Pretty things

I've been in a rather sombre mood lately...a variety of reasons that I won't go into right now. So I thought it high time that I talked about things that make me happy.

I'm generally a happyish kind of person. Yes, politics and the London underground always seem to have the ability to annoy me and get my blood pressure up, but the list of people/things/events that make me smile is far far greater.

Anyone that knows me will be able to immediately pick on my love of traditional Islamic/South Asian/Arab art. I enjoy the ability to lose myself in the geometric symmetry that is so perfect in an imperfect world. I love the swirls of floral patterns from Mughal architecture that capture the beauty of nature in stone and marble as well as through paintings. I could very easily spend hours in the V and A taking random photos or copying designs for no reason in particular other than they give me joy whenever I go back to look over them.

Our home is a mish mash of different influences. I have religious art on the walls, mosaiced mirrors and candle holders, floral ceramics and glassware from Turkey, Morocco and India. If I had the money I'd completely 'redo' the house and garden, but since I don't, it's the pretty little things I have that make the house our home. I still have a bare wall awaiting its guest; A Kashmiri wall hanging of 'the tree of life'. I want to have one especially made, or find something that I think will fit into the general look I'm going for. I haven't yet succumbed to ordering something from the internet as you never quite know what you're going to end up with until you physically see it. So the wall remains bare as it has been for the last three years. When I do eventually find what I'm looking for, it will hopefully be well worth the wait:)

I recently came across a few really pretty things that I'd love to have, although I need to make a bit of room in the kitchen/cupboards before I purchase any other nick nacks


This pretty cake stand is from Watts London and I love the rest of the 'Kinnersley' collection. I've been looking for a cake stand for a while now and this one ticks all the boxes.

I was also watching a programme about the Mosque in Granada, Spain where Munira Mendonca, a local artisan was being interviewed


Again her work is all the more lovely for being hand made and not mass produced. I may just contact her to ask if she runs art classes..

If any of you managed to visit the Hiroshi Suzuki exhibition, you lucky things! The closest I got, was staring longingly at the posters lining the walls of the underground. If only I had a few thousand pounds to spare on his work :)







To help you create a more boudoir look to your room, you can't go wrong with this over the top chair from 'Belle Interiors'



More pretty things coming soon

Capitalism or bust

I had a meeting yesterday, in Westfield shopping centre. For those of you who don't know Westfield, it's the largest shopping centre in Europe with a designer section called 'The Village' and the usual list of high street brands.

The meeting was only arranged there because it was local to the person I was meeting who is 8 months pregnant; and there are a whole load of coffee places to sit at and talk shop.

After the meeting, I had to grab a few things from Boots and pick up a birthday present for my nephew. The shopping centre was surprisingly busy for a weekday and come 4pm was buzzing with school kids from the local area. I hate shopping on my own, whether it's for groceries, clothes, anything. It's always nice to have company and someone elses opinions. So I limited my spending and bought only the things I needed and no money spent on a whim. Yesterday was not a 'shopping experience' rather a necessary whizz around with a quick bite to eat in the middle.

A lot of people I know don't like Westfield, for the same reason they don't like the Bull ring in Birmingham, The Trafford Centre in Manchester or Bluewater in Kent. Unlike the high street, which is open air, with an eclectic mix of chain stores, independent shops and cafes as well as the fast emerging poundlands (a sign of our times)..these huge buildings have no 'soul'. If you want one symbol to sum up capitalism at its best then shopping 'malls' fit the bill.

I remember the first day Westfield opened. I had a day off for a hospital appointment and popped in to see what all the fuss was about. There is nothing mind bogglingly different about Westfield. Same shops, same look, same facilities. I mean we all shop, eat and go to the loo right?

The only interesting thing about Westfield is its collection of designer brand boutiques. They are positioned away from the main shopping area in a section called 'The Village'. Haute Couture and high end fashion brands have never really struck me as being well suited to shopping centres. Surely the whole allure of high end fashion is exclusivity. What is so exclusive about Westfield? Yet here they sit almost side by side to Zara and H and M, albeit with a champagne bar in the middle.

The answer is of course common sense commercial capitalism. Ms. Chocolate barfi blogs may not find herself ordinarily frequenting Gucci or Louis Vuitton on a regular basis when in the West End. Yet in Westfield you almost do it by accident. In one shop and out the other on automatic. Realisation only hitting when you look at the price tag and think 'have they added a nought?' The very fact you have to look at the price tag immediately informs the attentive sales person that you are not where you belong (if the shop was in Knightsbridge) but here in Westfield, you are the buyer who can be persuaded to buy into a little bit of luxury because well, doesn't it feel good to walk around with a Miu Miu bag in amongst all the Radleys and Nicas. Who cares about not eating for a week.

I'm happy to say although salivating at a Miu Miu bag, I was not persuaded to part with £600 for a bag. My mother for one would never forgive me for spending that much money on something that will only end up carrying my snotty tissues and leaking pens. Instead, I ate a piece of cake costing £3.99 (even hummingbird cupcakes are cheaper) and a coffee. Yes, I was happy that I had emerged into the sunlight with only two bags of goods and my self defined semi-socialist head held high.

On the way home on the tube, I happened to stand next to someone with a 'Capitalism is crap' badge on his jacket. A kindred spirit I said to myself. Although I think we were both mistaken; he was reading a digital book which probably cost him a few hundred quid.

In the end, high end boutiques and high street chains are happy neighbours in Westfield. Although I'm sure 'The Village' is a message saying 'we don't like people from outside our village, we just tolerate them for the tourist season. Makes economic sense'

A cynical political move by Serbia

Watch this interview with Emina Ganic
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WiKICoJlH40


UPDATE Ejup Ganic has just had his bail refused. Do they think he's going to do a runner?? Also no access granted to his lawyers...why?? I thought that was a fundamental right!

So, Britain is in the middle of another political and diplomatic row. I'm not actually going to feel sorry for our government, since it's now pandering to the whims and cynical political aims of the ultra nationalist Serbian government.

Former Vice President of Bosnia, Ejup Ganic was arrested at Heathrow on March 1st a the 'request' of Serbian authorities based on an allegation of war crimes. If it wasn't so serious, I'd actually laugh. Serbia playing victim here?? Boy have they got a short memory...Srebrenica anyone? Kosovo?

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/serbia/7354307/Britain-in-diplomatic-row-over-Bosnian-leaders-arrest.html

Serbia is accusing Ejup Ganic alongside another 18/19 other Bosnians of ambushing a Yugoslav army convoy that was leaving Bosnian territory under UN supervision. 40 soldiers were killed.

The point is, the UN tribunals refused to Ejup Ganic based on insufficient evidence. This does not mean he managed to hide his crime, or that they could not find a direct link. If a person in this country is tried in a court of law for murder then the evidence and testimony must be absolute! No ifs, no buts...

It is very easy to sit in London in 2010 and forget what was happening to Bosnian Muslims during the Balkans conflict 18 odd years ago. They were being systematically ethnically cleansed...the thing we thought we'd never see again in Europe. Only now are Bosnians getting some redress in the form of the trials against Serbian war criminals. Radovan Karadzic is currently being tried, and trying very hard to turn this into a farce.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/mar/02/radovan-karadzic-siege-sarajevo-myth

If Ejup Ganic is to be tried, it must be in the Hague and NOT SERBIA!!!...

I'm back!

Well it's been a long time....I can't believe it's already March; maybe that's why I actually feel like writing ...the sun is out, it's not too cold and I didn't have to wrap a chunky scarf round my neck to keep warm. I even have the window to my office open..yay!

So what have I been up to in the last few months...hmmm...well, for one, my contract at my last work place ended and no they didn't try to extend it. I was a bit miffed but then actually realised that I wouldn't have wanted to stay. I'm surprised I stayed for 3 years, I'm usually bored by the end of the first year of any job if it's not eclectic enough. So...it was a bit scary not having another job to go to. Instead I thought I'd have a couple of months off to rest...and then start looking for something else.

I suppose God had other plans for me, because no sooner had I got my head around the concept of choosing to be unemployed, I was offered a job by another charity. Yes..I was actually head hunted:)...I would have been a fool to turn this opportunity down, so very happily took on the new job. So it's been just over a month and I'm loving it. The people are lovely and the job is great. It's in an area I'm interested in...health inequalities especially around black and minority ethnic communities. I'll probably be posting articles and reports I come across.

So, a new year, a new job and hopefully a new(ish) me...it's funny how you go through life and seem to 'forget' who you are...well I did..as Cheryl Cole nee Tweedy said in the L'oreal advert...'I got me mojo back'...so not only do I have this new job, I also decided it was high time to take a bit of me time and do something solely for myself. I can't remember the last time I did that. I've always loved henna painting so enrolled on an Ash Kumar course. http://www.ashkumar.co.uk/.
I've completed the foundation course and will be doing the intermediate and advanced levels in March and April...I'll post photos of my work which will hopefully improve as I practice and then who knows ..the sky's the limit as they say.

I'm also rethinking this blog and maybe making a bit more of an effort with it. I don't have any definite ideas yet, but lots of plans which I'm intending on following through.

xx
H