I dreamt that my local Sainsbury's had had a refurbishment and rearranged everything. I am hoping this was not a prophetic dream! Although the new version was much bigger and would involve major disruption to the main railway line into Waterloo, so I am probably safe.

Allowing myself to go down research rabbit holes while stuck at home with a cold is 1. helping me stop counting down to the next paracetamol dose & 2. leading to some curious links! I started with a woman from Surbiton's involvement in women's education and have unexpectedly got to Wembley stadium.

When will we get access to electronic journals and books at the BL again? It is so frustrating 😕

This evening from 17:30 to 19:00 BST: @yinkaolusoga.bsky.social and 'Did you know? Surfacing and Centring Black History in Literature for Children'. Everyone is welcome! Follow the link to register for the Zoom link or to say you'll join us in Senate House. www.history.ac.uk/news-events/...

Back at work after my holiday in Scotland. I'm sure my colleagues were pleased to see me but it was the box of shortbread that put big smiles on their faces!

When Mr Bond was an undergraduate at Dundee, in the early years of this century, his Mum came to visit him and took him on some outings. One was to Lunan Bay near Montrose. He wanted to return so today we did. I can see why! It was glorious and peaceful. A perfect beach.

Tea bags?! Who takes a tea bag to the loo and needs to dispose of it there?

Heritage Open Day in a 905 year old church. I often wonder about the people who have been here over those years and their experiences. I held a Bible published in 1592 and felt they (well, some) were a little closer.

Join us at the IHR or online on 23rd. September at 17:30 to hear @yinkaolusoga.bsky.social talk about her children/young adults' history book Black History for Every Day of the Year, co-authored with her siblings David and Kemi. Further details through the link www.history.ac.uk/news-events/...

I went to Kingston History Centre this afternoon to photograph some logbook pages for my History of Education Society paper. I haven't been since March 2020 and I got the loveliest, warmest welcome. I spent more time chatting than consulting the logbook. 🙂

It was my first story time of the new academic year trip to the nursery this morning so a new set of little ones. 🙂 Last year's cohort loved dinosaurs. This group not so much. What will their shared interest turn out to be? Will they think Supertato is brilliant?

Possibly my favourite archive (it's only 2 miles from home and were so helpful during my PhD) have made me happy again by posting a #histed picture on Facebook. I felt the need to share.

Operation take the cat for his annual vaccinations is complete! Hurrah! We may all now relax.

Join us on 23rd. September at 17:30 BST to hear @yinkaolusoga.bsky.social present 'Did you know? Surfacing and Centring Black History in Literature for Children', relating to her new book. Details of how and where to join us can be found in the link. www.history.ac.uk/news-events/...

The answer to the lower post is in the History Today post. Aethelstan's coronation.

The last journal article for the History of Education Society Richard Aldrich Fellowship task is on the spreadsheet! 208 articles in total for 2024.

We have the registration links for this term's seminars! Here is the link for @yinkaolusoga.bsky.social's paper, 'Did you know? Surfacing & Centring Black History in Literature for Children' on 23/9/25: www.history.ac.uk/news-events/... We will be at the IHR and online, so we hope you can join us.

I took excess allotment produce to the community café this morning. The purple French beans raised quite a bit of interest! I swapped my items for some local variety apples that were wonderfully sharp and juicy. Perfect fuel for writing the new term's @ihrlifecycles.bsky.social mailing letter!

Hello September and the beginning of meteorological autumn! 🙂

Today is my Dad's 86th birthday! I feared in spring that this wouldn't happen. He asked for a fruit cake for his birthday cake and I thought of the Dundee cakes his Mum baked, so made a Dundee cake. It made my house smell like my grandparents' home.

One of the library regulars has gone missing. Not just that we haven't seen them for a bit, missing as in the police are concerned about their whereabouts and safety, especially after their jacket was found by the river. I hadn't anticipated worrying about missing people as an aspect of library life

I'm towards the end of my survey of education history journal articles from 2024 for the History of Education Society Richard Aldrich Fellowship. I saved Pedagogica Historica to the end and am being rewarded with a juicy batch of articles on the materiality of historic classrooms 🙂

The long wait is nearly over, soon there will be history seminars again!

Someone came into the library with a local history enquiry. An opportunity to get out the battered old maps and open the local history cabinet! Every so often she exclaimed, 'This is interesting' and shared a snippet. She also told us of rumours about tunnels under the Thames from the palace...

Spider season has started!

It was very quiet out yesterday, even when I cycled to a friend's in the evening. I am hoping that this means many have gone away for their long weekend so it is pleasantly quiet for those of us at work.

Reasons to look forward to cooler weather include: Mr Nextdoor will close his shed/office door so I won't be able to hear him on his work calls. His voice is so loud! Mr Nextdoor on the other side can't be heard from his shed/office. I'm trying to think up here!😕

There should be a way to opt out of bank holiday weekend emails. Please stop reminding me or assuming. What three day weekend?! We will be having our usual Sunday/Monday weekend but with the added annoyance of more people about and shorter opening hours on the Monday. Grrr.

For the remainder of August, I will be living off tomato based dishes. Any suggestions?

My mother in law, having closed the doors, decided the house is too hot so tried to turn the temperature down using the thermostat. She was so confused when we explained that sadly that isn't possible, it is the ambient outside temperature making it hot.😞 Stupid dementia, stealing reason.

My Mum wanted to go to the flower and produce show in the church hall in the suburb where I live, work and attend church. So we did and pondered why some tomatoes were better than others &c. So many people recognised me from the local library and church that it looked like I was locally famous!😅

I had been so looking forward to the peace of the IHR's Wohl Library today only to find this dream shattered by a pneumatic drill digging up the new tarmac outside! I did not think to bring my noise cancelling headphones.😕

My Mum brought my nephew and niece to attend a performance in the library this afternoon. My Mum commented that the library needs air conditioning. I laughed and said it is on, she should see how hot it gets in the other branch. At least she knows what I mean when I say it was very warm at work.😅

On such a hot day I hadn't expected anyone to come to the children's story and craft time this afternoon but they did! What I definitely had not anticipated was that it would be too hot to sit on the sofa in the children's library. Ouch! So I sat on the floor.

Allotment smugness. Having watered my allotment, I enjoyed potatoes, runner beans, chard and broccoli for my tea while cooking a ragu with tomatoes from the allotment. The runner beans were so sweet!

I was sat by the river chatting to a friend over coffee when a man sat nearby with his parrot, which was on a lead! It was on his shoulder as he walked up, then hopped about while we admired the bird and talked about it. Most unexpected.

I dislike supermarket shopping. I really dislike it when a supermarket makes me put a whole week's worth of shopping through the self service machine. It never goes well.

Summer in the city 🙂. It is a bit touristy and there is better coffee to be had but on a summer afternoon, the cafe in Russell Square is lovely when I've been reading hard in the IHR. Even better when catching up with an old friend, as I am today.

I must look quite London today. On the bus from Waterloo to Russell Square, a tourist asked me, with the confidence that I would know, which stop was best for the British Museum. Perhaps the black canvas pannier rather than a suitcase gave me away.

After days of being busy and just ploughing through tasks, or several tasks at once, Tarragon sensibly decided to take matters into his own paws and just sit on me when I got home. It's good to know the cat is looking after me!

I have a great group of young people volunteering in the libraries this summer, from a selection of schools. When I explain how to shelve books and mention the Dewey Decimal system they look blank. What system are their schools using? I was taught about it in yr 7 at my non selective state school.

We had a scary episode today. While swimming in the sea at Lyme Regis, I turned to look at the beach and saw sand looking like it was being scuffed up. Then it formed a column and items started flying about the beach. Then the column moved across the beach. A mini tornado! A boy was knocked over.

Happiness is... when my 5 year old niece, fresh from the sea and covered in soggy sand, launched herself into my lap shouting, 'sandy cuddles!'😅

Signs the holiday has started: Mum commented, 'You don't want an ice cream at this time of day!' (5pm. Yes, we did). A seagull stole most of Mr Bond's ice cream. We swam in the sea.

It was the sort of day where my colleague and I were so busy that a library user, who had been in the library all day, gave us each a pack of cake in the afternoon (Bakewell slices). Which I didn't have time to open and eat until I got home.

This year marks the 1100th anniversary of the coronation of King Aethelstan in Kingston. The coronation was in September but it was celebrated with a Saxon fair and reenactment this weekend. As a local brewery had made an Aethelstan beer, it was only right to raise a drink to him!

I feel the inside of my head resembles scrambled egg. Throughout the day, attempts to do things get interrupted by a continuous stream of the library using public. Which would is great, but I have really lost track of what I am trying to do.

"What are we doing with all these berries?", Mr Bond asked as we sat heading and tailing fruit from the allotment. Bake them into something delicious! Currants, I have noticed, are very expensive to buy, which makes this tart "free to those who can afford it, very expensive to those who can't".

I'm questioning nextdoor's garden installers' professionalism. Why would someone cut up slabs of stone with no protection over their heads to stop stone dust going in their eyes, nose & mouth? Or deal with heavy slabs of stone without gloves, especially when cutting it? Also, their singing is awful

Allotment plot to cooking pot, via bicycle! Making steamed vegetables even healthier. The flavours were wonderful. Well worth two and a half hours of weeding and tidying.