I finally got round to watching this week’s Dr Who. Me and my Dad are massive fans. We're also both terrified of spiders. Other fans will know that this week's episode presented something of a dilemma - it wasn't Daleks or Cybermen that would have us hiding under the sofa. In fact we can't hide under the sofa because...well...there might be something there...
My Dad braved it first. He eventually 'watched it' with the picture off, and warned me it was tough, but I was determined not to miss the episode. As it goes the spiders were fine. Well, not really, but I managed to watch enough to 'enjoy' the episode. What really threw me were the scenes where the recently widowed character, Graham (played by Bradley Walsh), has to return to the house he shared with his wife for the first time after her death. He has been exploring time and space with The Doctor since she died, but it is the first time he has to move through this familiar shared space knowing that she is no longer there. Of course we all spend time alone in the homes we share with other people. If it is a busy household we even savour these moments, but there is a subtle shift when you know that this is how it is going to be forever going forward. The bricks and mortar, furniture and evidence of a life shared are all still there, but it has been fundamentally changed. Graham sees her everywhere, telling him the practical things he needs to know. He talks to her as he wanders about without purpose. Another widow who watched the episode put it to me "I sat in an empty house, watching him in an empty house". Graham has seen so much since she died - whilst technically it was only 30 minutes ago, he has been travelling in the Tardis for three episodes, and only just managed to get back to Sheffield. Eventually he begs the Doctor to take him with her on her travels. “Grief takes time. I don’t want to spend it sitting at home, she is everywhere. Travelling with you makes it better.” I am putting our flat on the market this week. We lived here together for 15 years, it's my home and I have hung on as long as I can, but sadly it's time to go. It has affected me in ways I hadn’t expected. It’s been 19 months, and sometimes I fool myself that I am OK, I am moving on. Maybe I am, its hard to tell. There are still times when I wish the Dr would come and take me away in the Tardis... Dr Who Series 11:4. Arachnids in the UK Picture of the Tardis from here.
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I’m so excited. I have loved Pump Street Bakery since it opened. I live in London but when I started my PhD I did a wonderful Master's placement at Aldeburgh Music. I was lucky enough to stay in one of the coastguard cottages in Orford when I was there, through one of Mr D's work colleagues. It was a very special time in my life. I had left the grind of my old professional life behind, and had the amazing opportunity to be paid to think creatively about music making. I immersed myself in the work of Aldeburgh Music and the beautiful coastal village. I worked hard and sometimes, for a special treat, I popped along to the tiny town square for a jam donut and a coffee in the Pump Street Bakery. Word hadn't spread yet, it was still relatively new, and the bakery felt like my special secret. They tasted like the best jam donuts in the whole world.
After my placement finished, we often came to Orford for the weekend. Sometimes we stayed at the lovely Crown and Castle Hotel, others times we went back to the cottage. We walked all over the coast, loving the bracing beauty in the winter or visiting Orford Ness by boat in the summer. Sadly it was one of these weekends when Mr D died. I had bought him the weekend as a birthday treat, and it was just two weeks after his birthday and three days before our nineteenth wedding anniversary when he died suddenly, on one of our forest walks. I no longer feel I can go back to my special place. I feel a huge need to reclaim it, but I haven't been able to yet. So imagine my delight when I saw a post on Facebook advertising the Pump Street Bakery London pop-up store. Even more amazing it will be 5 minutes round the corner from where I now work. The London pop-up will be at 67 Redchurch Street, Shoreditch, London 13th-18th November, 10am-6pm (closing 4pm Sunday) with @pumpstbakery baked goods driven up from Orford every day. The jam donuts are coming to me! Image from the Visit Suffolk website. You can find out more about the bakery, and on Redchurch Street, Shoreditch here. |