I feature prominently in an article about weightlifting from last Friday's Guardian.

Which will go some way to answering the question "So what on earth have you been doing since you last posted, Fiona?" I think I have talked here at least once about how compelling I find Olympic weightlifting (i.e. the particular two styles of lift that feature in ( Read more... )

Please see the dreamwidth post about it. It's been nearly a year since I last posted here - yikes - and it seems crossposting has stopped working for me in the meantime.

Back in July I discovered that Rowan had discontinued their Hemp Tweed, which is one of my favourite yarns, that I've used for three scarves like this, and so I found a few UK stores that still had a decent stock, and I bought small amounts in a large range of colours (enough for scarves), and also amounts large enough for sweaters in a light ( Read more... )

 From the May 2020 issue of Harper's Magazine, which is the issue currently in place next to my loo:

From a sign posted inside Catnip, a cafe in Christchurch, New Zealand

So you've ordered a muffin.
Our wobbly tabby cat Bea really likes muffins, so there are a few things to be aware of.
She is not allowed to eat muffins.
She will climb you to try and ( Read more... )

In mid-September the Cervantes Theatre launched their Autumn Season of 10 dramatised readings of English translations of new (or nearly new) plays by Spanish playwrights. The readings were filmed in the theatre, after 2 days of rehearsal, and then each one was presented at 7 pm on a Thursday, with an introduction and a Q&A with the playwright, the ( Read more... )

I see there is a fair amount of discussion of the origins of the Utah monolith - and I can't observe these discussions without thinking, "Yes, it's a cool art project, but it's no crucified bunny made out of toast." You need to have a local tube station to achieve those heights, so any Utah-based artist is working at a disadvantage.
This entry was ( Read more... )

 Well, every day of my life so far has been spent not walking the East Mendip Way, but I was especially not walking it on Friday the 2nd and Saturday the 3rd of October. The Friday walk should have consisted of a 6 miles from Wells to Shepton Mallet (graded Easy), and the Saturday of 13 miles to Frome (also graded Easy). My friend J (byslanted ( Read more... )

 The forecast for Thursday was dry, making it the last rain-free day for at least a week. It had been fixed for several weeks that I was going to go to Glastonbury on Thursday, as I'd arranged to meet Liz Williams for a drink at 5 pm at the George and Pilgrim ("the G&P", locally), but the question was whether I would get there by a 20 minute bus ( Read more... )

When last seen, I was being let into my room at the Crown Inn at Wells at 12.30, rather than having to wait for the normal check-in time of 4 pm. My room was around the side of the hotel, looking out onto the market square - which was full of stalls as it was market day. Over breakfast my landlady in Priddy had given me her top tourist top for ( Read more... )

I got the train to Weston-super-Mare on Saturday the 26th of September, started the walk on the Sunday, arriving at the end in Frome on Saturday the 3rd of October, and then got the train home last Sunday. At the start of the week before the holiday, it looked as if there was a non-zero chance that England might about to go back into deepest ( Read more... )