Spring was a very busy time, wrapping up and
delivering all the work I had done during the year and making sure that
everything was packed and ready before summer. I had important deadlines at
university; first of all, my end of year one review with forms to fill and a
final piece of writing to complete based on my research and analysis of The Edible Woman by Margaret Atwood. I
worked so hard on it reading extensively not only on the book and the critics who
wrote about it, but also on other works Atwood wrote in the same period, like
her poetry collections (The Circle Game
and The Animals in that Country) as well as her reviews and articles.
Furthermore, I thought the best critical approach to The Edible Woman was Baudrillard’s point of view on consumerism, so
I studied some of his books as well. It was a big commitment but I enjoyed it
thoroughly. My supervisors seemed satisfied with my work at the end, so I
happily completed my first year at Reading.
As soon as we came back to the UK from the
Easter holidays we spent in Italy, we contacted our daughter who is living in
Tokyo attending an MA course in fashion. She sent us some astonishing pictures
of blossoming cherry trees looking like pinkish cotton clouds magically landing
on earth. I really wish to see them, probably next spring, an occasion to see
my daughter again and hug her in person instead of virtually with Watsapp and
Skype.
After the holidays we also went to visit my
autistic daughter Valentina at Fullerton, near Doncaster, and took the occasion
to see my eldest son and my daughter in law in Leeds as well. The weather was
gorgeous. We had a boat trip on Leeds canals, enjoyed our time together basking
in the sun, strolling in the centre, updating on sports (football and Giro
d’Italia were my husband and son’s main topics), talking about visiting Japan,
skiing, dieting and my daughter in law’s future job. I miss them as we cannot
meet so often but I know they are happy together, which makes me feel all right
even for the standards of an Italian mum.
My daughter Valentina was so happy to see us,
she tried on all the clothes we brought her wearing them inside out, of course,
and watched twenty-three times ‘Neptune’s golden spatula’ with Spongebob on my
husband’s mobile. We also showed her the passport picture we took in the
Ukraine when we adopted her, she didn’t seem impressed by her little self
dressed in oversized pink clothes, looking cute and oblivious.
I also attended conferences in London (‘Exploring
the Performative’ organized by Kingston University) and in Colchester (Centre
for Myth Studies, University of Essex), which gave me a wider view and possible
connections with my PhD research. The one on myths was especially interesting
as Margaret Atwood subverts and reverses myths and fairy-tales and often
re-mythologizes them from women’s point of view. She subtly challenges the male
world exposing the superficial, outdated stories of damsels in distress, imprisoned
and passive, and improbable knights in shiny armour coming to their rescue.
During spring I reviewed some poetry collections
(you can find them here: http://londongrip.co.uk/2018/04/london-grip-poetry-review-tarbard/
and art exhibitions (http://londongrip.co.uk/2018/05/humans-and-nature/
https://wokingwriters.wordpress.com/2018/05/01/picasso/
) for London Grip and WWC website.
One of my short stories was published in The Lighthouse, Gatehouse Press, issue
17. I went to Norwich for the launching at the Bicycle Shop, now a café, and
spent two days in Norwich for the occasion. It is a lovely city with a
wonderful cathedral, a centre with cobbled lanes and quirky shops and an old
market with picturesque stalls. Norwich was famous for textile manufacturing
and for shoes. It was the largest provincial city in England before the
Industrial Revolution but its fortune declined after it. In 1565 a massive
immigration from the Low Countries boosted the textile industry introducing new
techniques. The immigrants were called ‘Strangers’, which is self-commenting, but
their passion for canaries is still alive in Norwich football team.
The art gallery at Norwich Castle had an
interesting exhibition, Visible Women,
on women artists, portraying women and female identity. It was inspired by a
book written by the feminist artist Penny Slinger focusing on women’s multiple
identities and exploring their experiences. I was intrigued by Sally Hewett’s
work, a stich and embroidery artist, who represents parts of the body, mainly
breasts, bellies and genitals, exploring scars, wounds and bruises inflicted on
bodies, as well as their hairiness and grotesque side, all enclosed in a
stitching frame (http://www.dazeddigital.com/artsandculture/article/34628/1/sally-hewett-embroidery-instagram-stitches-and-needles
).
The reading was exciting, almost dreamlike in
the dark underground space with a few spotlights. I read my short story, Coniston Water, and a poem, ‘Pajarita’,
published in South, and received positive feedback. I made new connections and
loved the other people’s reading, all different one from the other, ironic,
humorous, provocative and inspirational. I would like to go back to Norwich
sooner or later for the popular Guild-day procession of Snap, ‘The Mayor’s
Dragon’, a tradition that dates back to medieval time.
At the V&A Museum of Childhood (London E2) I
also visited the exhibition ‘Century of the Child: Nordic Design for Children
1900 to Today’, inspired by the book with the same name by Ellen Key (1906).
She claimed that children would become the centre of society, and she was right
in some way. The exhibition stresses the fact that the welfare State in
Scandinavian countries was the effect of a high level of poverty and aimed to
improve children’s conditions in a time when child labour was common and
education was not accessible to everybody. The objects on display belong to Nordic
design, which is connected to the natural environment, the materials are
eco-friendly and their colours and shape mean to preserve Nordic folklore and
traditions using innovative styles. They look simple, essential and practical
but are also colourful and tremendously original.
A large space is given to Brio and Lego, which underline
the importance of free, independent play, a child-led kind of play, open to
total creativity and with no gender connotation, which was a new idea at the
time. There is an implied subversion of the gender roles in them, like in the
stories of Pippi Longstocking by Astrid Lingren, where the young protagonist is
perfectly capable of looking after herself without the interference of parents
or adults.
I wandered around the Museum of Childhood
reviving my passion for dolls and puppets, remembering the time when I used to
visit this kind of museums with my children and hoping to do it again with
future grandchildren.
For our 25th wedding anniversary, my
eldest son and my daughter in law gave us a Truly Concierge day out combining
Churchill’s war rooms and Alyn Williams restaurant in Mayfair. It was a real
treat.
The museum dedicated to Churchill and WWII is an
incredible experience, a surreal immersion in the claustrophobic reality of the
time without any digital simulation. The almost bare rooms communicate the
constant threat of invasion Britain was undergoing, the high tension pervading
the lives of the people who worked there and their total commitment. There are
underground rooms, airless, with spare furniture revealing no space for
entertainment or free time.
Not everybody agreed with Churchill’s methods
but eventually, looking back at it now, he was proven correct. He was the right
person at the right time. Though the war brought death, hardships and
destruction, like every war, it was not possible to compromise with or
surrender to Hitler. Churchill and his team embraced the right cause with
discipline and determination, concepts that look old fashioned today but were
very important at the time and helped avoid worse consequences. Can we imagine
Europe ruled by Hitler and his followers? All Dissenters, Jews, Roma,
homosexuals and disabled people would be interned in concentration camps. Churchill
might not be considered a hero by everybody but he saved the day.
The dinner at Alyn Williams was superb. Not only
was the food special, things I had never tasted before, in small quantities
though, compared to big Italian meals, but we felt full at the end, but also
the table service was unbelievable. The waiters even cleaned the crumbs from
the tablecloth between one course and the other and they explained in detail
every single dish to us. The wine was special too, something Austrian, golden
colour. It was a great experience I don’t think I am going to repeat as it is
too expensive for our income but it was fantastic to have it for once and to
celebrate our silver anniversary in such a luscious way.
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