Edinburgh Fashion - part 2

Britian offically entered so dreadded recession today, however it is not the reason of today's post. There is another thing that baffles me here all the time - it is an image of bare feet being the best winter accesory to the fashionable women here. The temperature hovers just above zero, I am wearing socks made of the thickest wool that Gap could provide and a woolly hat is permanently on my head and my neck is wrapped in a thick woolly scarf but here - nooooooooooooo. Bare feet. What is more - bare legs! A girl waiting at a bus stop wearing just a t-shirt (and some gloves, mmmmmmmm warmth!)

Simon and I we were sharing a joke back in Krakow: how to spot a Brit in Krakow during winter? It will be the only person in the whole space of the Main Market Square going through the snow storm in a t-shirt.

Bare feet in the image courtesy of my ECA's colleague. When I asked her: WHY??!! She simply answered that otherwise her feet would not fit into her shoes. Maybe the reality is less complicated than one thinks.

Stand up

A thing I really love about Britain are their stand up comedians.

We have heard in Poland about Shazia Mirza thanks to an article in WO (whose performance I have missed during last Edinburgh Festival, helas! the show was completely sold out) but my favourite (and relatively unknown in Poland though you might have spotted him in Ocean's Twelve where he wears definitevely less make up) is Eddie Izzard.

I saw him very first time on tv when in a rerun of his 1999 show "Dress to kill" where he speaks NON STOP for 1,5 hours and it is a brilliant, ultimately hilarious monologue not just a verbal diarrohea. He is simply the best at being two people at the same time having a dialogue with each other. What is his Scottish connection? He is simply the best at doing Sean Connery's voice!

My favourite clip from this show is here.

Change of forecast - it is possible!

At least weather here can change at 180 degrees withing an half an hour so maybethere is some hope.

For last couple of days I was going there and back between our flat and Simon's parents house, in Haddington helping my (almost, let's not be too pernickety) parents -in-law after their disatrous month of various illnesses. Simon's mum was suddenly taken into a hospital last week and after her return home is still very weak and on painkillers so I packed my bag and went to play Mary Poppins for couple of days (Simon being on photographic comission in Ukraine for next couple of days). Luckily kids did not require any magic tricks and were surprisingly keen on peeling the potatoes, scraping carrots and unstocking the dishwasher.

I just know why I have been avoiding cooking potatoes (or tatties as they ar known in Scotland) - one never knows how long they are going to take so one ends up with a family salivating at the table, clutching tightly to their knives and forks while you pray in front of the cooker so that the pot stuffed with potatoes would finally BOIL. Then the chicken shrinks surprisingly to supertiny pieces though you were sure you have overestimated the amount so that you could have it ready for another dish for tomorrow's dinner...

Grim grim grim forecast

Weather forecast was as scary as the one about a state of British economy. Welcome to Poland in the 90ies with unemplyment predicted to reach 10%. (Mind you Britain has twice as much population as Poland so we are talking here about a big BIG nasty times to come.)
I presume most of of Polish people who came back home just before the big bang courtesy of Lehman Bros. are not so happy seeing their savings shrinking. Mine are already gone and due to some misunderstanding at the college I might have to continue my education for one more year to obtain MFA. I will keep you informed about results of my meeting with head of the department tomorrow and if I would have to scrape out several more thousands of pounds from I have no idea where...

Edinburgh fashion - part 1

We might not be in Paris or Berlin but there are some people with a sense of style here too!

Since I am currently conducting research for my next series of illustrations of British fashion (to be published soon on my illustration blog) I am paying more attention to people in the streets instead of just walking bent down due to freezing high wind submerged in my own thoughts and a hood of my thick winter jacket (which is equipped with a padded but inevitably bulky lining).

I experience from time to time a shuffling Ugg boots brigade and dishevelled arty types with white bleached hair and weird piercings at the college premises but generally Edinburgh women tend to maintain a good level of fashion knowhow. Nothing fancy, we are in John Knox's country but a Mulberry bag, pari of patent heels/flats and a fresh complexion (thank you humidity!) will lift up almost any outfit.

However I cannot help but wonder, as another stylish lady from NY would put it, how the hell they are really managing in their light coats in the freezing wind and cold we experience in Scotland these days? Note the obligatory school uniform - no coat. More to come soon.

P.S. I will not deal with doggies' outfits here as it is a subject for a completely different set of illustrations.

Really big negatives

This week I have finally plucked up some courage and booked a large format camera for a portrait studio shoot. I was lucky not only because the model I had invited actually agreed to pose (she had gorgeous pink hair and was really patient when I was struggling with MPP camera's focusing mechanism) but also because I got two assistants - Sejin from my MFA class who uses large format on a daily basis and Simon, my lovely Uber Photographer, who helped to set up the lights and create amicable atmosphere during the shoot.
Both girls were cooing over him how nice and sweet he was and indeed he was - without him things would definitely go tits up as I have first forgoten a bag with a digi cam (this time used as some sort of a Polaroid preview camera) and he rushed back home to bring it and then it turned up that a college flash did not have a modeling lamp so Simon rushed again to bring our own Hensel's one from home. At this point my pink haired model arrived so I still managed to look professional.

Well, professional and well organised until Sejin and I mixed up our boxes with film so until I devolop my 5x4 negatives I do not know how it all is going to look like.

P.S. This post's illustration is another friend from my MFA course, Neil showing in slow motion how to load a piece of 5x4 negative into a casette.

Favourite drinks

Since I am not a very big coffee fan (I am sure some of you will roll their eyes at this statement but I really do like Starbuck's 'dishwater' as it is politely called in our family) and I cannot stand British beers (except cider, especially by Strongbow) I have to look for something else that would suit my tastebuds here. Just imagine that I have almost vomited after taking my first sip of a tea with milk! Nowadays after so many years of indoctrination I have at home on a daily basis I cannot imagine to have my tea black/naked.

So many years passed since my 'tea with milk incident'...

I was invited to meet my then-boyfriend's mother - an extremely elegant, sophisticated, would even say, posh lady. Let's say she was so elegant that she owned a poodle, antique furniture (which Louis it was? I cannot ever remember the difference in the shapes and appropriate number of Louises.) and smelled with Chanel No5 (which her son used once as a flamethrower when playing with his friends at Polish partisans vs Nazis and it was the only time he got smacked as such smelly luxuries were scarce in Poland of the 80s). I was happily chatting away (which I always do to mask my shyness) when her innocent question "Do you take milk?' slipped into my monologue. I nodded and carried away, only to half suffocate when I finally took a sip of my tea (served in the best bone china with a little finger subtely sticking out just little enough). What you are supposed to do in front of such an elegant lady who is gently perched on a side of the unknownlouis armchair with her cardigan and pearls observing you carefully. after all you are in the direct line of interest of her only son. I have almost spat it out but after a moment when tears came to my eyes and then gulped it down.

You came a looooong way baby. He is happily married with a kid now.

Simon loves kwas chlebowy - a drink made of fermented bread which we managed to trace in Edinburgh. Unfortunately, when we have found out which Polish shop in Leith might have it in their stock a surprised saleslady there told us that since nobody was interested in this drink for many months while they had it on their shelves, they got rid of the supplies.

My choice is gingerbeer.