Florist on tour: Part 1, York

I had a couple of weeks off, and while I didn't really do much or go anywhere during the first week, I crammed as much as I could into the second. I booked trains to see my friends my York, then Sara at My Flower Patch, before coming home for a day and then going off again to see Ann at David Austin Roses. Sara came up with the hashtags #floristontour and #citymouseinthecountry - I didn't use the last one because it was a wee bit long for the 140-character limit on Twitter!

Part one is not especially flowery, but if you like scribbley art, pretty signs, and old trains, it might appeal to you. Otherwise, you'll have to wait for parts two and three.

This was the first summer I did a drawing for every single day in August as part of Drawing August - during previous years, I've missed a few days, or started off committed and then fizzled out. This year, I even did more than one drawing on some days. When I say "drawing", I am using the term loosely...I suspect many would call some of my art "scribbles" or something even less generous! But I don't care. I did artwork as part of my research project for university this year, and learned how the process of creating something is more important to me than the finished product. I only create things for pleasure, so I can afford to do that.

When I got to my hotel room in York on the Saturday, I did a little self-portrait as my scribble for that day. It was meant to be a calling card in the style of the 1980s Milk Tray Man, to go with the retro chocolates I'd bought for my childhood friends. I love this tall table that was in my room, with its provenance clearly on display.

I used it as a background for my drawing the next day as well.

My friends picked me up mid-morning on Sunday to take me to their family barbecue. But before that, I managed to have a Speedy Gonzalez meet up with Rachel from Ducks and Daffodils after she delivered flowers to Merchant Adventurers Hall, just up the road from where I was staying. It's always a curious experience to meet Twitter acquaintances in real life, and Rachel was so nice and very funny and interesting. I wish I'd had more time to talk to her and, of course, I wish I could have seen the flowers she grows and arranges.

It was a bit too early in the day for a proper photo, but I did snap a picture of our matching blue shoes to prove we met!

Then I had a coffee in Spring Espresso (thanks for the recommendation, Rachel) and did another sketch, and had the very un-London experience of having to wait for someone "outside the city walls". My instructions were: "You're basically walking towards Hull...but don't walk all the way to Hull." My friends found me, and I had a lovely day with them.

The next morning, I had a nice walk around York, bought a delicious pastry from Betty's and another nice coffee from Spring Espresso for my takeaway breakfast, and took lots of photos. The sun came out at last, so I wasn't half as cold as I had been the previous two days. Greenwich baker Adam recommended Haxby Bakehouse, and although I tried to go somewhere that served their bready things, I didn't have much luck what with it being a bank holiday Monday. Also, one place had miserable customer service and a lot of sad-looking customers waiting at empty tables, so I walked out.

I accidentally came across the old Terry building - York is as a famous for its chocolate as it is for its tea!

I checked out of my hotel and walked across the city to the National Railway Museum, which is just behind York Station. It's free to enter, and they have lockers to put your luggage and coat - a non-refundable £3, which was pretty good given how big the museum is, and what a relief it was to walk around without heavy, cumbersome bags! I'll leave you with a few of the dozens of photos I took in the museum. I spent two and half hours walking around and having my lunch - if you're interested in beautiful trains, old posters, and the history of the railways, you could easily spend the best part of a day there.

We'll always have Paris: a love letter to Waterloo International

I meant to write this post earlier this week, but illness and work prevailed. Anyhow...

I didn't realise so much time had passed since Eurostar stopped running trains to Waterloo International (now just plain Waterloo). I loved the ease of travelling to France or Belgium by train, with no need for getting the tube or a having to check in luggage two hours before a flight. Yes, I know I was completely South London-centric, but it seemed to be one of the few occasions when those of us south of the river got the better deal!

So when it was announced that Eurostar would stop going to Waterloo, I booked a day off work and a return to Paris. I got the 06:34 from Waterloo on 13th of November 2007, and came back the same day on the 18:16 from Gare du Nord (which was the last train that went to Waterloo International).

I got to Paris later that morning, feeling ever so excited about the day and pretty liberated without luggage. I went to the Jardin du Luxembourg for the first time. Paris has a certain kind of cold in the winter. I can't explain it. It's kind of clean and crisp - very cold but not "bitter". I took photos and sketched.

There's a mini Statue of Liberty by Bartholdi - I'm not sure whether it was prep for his main statue in New York.

I had coffee and lunch at Cafe de Flore. An utterly touristy, literature-graduate thing to do, but I didn't care. I enjoyed it.

I went to the hotel where Oscar Wilde died, and I sketched for a little while. Generally, the length of time I sketched depended on how cold my fingers felt without gloves!

I went to a cafe called Les Éditeurs because...don't cringe...I was an editor at the time. I wrote a lot while I drank my coffee.

I paid a flying visit to Galeries Lafayette to buy some pretty scarves and gloves, and then I went back to Gare du Nord.

On the train, they announced that they would give champagne in the lounge car to everyone in celebration of this last journey to Waterloo. I went there and happy strangers said, "À vos santé!" as we drank. There was such a wonderful atmosphere.

When we got to Waterloo, there were cameras on the platform.

And a farewell at the station. I haven't been to Paris since.

I will do one day, when I have a decent income again. I love that the Eurostar has been running for twenty years now. Paris and London are two of my favourite cities, and it's wonderful that such romantic neighbours should be connected by train. That day trip to Paris was the only time I've gone there and back on my own (most of my trips had been with partners), but it was a magical day and I got to do so much.

I found some old photos of my first trip to Paris when I was a toddler. My parents decided to go there for a weekend with me...apparently I was a complete nightmare!

My love for Parisian cafes started early.

Yorkshire Pudding: The Wedding

L-R: Best man Andy, bridesmaid Melanie, groom Mike, bride Jo, bridesmaid (and cake-maker) Helen, and bridesmaid Laura. Photo by Pete.

The best Yorkshire pudding I’ve ever eaten was with my friends in York, about sixteen years ago. It was massive. I was about to leave the table once I’d finished it, when I was told, ‘That was your starter. Your dinner’s nearly ready.’

Ok, now that I’ve got the tenuous link between an American teen-flick and an English delicacy out of the way, I can talk about the wedding.

Jo and her family are my oldest friends. They moved next door to my family when Jo, her brother Pete and I were very young, and we’ve stayed good friends, even after they moved back to York. I remember running outside to say hello when I saw their van pulling up – they barely had time to get out before I was getting under everyone’s feet, asking them nosy questions and telling them gossip about our neighbours! One vivid memory I have of that day is sitting in their front garden with Jo, silently making a ‘bird’s nest’ out of leaves, rose petals and snapdragons. It was funny, because I’m a few years older than her, but we had the universal language of flowers to unite us.

Jo, Pete and I outside the Sidings, dressed a little better than we were in the 80s.

Fast forward twenty-five years, and I am standing in her grandparents’ kitchen in York, arranging flowers for her wedding. I still cannot believe how much fun my first experience of doing wedding flowers was, and just how lucky I was to have done them for Jo, who I now describe as the anti-Bridezilla (or the perfect bride). It was lovely to spend the wedding eve and morning with Jo’s family and friends in York, many of whom I’ve known since childhood, and create arrangements for someone I really care about. Jo and her bridesmaids Melanie, Laura and Helen provided some much needed company and lots of tea, and Jo and Laura helped me out by getting buckets of water and giving me feedback on my work as I went along. Jo’s grandparents let me use two big tables in their kitchen as my workbench, and Jo’s grandfather cut some gorgeous ivy from their garden for me to use as table decorations.

The wedding colour scheme was pink and green, although Jo and her groom Mike wanted mostly white for the bridal bouquet and the buttonholes. After bouncing some ideas around, we decided on white Blizzard roses, white bouvardia, a few pink Heaven roses and some green ivy for the bridal bouquet; a Blizzard rose, bouvardia and ivy leaves for the groom’s buttonhole; a Blizzard rose and an ivy leaf for the buttonholes for the best man and Jo’s father and brother; and Heaven roses, pink and white Mimi Eden spray roses and ivy for the bridesmaids. I used dark green satin ribbon and white lace for the bridal bouquet and pink satin ribbon and white lace for the bridesmaids.

I used huge, fluffy, pink Lolly Pop hydrangeas, variegated ivy trails and a few pink snowberry stems for the tall vase arrangements either side of the wedding cake; and green ivy from Jo’s grandfather with pink beads and snowberries for the table decorations.

As the wedding reception was held in a beautiful hotel and restaurant that comprised a central ‘station’ room surrounded by old railway carriages, right next to a working train line, I attached wedding ‘luggage tags’ with the names of the flowers used on the day and their traditional meanings to the arrangements.

The Sidings was a beautiful venue, with ample opportunities for train-spotting.

'Can I have that big cake on the top?'

And if the sight of those lush lemon cupcakes and chocolate top tier cake is making your mouth water, then have a look at Helen York’s other cakes. I can assure you that they taste as good as they look – I was one of several guests who went for up seconds!

If you are curious about the traditional meanings of the flowers used in Jo and Mike’s wedding, here they are:

White roses: Purity, new beginnings

Pink roses: Joy, gratitude, admiration

Bouvardia: Enthusiasm

Ivy: Marriage, fidelity, friendship

Hydrangea: Heartfelt emotion, gratitude at being understood

Snowberry: Fate

The girl next door is all grown up! Photo by Pete.