Pam Alison Knits

I think it would be nice to catch up on some of the small things I’ve been doing this month. After a busy March, April so far has been relatively relaxed with plenty of time at home mixed with some shorter trips.

Last month’s focus on travel was a perfect distraction from my plans to jump headlong into creative writing, so I was keen to start this month with a plan. Despite this, I found myself faffing about not getting into anything, so I finally settled on tidying my written work as a way of easing myself into a new routine. My notes and projects are very scattered: some in notebooks, some digital, no real organisation. Taking a few weeks to neaten everything and assess what I have is going to pay dividends in pinpointing what I most want to work on. I’m not by any means entirely avoiding actual creative writing, but I’m not pushing myself yet to tackle anything big. I’m also making sure I get out and about in the neighbourhood to gather inspiration. For example, I had a good couple of hours at Norwich Castle Museum after the Easter break, taking in the new exhibits in the restored Norman Keep, checking out old favourites scattered throughout the museum, and puzzling over the current art exhibitions.

Earlier this week I went to my first writing group session since everything stopped for Covid. I used to attend a group once a month at Norwich Castle Museum but that was shelved in the pandemic and with major reconstruction work going on at the museum for the first half of the decade, it never restarted. However, we are lucky in Norwich to have the National Centre for Writing right here on our doorsteps – it only takes about 25 minutes to walk there from my flat. Now that I don’t have to go to work, I took advantage of attending one of their drop-in sessions for over-60s and enjoyed 2 hours of writing and chat with other people interested in the craft. I hope to go to these monthly sessions regularly and I’m sure that’s going to improve my inspiration for working on my creative writing whilst I’m at home.

Although I recently wrote that I wouldn’t be inking up any pens during April, I’m pleased to report that the transcription of various notes has allowed me to write pretty much every pen dry. I have a little Diamine Imperial Purple ink left in my purple Waterman Hemisphere, but I’m sad to say this is not a joyous pairing. It doesn’t feel very lubricated when writing more than just a few words – okay as a pen to carry with my planner, but not so good for longer writing sessions. The week has started with some freshly inked pens which I’ll share with you another day.

I’ve cemented my decision to use an A5 disc-bound system for my writing notes – mainly in my William Hannah leather cover, though there were times when I almost scuppered this plan. There are strong reasons to like the A5 discbound option. I have plenty of the William Hannah paper on hand and when that runs out I have a strong plan for alternatives which can be punched to work with the discs. The system (just like with ring systems) allows for pages to be archived easily, and reinstated if they’re needed for a future project. Different sizes of paper can be incorporated, so if I write some notes in my “everyday carry” A6 version, I can slot them into the A5 when I get home. There is really no reason to think anything else would make any better sense.

I’m finally making a start on the long-awaited task (chore!) of tidying my living space and generally curating my belongings to suit my new lifestyle as a genteel retired lady/weird old biddy. So far I seem to be moving things from one place to another, but this job is going to have to involve getting rid of some stuff soon. I think this initial part is about assessing what I have and making sure that there are logical storage places for it all. As I come across things I really don’t need, these are being set aside for charity or the dump, depending on which is more appropriate. Books are going to need a lot of attention and I hope pruning my collection may encourage me to do more reading. It’s a habit I fell out of many years ago and I do love reading when I actually devote time to it.

My attempts to drop a little weight and, more importantly, lower my cholesterol levels are being sabotaged by the delicious treats around my home city this spring. It started when I dropped into Macarons and More on the corner of the very pretty Arcade (another must-see if you ever visit Norwich). They do thoroughly delicious French-style macarons, but on this visit I thought I was going to treat myself to a cake bar. Then I walked in and they had Paris-Brest on their counter. This is one of my all-time favourite confections: choux pastry filled with hazelnut praline cream and sprinkled with toasted almond flakes. I brought this home and ate it accompanied by a cup of Twining’s Blood Orange Tea (actually a fruit “tea” – what I would classify as a tisane). I can confirm that this cake was simply divine.

I’m ashamed to say that the very next day I treated my grandson to pancakes at Christophe’s Crêpes, another local institution originally operating from a van near the marketplace but now based in a small cafe opposite my local yarn shop and just through the archway in my top photo. At least I kept the French theme going! I chose the delicious white chocolate and strawberry crêpe, filled with melted white chocolate and marshmallow and topped with fresh strawberry. Oh goodness me, it was enjoyable. I hope the walk home at least burned one or two of the calories consumed.

So now there is nothing more to do but to impart the sage advice of John Crome, a member of the Norwich School of Art, which is written on one of the gallery walls at Norwich Castle Museum:

And so say all of us!