December Reflections 18: silver

kathleenjowitt2 Comments
A card of stud earrings in various shapes and designs, including lizards, fruit, ammonites, gems,

I’ve been wearing stud earrings much more lately (used to go for dangly ones, but they just aren’t practical with little grabby hands around). Mostly gold-coloured ones, but I’ve picked up a few silver ones – the ammonites and the lizards were new this year.

I got an extra pair of ear piercings, too. It’s quite fun to experiment with different combinations – though what I’m wearing at the moment is more of a ‘first thing that came to hand’ and only one pair is strictly a pair. The trouble with studs is that I keep losing the backs.

December Reflections 16: memorable meal in 2024

kathleenjowittLeave a comment
A faded painted sign advertising Kimberley Ales, half hidden behind a gazebo, some wheelie bins and some plastic crates

Well, you can ask for Kimberley Ales, but you won’t get them. However, our “bus crew: the next generation, and the generation after that” meal at the Cliff Inn, Crich, was enjoyable in every way. I am not sure that “those people who turned up every August bank holiday in the 1970s and drank the pub dry” are even a folk memory at the Cliff any more, but the current management made us extremely welcome and organised a meal for a dozen.

There is a song dating from those days, with the chorus, “Isn’t it grand, boys, to be drinking at Cliff”. Each verse begins “Look at [person]”, or, in my father’s case, “Regardez le Patron”. It’s a bit depressing to sing these days, as a lot of the subjects are now drinking in the bar up yonder. (To absent friends!) We did not, could not possibly, have done them justice, but it was at least something of a memorial, and I enjoyed it.

(This photo actually taken at the Tramway Museum, a little way up the hill. I didn’t end up taking any at the Cliff.)

December Reflections 15: glitter

kathleenjowittLeave a comment
A red glittery battery operated tea light

I don’t think I have anything very intelligent to say about glitter. I am feeling slightly under the weather and have, this afternoon, discharged my final responsibility of the year in my biggest voluntary commitment. So I will just post this picture of a little red glittery battery operated tea light, and note that I am giving myself the evening off any sort of Christmas preparations – and drinking a whisky mac.

December Reflections 13: biggest lesson of 2024

kathleenjowittLeave a comment
A full cup of coffee. A toddler's plastic beaker is visible in the background.

Capacity. There are only so many hours in a day, even when it’s not a scarce-seven-hours St Lucy’s day.

There is only so much work that I can fit into three days, only so much voluntary admin that I can fit into a toddler’s nap. And then I have to switch off, put the laptop away. No more pressing on until the task is finished. I can’t get away with that any more. I can’t afford the egotistical luxury of being the go-to person any more: I have to direct inquiries elsewhere, ask for help, leave things undone.

I still have a lot to learn about this.

December Reflections 12: brings me joy

kathleenjowittLeave a comment
Bare trees against a grey sky. A few yellow leaves are still clinging to the branches.

Recently I’ve been noticing how very satisfying rich colours are. The deep red on our dining room wall. Cobalt blue watercolour, before you start diluting it. In a box of 40 reels of thread, the magenta one. I like them opaque but not muddy. These leaves aren’t quite as good as my mug from the Women’s Tour, but they’re pretty good.

And getting outside, even just for ten minutes around the block. This little patch of trees and grass and path is just there to baffle the noise from the main road, but it’s a habitat for small joys like squirrels, deer, people on bicycles, people not on bicycles, huge and tiny dogs, sparrows, goldfinches, rosehips, hazelnuts, blackberries, bouncy balls, and exuberantly yellow leaves.

December Reflections 11: 2024 in one photo

kathleenjowittLeave a comment

Windpump, main structure of dark wood planks, white sails, against a blue sky

Windpump at Wicken Fen. I am not just trying to indicate that 2024 was the year we got National Trust membership, though this is true.

At one point I got very interested in windmills (this is not one) and fell down several Wikipedia rabbit-holes learning about Dutch windmill code and so on (this appears to be broadcasting something between ‘good news’ and ‘not open for business’).

But the real reason for choosing this photo is the sense of space I encountered at Wicken Fen, which feels emblematic of this year’s emotional shift. Big skies and quietness. This year I’ve begun to make more sense of the world in which I live, I’ve been deliberate in spending more time outside, and (most of the time) there’s been more space and it’s easier to breathe.

December Reflections 10: I said hello to…

kathleenjowittLeave a comment
Close crop of a night time photo of a cargo bike

… this pantechnicon.

While we acquired the cargo bike last year, I was very pregnant at the time, and I only began to be comfortable trying to ride it this May. It’s actually surprisingly easy to get used to, once you’ve got the hang of the steering. For town errands, it’s quite a bit handier than a car: just as well, since I can’t, and (for health reasons) shouldn’t, drive one.