Arts & Crafts

My house is currently a big mess with newspapers all over the floor and bits of paint and card everywhere.

We have been making props for our show, you see.

We went to CAS - the art shop on Tottenham Court Road and ended up spending a surprising amount of money. Their slogan is 'let's fill this town with artists' and I imagine the next part of the line says 'and charge them loads of money for simple things'.

So I've been scouting about for better places to get arts and crafts products. My favourite is probably the many £1 shops around London that sell a huge range of items including paints, stationary and toys - and all for only a pound each! Also, Smiths is usually quite good for affordable things - and was the only place we could find t-shirt transfer paper (although this was quite expensive).

Of course, schools are a good place to steal things from and your own work - but this can often prove tricky.

More Wimbledon

Andy Murray's match today was phenomenal. Totally stunning. The stuff of movies. And exemplary of why I love sport, tennis and Wimbledon.

To be honest, Sunday was a bit of a relief. There was no play on Sunday as all the scheduled matches had happened as miraculously there was hardly any rain last week so everyone got a day off. You see, I got a day off too. I was relieved of the anxiety of worrying that I was missing some of Wimbledon - which is a constant fear during the first week as so many great matches happen at the same time.

Chris Eaton's progress through qualifying and then to the 2nd round was like a fairytale and I really hope he goes on to do bigger and more exciting things. (although what is possibly more exciting than being British and playing on Centre Court or Court One?)

I am beside myself that Murray is through to the quarters. I have been a fan of his since his days of being in the top 500 and his Davis Cup debut. Now, my plan all week was to go to Wimbers on Wednesday - which is now when Murray will face Rafa Nadal. I am itching out of my skin to go and see this in the flesh but I have a concern.

The only time I went to see the Ospreys last season they lost. And it was miserable.

What if I bring bad luck?

That's a terribly arrogant thing to think but it's a fear that can stop you actually enjoying supporting your player/team. I remember my grandmother frequently leaving the room when Henman was playing because she thought that they very act of her watching was impeding his progress!

Hopefully I will make it on Wednesday, and I will queue and I will cheer maniacally and Murray will win.

Wimbledon 4 Me 4EVA

Wimbledon began this week and it is my favourite two weeks of the entire year.

I LOVE WIMBLEDON.

I love tennis, but by god, I adore Wimbledon.

I think the main thing I love is the fact that the BBC shows it nearly all day, every day the championships is on. I'm sure for some people who couldn't give a fig about tennis then this must be a great inconvenience on their regular TV schedule but I can't get enough of it.

Every year I make plans to go and then I never end up going. Usually because I can't find anyone to go with. This year, however, I have wooed my partner with the joys of tennis and he is now a proper tennis fan. You must appreciate that this is quite an achievement for me as he is quite staunchly anti-sport.

I'm hoping to go this year but unfortunately this has also been one of my busiest late June/early July I've had in some years. I'm currently rehearsing/writing two shows for performances on the 8th, 9th, 15th and 24th of July. This highly impedes on my Wimbledon time.

I entered the public ballot for tickets but never got any, so the only option is to queue because I am nowhere near being able to afford debentures.

C'MON ANDY/ANY BRITISH PLAYER!

Tube Etiquette

I was on my way home this evening, using the Central Line, embarking at Holborn at approx 6.35pm.

Now, anyone with any sense at all, and with any sort of choice, does not travel on the London Underground (ever?) between the hours of 5pm and 7pm. And definitely not between the stations of Bank and Notting Hill Gate on the Central line. Particularly on a day when it had suffered severe delays due to a person under a train at Mile End.

Now, I did know what I was doing when I decided to get the Central line home from Holborn today, but sometimes people go too far. And it is often business people. Grrrrr. I was stuffed onto the doors of the carriage, not able to lift my head fully because of the curve of the train, when a smelly business man decides that although I don't have enough room to avoid looking like I've got rickets, he has enough room to read a newspaper.

I can tell you, dear readers, he did not have enough room to read a newspaper. This was evident in the fact that every time he turned the page, his newspaper would hit me in my cowed and increasingly angry face. He didn't seem to notice this and continued reading despite my breath wiggling the pages.

I tried sighing and huffing in a really obvious fashion - I couldn't move my head! And he was squashing me into the wall so he could stretch out and catch up on the news! I hate him!

We'd got to Queensway by now and I'd had enough, I had to do something. So I got out my current read (Doris Lessing 'The Habit of Loving' - very good) which was actually TINY compared to his big fat newspaper, but the presence of it made him realise there was not enough room for me to read a paperback you could fit in your pocket, let alone a bloody big bit of media toss. Just as I was about to revel in the enjoyment of asserting myself and passive aggressively educating the selfish business man as to the physics of rush hour and reading newspapers, he got off.

Alton Towers

As a birthday treat for my boyfriend we went to Alton Towers.

I've never been, but he'd been as a kid and was very very very excited. He woke up extra early and had a shower and was all dressed and ready to go before I'd even woken up.

We then drove all the way to Alton (in just under 3 hours from Shepherd's Bush with one petrol stop). We arrived at about 11am with the weather not looking too great, and it seemed like there were a lot of cars there already as we tumbled out of the car and got our waterproofs on.

We made our way to the monorail and hardly waited for one to roll us off to the main entrance. What is nice about the monorail is that it gives you views over parts of the park, like a preview of the rides you can later go on. What I found quite funny was that when we did get to the main entrance it was really not very far away from where we parked the car at all.

Here are my top tips for Alton Towers:

Go on a rainy-ish day mid-week during term time. It will keep the crowds away and drastically reduce your queuing time. The quite time for Oblivion was only 5 minutes at one point during the day!

Take a packed lunch. The food on offer is generally not great, mostly fast food, overpriced. There are some great spots to eat your packed lunch including the rather beautiful gardens.

The gardens and the towers themselves are what make Alton Towers something more than your average theme park. My housemate loves English History and was delighted by the fact that you can wander around the towers (which are currently being restored).

Make sure you go on Oblivion, Air and Hex. Just brilliantly designed rides.

Up and Down and Side to Side

From London to Cardiff to Swansea to Cockermouth (no jokes, please - they asked) to Windermere to London.

That was my itinerary of the last week. It involved a lot of driving. I am tired.

The Lake District is superlatively beautiful. If you haven't been, I must insist you make a visit there because it must surely be one of the most breathtakingly beautiful areas in Britain.

On our way back from Cockermouth (the locals call it Knobingob) we thought we'd pass through Windermere (I'm a great fan) and take lunch there. So I stuck Lake Windermere into the TomTom and dutifully followed all its directions until it ended up directing us into the lake itself, at which point I figured that TomTom probably didn't realise that I meant 'a pub or restaurant near Lake Windermere with lovely views of the lake' and actually thought I meant 'please direct me to the very middle of the lake where my aqua car will take us on a journey to the depths'.

If only, but I was driving a KA, and not a Bond vehicle, so we re-directed and eventually ended up in the twee town of Windermere for a lovely spot of lunch.

The moral is: generally it is good to trust the TomTom, but always remember to use common sense and your eyes.

To Drive or Not to Drive

Living in London poses quite awkward transport questions, particularly if you frequently need to leave London or haul loads of stuff around the capital.


I'm originally from Wales, where it was extremely useful to have a car (and I passed my test at 17 so I could drive to college) but when I went to university I lost that privilege. When I say I lost that privilege, what I mean is that I wasn't allowed to take a car with me to my university and when I wasn't looking my dad sold my car.

So now I live in London and I more often than not don't need a car. But I do sometimes. Like when I have gigs in far away places, or when I have to haul props across town. So I joined Streetcar which is a pay-as-you-go car club.

It has served me pretty well, excepting when I have needed to go long distances as they charge by the mile rather than petrol. I have also rented a few cars, which has been OK, but most rental companies charge a young driver surcharge, which makes it quite poor value.

I still think both of those options are considerably cheaper than owning a car in London, but I do wish it was all a bit cheaper, especially considering how expensive public transport is - and how poor it is!