What I did in August 2020

[squirmelia]

August was a time when I did things for the first time again since March, as rules changed to say that travelling by public transport when it wasn't essential was allowed. This made a big difference to my life.

Things I did for the first time since March:
I went to central London!
I got on a tube!
I used a public toilet!
I went into a shop!
I went into a cafe (and took coffee away)!
I went on a bus!
I met up with friends!
I met someone I hadn't met before!
I went to a gallery!
I saw the sea!
I used my proper camera!

I also did NaArMaMo (National Art Making Month) and made something every day of August. I cross-stitched space invaders, hooked up an Arduino to pressure sensors, made glitch art, altered photos with Mirrorlab, painted stones and chewing gum, made collages, made an Ingress diorama, made a sculpture out of phone cards, took a photo with ASCIIcam, recorded the sound of light switches, created geofences where you can listen to ducks on Ducks Walk, and the sound of the wind on Mars where Mars is located in a scale model of the Solar System, shrunk a crisp packet, and finished my Animal Crossing related sound art project that I started in the Sound Art class I did. Read more about all of these here and see photos: https://squirmelia.dreamwidth.org/tag/naarmamo2020

On the first Saturday in August, I got on a train and went to central London and found the London Eye was still there! I walked from Waterloo to Westminster and then to Trafalgar Square and saw the new art work on the Fourth Plinth, and then along the Embankment and onwards until I got to Tower Bridge, and then following the river after that, along the South Bank. I walked 12 miles and was a bit scared at times, but it wasn't too bad really. The South Bank was rather busy, but everywhere else was fairly quiet. I did a long Ingress banner and sat for a while by City Hall, staring at the river and Tower Bridge, while I ate my sandwiches. That Saturday was an Ingress First Saturday and I was actually playing Ingress! I did submit a selfie and recharge some portals, but I missed meeting up with everyone still.

The day after that I got on a train again to Hampton Wick and did an Ingress banner and walked to Teddington. Later that week, I finished the banner.

I played games with friends one evening, and another evening I went to online Maraoke and sung along with people singing about video games.

I walked around Richmond Park and took photos of cobwebs on trees and hid inside a tree.

I played Dungeon Master with hovis watching and helping me on Discord. We also played Off-Peak and Bernband.

I enjoyed Off-Peak and played The Norwood Suite also, which was almost like going on holiday to a weird hotel. The hotel I visited there was exciting and the scenery outside beautiful and one evening, I went to a strange room party with skyscrapers and a party where people were wearing costumes and dancing.

I got on a tube for the first time since March and travelled from Richmond to Gunnersbury (a 6 minute journey) and then did an Ingress banner around Chiswick House Gardens with a friend. The first friend I’d seen since March! It was really nice to see a friend. The tube was somewhat confusing though as the signs said that it was going to "Skensin". I thought perhaps this was a new station that had emerged since lockdown, but then realised it was South Kensington.

I went to some of NWRBS Online Happening, which jacquic invited me to. Thank you for inviting me! I attended Crafternoon and painted some chewing gum. I went to an escape room design workshop and listened to talks on “Where’s the poop? Missing bodily functions in fantasy and sci-fi” and “Rocks: How Old Are They?”

I met up with doseybat actually in real life! We ate burritos on the South Bank! It was wonderful!

I met hovis for the first time and we had a picnic and drank rhubarb and custard cider and parma violet cider and wandered around parks and looked at pelicans, and it was lovely to actually meet after talking online for a few months.

I went to visit my mum in Kent, but then the building where I live flooded! There were flash floods and the whole road flooded, so I panicked a lot and returned home. My flat had miraculously escaped, but when I returned there were police cars and many fire engines, pumping water, rolling up hoses, and I was quite scared.

I ate a yuzu matcha Kit Kat.

I took a few days off work. I was supposed to go to Austria and Slovakia, but did not. I finished work and packed my rucksack and off I went on holiday, and the sky roared with thunder then. It rained quite a lot and I stood under a tree for a while, wondering whether I should just go home, but I continued, across the bridge, past the palace, across the Green, and to Gelateria Danieli. I stood outside for a while, underneath my frog umbrella, trying to figure out how to buy ice-cream and what flavour I wanted. I put my mask on and stood outside the doorway and ordered Rocher flavour. They didn't have Cherry Bakewell or Crema Siciliana. I waved my card over the reader and they put ice-cream on a table for me to pick up and I took it and stood underneath my umbrella on the Green underneath a tree, and oh, it was the most amazing ice-cream. This was the first time I'd had ice-cream from an ice-cream parlour since lockdown, and it was so great.

The Friday of my holiday, I caught a train to central London and first went to King’s Cross and looked at photos of ice-cream vans and wandered around Granary Square, reading the glowing words. I did an Ingress banner which took me to Russell Square and then headed to Liverpool Street and wandered around looking at the Sculpture in the City exhibition and also staring up at the tall buildings. I then headed to La Gelatiera and ate cantaloupe melon ice-cream and ube-licious ice-cream. I went to the Trees exhibition at the Hayward Gallery after that and stared at trees. This was the first gallery I’d been to since March!

Saturday felt like a real holiday as I went to the seaside for the first time since February! I went to Hastings and it seemed magical. I sat on the pebbles watching the sea, walked to St Leonard’s and stared at the Banksy, wandered up the pier, and watched drummers drumming. It felt amazing to be there.

The Sunday of my holiday, I got a bus to Kew Bridge and then did an Ingress banner around Brentford, and then on the Monday, I went to stay with my mum for a few days.