20th Century Cloth

05/06/2026

Turin

05/06/2026

30/04/2026

We have been attempting to walk the Capital Ring for a while now and this week we actually managed to complete section 11 (of 15) This section is relatively close to home for us running from Hendon Central to Highgate. It was interesting because despite being so close to home we walked through a lot of green spaces we had no idea were there! This photo was taken literally 100m from the A406 North Circular and if it wasn't for the traffic noise it would have been idyllic.
Almost the entire section was through green spaces - amazing considering we live in North London.

24/04/2026

John Henry Lister 04/05/44 - 15/04/26
Last week and just shy of his 82nd birthday my dad passed away.
Happiest when he was in his shed (2nd pic) or with his grand daughters we will miss the old bu**er.
Wherever he is now he will be fixing anything mechanical that needs fixing. When the staff at his care home were recently trying to find activities to keep him occupied he requested 'a starter motor to strip down.' That was my dad.

24/04/2026

John Henry Lister 04/05/44 - 15/04/26
Last week and just shy of his 82nd birthday my dad passed away.
Happiest when he was in his shed (2nd pic) or with his grand daughters we will miss the old bu**er. Wherever he is now he will be fixing anything mechanical that needs fixing. When the staff at his care home were trying to find activities to keep him occupied he requested 'a starter motor to strip down.' That was my dad.

23/04/2026

Following on from my clearance sale of melamine I have a set of 3 of the 'Monterey' design place mats.
If anyone is interested I am offering them for £15 including UK P&P.
DM me to purchase please.

06/04/2026

This week we went down to the Victoria & Albert Museum to see the 'American Photographs exhibition' it was one of the smaller free entry ones that pop up from time to time.
I really enjoyed it - didn't take many photos but this one was one of the first that I saw and it hit home. 'The Steerage 1907' by Alfred Stieglitz. Four of my ancestors emigrated to America in 1911 and sailed on the Mauritania from Liverpool, as steerage. It kind of sounds a bit romantic and exciting until you see something like this. It must have been a frightening and none too pleasant experience for 4 young farmers from Lincolnshire.

03/04/2026

Last week we finally got around to visiting the 'Women In Print 150 years of Liberty Textiles' exhibition at the William Morris Gallery in Walthamstow. I'd been wanting to go since it opened and it was supposed to be closing in May although it has now been extended to June, but at least I made it. As an added plus we went on a Saturday and there was a street food fair in the car park!
It was so nostalgic seeing the hand painted designs - I love the fact that on the 3rd one you can see where it has been inter cut to repaint the mistakes and love the little hand painted colour chips on the first one. I can't believe that when I first left art school that's how we used to do it.
The exhibition is free and well worth a visit.

03/04/2026

Prague part 2.
Pic 1. The had-to-be-done Old Town at night.
2. The National Monument at Vitkov. Built from 1928-38. We initially didn't realise we could go inside here but so glad we found we could. It had an amazing 1930s interior on a massive scale, even the bathrooms were stunning. This is apparently the third-largest bronze rider statue in the world although as always with photographs it's hard to get a sense of the scale.
3. Zizkov tower. Built between 1985 and 92. Looks so 50s to me. In 2000 ten fiberglass sculptures by Czech artist David Cerny called "Miminka" (Babies) were added which are really quite bizarre. Initially meant to be a temporary thing people liked them and they've stayed.
4. We visited the cemetery at Vysehrad where the remains of many famous Czechs are buried.
5, 6 and 7 We discovered the art of Czech artist David Cerny (of the babies on the Zizkov Tower) Loved his work, which it turned out is all over the city once you know where to look. The first pic is his Hanging Sigmund Freud, the second is the Head of Franz Kafka and the final one was J. Robert Oppenheimer from his museum which we looked up and made a point of visiting after we saw some of his other work around the city. Worth seeking out if you are in Prague.

03/04/2026

I'm a bit late to the party here, but about a month or so ago we had a few days in Prague. Neither of us had ever been and apparently January and February are good (cheap) times to go. We both packed out thermals but as it turned out we didn't need them because the weather was beautiful as you can see from the skies.
This post is in 2 parts because I couldn't upload all the photos I wanted to in one.
1. loved this signage on the metro.
2. The Petrin Tower. Built in 1891, 63.5m tall and a scale model of Paris' Eiffel tower. We climbed to the top and the view of the city was amazing.
3. Memorial of the Second Resistance, in dedication to the second resistance movement to the N**i occupation of the Czechoslovakia from 1938 to 1945.
4. View of the city at night from the Glass Bar roof terrace.
5. The Metronome. Erected in 1991, this replaced the worlds largest statue of Joseph Stalin (demolished in 1962). Looks a bit uncared for with lots of graffiti around it but I think that only added to the atmosphere.
6. Museum of Communism. A very well laid out and interesting museum. This turned out to be a very unexpectedly emotional visit which stayed with me for quite some time.
7. Cake that followed the museum visit. Prague has lots of wonderful bakeries and cake shops.