Saturday 31 December 2011

New Year's Eve

Absolut New Year © Sisterbatik 2011
For high resolution image purchase or licensing contact sisterbatik@yahoo.com

How are you spending New Year's Eve?

They say who you spend NYE with, you will spend the rest of the year with.......

The Harbour Master Cruise was not for us, so we jumped off, just as the passage to land was about to be lifted away and the ship's handler was unwrapping the ropes to cast the ship to sea; he smiled, a polite smile. He had seen it all before.

We both dawdled, didn't speak, looked anywhere but at each other.  The dark Bajan sky falling heavy on us and no one else around to take us away from ourselves.  His fists were clenched, I noticed.  His feet took him in small circles until they purposefully took the direction of the sound of traffic and the main road.  He hailed a taxi and we both jumped in, glad to be sped away from the emotional wreckage we had made for ourselves and our own sapping disappointment.  I gave the driver instructions to our hotel on the other side of the island.  The driver was polite and then quiet, it was double the normal fare - it was New Year's Eve, and a long drive was good.  The windows were lowered and the island breeze gushed in to fill the spaces and we drifted. 

There was a bar back at the hotel, it would be quiet with all the guests away celebrating, but perhaps we would sit there for a short while and not care, the pianist would play to us only, we might wait until midnight, cheer a small glass of fizz with the barman and then call it a night, like any other.  There might be a chance we would be conciliatory, retrieve some small peace.

I looked over, then grabbed and squeezed his hand.  He took it away.  A short while later, he muttered more to himself "I'll never be good enough for you".  I felt guilty that was how I had made him feel, or perhaps it was his insecurity and he was playing on my guilt, it all depends on how you see this.  The driver, impartial, in his rear view mirror, I knew, had looked at me. The drive was long.

We had to make a stop at a petrol station and he left the car, while the driver sat quietly with me.  Then he said in his Bajan twang "Not all men know how a woman likes to be treated".  He said it so straight, more like an explanation and I knew he meant no discourtesy.  I didn't say a word.  It was almost 11pm.  "Where's the party for New Year's Eve?" I asked.  "There's only ONE party on this island, it's a street party in St James, Second Street" he said.  He had returned to the car.  "Take us there."  "We are going to a street party" I said offering an olive branch*.

As the car rolled into St James, we were glad when the chaotic sounds of celebration built up to white noise and the revellers surrounded us.  Women poured into tight hourglass dresses, men in polished holiday Abercrombie & Fitch and Polo, as we stepped out at the start of Second Street which had been sealed for the party.  We agreed a time for the driver to return to pick us up.

Second street was alive, lined with wine bars and fancy restaurants with open facades, revellers pouring out of bars, onto the street and into the next bar.  The street was one big open atmosphere.  The night was perfectly dark and warm.  It was easy to mingle with the crowd and we did, never being alone with each other.  We were thrust into the crowd on the street as the countdown began, brief fireworks exploded in the distance at midnight, like neon spiders across the night sky.  Followed by something I had never seen before, hundreds of white doves released into the air.  In a rush for their freedom.

The best laid plans with the best intentions, can come to nothing. What a waste of a life to be trapped. We kissed each other. The party was over and our driver was waiting.


*The olive branch derived from the customs of  ancient Greece, symbolizes peace or victory and was worn by brides.

Eternity

He who binds to himself a joy 
Does the winged life destroy
He who kisses the joy as it flies
Lives in eternity's sunrise

William Blake 

Tuesday 13 December 2011

New Public Library - Canada Water @CZWG

 kirstonian.posterous.com

Sitting in a park in Paris, France 
Reading the news and it's all bad
They won't give peace a chance
It was just a dream that some of us had.
                                                                         Joni Mitchell, "California" 1971
Perhaps because it is winter and that the end of the year is drawing in, it seems even more so that nothing is growing, or there is few that is new to be optimistic for.  So, I was really happy, finally, for the new public provision of a library in Canade Water, Southwark, London to be unveiled.  Local libraries are a huge resource to a community; knowledge and literature for all age groups, computing and job searching facilities and a community space. What makes this library even more innovative is its design by the acclaimed architects CZWG ; I love the outstanding shape and how the space wraps around like open arms to form a well meaning arena.
 CZWG also designed this beautiful "tree-house" structure - Maggie's Centre for cancer care in Nottingham.


My affinity for CZWG design also stems from the little appartment I have called home for the last few years. The building was an ealier design by CZWG. I moved into the appartment after a tumultuous time in my personal life and it provided me with alot of light and wide windows and doors that allowed me to breathe.

Friday 2 December 2011

Sale all the way to Christmas



 We are happy to announce that we are extending our Sale all the way to Christmas - Happy! Happy!