Mid-century modern show in Haggerston

If you're a fan of mid-century design and you haven't had an excuse to visit Haggerston High School in East London, then make sure you keep an eye out for the next Modern Shows event here (October 12th 2014 FYI). I've lived in the area for 14 years and am ashamed to admit this was my first visit to the Erno Goldfinger designed building. The show itself was worth a look, but because it was hosted in this iconic space made it all the more jaw dropping.

The kids who attend this school probably don't have a clue how lucky they are to be surrounded by such beautiful architecture. We loved the design of the school so much we put it on the list of six shortlisted for Marlo's high school, without really looking at its academic success (as it happens she got into Mossbourne Academy, the Victoria Park branch. Will update once I've seen their building when it opens in September 2014).

We didn't buy any furniture though if we had the space I would've loved this table for games nights - imagine poker and whiskies around this beauty!

The hog roast sandwich was pretty spectacular at the end of the show, located in the school's playground. Very likely to attend the 2014 show on the strength of the building. And the sandwich.

A dual passport holder at last

7 or 8 years ago I was eligible to apply for British Citizenship having held the Indefinite Leave to Remain status for the required time period. At the time the cost was a few hundred pounds so I put it off. This year, I  decided to finally get on with it. This meant studying and passing the Life in the UK Test, attending a (surprisingly emotional) Citizenship ceremony to swear allegiance to the Queen and get interrogated by someone at the passport office. I did these things in order to finally receive my British passport. All up it cost me around £1,000. The difference of £600-£700 is what you could call procrastination tax.

The passport office chap asked why I wanted a British passport and I'd replied 'Because the queues are shorter.' In hindsight I think I should have said something more ingratiating but it didn't matter because I received my passport a few days later. 

(Photo above is from our first trip to Ibiza, in August - which was the last time I flew to Europe on my New Zealand passport. The light is natural and we loved it there, definitely going back.)