Charlie and the Tengo Factory

Graeme and I had a day and one night in the busy town of London. We started at London Marlybone with two places in mind: the Roald Dahl Museum and The Barbican. The Barbican event was the main reason we were visiting London as we had tickets to see Yo La Tengo. "Yo La what now?" Is the reply I received from people who knew nothing of the band. Yo La Tengo apparantly means, "I have it now" in Spanish. Often referred to as an indie, rock band from New Jersey, but I wouldn't hesitate to say they are Yo* much more than that. The musical trio grasped the Barbican with melodies that poised pleasantly with the animated backdrop of cut out trees. The set reminded of  the cardboard tree pieces from a High Ho Cherry Oh board game.

The Roald Dahl Museum was equally exciting, nestled in the sleepy town of Great Missiden. Although the weather was being grey and grumbly, the musuem was a delight. Graeme and I measured ourselves against the character height chart, I measured up to Miss Honey from Matilda which very much pleased me and Graeme was Mrs Twit which was a little unfortunate for him.  I also sat in a replica of Roald's famous chair and pretended to write a whizzpopping story. Afterwards we visited the gift shop and bought a few souveniers of keyrings and stationery. We then took a walk to Dahl's grave which was decorated with flowers and his favoured yellow pencils.

* I couldn't resist

January Blues. Short story for The Shrieking Violet fanzine

I have been submitting stories, recipes and articles and once a pattern for making your own pumpkin felt toy to my friend Natalie's fanzine; The Shrieking Violet for over 4 years. The Shrieking Violet is a Manchester based fanzine, which includes recipes, travel writings, transport articles and features on personal fascinations. It has recently been recommended by arts and culture blog, Creative Tourist.
 My first submission was a poem about a stuffed raggy teddy bear I had made named Mismatched Teddy bear, which is featured in the first issue of The Shrieking Violet in 2009. The most recent Shrieking Violet features one of my short stories named January Blues. It tells the tale of a young girl and her father making gingerbread after Christmas whilst recovering from a great loss. If you live in Manchester you may be lucky enough to pick up a Shrieking Violet fanzine from various creative outlets including The Cornerhouse in Manchester and Oxfam Vintage for free, (although they are in short supply so keep you eyes peeled.)

To see the online version, or to submit a feature yourself:  Have a look here: http://issuu.com/natalieroseviolet/docs/the_shrieking_violet_issue_20