It’s the eleventy-third of January and it feels like there’s no end in sight to this month…
January really does have that unique quality as the rest of the year seems to whiz by like crazy.
It’s been that cold lately I’ve even had to bring out a couple of my embarrassing jumpers, which also happen to be the warmest in my wardrobe. One has a pattern of ducks on it; the other a goose saying “wow”. I’m not sure what possessed me to buy them and I probably wouldn’t wear them anywhere else but home or work – but here we’re all more than accepting of the crazy and downright odd.
The other day I treated the office to a “luxury” gold radiator bleed key from Holderness Hardware in an attempt to boost the effectiveness of our heating, and the aforementioned duck jumper ended up being sprayed with what I can only describe as “radiator juice”…
It feels a bit quiet at the moment as there’s generally more going on when the weather is warmer, and the days longer.
Our “community” spread on pages 12 and 13 is still a little light on events – but people do take a bit longer to come out of hibernation at this time of year. If you have an event you’d like us to shout about, please do let us know!
Of course there is still a fair bit happening, even now – and I very much enjoyed playing with Fiddler’s Elbow at the Beggar’s Folk Club in Ottringham last Thursday night.
That’s yet another new venue for the club, which has moved around the region in recent years – but its new home, the Ottringham Village Institute, is perfect. Just the right size, light, airy and bright acoustically, with decent facilities. There was a great turnout; it was lovely to see a few local faces, and a few old friends, too.
The folk club is free, but donations are very much encouraged and they go towards the artists performing as well as a host of good causes. Do pop down there – 7.30pm on Thursdays – and if it’s a club night you can have a go yourself!
I also want to give a quick shout-out to Hull city centre’s Clarks Watch Repairs, which we featured quite a few months ago. Turns out they also do clocks, and they’ve done a fantastic restoration on a wall clock I inherited when my nan died last year.
The restoration took some months but I wasn’t about to rush to ask for it back, given that this meant handing over a wedge of cash. But I finally put it back on the wall last week and it’s lovely.
So, huge thanks to Patrick and Michael! If you have a clock or watch knocking around a dusty drawer, I would recommend them.
