My name is Geoff and I'm a perfectionist. I write these words not to trivialise the suffering of alcoholics, for whom this kind of admission is often the first step on the road to recovery, but to emphasise the possibility of having an unhealthy or abusive relationship with anything that you use as a coping mechanism, however socially acceptable it may be. Just as those with substance abuse issues often use alcohol or other drugs to alleviate deeper anxieties, I find relief from my own insecurities by getting things right. Rather like having a drink in the pub with friends, a desire to get things right isn't ordinarily much of a problem and is often seen as a positive thing. However, in the same way that alcohol consumption can easily get out of control, good attention to detail and a strong work ethic can, given the right triggers, become a paranoid obsession.
Cake down under
When I’m on holiday, I tend not to take photographs of the usual things. In fact, it’s only relatively recently that I’ve taken photographs at all, generally much preferring to rely on memories of the things I see, which conjure up far better images than any photograph of mine could, especially of people and places. That said, I'm always on the lookout for things which encapsulate the holiday or represent significant aspects of it, and being able to use the camera on my phone to capture anything quirky or amusing is simply too much of a temptation. Given what you already know about me, it will probably come as no surprise to you that I often take pictures of cakes. More specifically, I take pictures of cakes in Australia.
Creativity and me
Despite having a fairly vivid imagination, I've never thought of myself as a creative person. A practical and conservative upbringing instilled at a young age not only a strong sense of my place in the world, but more significantly how I was supposed to make my way in it. It also instilled a view of creativity which was confined to "serious" forms of art, music and literature requiring a minimum level of skill or expertise (anything else being at best “creative” in the pejorative sense of the word and dismissed accordingly). My great grandfather was a coal miner. My grandfather was an accountant. While I was free to do as I wanted, the direction of travel and the expectations were clear. Given that I can't sing or dance for toffee, was never much good at any of the musical instruments I tried to play at school, and am so bad at drawing that the idea of playing Pictionary makes me more than a little anxious, creativity was definitely not the stuff that careers were made of, nor did it form the basis of particularly enjoyable pastimes. My mum and granny might have described me rather euphemistically as "sensitive" or "artistic”, but that's as far as it went.
An introvert at the movies
I've always loved going to the cinema. If you're serious about watching films, there really is nothing quite as good as watching them on a big screen in an auditorium designed specifically for that purpose. For many, it's a shared experience providing a much-needed opportunity to meet up and spend time with friends. Much as I enjoy the social aspects of it too, the real joy of going to the cinema for me is the very thing which represents the downside for others. It will probably come as no surprise to you that I relish the prospect of sitting in a darkened room for hours on end without talking to anybody else, and ultimately forgetting the world outside. Cinema for me is essentially a solitary and escapist experience.
An introvert in lockdown
When the UK went into lockdown in mid-March 2020, I didn't need much persuading to stay at home. As a fairly self-contained and introverted person, I like being home alone. Being told to keep at least 2 metres away from anyone else when outside wasn't a big deal either. All in all, I thought I would find lockdown fairly easy, compared with more extroverted people who need to be out and about and in other people's company a lot more than I do. What I have learned though is that being an introvert in lockdown is as much of a curse as a blessing. Staying at home wasn't the problem for me. It's going out that proved to be far more difficult than I ever imagined it would be.
The Ten Album Challenge – with explanations
Choose ten albums that greatly influenced you. No explanations, just pictures of album covers. It sounds so simple, doesn't it? Until someone asks you to do it, and then the fun really starts.
Bettys pops up in Dalston
As with many aspects of modern life that we take for granted, it’s easy to think of home shopping as a recent phenomenon, made possible by the telephone and the internet. The reality, I suspect, is that it dates from ancient times, when human beings first hit upon the idea of getting someone else to do their bidding. These days, with a few niche exceptions, it involves mutual agreement rather than the lash of a whip, and as technology has developed, the level of interaction between customer and service provider has been reduced to a few clicks of a mouse. That said, the basic idea is the same as it has been for thousands of years. Nevertheless, an important difference appears to be emerging. Whereas home shopping has traditionally been largely a matter of customer service and convenience, it has more recently become an existential necessity for those businesses which have closed their doors physically to customers amidst efforts to control the spread of Covid-19 and as socially distant interaction becomes the new norm. The balance has shifted, and now that Mohammed is no longer able to go to the mountain, the mountain is being forced to find inventive ways to come to him instead.
Bettys Tour 2019: Epilog
In the same way that there used to be an “Epilog” at the end of The Streets of San Francisco, providing the all-important commentary on what had happened earlier in the programme, it struck me that it might be useful to pull together a distillation of some of the highlights of my Bettys Tour for the benefit of anyone thinking of making a visit in the future. We all have slightly different requirements when it comes to something as important as elevenses and tea time, and it would be a pity not to share some brief observations in the hope of helping others to work out how best to satisfy their own particular penchant.
Bettys Tour 2019: York
York, seen by many as the capital of Yorkshire, is a place of great historical and religious significance; a walled city on the Rivers Foss and Ouse with roots as both a Roman and Viking settlement, a street plan in the centre which remains largely as it was in mediaeval times, and a more recent association with railways, chocolate and, of course, Bettys. For me, however, its significance is more personal in nature. Unlike Ilkley, Harrogate and Northallerton, I already knew York quite well before I arrived, having lived there for three years, initially as a student and later as a lecturer at the York branch of the College of Law. York is also the place where in a wider sense my Bettys Tour really started. It was, therefore, with a sense of anticipation tinged with sadness that I arrived for the fourth and final leg of my Bettys Tour 2019; anticipation at the thought of reacquainting myself with a place I used to call home, and sadness that much of what originally connected me to that place is now no longer there.
Bettys Tour 2019: Northallerton
As the county town of North Yorkshire, Northallerton is to York as Albany is to New York City; often overlooked in favour of its larger neighbour in an "always the bridesmaid, never the bride" kind of way. It is, however, a charming place. You just have to look a bit harder to see it than in Ilkley and Harrogate.
What I learned today... 