Claire Tayler, or just Claire. Works as a social media writery type at VCCP. Blogs a mix of digital media, adventures, colourful food stuffs, and the odd dodgy craft project.
These are adorable, aren’t they? We found ourselves at a loose end at the Brunswick Centre near Russel Square in search of a big gingerbread house (which turned out to be for children – some flawed research). Surrounded by children and French Connections, the square didn’t strike me as somewhere to find gorgeous cakes. I’d been spying at a lemon meringue recipe recently – it might be time to acquire an over the top mini-blowtorch and get cooking. I’m going to try and do little piped peaks like this when I do, I think they’re quite wonderful.
We strolled down to Clerkenwell to catch the opening day of the Clerkenwell Design Festival on Tuesday after work. In a whirlwind of disorganisaton the official map and wristband were safety stored in my house rather than to hand, so we resorted to prodding mobile map apps, which is a tricky thing when the Clerkenwell venues are spread across the design sector of London in a charmingly slapdash but hard-to-google sort of way.
The buildings are beautiful, so we stumbled around cooing at these until the familiar pink of Clerkenwell popped into view. I ended up in the same open brick building as last time – a large derelict building I love. I’ve managed to take incredibly similar photos to last year’s which goes to show some un-evolving taste (I preferred bits of last year’s layout and the orangey hues of how everything was lit (perhaps, if anything, this years looked a little more green-focused), though this year there were some cool screens with water droplets screens and everything started going a little more digital.
Poly Light – Scene
In the depths of sofa designs, this cardboard world stood cheerfully at the end.
Anglepoise were also making a comeback – stood in a big bunch together – though I’ll forever prefer their lovely angular 60s variations.
But the highlight of the trip? Seeing QR thrown about in wild abandon. I scanned the first one I spotted on the floor, booming “Isn’t this quaint!” as I did so. Granted it took me to the website of the people who’d made the floor’s QR code, which wasn’t the most .. engaging user experience. Sadly it put me off scanning the QR codes inside the show itself. I savagely regret this now – who knows what media-rich delights could have been lurking behind the red glow of a quick scan.
If you work nearby, pop in during lunch as today’s the last day. Make sure you see this gorgeous birdhouse below that I missed, which is lovely. And scan every QR code you see, just in case someone’s managed to do something absolutely thrilling. We can dream.
The roof of our building is very good. It is not so much the roof itself, which consists of wooden planks and pot plants (many of which can be found quite elsewhere around the world), but more the eight floors underneath it which propell it some way into the London skyline.
The roof of the Mindshare building has had to recent exposure in The Apprentice which has led to some dizzying fame. You can catch it in episode two, looking suspiciously like it is made out of orange Lego on the sides, with two orange men (builder suits rather than fake tan) on the top of it. It is right behind Centre Point, which is rather nice. Breaking news tells me that Google will be moving in too. And it’s dubbed ‘Medialand’.
It is such a great roof that Ellie Goulding came along to serenade it, although this may have pertained mostly to the opening of the bar with alcohol. Nevertheless, the roof basked in this semi-royal visit.
With such fame, my original blog post about sitting up on the roof one lunch time has fallen by the wayside. In summary, one day I knitted my jumper, tanned my ankles and reflected how nice it is to be able to see the London Eye, and lots of other tiny buildings from there and took some photos. Here they are:
My views are not representative of my employer’s. My employer may hate the roof, but I suspect not.
i love our room and the way it is filled with things made of wood. There are speakers and tall shelves full of stacks of books and LPs, and a chest of drawers which is our first piece of furniture. There are origami birds made from a ream of yellow paper I’m fond of. Years ago when my Mother went to night classes and made things, she made a lamp. It lights up any room with a homely orange. It is one of the first things I pick up when I move out.
There are stacks of The Sunday Times’ Style magazine that this same nice Mother sends me every week since I moved away from home. Sometimes I read them, mostly I accidentally stack them on top of things. There is yesterday’s curry, and a dress hangs on the back of the wardrobe. Sometimes the cat comes in to put fleas in the bed. Sometimes she comes in to curl up in the red duvet and purr.
When I am home during the daytime I make crafty things. I make finger puppets and filmy flowers and candles, often sat behind the big wood desk in the chair that is slowly breaking. “Creak” the chair says one day, and bends over as the legs fall off. The windowsill is full of pots of daffodils left over from spring. Every year I buy new ones. Slowly they collect at home waiting for a day when I have a house and can fill a garden with the bright yellow flowers.
There are the big wooden speakers because you’re an audiophile. We listen to Star Trek boom through them as it plays on the giant old CRT monitor that was saved from being dropped out of the window. Wharf, who I feared and disliked as a child, is lovely now I am older and not scared of him. I have become to be used to waking up mid-night and seeing Captain Picard strolling about on screen. It is comforting and nice. More so when it is still dark and I realise I have a few more hours to sleep in bed before my alarm tells me the train to commute to London is waiting.
For a long time, this is one of my favourites rooms I have lived in.
This recipe had even people who do not like bananas eating it.
Each stage is neatly illustrated by an unrelated Robot. This is because Mike gave him to me and I spent an evening pretending he was a cooking assistant. This is, apparently, what four weeks in a new house without the Internet will do to a person (namely, me). Recipe’s from the good folks at Domestic Sluttery. For both Robots and people to eat.
Instructions:
1. Heat your oven to 180C/350F/Gas 4. Grease and line a 2lb loaf tin. You can get some fancy pant loaf tin liners here if you want to look super professional!
2. Mash the bananas in a bowl. Set aside.
3. In a separate bowl cream your butter and sugar. Once it is nice and fluffy beat in eggs.
4. Mix in the bananas, and the walnuts if you are using them and then stir in the flour.
5. Pour your mixture into the loaf tin and whack it in the oven. Bake for 40 minutes and then lower the oven temperature to 150C/300F/Gas 2 and bake for a further 30 minutes.
