Curtains, Swag bag and networking.

Yesterday in the comments Den recommended some beautiful schernschnitte animation, which is well worth a look. Here are some films of Lotte Reiniger on YouTube. Thanks very much, Den.

1. We go into Noakes Department Store in search of clean lightpull cord and leave with a set of bathroom curtains. After climbing up and down the ladder, knotting and unknotting header tape and rearranging hooks, we step back to look. 'It feels like my bathroom now,' says Nick, and we notice that the echo has gone from the room.

2. Katie-who-I-used-to-live-with has been to Sweden. She brings me back the most wonderful bag of Moomin swag -- metal Christmas tree baubles, a romantic mug showing Moomin and the Snork Maiden, a tea towel, a tin tray and a bright orange birthday book (in Swedish) decorated with illustrations from the books.

3. Today has been a busy day for catching up with friends. We saw He-Who-Shall-Not-Be named for lunch; then Backgammon Andy and his girlfriend in the evening. Coming home, I feel tired, but content. I always forget how exhausting a busy day is, but I'm glad to have the chance to firm up my connections with my people.

United, my room and fitting in.

1. During a sharp shower of rain, two smokers lurk in the porch of the pub. An older man comes in from the garden: 'There's a smoking pavilion round the corner,' he says.
'It's full,' they say.
'Oh,' he says, 'Just pile in. Everyone else is sharing tables.'

2. 'Where shall we have tea?'
'Wherever you like, Clarey.'
'Can we have it in my room?'
So we do. Nick says it's like a literary salon.

3. Sitting round a campfire hearing on one side a conversation about atl-atl throwing and on the other a conversation about colonic irrigation. I think I'm going to like these people.

Worker bee, efficiency and luxury.

1. A confident but not cocky temp who picks things up quickly and then gets on with the task. Thanks Jo.

2. He-Who-Shall-Not-Be-Named brings us freshly ground coffee in a Nutella jar.

3. An evening with spent eating dinner and lying on the sofas with friends, gossipping and throwing cushions at each other.

Dancing girls, so TWells and hoop-la.

Pictures here: Street Photography in Tunbridge Wells: Tunbridge Wells Mela.

1. Tunbridge Wells held a mela, a free multicultural festival of music, dance and food. Best of all, I liked the tiny Bangladeshi girls dancing to folk tunes. They were wearing bright red and gold saris, and they looked so happy and proud to be on stage in front of all these people. After their turn, they danced in front of the stage to the other acts.

2. One of the borough council minions suggested that between acts, we might like to sit back, listen to some music and 'cool out... ahem, I'm told that should have been "chill out"'. So Tunbridge Wells.

3. A lady in red and black brings an armful of hoops into the park. She picks a gold one and starts to hula, oblivious to anything but the music and her dancing. People, mostly children, start to join in, taking hoops and dancing too.

Souvenirs, comedy value, furrier and spike-heeled boots.

1. I am having a bad scar day -- this means that when I look in the mirror, I can see a faint white line under my right eye. And on the left side of my nose is a tiny bump, even more un-noticeable. No-one else can see it -- I know, because I've asked. But I check with Nick anyway because he is there, and because he hasn't heard the story yet. He is suitably horrified -- no, he doesn't want to see the pictures. He suggests he might congratulate the plastic surgeon on a job well done. He says he's kissed that place about a hundred times and never seen the scar.

2. Little Jason dancing with very, very tall Luke. Jason is wearing a kilt.

2b. Jason's bathroom is apt to be surprising. 'There's two dead birds drying in the sink and a rabbit pelt curing on the towel rail.' I go in to have a look, and as I leave the room, I hear someone saying: 'I can't think of any other girl who would...' Later, I am told a story by Paul: 'I went to the bathroom, and he said, "You can help me out by going in this bucket". It had this roadkill squirrel skin in it that he was preserving.'

3. A pair of spike-heeled boots flops against the doorframe of the kebab shop. Inside, two girls, one in socks, flop against each other.

Riders, arch and good news.

1. The Tour de France goes through Tunbridge Wells. A moving wave of cheers follows the peloton, swelling as it gets closer to where we are standing. The cyclists pass in the space of about seven minutes. The rest of the day is a festival, with people picnicking where in the parks, listening to bands, watching plays, spilling out of pubs, trying circus skills and chatting to strangers. Pictures on Street Photography in Tunbridge Wells.

2. Nick and I take a short cut up a narrow alley. A little girl walks towards us intent on the line she is following. We raise our hands she she can walk under them.

3. Getting a text from Katie that says: 'I'm an aunt'; learning that both mother and nephew are safe; and a brief visit from the shocked but rejoicing father because he needs a shower and some dinner.

Two languages, limes and laughter.

Thanks to Christine over at Really Bad Cleveland Accent for a pretty compliment.

1. A little girl being carried by her father asks a question. He says: 'I don't know. Ask Mum.' He puts her down, and she runs back along the path, shouting her question in Spanish.

2. The smell of limes being cut up for dubious cocktails.

3. Sitting round a kitchen table drinking dubious cocktails and laughing until my stomach aches and I can't catch my breath.

Small person, bridesmaid, creatives, rain, gathering and sacrifices.

1. Ellie giggling like crazy at a blue balloon; standing still to have her photo taken; babbling to her father about a stroll we've just had round the garden, complete with squelchy grass sound effects; dancing in the garden room; offering the rose on her dress so that I could smell it; feeding me spoonfuls of her yoghurt; and walking round clutching a piece of ice.

2. Realising that all the people that have been bridesmaids to are in the same room -- my two aunts, Cat and Fenella.

3. The beautiful things that people created for my birthday. The magical cake that Janey decorated with 30 beautiful things; and the wonderful picture of 10cm squares collected from my friends and family by Katie and Fenella; the psychodelic birthday card from my cousin Amy; the unfinished picture that my cousin Laura very kindly showed me; and the welcome created by my parents.

4. It rained, but it was interesting, thundery, downpouring rain interspersed with sunny periods, rather than a full day of drizzle.

5. A party small enough that I could talk with almost everyone.

6. Caroline came despite having a bad back. Other people arrived safely despite the rubbish directions I gave (I'm so sorry). Rosey missed a lift to Germany so she could be there. Robert took a day off work and missed a trip to the Alps. Cat, Alan and Ellie hired a car to come down. My aunts, uncles and cousins battled round the M25. My mother organised a party knowing it would probably wipe her out for the next few days. And my father let her do it.

Fruit, R&R and aged Ps.

1. A breakfast of mango cut into a hedgehog with raspberries and strawberries. I think it was Douglas Adams who said that the only dignified way to eat a mango was to take off all your clothes and stand in a washing-up bowl. But Katie manages to make it neat and easily edible.

2. Spending the day looking forward to seeing my siblings.

3. Arriving home and seeing how much time and effort my parents have put into my birthday party.

One way, sign this and refuge.

1. All of Tunbridge Wells seems to be hurrying towards the Cricket Ground with bags and coolers and folding chairs.

2. Small boys with tiny cricket bats lean over the boundary line asking fielders for autographs. The players would sign, all the time glancing towards the game. If a ball came their way, they would take off towards it, scattering autograph books and bats.

3. The dark and quiet of my room after a long, crowded day in the sun.

Eye wear, artistic date and green vegetables.

1. The optician thinks I take good care of my glasses. If only he could see me scrubbing them on the hem of my skirt, putting them in with the washing up, falling asleep with them beside me in bed and forgetting I'm wearing them and trying to rub my eyes.

2. I carve a little space in the day to sit in a coffee shop.

3. Asparagus to nibble while I wait for dinner.

Changeable, bobbies on bicycles and street life.

There is a new post up at Tunbridge Wells Tells -- Jason explains why he loves the town.

1. A thundery night brings a cool, wet morning.

2. A policeman on a bicycle passes me. A few minutes later, I see him in the Pantiles helping a little girl take pictures.

3. A cool, wet morning turns into a balmy afternoon and evening to be spent sitting on the Pantiles with friend and a glass of white wine.

Sploosh, cardboard and wardrobe.

1. We spot an unusual and powerful-looking silver car in the toll queue at the Dartford Bridge. A few minutes later we overtake it as it drives along the slow lane through the huge puddles that everyone else is avoiding.

2. We buy packs of cardboard storage boxes which fold together very pleasingly. It feels a bit like making a particularly satisfying origmi model.

3. Building my wardrobe and putting away all the clothes which have been lying in heaps around the room. Also, housemates who can work out the fine adjustments needed to make wardrobe doors hang evenly.

Equipment, stop me and buy one and quiet evening in.

1. In the park, a father pushes a tractor-tricycle on the end of pole. In the trailer at the back is a newspaper.

2. The icecream van has come in a burst of tinkly Greensleeves. Movement in the park is suddenly directed at the Claremont Road corner. A little girl comes back to the family next to us and hands her mother some change, explaining: 'There's 60p less because I bought one for my new friend.'

3. People I like sitting on the sofa in a nest of rugs and cushions.

Baby, down tools and I've heard so much.

1. Running into our neighbours and their new baby, because they are so happy.

2. Deciding that I have written enough pages and done enough playing resurrected ancient point and click adventures and that I am going to spend the rest of the evening with the lights off listening to the radio.

3. A radio programme dedicated to characters and places that are always off screen. My favourite clip was from a series in which Peter Ustinov and Peter Jones drove round looking for Copthorne Avenue.

Forgive, my room and fairytale.

1. Feeling cross with someone, and then not feeling cross with them and getting the chance to say so.

2. We all crowd into my room for breakfast because the sitting room smells of sleeping men. Katie and Peter take the sofa, while Ben has the desk chair. I'm sitting up in bed wrapped in layers of shawls and quilts. Peter says it's like an audience with an aged aunt. I look for something to throw at him.

3. The cicada fairy in Pan's Labyrinth.

Timing, basement baby and redolent.

1. PaulV is late, which means I get home from work in time to accompany him and Katie on a recycling and hot chocolate mission.

2. Baby Oliver from downstairs. His parents brought him up to visit so we could wonder at his thick black hair and his tiny, almost translucent fists. He kept his eyes screwed tight shut for the whole visit -- possibly a good thing because the shock of our red hall might have been too much.

3. The company downstairs at work has given me a book to proofread for some pocket money. The pages smell faintly of the director's cigars. It reminds me of university, because two of the tutors smoked cigars in their offices. I would have tutorials in a haze of blue smoke, and my essays would came back with a tobacco smell on them. For me, it's a good omen -- if there's a smell of cigars in a building, I'm going to be happy there.

Two wheels good, in the bag and batter pudding.

I scan a few blogs every day using Google Reader. I've added some clips of things that might to appeal to the sidebar -- they're at the top today, but I'll probably move them down later.

1. On most mornings, I am passed by a little boy on a wooden bicycle. It doesn't have any pedals, so the going is slow, until he comes to a hill when he lifts his feet and zooms away. He uses his feet to brake, which is hard on his shoes, but what a thrill to leave your yummy mummy jogging behind you as you fly down the wide curve of Madeira Park on your way to school.

2. Getting a text from my cousin Laura containing a beautiful thing: 'I just saw a man sprinting down the road like he was being chased by a mad axe man. I went round the corner and saw a paper cookie bag blowing after him!' There has got to be a story in that. What was in the cookie bag? Or what did he think was in the cookie bag? Or maybe it was some kind of message... Any thoughts?

3. Watching toad-in-the-hole rising through the glass door of the oven. It's better than television.

Customer service, you have them and wonderful flight.

1. Working on a website, I know that users often imagine that everything is automated. They wonder why when they ask for something at 5pm on a Friday, it doesn't get done until Monday morning. So 'cheers' to Fictionwise for processing a request to use Paypal within a couple of hours at the weekend.

2. Lou and I are shopping. We find a pair of shorts that we both want, but there's only one left. Lou lets me have it.

3. Laputa: The Castle in the Sky. Another tale of wonderful flight from Studio Ghibli, Laputa tells of an orphan boy who catches a girl floating down from the sky on the power of a strange amulet. Sky pirates and the army are chasing the girl because they believe she can lead them to the treasures of Laputa. The animation is sophisticated and beautiful -- my favourite scenes were the flapter chases, the constellation-like crystals in the darkness of the mines, and the floating cubes that powered the castle.

Curl, joy and wish I was you.

1. A curl of plastic appears at the drill tip as make drainage holes in a new planter.

2. Feeling inexplicably happy as I walk through the rain to the pub. I think it was some quality of the buttery sunlight which was pushing through the clouds.

3. Andy comes back with a bottle of wine and says that the barmaid envies the four of us and our couple of hours on a Sunday to enjoy a laugh and a few drinks.