not overwhelmed, and they research and change them regularly.
This, originally, was a lady’s potty, for discreet mealtime weeing under her skirts. The uncomfortably-pointy dragons were added by a later collector who displayed it as a vase, presumably (?) not working out what it was for…
Anyway. It was fun, but tiring. And I am so, so unused to travel - I was genuinely surprised by how fast we got to Bath, in the kind of time I’ve become used to just about getting a supermarket shop done! I struggled a bit with the wifi, which could have been better, but I think I can honestly say I’ve done a fair 3.5 days of work (taking this afternoon off to return reluctantly to reality). And it was so good to get out. I’ve bought little knickknackeries for Christmas (sigh) and a dress for myself, and some boring but useful bras (there’s still a Debenhams in Bath, hooray). Thrown money at some needy and excellent causes, from lovely cafes to desperate museums. Eaten too well, and stretched my legs, got some air and remembered there’s another world out there. Not too shabby, overall.
Meanwhile, I’m all kinds of behind on LJ - I didn’t take my personal laptop and can’t get into it on work’s, while I can use my tablet but I don’t have a decent keyboard. And anyway, it’s been a busy few days with work going into the evenings some days. So, meme:
21 What’s a big pet peeve you have?
Given the current state of everything, I am going to nominate poor distancers, under-nose mask wearers, and others who just don’t seem to get why people are worried and careful. I don’t think distancing is perfect; I do feel better when people try their best not to make things worse. I’ve just downloaded the covid app, and although that’s not perfect either, if I get positive contacts I will make extra efforts not to get close/indoors with anyone. We are very much dependant on each other at the moment.
22 Do you have an inanimate object that you have given a name?
Huh. I really don’t think I have. Even my cuddly toy, which is a new thing for lockdown when touch is so absent, is simply known as Boar, because he’s a boar.
23 What’s your favorite Elton John song, and why?
Slightly sheepishly, I really like Your Song. (Remember I’m near tone deaf, and it’s a popular radio show theme, so it’s probably mostly the recognition.)
24 If you could choose any animal as a pet (all problems aside), which one would you have and why?
I don’t really do animals, historically speaking, but I do now quite fancy a cat - one which deigns to get close, though. I’ve never had animals, but this year really does make me long for company of sorts.
25 What’s something “everyone” knows how to do that you’ve never actually done?
There’s a lot that I’ve only done for practice (wiring a plug, painter-decorating - I did them at Guides, but not since), and stuff I can’t do well (still no drivers licence, though I do feel better about that now I’ve been told I’m actually dangerous because of lack of depth perception… It explains a lot about my lessons). I’m not sure I could still ride a bike, either. I’ve never cut someone’s hair, ever, which I think is now a lot more rare than it was six months ago!
26 What’s one small thing you’ve accomplished today that wasn’t even on your to-do list?
27 If you could eliminate one thing from your daily schedule, what would it be?
28 Is there a book or TV series that you enjoy, but acknowledge that it's not actually very good? What makes you love it enough to keep reading/watching?
29 If you were your own best friend, what piece of unsolicited advice would you give yourself?
30 What television sitcom is your real life most like?
But anyway, it was a good time to be in Bath.
I wasn’t really on holiday, but work were happy for me to do a solid morning and a short evening session most days this week, taking a day’s leave to reduce my hours for this one week. It was busier than I’d expected, mostly because I was participating in an international conference which took up a fair chunk of time. I was also a bit unnerved to be assigned to the exact same flat I had last July, when I watched the current government be formed from the same sofa I watched the PM declare the second wave this week. I… might not risk staying there again tbh.
Working:
But staying somewhere again was very much the plan for this week - it doesn’t seem to be a great time to be visiting somewhere unfamiliar. And work-holiday meant I really wasn’t keen to be somewhere where I’d feel like I was missing out. Instead, I went somewhere familiar, and shopped, walked, and ducked into a couple of favourite indoor places that seemed worth the risk. It wasn’t perfect - I missed out on going into the Abbey due to its early closing (4pm, ignore Google Maps which still says 5). And I’d forgotten how close my flat would be to the Thermae Spa, which has *just* reopened. I didn’t realise that, and didn’t bring a swimming costume. Not sure I’d have been comfortable in there tbh, I’m not sure how they could ventilate things. But I’d have liked to decide that for myself.
But some things worked out really well. My flat, despite its unfortunate associations, is just beautiful - a set of almshouses, more or less, now 10 holiday lets, in a super central position. Last year was their first, and I got it at a massive discount; I’d expected never to stay there again, but this year worked out nicely from that POV if no other.
It's lovely in all weathers - on the dampest day, the herb tubs smelt absolutely amazing:
My main plan was to walk, and specifically to go up some proper hills, which I’ve had no real chance to do this year. So I first climbed up and up Lansdown Hill, to the lovely crescents (Camden and Lansdown), which I’ve never bothered to reach before. They aren’t as fancy as the Royal Crescent, but the views are stellar, and I am also amused by how my camera can’t deal with the sharp angles of the crescents… (sorry, I have rotated them but imagine all the long sweeping shots of crescents being stood on end originally…).
And I also walked up to Prior Park, the landscape garden pretty much 180 degrees opposite Camden Crescent. I’ve been there often before, and it was a tricky visit in some ways this time, with a one way system in part forced because of major work on the lake dams in the midst of the landscape - being in a very steep and crumbly valley, they have deteriorated badly and are being slowly saved. It’s not a landscape it’s easy to get constructions vehicles into, as you’ll see…
It's now quite a hike down an open field path, to the topmost of the dams - a tad slippery on a damp day, but quite fun to own this space (I’m fairly sure it was full of sheep last time I was here)
Ancient bridge graffiti is always a mix of pleasing and irritating:
Being outside a lot, I did note flowers a bit more generally:
And limited my eating out, while still supporting lovely Boston Tea Party with a takeaway from very close by my flat:
But I did book the Pump Room. It’s not Bath without that - though there’s only one morning sitting, at 10am, and I had to duck out of a meeting to get there… (Morning is decent value; lunch and afternoon is an enormous grand tea which is just a bit depressing alone I think, and also ££££. I was happy with my tea, bun and pianist playing Barry Manilow, bless him)
And I did also risk the Holburne Museum, which is one of my favourite galleries. It’s really interestingly curated and always something to see.
Again, a bit challenging this time - some of my fave rooms are very small and need a lot of touching to see things (drawers full of treasures), and so was closed. Woe.
And a more specific woe, they were hosting a Grayson Perry exhibition, which was the first place you had to go to on a strict route: a room with a tight one way system and a pottery enthusiast ahead of me making it a long slow queue past crap. (No special shade to GP, whose later work I like, but this was all his enfant terrible stuff: two swastikas and a cock or three on a vase, with a slogan trying to make it meaningful… sigh. It makes me feel very old, but I can’t be bothered to think such adolescent poses are worth it.)
Still, it worked beautifully for me in the second room - lots more Perry juvenilia to the right, all the portraits I wanted to see to the left. Hurrah!
They have done a really nice job of quietly reassessing and relabelling their portraits. At least 80% of Bath gentry made money out of slavery, I should think, and they’ve just added in that part of the story so you can’t skip out of knowing what paid for the lovely frocks.
This merchant family were sort of okay, till you got to the son:
But this man was deeply involved in creating the Royal African Company, which facilitated a major increase in slave trading:
Which is what paid for this building, I’m pretty sure - it’s part of the Pulteney estate, which is based on sugar etc. It’s beautiful, but corrupt.
It was a bit cheering to be reminded of the grubby side of Georgian life - one of my fave things about the Holburne is they pick a few hero items to put in single cases so you’re not overwhelmed, and they research and change them regularly.
This, originally, was a lady’s potty, for discreet mealtime weeing under her skirts. The uncomfortably-pointy dragons were added by a later collector who displayed it as a vase, presumably (?) not working out what it was for…
Anyway. It was fun, but tiring. And I am so, so unused to travel - I was genuinely surprised by how fast we got to Bath, in the kind of time I’ve become used to just about getting a supermarket shop done! I struggled a bit with the wifi, which could have been better, but I think I can honestly say I’ve done a fair 3.5 days of work (taking this afternoon off to return reluctantly to reality). And it was so good to get out. I’ve bought little knickknackeries for Christmas (sigh) and a dress for myself, and some boring but useful bras (there’s still a Debenhams in Bath, hooray). Thrown money at some needy and excellent causes, from lovely cafes to desperate museums. Eaten too well, and stretched my legs, got some air and remembered there’s another world out there. Not too shabby, overall.
Meanwhile, I’m all kinds of behind on LJ - I didn’t take my personal laptop and can’t get into it on work’s, while I can use my tablet but I don’t have a decent keyboard. And anyway, it’s been a busy few days with work going into the evenings some days. So, meme:
21 What’s a big pet peeve you have?
Given the current state of everything, I am going to nominate poor distancers, under-nose mask wearers, and others who just don’t seem to get why people are worried and careful. I don’t think distancing is perfect; I do feel better when people try their best not to make things worse. I’ve just downloaded the covid app, and although that’s not perfect either, if I get positive contacts I will make extra efforts not to get close/indoors with anyone. We are very much dependant on each other at the moment.
22 Do you have an inanimate object that you have given a name?
Huh. I really don’t think I have. Even my cuddly toy, which is a new thing for lockdown when touch is so absent, is simply known as Boar, because he’s a boar.
23 What’s your favorite Elton John song, and why?
Slightly sheepishly, I really like Your Song. (Remember I’m near tone deaf, and it’s a popular radio show theme, so it’s probably mostly the recognition.)
24 If you could choose any animal as a pet (all problems aside), which one would you have and why?
I don’t really do animals, historically speaking, but I do now quite fancy a cat - one which deigns to get close, though. I’ve never had animals, but this year really does make me long for company of sorts.
25 What’s something “everyone” knows how to do that you’ve never actually done?
There’s a lot that I’ve only done for practice (wiring a plug, painter-decorating - I did them at Guides, but not since), and stuff I can’t do well (still no drivers licence, though I do feel better about that now I’ve been told I’m actually dangerous because of lack of depth perception… It explains a lot about my lessons). I’m not sure I could still ride a bike, either. I’ve never cut someone’s hair, ever, which I think is now a lot more rare than it was six months ago!
26 What’s one small thing you’ve accomplished today that wasn’t even on your to-do list?
27 If you could eliminate one thing from your daily schedule, what would it be?
28 Is there a book or TV series that you enjoy, but acknowledge that it's not actually very good? What makes you love it enough to keep reading/watching?
29 If you were your own best friend, what piece of unsolicited advice would you give yourself?
30 What television sitcom is your real life most like?