It is long overdue but I have finally set up a website all about my books. I keep an author blog over there which means updates to Helenography.Net will be less frequent. The good news is the random posts about ghost signs, bridges and other strangeness will continue here.

Thanks to all the loyal followers of this blog. I really don’t know what I’d do without you. Drink a lot more, I guess! Hope to see you over on the new site. And by ‘see you’ I mean talk nonsense to you in the comments section!

Alternatively you can follow my Facebook page or on Twitter.

Yesterday I had the pleasure of attending Yannick Pucci’s Art Deco in the Strand walking tour. I’d previously enjoyed Yannick’s Art Deco in Bloomsbury tour and the Strand tour followed the same friendly but informative format. The examples of art deco detailing in this area are just wonderful and it was refreshing to explore a much-visited area of the city more closely; we are all so busy in London getting to where we are going that we rarely stop to observe the magnificent detail that is all around us. This tour offered plenty of opportunity to stop, observe and discuss both the buildings and the history of the Strand area.

I’d often wondered about many of the buildings Yannick includes on his tour and I came away from the event much the wiser (at least in terms of art deco architecture and local history; he’s knowledgeable but he’s not a miracle-worker and being wise has never really been my forte). The collage above illustrates just a few of the architectural highlights from the tour. Just like the Bloomsbury tour, I was pleasantly surprised that the walk covers both iconic structures and hidden gems of the art deco variety. There is a good mix on offer here and Yannick is always willing to answer questions from attendees, I can’t recommend it highly enough.

For the past five years I have edited a film magazine alongside my full time job, as you do! Next week the last EVER print issue is released as I move onto other projects. Editing my own magazine has taught me a lot of harsh lessons and made me a better writer but, much like Dorothy, it’s the people I’ve met along the journey that have made each trip to the Emerald City (a trip to the Emerald City is a trip to the printers in this metaphor, just FYI) valuable and worthwhile.

I will deeply miss my little magazine but she’s had a good five years and now it’s time to head back to Kansas (or somewhere less grey).

You can find out more about the last issue of New Empress here.

Today my Year 11 students left to go on study leave so I wrote them a letter which I put in coloured envelopes and sealed with sweets. Their reaction when I brought out the envelopes was insane! All I’d done was put their name on the envelopes with some stickers – yes it was time-consuming for 30 of them but they really appreciated it.

They opened the envelopes all at the same time and then I read the letter out to them. I’ve pasted it below if you want to read it! I teach all girls so some parts are quite girl-specific…

Dear Year 11,

I have thought long and hard about what words to send you away into the world with. As an English teacher, such things are important to me and I can think of nothing better than to tell you some of the things I wish I had been told when I was in Year 11…so here we go.

There are some obvious basics. Never wear green and red together. No matter what the fashion magazines tell you those colours don’t go. Cutting your own fringe is a risky strategy. Your hand probably isn’t as steady as you think it is. Also, never trust anyone who doesn’t understand the difference between a Shakespearean and a Petrarchan sonnet. If you meet someone you like who doesn’t know the difference, teach them.

A more complicated topic to advise you on is that of your destiny. Or so it might seem. In fact, it’s quite straightforward: if there’s something you want in life you can have it. Honestly. This is not a trick. Want to be a Prime Minister? Research routes into parliament. Want to own a restaurant? Take a course in catering. It might take you a little longer to get it sometimes and it might not always be the same as you imagined it in your head but so what? As long as you get access to what makes you happy that’s what counts. So don’t let trifling little things like time, money and fear of failure get in your way. That’s just boring.

Finally, I want you all to go away with the knowledge that no one thing and no one relationship defines YOU. You are complicated. You may, at times, be contradictory. You will make some good choices in your life and some bad choices, the bad choices do not make you a bad person. Learn from them. Grow from them. Become better because of them. Don’t let society define you through what type of jeans you wear, what university you attend or if you decide to get married and have children. There are a whole host of relationships to be had in this world. Cultivate your relationship with art, literature, travel, history, friends and family. Most important of all however, cultivate a strong relationship with yourself. Be your own champion. There is only one person with you from the very beginning to the very end and that is YOU. Take care of her. She needs you to take care of her when nobody else can and she deserves to be taken care of.

In closing, if you ever have a day when you feel like nobody believes in you remember that there is and will always be at least one person who does: Mrs P!

 All the best,

 Mrs P

Those who follow me on Twitter will know that in January I joined the International Geek Girls Pen Pal Club. I’ve always been obsessed with letter-writing and was nought short of ecstatic when I learned there was a community of ladies already writing letters to each other who were as equally geeky as me. They were my geequal (I really want to get this word into the dictionary and I want to be credited for it).

Since joining IGGPPC I have taken my love for letters and mail art to a new level. These shots are just a few of the packages I’ve sent out over the past few months. I’ve received some pretty exciting ‘snail mail’ too!

One of the items on my 2015 to-do list was to journal at least once a week. I missed a couple of weeks last term so have penned a couple of extra entries over the Easter holidays. When I think about who I really am I don’t feel I’ve changed, at my core, since I was very young. In fact, I think my Year 4 teacher had me pegged when she wrote in my school report: “Helen is a copious writer, with a good vocabulary, but her presentation can vary.” That’s me to a tee.

Taking inspiration from the journaling blog Seaweed Kisses, I’ve stuck a series of labels into my journal printed with various prompt questions. Today I wrote about where I’d like to be if I could be anywhere in the world. Those who know me well won’t be surprised with the place I chose: New York has always felt like home to me. My life is always full of unexpected turns and consequently it would not surprise me if in years to come I one day wind up there. If you could be anywhere in the world, where would you be?

Tomorrow it is Candlemas so to celebrate I made a few little tokens for the in-laws. Essentially they are all Spring themed. I’m so over winter now as we didn’t have any of the fun parts i.e. snow deep enough to build a snowman. The bunnies simply have over-sized labels attached to them and the ‘vase’ for the tulips is a jam jar I altered with washi tape, a bit of  acrylic paint and an old magazine. All of them got a smile from those who received them. In this cold weather I get a warm feeling giving gifts ‘just because’.

In the world of teaching you come into contact with many talented people. One such person that I have had the pleasure of working with in the last five years is artist Lynsey Storer. I have just bought this stunning example of postcard art from her which she framed for sale. It’s an antique postcard with an Indian miniature painting from Jaipur.

Lynsey is one of those enviable people who is not only incredibly talented but also goes off on adventures to far off places, art journaling as she goes. I spent a blissful afternoon leafing through her journals yesterday and admiring some of her current projects. You can find out more about Lynsey’s work here. You can follow her Facebook Art Page here.

Regular blog-watchers will know I’m currently struggling with a book I bought by Keri Smith called Wreck This Journal. I can’t bring myself to wreck it so I am creatively interpreting the instructions on each page as much as possible whilst still in some way responding to the original brief. This page was supposed to be left blank. I CAN’T have a blank page in a journal so I thought about what the word of ‘blank’ meant to me.