Making Time

The Stag and the Fawn
Tile decorated with subjects from Aesops Fables. Tin-glazed earthenware transfer printed overglaze, Liverpool, Sadler and Green 1765-c1775.

The past week has felt a little like a blur, one of those weeks where if someone asks 'what have you been up to?' you pause and struggle to reel off anything of significance and yet you know it has felt busy and rushed and you've seldom had time to sit and ponder. By thursday evening when I realised that I hadn't really carved any 'All About You' time, I decided to abandon my to do list and head into the city, away from the domestic distractions of home and home work in search of a little quiet time. I started with coffee in one of my favourite buzzy coffee shops, a place that's always busy and full of a varied folks. Normally, I like quiet if I'm sitting to write but surrounded by several others working on their laptops, I effortlessly tapped away for an hour the start of a short story that I've had in mind for a few weeks. It felt like a relief to finally put words on a page. I hadn't planned to write on that day, but perhaps it goes to show that sometimes simply setting a little time aside is enough to allow the stored ideas to emerge. I also visited my old workplace Birmingham Museum & Art Gallery as I was literally walking by. I stepped inside and with the habit of old work days followed a route that led past a tile collection that I'd always been fond of. I found myself wondering why I had left it so long in returning to these old friends and for half an hour or so I was transported into the dark and dreamy world of Aesops Fables! Ready for the real world again, I dragged myself away with the promise of returning again soon, or to at least finding other worlds to fall into for a little quiet abandon here and there. As I made my way to the bus stop to head home, I caught sight of a popular flower stall. An almost perfect replica of Eliza Doolittle who was dressed slightly more 'ghetto' was shouting out in her best cockney accent 'flowers for a pound!' I left with a bunch of flowers feeling pleased with the ending to my 'me time'. I climbed onto the bus, sat down and cast my eyes into my lap and gazed at my now dyed purple finger tips holding my bunched flowers. I immediately heard my middle sister saying 'buy cheap, but twice' and again smiled to myself. Those flowers are still sat in a vase in front of me and sure the water they're sat in isn't clear, it's purple and a little garish but that's not important. What's important is that those cheap flowers have been a perfect reminder for days now, of that time I carved for me, a reminder of just how easy it is to do, if only I, you, we, remember to just make the time.  

The Fox and the Crow
Tile decorated with subjects from Aesops Fables. Tin-glazed earthenware transfer printed overglaze, Liverpool, Sadler and Green 1765-c1775.