One fine day in London

Working in retail means working weekends. I struggle with FOMO around this; not being able to make weekend plans like everyone else, but while I hunt for other jobs I've begun to find the silver lining in not necessarily being in sync with the rest of the world. Aside from being able to avoid peak times at the gym, I get to enjoy tourist destinations like galleries without the crowds, for one. While sometimes I get frustrated with having to miss birthdays and gatherings unless it was booked off two months in advance, having a quiet Monday to myself this week was actually rather dreamy. And very therapeutic.

Wake up - 8am

I tend to naturally wake up quite early on my days off which can sometimes be infuriating when all I do at work is complain about how tired I am, but after a dreamy 10 hours sleep after completing my first ever 10k the day before, I woke up feeling refreshed and like the day was mine to have. I made a coffee and got back into bed before deciding, 'I'm going to do a painting today.'

I decided on a leisurely trip to the National Portrait Gallery for inspiration and would see where the day took me.

Leave the house and head to the NPG - 11am

I got to the National Portrait Gallery at about 11:30 and had a quick mooch to see what was new. Tudors? No...Victorians? No...Politicians? Absolutely no thank you. Ah; Making the Modern World, 1945-2000. That's more like it.

A mix of media from oil on canvas to bronze busts, stained glass to bromide prints, room 28 on floor 2 hosted a wide variety of portraits of influential figures, including royalty, from Pricess Diana to The Beatles, spanning to Dorothy Hodgkin, the first british woman to win a Nobel Prize, to a very impactful piece of Margaret Thatcher speaking at a Conservative party conference in Brighton, 1982.

Dorothy Hodgkin, Maggi Hambling, 1985

After a slow loop around room 28, I found an exhibition called History Makers in room 33 on the ground floor. This was another fantastically colourful and inspiring arrangment of British icons from activist Jane Goodall to singer Ed Sheeran and sportspeople Lucy Bronze and Marcus Rashford. The biggest talking-point of this exhibition, however, is the must-see Work in Progress by Jann Haworth and Juliette Liberty Blake. Commisioned by the Chanel Culture Fund for 'Reframing Narratives: Women in 2023', the work almost spanning the length of the room (2.44m tall and 8.77m wide) features hundreds of familiar as well as unsung faces, from Anne Boleyn to Dame Judy Dench to Dame Elizabeth Nneka Anionwu, a professor of nursing and specialist of thalassemia and sickle-sell anemia.

Feeling satisfied and full of inspiration, I found my way to the gift shop for a mandatory snoop of books and postcards. This ended up being the turning point of my day, as I found a pocketbook on independent businesses in London and had a quick flip through. My first flip landed me on a coffee shop established around 1887-- I know where I’m going next…-- and my second flip through the little blue book (that I now I wish I had bought to have at home and continue to reference for days out like this) landed me on L. Cornelissen & Son, a picturesque shop providing the highest quality art supplies since 1855. This is too weird…I was just thinking I needed a new paintbrush.

Before scuttling to find the independent coffee shop, I treated myself to the book Inspirational Women, a title created to celebrate unsung females throughout history, either from Britain or those who have contributed significantly to British female culture. The book is categorised into sections such as Art & Architecture, Engineering & Maths and Women Abroad. I couldn’t wait to dig in and get inspired.

Arrive at independant coffee house - 12:15

Less than a ten minute meander through Soho later, I arrived at Algerian Coffee Stores. The only independent shop left on Old Compton Street, you’ll find jars on top of jars of coffee and tea from around the world and a friendly team ready to help. The best bit? At risk of letting the secret out, I bought a latte and a 250g bag of their house blend coffee…and it came to £7.50 total.

Engaging with the team, letting them know how I found them and asking about the heritage, was refreshing. It filled me with confidence that humility in retail still exists and, as much as it’s a dying breed, there will be other shops that share the same spirit, fighting to stay alive and fighting to serve the community with real knowledge and passion for their product. Looking for a coffee in Soho? Skip Starbucks and head to Algerian Coffee Stores, 52 Old Compton Street, W1D 4PB.

Arrive at L. Cornelissen & Son - 12:45

Happy with my £2 latte, I enjoyed the next ten minute walk towards Liverpool Street. The weather was warm and quiet. The streets weren’t heaving. The July sun defiantly shone through gaps in trees and buildings. Sunglasses on, cardigan off. Perfect.

I arrived to the quaint art shop at 105 Great Russell Street and was met with gentle, friendly faces, busy behind a large counter scattered with papers, supplies, and small piles of items that customers were gathering and adding to.

I asked an attendant if she could assist in helping me find what I needed, and she was patient with my many questions paired with my indecisiveness. I settled on a size 2 squirrel hair brush for detail work, some masking tape and a £3 tote to carry them and my new book, completing the art-student-about-London fantasy. I read my new book on inspirational women all the way home.

Arrive home - 13:30

Everyone who knows me knows I love my food, and breakfast/brunch foods are by far my favourite. On my days off, I savour the opportunity to take my time coming up with new combinations and taking my time making something a little more special instead of revolving everything around convenience, as is necessary on working days. I left the house having just had a coffee and a banana, so I was looking forward to whatever brunch my hands were going to place in front of me today.

Today I went for three poached eggs with spinach and tomatoes cooked down with garlic, fresh basil, and salt and pepper. I tend to pick up mixed colour cherry tomatoes at the supermarket to give my salads and breakfasts (I love cooked tomatoes at breakfast) more colour and diversity - and if you've not got a pot of growing basil in your kitchen ready to add to every meal of the day, I highly suggest you add this to your next shopping list; not only will the smell and flavour brighten your meals, but the cloud of vibrant green leaves will brighten your kitchen countertop, too. Underneath the steaming layers of poached protein and flavoursome veg, a slice of german rye with 1/4 avocado. Save that for the next time you have the time for a cooked breakfast.

Commence painting - 15:30

What really kickstarted this whole day was a trip to Kent the day before, where I took a photo on my phone that inspired me to paint a landscape. During school, I painted portraits almost exclusively, using harsh lighting - a style called Chiaroscuro - to provoke emotion and vulnerability in my sitters. The landscape I took a photo of consisted of an uninterupted, intimidating sky that brooded over the North Sea off the coast of Sandwich Bay. No building nor living thing stood in the view, which gives the eye nothing to focus on except for the darkest clouds to the far right of the photo. I found myself standing on the pebbled beach looking out at nothing and everything all at once; awestruck at brooding simplicity of the sky meeting the sea meeting the shore. Eerily calming. 

I painted the landscape over the course of about an hour, using gouache paint and a washing-up sponge, finishing the piece with a tiny bird in the sky, as I found the landscape in painting form was missing a little je ne sais quoi. It felt freeing to produce my own, if not somewhat juvenile, interpretation of the seascape. It was so theraputic to be silent and just work away at something, and feel satified with something tangible, and be able to decide it was complete on my own terms. Not perfect, nor professional, but complete.

Reflection

I've had a lot of time to myself lately, and it's scary to think how miserable time spent alone used to make me. To quote Kate Winslet fromThe Holiday, I felt like a 'loner, loser and complicated wreck'. I would focus on the fact that no one had asked me to make plans, that I wasn't the centre of anyone's world, or anyone's first choice for a weekend plan (or any day of the week plan), with the feeling of lonliness and rejection amplified by watching other's lives on social media; other people's plans with friends, events I wasn't invited to and memories never to be made. One can't pin-point the day this stops happening, and no doubt those feelings will rear their ugly head at some point or other in future, but the last few weeks where I've spent time alone, been self-serving and mindful, have been the happiest and most peaceful I've probably ever been. At almost 24, I've learnt that days off where I've just gone to the gym and done life admin like cleaning and laundry, and days like this one where I waited for no one, went where I wanted to go, and at the end of it went to bed at 9pm, sober and full of homemade food, are actually very valuble and extremely good for your mental health. In a world where everything moves a mile a minute, a world of micro-trends and short-form content to satisfy a consumption-based culture, I'm stepping back and moving at my own pace, letting go of keeping-up and making my own memories, my own way, on my own timeline. Falling in love with myself, falling in love with forgotten hobbies and lost arts, breathing, looking up, making conversations with strangers, taking it all in.