Discovering the ‘Queen of the Midlands’
“Ooh, ooh, ooh,” exclaimed my friend Paul at Cucamara, pointing his finger madly at me as he does when he gets excited, “Drag Queen Bingo, Tuesday.” “Yes, yes, no, bugger, Tuesday? I’m meant to be in London.” I’ve been very excited about the prospect of Drag Queen Bingo since Paul first mentioned it. I mean, […]
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Do I think of myself as a feminist? I’ve been thinking about this quite a lot recently. After the gender pay thing hit the headlines, everyone went into overdrive about gender inequality in a way I hadn’t really noticed since the late 70s and early 80s. At work a new women’s group was formed. I […]
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A little while ago I wrote in this blog that I loved being based somewhere that felt like it had a cultural revolution going on (it was here). This morning that point was brought home to me again when I took part in a series of workshops organised as part of Nottingham’s first Off Centre […]
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… You’re sure of a big surprise. If you go down to the woods today, you’ll never believe your eyes. Because if you go down to the woods at Wollaton Hall, there be dragons. Well, dinosaurs actually, not dragons, and though they’re not actually living and breathing, it’s as good as. These are the […]
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Yes, yes, I know. Goose Fair takes place at the beginning of October and here am I posting about it when it’s nearly the end of October. What can I say? I’ve been busy. Although I only moved to Nottingham four months ago, Phill and I have been together for more than eight years and […]
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In Sanskrit, the word Mela means meeting or assembly. For us, the word means a fair or Hindu festival. There’s been a Mela in Nottingham for the last 29 years, so this year was the 30th anniversary. I’ve never been to one before and I’ve been looking forward to it for weeks. There have been […]
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About 11am this morning, I discovered Nottingham had a carnival… and it was today. But I hadn’t seen ANY publicity about it so I Googled it. “Do you mean Notting Hill?” said Google. “No, Google, I don’t,” I responded. “I definitely mean NottingHAM and it’s today, so speed it up a bit please.” Eventually I […]
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Earth mothers, goddesses, witches, shaman, wizards, mystics and musicians: what an eclectic group of people gathered at the Arboretum in Nottingham today for Pagan Pride 2018. I had been promised unicorn dressage – I mean, seriously, how could I resist? – but in the event it was just too hot for me so we didn’t […]
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