Today is Black Thursday. It’s the day that the A-Level results are announced in schools and colleges in England, Wales and Northern Ireland. The evening news will be full of smiling students clutching transcripts and somewhere in the commentary will be the words ‘targets’ and ‘dumbing down’.

The day I received my A-Level results I thought my life was over. My results were disappointing and I went home in tears. On the way back, somewhere between Higher Lane in Whitefield and the Depths of Despair, my friend came to find me. He’d left early with his own disappointing transcript but came back again to make sure I was okay.

We sat for a while in my mother’s living room wondering what on earth to do next. When he’d gone I phoned the university I was planning to go to, explained the situation and waited for the administrator to dig out my destiny. When she returned she said just one word. I’ll never forget it as long as I live. “Rejected.” All of my back up universities rejected me too.

I moved on. Of course I did. I got some work experience, filled in another UCAS form, went to university and got my degree. I’ve worked in publishing and in education and now run my own company. My friend moved on too. He also went to university, got his degree and has a great job in finance. But I’ll never forget that day. It was a shock. It knocked my confidence and left a little scar.

If you’re getting your results today, good luck.

And to my Black Thursday friend, thank you for coming back that day. I guess we got there in the end.

I’ve mentioned before that the mind is a strange place. Take last night. I was sat at home with my husband and we were talking about work. (We weren’t physically at work and so of course we were talking about it.) All of a sudden and out of nowhere a song came into my head. ‘Stop the pigeon, stop the pigeon . . . . ‘ One minute we were talking about iPhone apps and the next, Stop the Flippin’ Pigeon.

I couldn’t even remember where it came from; just the wretched song. We Googled it immediately and there they were – Dastardly and Mutley. All the way from my childhood.

Of course after throwing me a few pleasant memories my mind felt it had to compensate. In the early hours of the morning I dreamed I was being digested by a large snake. Swings and roundabouts.

Some days feel a bit like this.

You can’t quite nail it down but there’s something there. Some ‘thing’. It’s the thing that wakes you in the middle of night, twists and turns your dreams, puts butterflies in your stomach, keeps you staring at your to-do list without completing the tasks.

Holly Golightly called it the Mean Reds. I think she was onto something there.

It’s day six of August Break and it looks like it’s going great guns. At the last count 405 people have subscribed and 1,171 pics have been uploaded to the Flickr pool.

For me it’s opened up lots of new possibilities. The photographs have made me look at things in a new way. I look harder at things now. I look up at buildings that I’ve walked past every day for the last few years. I’ve found old signage, crests in stonework, old cobble stones breaking through worn tarmac and disused entrances from a bygone Levenshulme. I also discovered this site when looking into Levenshulme’s past.

The process of taking photos is very much like the process of writing. Only the photo you create is more immediate, unless you do lots of work in processing and editing. For the most part writing occurs later, when you’ve had chance to think and recollect. But either way what you’re left with is the same. An image, rendered in different ways.

This August will be all about images.

Starting Sunday 1st August I’ll be guest blogging at Levenshulme Daily Photo for a week. I’m standing in for Sue-Ann while she’s away. Keep up with my Levy pics at www.levenshulmedailyphotograph.blogspot.com.

I’m also involved in The August Break which is managed by Susannah Conway. The idea is that you let your pictures do the talking for a whole month. i.e. you blog in photographs rather than words. I’ll be improvising on this little and providing some words but they will be led by the images. If you’re interested in getting involved you can join via Susannah’s blog at www.susannahconway.com. There is also a Flickr group at www.flickr.com/groups/the-august-break-2010.

Two days to go.

When someone dies, someone you love, you discover the news of their death more than once.

The first time is a telephone call; a knock at the door. Eyes averted and euphemisms, ‘gone’, ‘passed away’ and ‘in his sleep’. And you’re reeling. Can’t quite . . . how . . . . And what you’re left with is a feeling of having no control. A terrible, dull sense of finality.

A few days later you sleep heavily. Finally. After days of phone calls, ‘arrangements’, ‘preparations’ and crying, comes sleep. And in the morning for a few blessed seconds your mind gives you peace, only to rake it back again like the sea dragging back stones. Realisation comes hard like a fist.

And three years later you’re sat in a taxi. It’s late but the roads are busy with football traffic. The driver is talking about the match, “United won then”. I smile and think about you. Somewhere in a North Wales pub, celebrating. I search my mind for the number to text. And realisation walks in again. Is sat beside me in the taxi, stealing the air.

When someone dies, someone you love, you discover the news of their death more than once.

I guess the World Cup starts on Saturday. Drums fingers on desk. Stares out of the window at the cars going past sporting England flags. I wish I could muster up a bit of enthusiasm but I can’t. Of course I want England to win. Of course I do. But I know that at some point soon I’ll be so sick of the damn thing that I’ll secretly wish for them to be knocked out so I don’t have to hear about it anymore. When that thought comes I’ll keep it to myself.

My husband, of course, can’t wait. He’ll be commandeering the remote for the next few weeks, while I sit upstairs reading. I suggested to him the other day that the best football matches are the ones where your team is losing right up until the last few minutes. And at the last possible moment they score twice and win. Apparently they’re not the best games; a sentiment echoed around the office the other day.

One thing I do like about the World Cup is the party atmosphere. Everyone (apart from me apparently) will be tuning in and watching the same matches at the same time. When England score we’ll hear the cheers drifting in through the open windows, cars will toot their horns and strangers will nod and smile and comment on the game. It isn’t often that we have this sense of belonging and collective pride.

I’ll leave you with this ad from Carlsberg.

It’s been a while since I last wrote. Work got in the way again. I’m not really sure where to start; maybe a quick round-up to ease me in.

Things that have happened since my last post:

1. I’ve had another birthday and Christmas has been and gone.
2. The snow came, froze and went away again.
3. I received some paid writing work.
4. My boy cat has taken to peeing on the toilet lid.
5. I locked myself out, forgot my purse and spent two hours on the back step on a winter’s night.
6. I have been to the theatre five times. The most notable performances were Breakfast at Tiffany’s in London and I Ought to be in Pictures at the Library Theatre, Manchester.
7. I went to see Paranormal Activity at the Belle Vue Showcase. It was the scariest film I’ve ever seen. Ever. Don’t watch it alone.
8. I reread Emma and loved it all over again.
9. I have a Kindle. More on that soon.
10. I have been stressed

Rehearsal video clip for I Ought to be in Pictures:

There. All caught up.

]]> http://www.ladylevenshulme.co.uk/2010/03/been-a-while/feed/ 0 http://www.ladylevenshulme.co.uk/2009/09/a-weekend-off/ http://www.ladylevenshulme.co.uk/2009/09/a-weekend-off/#comments Thu, 10 Sep 2009 12:10:41 +0000 Lady Levy http://www.ladylevenshulme.co.uk/?p=199

Last week we ’saved’ our Bank Holiday and took it this week instead. It was a complete break from work with no phones, no queries and no schedules. The last time I had a proper weekend off work was back in June when we went to Hay. And given that our next break won’t be for a while we wanted to make this one count.

The thing about time off work when you run a business is that you end up working the day off in advance. So by the time Saturday arrived we were knackered. We had a bit of a slow morning with a late breakfast and then went along to The Whitworth Art Gallery. I’ve only ever visited the gallery as part of an event and have never really taken the time to have a proper look round. It’s a lot bigger than I thought and there’s lots to see. But what I like best about it is that alongside more traditional pieces are modern works by contemporary artists and makers. And it’s not just about art. I particularly enjoyed the textile collection, which gave me lots of ideas.

After the gallery it was home for a quick tea and then off to The Lowry to see Prick up Your Ears. If you get chance, go and see this play. It’s dark, funny and uncomfortably moving.

On Sunday we went for a guided walk around Manchester. This probably sounds a bit odd. I mean I’ve lived here for most of life but there’s so much that I don’t know about the area. For example, did you know that the three lines on the Manchester crest symbolize the three rivers? The Medlock, the Irk and the Irwell. Walking round and listening to a guide makes you see things you might normally overlook or take for granted. And of course I love stories and so the guide had a captive audience. There were only four of us, my husband and me and a couple visiting from Austria.

On Monday we ended up in Haworth. Yes, I admit I saw the recent adaptation and it sparked my interest. I’ve started to reread ‘Wuthering Heights’ and wanted to go back to the moors to see where it all began. I’ve been to Haworth before but I’d never visited the Parsonage. This is where the Brontë family lived from 1820 to 1861. It’s full of interesting artifacts and some of the family’s personal possessions. A brooch made from Charlotte’s hair, her writing box and paints, pictures, letters, diary entries. All absolutely fascinating.

Some of the costumes from the recent ITV adaptation were also on loan and it was interesting to see the inspiration behind them. To be honest I felt that Cathy’s clothes were a bit too modern but it seems that this had been the intention. The costume designer had wanted to move away from traditional garments of the period and introduce a slightly more contemporary look. The strong colours of Cathy’s clothes mirrored the countryside and were later ‘bleached out’ when she went to live with the Lintons, to symbolize the ‘taming’ of her nature. There’s more information on the ITV website.

Later we walked on the moors. The sun came out and it was the perfect end to the long weekend.

And when I got up for work on Tuesday autumn had arrived.

]]> http://www.ladylevenshulme.co.uk/2009/09/a-weekend-off/feed/ 2 http://www.ladylevenshulme.co.uk/2009/07/gifts/ http://www.ladylevenshulme.co.uk/2009/07/gifts/#comments Tue, 14 Jul 2009 08:05:15 +0000 Lady Levy http://www.ladylevenshulme.co.uk/?p=139

The best gifts are unexpected. The sunflowers are a gift from my mother, for my new office. She thought they’d remind me of France. They do. The office isn’t quite ready yet and so for now they’re cheering up the dining room at home.



And then there are those gifts that come from the past. This mini gardening set belonged to my grandmother. She used the watering can for her house plants, of which she had many. The tools she kept in her bag, for those occasions when she saw a plant she liked and ‘took a cutting’. This included public parks and other people’s gardens. I was very little at the time and I’d stand behind the garden wall, half laughing and half terrified we’d be discovered. The mini gardening kit was always in her bag, along with her Polo mints and assorted bags of cuttings. I’m so pleased that they’ve come to me. Though I won’t be using them in quite the same way.

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