folklorefanatic

- The State of the Me: v. tired. Nothing dreadful, merely too "geriatric" to support regular heavy menstruation. My family: dragging the average age of menopause waaay up since forever, lmao.

- Futuristic lolibobs: an attempt will soon be made on at least four islands in a week. Might be awol for a while. I haven't sent you to Coventry, and aten't ded (probably).

- Ghosts of lolibobs past: I can't stop thinking about these three wholly unrelated things...

1. Those British seaside food kiosks that hedge their weather-related bets with cheery signs for "ice cream" on one side of the window and "hot food" on the other. I'm now imagining a typical British holidaymaker emerging from the front of the queue with a whippy cone in one hand and boiling tea in the other, lol.

2. While changing trains in Cardiff with time to spare I wandered out of the station to see what I miss when I'm in a hurry and there's a wonderful statue of headmistress Betty Campbell, the first Black headteacher in Wales, which has been there since 2021. It's a realistic depiction, by sculptor Eve Shepherd, of Campbell literally larger than life, at 4m (13ft), and surrounded by equally well-sculpted local children, mostly reading. The inscription on the back quotes Campbell: "We were a good example to the rest of the world, how you can live together regardless of where you come from or the colour of your skin." - "Roedden ni'n esiampl dda i weddill y byd o sut y gallwn gyd-fyw beth bynnag yw eich gwreiddiau neu liw eich croen.". Campbell was chosen as the subject in a public vote, ahead of other women such as poet Cranogwen, suffragette Margaret Haig Thomas, Labour Party organiser Elizabeth Andrews, and anthropologist Elaine Morgan, so it was a significant sign of widespread respect in addition to the honour of a public statue in Central Square, next to one of the busiest pedestrian street crossings in Cardiff.

Images of the Betty Campbell statue (wikimedia).

3. There's gNo place like gnHome. Still thinking about the bare grass expanse hosting Llarge Llandudno LLandudgnomes around the base of supports for a street name sign rooted in the lawn of a suburban garden, and the way the gnomes weren't blocking the sign but enhancing it: displayed like a collection in an open air museum; prompting viewers to acknowledge the gnomes in a commentary on suburban culture, subverting passing glances like a Banksy, or like being Rick-rolled by traditional genii loci ("never gonna give you up"); or an accumulation of gifts after one or two were initially placed by the gnHome-owner.

Llarge Llandudno Gnomes

Surrounding a street sign on a suburban lawn,
huddled like a team playing capture the flag,
arrayed like an army of watchful guards,
clotted like antibodies against invasion,
aggregated like pebbles set in concrete,
clumped in a clod like earth elementals,
clustered like petals round the disc of a daisy,
a constellation of gnomic gods.