Fairtrade Summer Fair

 I've always supported Fairtrade Hay - I was one of the founding committee members, and I still occasionally update the Fairtrade Hay blog.  So when the local Stitch and Bitch group were asked if they would like to take part in the Summer Fair on Saturday, I volunteered to go along.

In the end, I was the only representative, and I was a bit worried that I wouldn't be able to fill a stall on my own.  However, the box of embroideries and paper art I took along was just about right for the space!

It was cold and wet for much of the day, but there were plenty of people coming through, so it was a pretty good day for the stall holders and the Fairtrade group.

Stitch and Bitch in a Garden

Last Thursday was the usual evening for Stitch and Bitch.  Since March, this has been done by Zoom meetings, but this time one of the ladies offered the use of her garden.  

It was lovely to see everybody in the flesh again.  Chairs and tables had been set out in a big circle on the lawn so we could stay well distanced.   We all brought our own drinks.

One lady brought her spinning wheel, and was demonstrating to another lady who was interested in learning how to do it.  There was also knitting, and rug hooking, and I had my lucet.  Another lady was taking a duvet apart, for reasons which seemed good to her at the time!

Although the forecast had been fine, there were a couple of times that we sat through a light drizzle, but it soon cleared up.

It was a lovely, relaxing evening, and we will be watching the weather forecast for the beginning of next month to see if we can do it again.

Lots of Variety at Stitch and Bitch

The Stitch and Bitch group welcomed two new members this month, with a full house of regulars sitting around the big round table in the room to the side of the entrance in the Swan. I took my medieval lucet to make a loose cord that I'm knitting up with broom handle knitting needles into - well, at the moment it's just growing; it'll probably end up as a bedspread!
We found we had three people called Sarah (or Sara) around the table, one of whom was knitting pouches for baby joeys who had been orphaned in the bush fires in Australia. And we had two Kittys, one of whom was knitting fingerless mittens for refugees. One of the new ladies was finishing off a jumper. As ever, the conversation was wide ranging, taking in serious topics like home schooling to world domination via knitting groups! We even mentioned the recent Science Café talk on light bulbs as we tried to work out if Kitty's yarn was teal or green under the yellow lights of the chandelier, and the white light of somebody's phone.
The group meets from 6pm to around 8pm on the First Thursday of every month, and sometimes at other times, if enough people want to turn out and do it.

Crafts At the Petition Office

The recall petition to remove Chris Davies as our local MP opened yesterday at 9am (one lady was there at one minute past nine!). It's in the Council Chambers, and the last time I was in that room, I was a witness at a wedding. There's disabled access round the back, and they have a magnifying glass for people who need large print.
There are two ladies in charge of the procedure, crossing your name off the electoral register and giving you the form to sign. One of them was knitting a jumper. They're there for six weeks, so she'll probably have finished it by then! So we got chatting about Stitch and Bitch (she already goes to another craft group at Three Cocks), and trying out different crafts.
There's a hotel down in Okehampton that runs craft courses - you stay for a few days (at very reasonable rates) and sign up for as many different craft courses as you wish - she enjoyed the glass engraving, and there were various pottery courses, and all sorts of other crafts, as well as entertainment in the evenings - and Okehampton is in a lovely part of the country. A whole group from Three Cocks went a couple of years ago.
They remembered the fad for yarn bombing, and I admitted to being one of the yarn bombers of Hay - and now there's a new fad of leaving painted pebbles around for children to find. That started last year, and I've just carried on doing it. It's a good way of experimenting to see how different techniques work.

Stitch and Bitch Christmas Lunch

We chose Kilverts this year, and we were not disappointed.
Ten of us came to sit in the lounge just down the steps from the bar. It was lovely to see Ros again, who had come all the way from Llanidloes, where she seems to be enjoying life.
It wasn't busy, so we more or less had the place to ourselves. During one lull in the proceedings, one of the ladies said there were so many interesting conversations going on round the table she was trying to listen to them all!
Did Neanderthals interbreed with Homo Sapiens?
Any suggestions for the next choice for a book club? One of the members doesn't like fantasy, so not Terry Pratchett! There were a few good suggestions including local author Horatio Clare.
What about books for the children of some of the ladies there, one of whom had just read Terry Pratchett's non-Discworld book Nation?
One lady was looking forward to a holiday in Guatemala and the Yucatan peninsular - another was suggesting Mayan pyramids to visit.
How would the world be different if whaling hadn't happened in the 19th century? (Probably in a better state as far as climate change is concerned, interestingly).
There were also discussions about health, and the state of the nation, and car crashes people have walked away from....
The food was delicious (I almost started someone else's turkey, having forgotten I'd ordered pheasant), and they were able to cater for one lady who needed gluten free food with no bother.
And we all saved the little gold ribbons from the Christmas crackers!

More 'Bitching' than Stitching!

It was the First Thursday of the month yesterday, so time for Stitch and Bitch at the Swan, where we were greeted with the invitation to sign up for loyalty cards, which is a new initiative. The loyalty cards offer a 10% discount on drinks and food.
Françoise came along to chat with us. She's planning a new exhibition around the works of Colette and embroidery, so thought it would be a good idea to write a little bit about the local Stitch and Bitch group to go into her newspaper The Cabbage Leaf at the same time. She also brought along a reel of paper twine she has been trying to knit - it's very stiff, but she has a project in mind for it (not clothes, though - it's far too stiff for clothing). She also discovered the existence of circular knitting, as Tracy was knitting another Fair Isle jumper on circular needles.
On the whole, though, we did a lot of chatting (we don't really Bitch) and not a lot of craftwork. There were a few light hearted suggestions about changing the name of the group - Stitch and Witch was quite a popular idea, as we do have several Pagan leaning members, but nobody really liked Knit and Natter - too bland, and we're not a bland group!

Change of Venue for Stitch and Bitch

The new management of Kilverts have said that they don't want to use their little back room for meetings any more, and they want to expand their restaurant trade, so there was no room there for Stitch and Bitch to meet any more.
So on Thursday night (SnB meets on the first Thursday of every month, from 6pm to 8pm), we were back in the Swan. The Swan is now under different management from when we were there before, and they welcomed us into the room by the front door which is used for meetings. There was a good turn out, too; eleven of us were there, with a variety of projects on the go including knitting, crochet, sewing a collage picture and embellishing a piece of batik cloth with a picture of a figure on it.
I tried the Swan Gold bitter from the bar, from the Swan brewery, which was very nice. They also serve Butty Bach. The dining tables have been taken out of the front bar, and replaced with comfy seats and sofas, and I'm sure they've put new carpets down since I was last there.
I think we'll be making that our regular venue in the future.

Another group moving to the Swan is the Science Club. They bring in a lecturer about once a month to talk about scientific topics in terms a layperson can understand, and their next meeting is on Tuesday 25th September, at 7pm. I think the topic is nuclear power.

Busy Enjoying Myself

It's too hot to do anything serious, and the first week of the month tends to fill up with interesting things to do.
So on Monday I was round at a friend's house for a poetry evening. We each brought three or four poems on the theme of the Sea (next month's theme is Dogs), and read them in turn. Brian had just picked up a book at random, by someone called Mitchell - and it turned out to have several really good poems about the sea, including a lovely one about the Great Orme at Llandudno. I took along the book I got at one of the events at the Poetry Bookshop, about endangered marine species - they liked the one about the basking shark and the man who fell in love with it. The book is Words the Turtle Taught Me by Susan Richardson. I also found a couple of poems in the local magazine Quirk, both by people I know, one about mermaids diving for pearls of wisdom and the other about dolphin mythology.

On Wednesday I was at Baskerville Hall, commemorating the sad death of Peter Firmin (one of the creators of Bagpuss, Ivor the Engine, Pogle's Wood, the Clangers and Noggin the Nog) by reciting the introduction to Noggin the Nog. There were comic songs (Earwig O, the man in the elephant's bottom), poems and a vaguely American theme to the evening since it was the 4th of July, with "I'm as corny as Kansas in August" and even the Star Spangled Banner. I sang Streets of Laredo.
We were in Moriarty's Bar, which can get a bit over warm in summer weather, but there's a festival of some sort going on at the Hall at the weekend, and they were setting something up in the ballroom. There was a bit of a party going on around the porch (where people could smoke) when we came out, and two of the younger singers and guitarists (just back from University) almost missed their turn to sing because they were out there enjoying the ambience.

And tonight we were sitting overlooking the garden at Kilverts, with the window wide open to catch the breeze, for Stitch and Bitch. We were having such a good time that one of the ladies said we should be live blogging the conversation - and then everyone looked at me!
I successfully de-cluttered a triangular weaving frame with the instruction booklet and all the necessary bits to a lady who thought she'd like to try it. I bought it at Wonderwool a couple of years ago, and didn't really get on with it.
Emanation has kefir on the go, and often has a surplus to get rid of, so she managed to pass some on to another lady in the group. Someone else has been given 6 fleeces, and wanted to know what to do with them, so Tracy and I talked her through the process of cleaning the fleece (very carefully so as not to felt it!) and Tracy gave advice on natural dyeing. She's going to start washing the fleeces this week, and will come round to borrow my carders and a hand spindle so she can try hand spinning soon.
We also talked about the Trump Baby balloon which will be flying over London next week - and some of the awful things happening in the US now; assisted dying; and a community arts project that may or may not get off the ground locally. And one lady brought an enormous ball of pink yarn along which promptly got nicknamed "the uterus".
The Wadsworth 6X went down a treat.

Ladies Who Lunch - this time at Booths Cafe

The Ladies Who Lunch only meet occasionally, but this time it was done on fairly short notice, because one of the Ladies is about to move to Llanidloes!
We met up at the Globe, because we'd had good meals there before, but this time the chef was preparing for an event, and so was only offering fish and chips.
So we decided to head for Booths.
There's a printing press in the café at the moment, and it's been used fairly recently to print pictures of cows and fish and vegetables on pages from old recipe books, which were hung up round the walls. Several people came to take photos of it while we were there.
Since the Ladies Who Lunch are also Ladies who Stitch and Bitch, we all noticed when a man came into the café with a long scarf like thing draped over his shoulder.
"Is it woven?"
"No, it's knitted."
"Oh, it's a hat with a long tail!"
"That man doesn't know how close he came to being mugged, does he?"
The food was absolutely delicious - I had the devilled Portobello mushrooms on toast, with egg, and we shared scrumptious chips. And we had to have scones - this time I tried the gooseberry and elderflower jam, which was gorgeous.

So we gave Ros a good send off - with promises to have a day trip to Llanidloes when the quilting exhibition is on at the Minerva Centre. The Minerva Centre also has a quilting group and an embroidery group, and runs courses, so there'll be plenty of opportunities for handicrafts there. There's also a really good vegetarian café on the main street ("I know," Ros said. "We've been three times already!") and the Great Oak Bookshop.

Blizzard Conditions

Last night was the first Thursday of the month, as well as St David's Day, which is the normal meeting time for the Stitch and Bitch group. Several members on the email list had already said that they wouldn't be coming in because of the snow, but Kilverts is pretty much on my way home from work, so I thought I'd pass by there just to see if anyone else had turned up.
It was, of course, still snowing, as it had been snowing all day, and the path to the front door of Kilverts was pristine and untouched. The barman was standing just by the kitchen door, smoking, and he said he hadn't seen anyone yet.
Just as I was turning to go, another lady, Sharon from Blissland Pizzas, came up the road.
So it was just us two, with our chairs pulled close to the wood burner in the main bar, her with her quilting spread across her knees and me with my knitted squares, and we had a lovely time! As the evening went on, the bar got a bit busier, while outside the powdery snow whirled in the wind.

Today, it's still snowing (I think it stopped for a bit in the night) and drifting, and the police are warning that many roads are closed. On the Hay Community page on Facebook, several people are offering to run errands for anyone who can't get out of their houses.
I may get the Arctic gear out later and go and see if any shops have managed to open.... (I've just seen someone who works at the Co-op walking down that way, so I assume they'll be open at least!)

Stitch and Bitch on the Move Again

I've just come back from the first Stitch and Bitch meet up at Kilvert's, which went very well. We were given a quiet room (opposite the Ladies', with the door saying 'Residents Only'), with decent light and a big table, and we didn't have to get out on the dot of 8pm because the Point to Point group that had booked after us had decided to meet next week instead. The staff were welcoming, and of course the beer was good - I had a honey ale called The Fairy Isle, which was delicious, with a subtle flavour. And of course there was a lot of good conversation over the knitting (a majority of sock knitters this time).
It's sad, of course, that we can't meet at the Three Tuns any more, but I think we've found a congenial new home at Kilverts.
Stitch and Bitch meets on the first Thursday of every month, from 6pm to 8pm-ish, and sometimes in the middle of the month if enough people are interested in an extra meeting.

Stitch and Bitch

As it's the First Thursday of the month, a good number of knitting and stitching ladies turned up at the Three Tuns earlier this evening. There were reports from Wonderwool - maybe not the bargains to be had that there were in previous years, but some gorgeous wool on offer all the same.
One lady showed photos of her daughter's wedding, which I think was the first wedding to be held in Booths Bookshop - they had overflow seating in the cinema, so the guests could watch everything on the big screen!
Kitty brought her jumper which needed a bit of TLC, provided by Tracy - something had gone horribly wrong with the sleeves, but it's back on track now. She had intended to go on to the Greenpeace meeting at the Globe, but stayed to chat instead.
Another lady was only there because her book club had cancelled their meeting, with her incredibly elaborate jumper which she's been knitting for over a year now, incorporating all her husband's favourite animals in the design.
And Tracy regaled us with stories of her recent holiday in Ireland - including Newgrange and Knowth. She wants to go back and see more of the country.
There was much discussion of what's on at Hay Festival this year - Sharon has bought tickets to several events for her helpers who come to the camp site at Llanigon, and the campsite has sponsored an event, too. Kitty works in the press office over the Festival, and has also started introducing a few events - she says she normally sleeps for a couple of days when it's all over!
The next First Thursday will be in the middle of Hay Festival, so we probably won't be meeting at the Three Tuns (it would be unfair to expect them to reserve a table for us on the busiest week of the year) - but we might take our knitting down to the Festival site instead!

Celebrations and Wayzgoose

Plan B, as far as costumes were concerned, was easy - I dressed as Sherlock Holmes and headed over to Baskerville Hall. I walked most of the way, though one kind gentleman stopped to offer me a lift (I didn't recognise him until I saw him later, at the Hall). Then Tracy and Ian stopped for me, and I came from the Petrol Station up the drive with them.
I was quite pleased with the walk, though - I'm very out of practice now I don't have a dog, and the last time I tried to walk to the Baskie I was wearing medieval boots, which crippled me, being slightly too tight (yes, those are the boots I'll be selling shortly - they'll be fine for someone with slightly smaller feet than mine).
There were lots of cars in the car park, and the exhibition rooms were crowded - there were a surprising number of people there who I knew, including Maureen Richardson the paper maker and book art maker, who had a stall next to an anarchist printer. I hadn't realised there were so many small press printers in the area, though one was on his way to Oxford from another show, and had decided to break his journey at Hay.
I picked up a flyer from Ludlow Bookbinders and Jemma Marbling, thinking to get as many cards and flyers as I could, but I soon got distracted. Also, several people asked to take my photo, one with the head of a giant hound in the background!
Outside in the hall was the book sculpture from the Sidney Nolan Trust, as well as cakes and coffee stalls, and round the back of the main hall was the printing press, together with plans of what the organisers want to do with the newer part of the building, where the raves used to be held, to make it into a museum and workshop space. One of their ideas is to use the bunk house accommodation for groups who want to come on printing courses, while bibliophiles can book the more luxurious bedrooms to stay, surrounded by first editions.

I went back into Hay with Tracy and Ian, and though we missed the parade, we were in time to see Prince Derek give out honours, accompanied on stage by George the Town Cryer. Mac Eager was knighted, and so was the author Phil Rickman, while our other local author, Barbara Erskine, was given the title First Lady of Hay, and Jeffrey Babb became Master of the King's Music.
I met up with a group of ladies from Stitch and Bitch, and Tracy produced a ball of wool from her bag so that it would be an official Stitch and Bitch meeting! Ros had dressed to incorporate a variety of books, including Watership Down shoes (with a picture of a leaping rabbit on them) and book ear-rings with The Hunting of the Snark in them. Sharon, who runs the campsite on the way to Llanigon, said that several Instagrammers were staying with her, and she was amazed at the distances they had come for the weekend. Ann Brichto, who has taken to Instagram as her favourite form of social media, managed to collect them together, and they had a meeting last night of sixty or seventy people.
Then there was African drumming, and a photo opportunity on the terraces of Hay Castle, with the photographer popping his head out of the skylight of one of the houses across the road.
I posed for photos with the Snow Queen as well (and foolishly failed to get anyone to take photos with my camera).
Down in the square, circus skills were in full swing, with tightrope walking, and diablo, and hula hoops and stilt walking. Two young boys stilt walking down Castle Street explained seriously that you had to keep moving all the time, or you fell over.
Also in the square was a stall selling accessories for period costume, mostly from the 18th and 19th centuries. The lady in charge was in full Jane Austen finery, with a tiara. I'd been told that she'd moved into the area by several people, though she specialises in a very different period of history to my interests, and it was fascinating to chat to her. She's living for the moment at Glasbury House, and said that one of the best things about this area, after life in London, was the fresh air!
Finally, I popped into Beer Revolution to try the Lucky 7 Independence Ale, which is very tasty, and hoppy. Derek from the Wholefood Shop told me they were getting some bottles in yesterday afternoon - the brewer was reportedly still sticking the labels on the bottles the night before! This is, of course, Hay's own local brewery, so the beer didn't have to come very far.
King Richard, sadly, did not make an appearance, but he was there in effigy, in the windows of Booth Books and the Flower Shop.

Comparing Christmas Dinners

It's that time of year for Christmas dinners and this year I've been to two (eating out again!)
Earlier in the month, the ladies of Stitch and Bitch went to the Three Tuns for a Christmas lunch - that's where we meet on the First Thursday of every month, and sometimes in between (gentlemen are welcome, but at the moment it just happens to be all ladies).

We had a long table at the back, fourteen of us. I wore my scarlet Superheroine skirt that I made over a couple of sessions, and Sharon brought her neck wrap. She's been knitting it for three years, and it's finally finished! It is now an honorary member of the group in its own right! Chrissy, a new member this year, was quite excited as she'd got a stall on the Thursday market selling wool. I saw her out there - of course, the weather was atrocious for her first attempt, but she had plenty of room as a neighbouring stall holder didn't turn up and she was told to spread out.
The food was great, of course, the traditional turkey main course, with several different options, and loads of vegetables. I had the game casserole, and slightly regretted it when I saw the parsnips served with the turkey. The waitress was asked what would happen to the vegetables we didn't eat, and when she said they would go in the bin, several ladies asked for carry out boxes to take the left overs home. We didn't want good food to go to waste. There were even mince pies at the end, by which time most of us were so stuffed that we couldn't eat another thing, so we took those home with us too (I took two, to share with the Young Man when he arrived the following day).
And this week it was the Works Do, in the evening, this time at the Black Lion. There were eight of us in the area near the door, with a much bigger party round the corner from the Vets. Again, the food was excellent - the mutton melted in my mouth, it was so tender. One of us went for the vegetarian option, and he said it was excellent (he's not generally vegetarian - it was just what he fancied from the menu). We had plenty of time to pace ourselves through the meal, but we were still very full when we walked home. And there was Morlands beer, which I haven't seen for a long while, so I stuck to that while everyone else enjoyed the wine and prosecco.

Christmas Crafts at the Globe

The Globe was full of stalls - up on the balcony, in the main hall and downstairs, which has recently been remodelled for the arrival of Off Grid Gourmet. The bar at the back of the room is now a new cooking area with a big counter, and the original door and windows have been replaced with floor to ceiling windows. A new breezeblock wall has been built at the other side of the room, to screen off the toilets, and everything has been painted white.
There were felted animals, paper decorations, photographs and prints, wooden crafts (some lovely bowls), and lots more. I got some elegant wrapping paper and a card with a picture of a Native American camp on it.
I met one of the ladies from Stitch and Bitch, with her striped knitted hats, and she said she'd had a pretty good day.

Scarlet Curtains

Lydia, the lady who gave the presentation to the Council about the Bronllys Well-Being Park, came to visit me the other day. She's been having a clear out, and had some knitting patterns and dress patterns that she wanted to go to a good home. She'd noticed that I belong to Stitch and Bitch, and I'll be taking the three binders down on Thursday to share out. It's from 6pm to 8pm on the first Thursday of every month, at the Three Tuns.
She also had a pair of bright scarlet curtains. "I thought these might be good for a superhero," she said, also knowing of my fondness for dressing up.
The sewing machine has come out from the back of the cupboard.
So far, I have made a sash for the Young Man, for his Steampunk adventurer's costume, and I'm half way through making a scarlet skirt (possibly for a version of Wonder Woman, or even Captain Marvel?). There is enough fabric left for another skirt, made with the other side of the fabric facing out, which is a darker red, so that's the next project.

Stitching and Bitching at the Three Tuns

Well, that went well!
We had our first meeting at the Three Tuns this evening, in the downstairs at the back (the bit that was built on after the fire that caused Lucy to close down). The lights were bright enough, the drinks were nice, and nine of us turned up, including a new lady, who seemed to have a good time. We were doing knitting - of socks, jumpers and a snood, crochet - a shawl, and embroidery - a haemoglobin molecule!
So I think this will be our regular venue for the forseeable future!

Stitching... and Bitching

We're a nice friendly group of ladies, on the whole, in the Stitch and Bitch group.
In fact, I've just waddled home from an excellent Christmas lunch at the Black Lion, where we all had a wonderful time.

Sadly, though, in the New Year we will be looking for a new place to meet.

We've been going to the Swan on the first Thursday of the month, and sometimes a Thursday in the middle of the month, for several years now. We've sat in the little room at the end of the bar, or the lounge, or the meeting room by the front door, or even in the back bar. The agreement has always been that we buy a drink when we come, and then we can spend a couple of hours knitting, crocheting, sewing and chatting. If another group has paid to book a room, we've always been happy to move elsewhere, because we have always understood that the hotel needs to make a profit.

However, times have changed. The Swan has new owners who want to take it upmarket, and I understand that all the community groups that currently use the rooms of the Swan have been given a letter with the new terms and conditions.
Okay, they're re-furbishing and spending an awful lot of money on the building....
But....

The new terms are that each member of the group should pay £10 a session, which will include a cup of tea or coffee and a biscuit.
That would be fair enough - the hotel has the right to charge what it wants (though as a group we don't want to spend that much to meet anywhere), and the young man we spoke to was very pleasant, but at the end of our last session there, we were given a letter. Here's the bit we were annoyed about:

"I have kept my side of the agreement, but disappointingly your club has not, at the last meeting of your club. On Thursday 3rd December 2015 only £23.20 was taken. This is not acceptable and this is why the property was in a loss making position."

So, the staff were totting up what we were buying (and we did all buy a drink), and somebody (possibly even that pleasant young man) was typing in the details while we were right there in the next room.
It's worth pointing out that this is £23.20 the hotel would not otherwise have taken, and they would have had the heating and lighting on in that room anyway.

So we're looking around Hay for an alternative place to meet. All we need is a room with a good source of light - so we can see to knit and sew - and we always buy a drink each.

Refurbishing the Swan

When I arrived at the Swan on Thursday for the monthly Stitch and Bitch meet up, I found one of the new managers of the Swan talking to one of the other ladies. The hotel was recently sold to the Llangoed Hall group - they have three hotels - and the new management is keen to renovate the Swan to a high standard. The young man was very enthusiastic about the plans they have.
They are also keen to chat to all the groups that meet in the hotel, including Stitch and Bitch, though the overall manager has to divide his time between all three of the hotels, one of which is in Oxfordshire, so it could be difficult to find a convenient time to meet.
At any rate, the hotel will be closing for three months in the new year, apart from events which are already booked - in which case the renovation work will go on in different parts of the hotel while the event is happening.
So Stitch and Bitch will be looking for somewhere else to meet for a while, with good lighting so we can see to sew and knit. I have vivid memories of when the group moved out of Wool and Willow in Backfold, some years ago, and was looking for a new home - the hall at the back of the British Legion was so freezing cold we couldn't take our coats off, and the radiators were stone cold, despite the staff saying the heating had been on all day. Kilverts was too gloomy to see properly, and so was the Blue Boar, so we were very happy to find the good lighting and comfortable seats at the Swan.

Cap & Share

I was at the Stitch and Bitch meeting on Thursday. Usually it's on the first Thursday of the month at the Swan, but this month nearly everybody forgot, so we had a mid-month meeting.
One of the ladies had asked if anyone with odd balls of wool or knitting needles they didn't want could bring them along, because her daughter is doing a knitting project at school - they're starting with squares, and they need equipment and supplies. I was so busy sorting out some of my wool and needles for that, that I forgot to take my own project to work on (the cross stitch badger is coming along really, really slowly).
But the conversation, as always, was fascinating.
Alison was there - a little while ago, she and her husband Laurance launched a book at Booths bookshop called Framespotting, about how topics are presented affects the way people think about them. (It's very good, and thought-provoking).
Now they're involved in a campaign to cap the production of carbon globally - this all ties in with the Paris summit on climate change. The idea is - well, I'll share their short video, which explains very clearly what it's all about:



More information can be found at capandshare.org