When I Grow Up
est. 2004
A Creative kind of Life. A blog by Helen Hobden
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5 Ideas to do in October
October 15, 2016
1. Kick some leaves. Next time you’re on your way to work, walking the kids to school, or generally going about your day, and you spy a pile of leaves at the side of the pavement; kick it! Go on! Even if there are people about to see; scatter those leaves in the air! (Just make sure there are no small children nearby you might accidentally kick in the face. And make sure the foot not in the air has secure purchase on the ground – not on a wet slippery leaf. See? I struggle with letting go.)…..
3 Days in Oxford – Day 2. The story of the photographs
October 12, 2016
If you haven’t yet seen Day 1, then you might like to follow this link and come back here later. The morning of my second day in Oxford was mainly spent walking from the Four Pillars Hotel in Sandford-on-Thames along the Thames path into Oxford. I’ve already written a detailed blog with photos about the journey in this post, so I’ll begin here where I left off, entering the city by Christchurch College. I sort-of meandered my way through cobbled streets and past various ancient University buildings until I came out at a place I remembered….
Independent Fashion Focus – an alternative to Bristol Fashion Week
October 11, 2016
Every single thing I go to lately seems to have the advertised start time about three-quarters of an hour before it actually starts. It’s as if they know I’m coming and in anticipation of my lateness, give the wrong time. The problem is, I have been dead on time for a change! So; not having the courage to speak to strangers already chatting to each other, after spending as long as I politely could browsing the clothes rails at To The Moon, I walked up and down the road for while and moved my car to a less dodgy parking space until the first person was due to speak, according to the piece of paper sellotaped to the wall. I perched on a stool at the back of the room with my notebook at the ready, interested to hear what they had to say about ethical and sustainable fashion….
The Story Behind the Photographs – Morvah mine
October 8, 2016
Chris and I took two days off work before the bank holiday weekend, and drove the camper-van down to Cornwall. We had three nights and four days away altogether and in that time we saw Jeremy Loops play at Perranporth; met up with family; took several photos for Oshun and for the blog (such as the one at the top of this page); relaxed a bit, and even found time to take some photos just for the fun of it. The great thing about wild camping is that you can wake up right next to the most wonderful wild places, including this ruined tin mine. One of my favourite photos from the day I chose to have blown up and printed onto canvas for our living room. It was a beautiful morning and the pathway towards the sea was just magical….
3 days in Oxford – Day 1. The story of the photographs
September 16, 2016
I was so excited about this little mini-break to Oxford. I love my family to bits, but sometimes it’s nice to be alone and have a little headspace all to yourself! I also find it difficult to relax at home because there’s always so much to do there. I don’t think it helps that I work from home either, so no matter if it’s the evening or weekend, I still always feel I should either be working or doing something towards fixing the house. I was also a little bit nervous because I’m not great at driving and get flustered easily, but the journey was good; I didn’t get lost once and made it to the park and ride with no problems following the sat nav!….
A guide for how to survive Orlando theme parks – Disney World & Universal Studios
August 6, 2016
I’ll be honest, six years ago I’d never even contemplated an Orlando holiday – it just wasn’t something that interested me. We’d done a couple of trips to Disney Land and Universal Studios in California, and that was enough for me. But then they went and built Harry Potter World! That pretty much changed everything, and suddenly we were booking ourselves two weeks in Florida. Four years later we went again with Chris’s family; and last week we ended up there again for the last four days of our road-trip holiday. There’s something so magical and wonderful about those theme parks that is difficult to describe to someone who’s never been. I don’t know what preconceptions I’d had before; whether I was being a bit snobby about it; but I had not expected it to love it there as much as I do! If you’ve never been before and are going this summer, or planning next year’s holiday, then I hope you’ll find this little guide to Orlando useful. Even if you’re not, I hope you find it interesting! ….
The story of the photographs – Glastonbury Festival 2016
July 7, 2016
You are probably aware by now that this year’s Glastonbury Festival was quite a muddy one! Unfortunately I can’t find anywhere to buy camera cases that fit my Panasonic Lumix GM1 when it has a long zoom lens attached. So, as I have a sturdy leather case for the kit lens that came with it – 12-32mm (24-64 equiv) – I decided not to risk damaging my others. It was a good decision because the cover did get quite a bit of mud on it! However it means my photography was a bit limited this year. Not just by the lens, but unless you were there, I don’t think you can ever understand what it’s like to try and get around in that thickness of mud. It is almost up to your knees in places and sucks you down like it’s superglue, so even just taking a few footsteps to the right to get the best angle simply isn’t doable, let alone running to the most photogenic field when the sun sets! So I didn’t get as many good photos as I would have liked, but here are the best ones….
Full Review of Glastonbury Festival 2016
June 29, 2016
This year will be known for two things: the referendum and the mud. I hardly saw an act that didn’t mention both of those things. I’m sure you will have heard about both from plenty of other people, so I’m not going to dwell on either. This is going to be one long post about the entire five days, so fetch yourself a mug of hot chocolate and if you don’t quite make it all the way through, just leave the tab open and come back again later! ….
Glastonbury Festival – the calm before the storm
June 17, 2016
Strictly speaking, it was after the storm as there literally was thunder and quite a lot of rain a couple of hours before we went into the Glastonbury Festival site yesterday evening, but luckily it stayed dry for the time we were there. (addendum: The day after this, there was a massive storm on Friday as well, so even though I meant the title metaphorically, referring to the festival, it actually turned out to be true to life!) I’ve been running Pilton Youth Club for a few years now, and the festival office kindly let us have a look around. I hope you don’t mind my blog being fairly Glastonbury Festival heavy at the moment! This is mainly a photography post….
The Glastonbury Festival Packing List
June 16, 2016
The tipis are all up and the crew camping fields are nearly full already, so it’s time to be thinking about packing for Glastonbury Festival if you haven’t done so yet. The old adage is still true: Don’t bring anything you wouldn’t mind leaving behind. Tent burglaries are much fewer than they used to be, but they still happen and always sleep with any valuables at the bottom of your sleeping bag. Never leave any valuables in your tent – make use of the property lock-ups. They are run by local primary school PTAs mostly, so small donations are appreciated. It’s now been twenty years since I first stayed at Glastonbury Festival, and even though I now live in Pilton, I still remember what’s it’s like to carry (or pull in a cart) all your stuff miles and miles from your car to your favourite camping field. So try and pack as light as you can! This is an updated list from the one I did a few years ago….
The Oxford Thames Four Pillars Hotel
June 9, 2016
I’ve come to the conclusion that I have too much stuff (“At last!” my Mum will be saying!) so when Chris asked what I wanted for Christmas and birthday, I suggested a day out somewhere instead of a present. He went a step further and suggested a break in a nice hotel. “Sounds lovely,” I said. “I’d like to go back to Oxford.” This particular hotel was ideal because I like old buildings, and the main entrance and lounge bit is medieval. I also needed somewhere to park (you’d be surprised how many in the city centre don’t have parking), and a swimming pool. This one is about three miles from Oxford, but it’s also on the river with the Thames Path running along-side (albeit the other side, so you need to back track a bit to the bridge) so you can walk in if you wish….
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