Ready, Oar, Knot - Emmie Joanna, Artist

I was very happy to get Emmie on the podcast as like many of you (fellow Tottenham enthusiasts) I have followed her wonderful art journey over the last 4ish years. You can tell her unease discussing herself and then Emmie's enthusiasm when talking about Tottenham or the art itself. I am clearly clueless about narrow boats but weren't we told that there are no stupid questions?! As we Tik Tok Fans know "we listen and we don't judge".
Wishing Emmie, Stu and all of you a healthy, peaceful and joyful new year with many adventures x

Emmie's Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/emmiejoannadraws
Emmie's website: https://www.emmiejoanna.com/
Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@bobbing_along/featured

Go buy her calendar!

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pod instagram: https://www.instagram.com/anybodyeverybodytottenham/
pod website : https://www.anybodyeverybodytottenham.com/

Transcript

[00:00:00] Jamila: Hi, I'm Jamila and Anybody, Everybody Tottenham is a monthly podcast introducing the good people of Tottenham to you. Hello, everyone. Can anybody tell me where the sun is? Because I feel like I haven't seen it for two weeks, and I'm kind of missing it. Right. I'm closing out the year 2024. I don't know how I'm feeling about this year, but I'm glad that the last episode now is gonna be with Emmie, our local artist, who draws buildings around especially Tottenham, but also wider Haringey, I think she's super, super talented.

And we talk as well, because she now has moved on to a house boat and she's got a YouTube channel about this as well. And please, let's not judge me about my lack of knowledge about house boats. I'm asking some questions, which some people might find questionable, but you know what? The horses might have been doing it in a different way.

Nevermind. So, today on the pod, I've got Emmie. I think personally that she's a Tottenham legend and everybody should know her. Welcome, Emmie, and thank you for talking to me. 

[00:01:24] Emmie: Well, hi, um, thank you. Um, I'm really embarrassed now, I don't know what to say. 

[00:01:29] Jamila: Oh, you don't see yourself as a legend. It's okay. It's okay.

Most people. Wouldn't describe them like probably the people who describe themselves as a legend are probably not it. All right, Emmie, can you tell us a little bit about your connection to Tottenham because you're leaving us a little bit, aren't you? But you keep coming back. 

[00:01:49] Emmie: So, Yeah, I've lived in Haringey. I lived in Haringey for like 20 years and Tottenham for eight. And I loved it so much. Obviously, like, uh, my drawings are very, very Tottenham and Haringey. And now I have left, possibly temporarily. Um, so me and my husband, uh, moved onto a narrow boat and decided to travel around a bit. And then. My granny lives in Sheffield, um, on her own.

So we decided to head that way and she actually needs a lot more support. So we're in Sheffield now for the time being. 

[00:02:32] Jamila: So where, where are you from originally when you said you've been here for, for 20 years in Haringey? Did you first come for schooling or to start your first job? I can't gage your age so well.

[00:02:45] Emmie: I went to Middlesex University and that's where I met my partner as well. So that's when I moved to London. I grew up in Wiltshire in a small town, like near Swindon. 

[00:02:55] Jamila: Okay. So very different to, to the very urban Tottenham and where you, where you moved to. And professionally, what's your background? Because I've read on your blog that you have like in, within textile.

[00:03:10] Emmie: Yeah. So my, um, my studies were in textiles. So I did printed textiles at Middlesex, and then I did, um, it was called, like, Design for Textile Futures at Central Saint Martins. And then I didn't do anything with that and worked in a bookshop and then in the NHS for the next 10 years. And then it was during the pandemic I managed to get, start drawing again, like, just had the headspace to start drawing again.

And completely fell in love with drawing Tottenham and other buildings. 

So were you, um, when you were doing your degree, were you already like into drawing or, because when I scroll back on Instagram, and I saw the first thing I liked was on your day 13 of 100 days of drawing. It's what you started doing during the pandemic, isn't it?

That's somehow what kickstarted that whole thing - project of drawing different spaces in Tottenham. 

[00:04:10] Jamila: Did you, so did you have a background in drawing?

[00:04:14] Emmie: Um, not in drawing buildings in any way, but I did draw like everyday things. So I guess there's a link there because I draw very everyday buildings. I don't, I tend to go for like little corner shops and the small places and the things we, the normal things.

And I drew everyday objects. So I did a lot of drawing of things around the house, like coat hangers and plugs and mixing that with nature. Um, so like peas with wings and, you know, And things like that. 

[00:04:45] Jamila: What was this 100 days of drawing. So how did it all start? I obviously know a little bit looking at, at your Instagram , but can you describe it a little bit?

What made you kind of start it and what was the first spark to go in, in a certain direction? 

[00:05:06] Emmie: So the a hundred day project is, is one of those Instagram challenges. Um, that was sort of on my radar somehow in my feed, um, and I'd been wanting to get back into creativity for ages. So I used that, uh, as my, as a prompt to make, you know, like, I was like, even if I just draw for five seconds, that counts.

And then once you start drawing for five seconds, You carry on, but it's easier to break it down that way. Um, and then it was just during the pandemic, rather than getting straight into the underground and traveling into central London for work, because I worked for the NHS, I was still working, but I was also, um, Waiting.

My mom needed a kidney transplant and I was going to be her donor. And I was being so cautious. I was like, I can't get ill. I have to be ready. I have to be ready for this. And so my partner had borrowed his parents car and he was driving me to the hospital every day for work. And I saw so much more of Tottenham and Haringey through the car window, like just being above ground.

And it was just sitting in the car, just thinking, I want to draw this. This is, these shop fronts are all amazing. I love the mishmash of all the different places, all these independent businesses. Um, the way all the signs juxtapose, and the old buildings as well, just these really old buildings and then the new signage, and I just loved that so much, and particularly in Tottenham I just loved the mixture of stuff we have.

[00:06:36] Jamila: And did you, did you take pictures and drew, drew the pictures? 

[00:06:42] Emmie: I did. There was no way I was going to sit in the street drawing. I take a long time. 

[00:06:47] Jamila: So did you ask him, stop? On, on your journeys, or you deliberately went out to certain places that you had spotted on your travels? 

[00:06:55] Emmie: A bit of both, it wasn't stop, it was like, uh, there was very bad traffic, so I could take pictures through the car window quite a lot, but then it was like, on our little daily walks, getting pictures of places I wanted to draw, I usually take it from a lot of angles, and sort of, so it's not quite a real, realistic drawing, I'm taking lots of different angles, and lots of details, and then creating.

[00:07:20] Jamila: How did this then all evolve? Your 100 days, because you then had an exhibition as well in the, in the hub, and then you started to, to get feedback somehow. 

[00:07:33] Emmie: Yeah, yeah, I see what you mean. Yeah, it was, it was just a really lovely, it was really lovely and natural. I was just, posting my drawings and getting to know people.

I think just with the hashtags, I don't know, somehow people from Tottenham were seeing the drawings as well as other artists and just sort of chatting with people. And then someone suggested that I apply at the, for the Lordship Hub exhibition. I think it was, it was actually, I'm trying to think of her Instagram handle.

It's Tottenham Wilds, I think. And she does I think she's moved now, but she was posting all of this really detailed stuff about nature in Tottenham and like, incredible stuff about insects. I don't actually like insects, but it is very, it was very interesting, even though I was just like, Oh no, that's horrible.

[00:08:26] Jamila: And then you had your little exhibition in the hub.

[00:08:30] Emmie: And that's, and then I guess more people from Tottenham did see my drawings and wanted to buy them, which was amazing. I started getting commissions and being able to draw like house portraits for people, which I really, really love because it's often like for a really meaningful occasion or like I'm leaving Tottenham and I want this drawing to remember Tottenham or this was where we first met and this sort of thing.

And I love that so much. So it's, it's been a really, really lovely. 

[00:09:01] Jamila: So did you draw your place? before you left?

[00:09:04] Emmie: I did not.

In the back of my mind, I took the pictures ready to do it. I haven't done it yet. Maybe I haven't, I still haven't admitted to myself I've left. 

[00:09:17] Jamila: Because now you're, you're much more leaning into being an artist, right? And you said, there was like this whole only NHS period of time. So this is what I'm kind of interested in, in like, you're moving into being and saying I'm an artist, right?

How has that been for you? And where do you maybe want to go with this? 

[00:09:47] Emmie: Um, I still find it really difficult to say I'm an artist, to be honest. I feel a lot of imposter syndrome about it. Uh, but I don't, I also don't know how else to quite explain, describe what I'm doing. 

[00:09:59] Jamila: Yeah, okay. And where, what, what, what would you still be interested in now?

In the immediate future? And in the, I don't know, if you have, like, even further, do you want to try out different, um, media? I don't know. Because you've done, you've gone back to the textiles, isn't it? With your tea towel. 

[00:10:21] Emmie: Sort of, yes. Um, I was just saying to my partner this morning, um, I've got all this stuff for printmaking, um, cause I did a lot of printmaking when I was studying.

And I was saying, should I just admit I'm not gonna, I've got stuff to do screen printing and it's been the whole past year my plan was I'm going to do some screen printing and I'm just like, obviously on the boat we have really limited space. And I was saying, should I just admit to myself, I'm not going to.

[00:10:48] Jamila: How soon was your calendar coming along? I'm trying to think if this year's calendar would be my third? 

[00:10:55] Emmie: It is the third. It is the third. And, uh, they've just arrived at my gran's house. I haven't seen them yet, so I'm so excited to go and open the box. 

[00:11:06] Jamila: So what are you selling? So I can buy individual prints of some of your drawings. greetings cards. Are they still in Bruce Castle? Are they still selling cards from you?

[00:11:22] Emmie: Yes, I think there should be some Bruce Castle cards at Bruce Castle anyway. 

[00:11:26] Jamila: Are you still doing commissions? 

[00:11:30] Emmie: I am still doing commissions. 

[00:11:32] Jamila: And, um, tea towels? 

[00:11:35] Emmie: Yes. 

[00:11:36] Jamila: Any, any other plans? You could have some mugs or something, no?

[00:11:40] Emmie: That was actually, I was looking at my list of what I wanted to achieve this year and mugs was on the list. 

[00:11:46] Jamila: You had a to do list for how you want to expand. What else was on it? You wanted to do mugs, what else were you dreaming of? 

[00:11:55] Emmie: Uh, so there were, I was hoping to do more tea towels, um, and just more drawings in general, to be honest, and experiment with print.

Printing, as well as doing more on the boaty side of things as well and drawing more boat scenes and nature. I think things, things have been a bit hard this year with the traveling to Sheffield. Our boat broke down just before we went on a tidal river. We had to replace the entire engine and then we got here and then my gran needed full time care, basically. So this is my first, um, couple of days off, because we've just arranged to, we're going to do the care part time, and a live in carer is coming part time. It's made it quite hard to focus on art this year, in the end, but I'm hoping things are going to level out. from now. 

[00:12:45] Jamila: Yeah. Um, okay.

So tell me a little bit about the whole boating thing. How did that come about? Um, or your next chapter after falling in love all over again with Tottenham with the drawings you then ... 

[00:13:00] Emmie: Um, I mean, essentially it's because We had planned to have children and it turned out we couldn't, um, and it was male factor infertility.

It was really, really difficult for my partner to, like, deal with that. And he was desperate to leave London. He wanted a total fresh start. And I didn't want to leave London. So it was a few years of us wondering, well, how are we going to solve this? And going through the pandemic, walking by the canal. And then one of my friends, we already had a friend who lived on a boat and I thought, oh, that's terrible.

Better them than me. I wouldn't want to do that. Sounds awful. And then, um, one of my really close friends moved onto a boat. And she was like, no, you've got it all wrong. It's actually amazing. You have freedom. It's a cheaper way of living as long as you're happy to, you know, do a bunch of hard work. 

[00:13:54] Jamila: What was the thing that put you off initially where you were like, Oh no?

[00:13:58] Emmie: Uh, well, I like not having to worry about water running out. I don't, I like not having to empty my toilet, like all those, all those things. I was very aware of those luxuries and how nice it is to have that when you're living in a flat or a house. And like being able to turn the heat on with the touch of a button, like all those things.

I was really aware of it. I was like, this is amazing. I can't believe I can just turn this switch and the house is warm. 

[00:14:24] Jamila: Um, but I feel like during the pandemic, there was also a little bit of protests with the boats. Did they change like some of the rules on the canal or? Because I think they got busier, they got busier and then it was like, who, who should have kind of like priority.

[00:14:44] Emmie: Yeah. I think it might be the, um, around, so around the Lea, they just created a lot of no mooring areas. I think they called it safety zones. 

[00:14:54] Jamila: Okay. 

[00:14:55] Emmie: They were saying, oh, this isn't a safe area to moor. And there was a lot of disagreement about that. I think they would, um, because there's a lot of people using as well.

So I think there was disagreements between. I'm probably not the best person to be talking about this. I'm not a hundred percent. I wasn't living on a boat yet, but I think there were disagreements about like other people who were like casual leisure users, like little like con, not can kayaking and, 

[00:15:19] Jamila: yeah, yeah, yeah. I remember that. 

[00:15:21] Emmie: Everyone disagreeing about the space and so a lot of mooring was taken away. So I think there were a lot of protests, like boat are homes, you know, why are you taking away our spaces to moor? 

[00:15:32] Jamila: Mm-hmm. 

[00:15:32] Emmie: I think, I think it was that. Yeah. 

[00:15:35] Jamila: When, when your husband wanted to leave London, is he from outside of London in the first place?

[00:15:41] Emmie: He is from a, he's from a village near London. 

[00:15:45] Jamila: So was he like tired of city life or tired of London? 

[00:15:51] Emmie: I think a bit of both, a bit of both. He was ready to leave and he actually, he was the one most worried about my gran and he was right to be because yeah, as soon as we had, you know, we arrived just in time.

[00:16:03] Jamila: Okay. So your close friend living on the boat said like, okay, no, you've got it right, you know, freedom. And you were more willing to listen to her than to your husband. Okay. 

[00:16:15] Emmie: Well, he wasn't suggesting the boat actually, he was just suggesting anywhere. And I was terrified of uprooting, moving to some small town somewhere for no reason.

And having to upend my life again, I might not like it. Because Um, when we were trying to have children, we moved to a two bed flat in Barnet and I mean, obviously that's all mixed up with infertility and everything, but I hated it. I was like, I hate it in Barnet. I hate this flat. Got this second bedroom we don't need.

And the flat was dark and cold and full of every pest you can think of. 

[00:16:52] Jamila: Did you buy it or did you rent it? 

[00:16:54] Emmie: It was rented, and we moved to Tottenham after that flat and I was like, oh my god, the dream! Tottenham! It's so much better than Barnet! 

[00:17:03] Jamila: Yeah, you see, I work in Barnet, and the kids sometimes ask me, it's like, why don't you live here?

Why do you travel all the way? And I'm like, I don't want to live in boring Barnet! This is just like a retirement place, no? And they can't, they can't really argue back. So was his dream then to, to kind of be in a village somewhere, but, and then you've got the boat as a compromise, isn't it? 

[00:17:28] Emmie: Yes. So the idea was we could move back and forward and sometimes be in London, sometimes be in the countryside and it would be the best of both worlds.

But as soon as we moved on, I was like, this is amazing. I just want to travel. 

[00:17:42] Jamila: Oh, okay. Yes. So now it's you. But so maybe that is it though, that you are the, you want a change of scenery kind of person. Um, you know, like in Tottenham, you just have it naturally because things are moving around you. You don't have to move.

It's the, the, the space itself is moving.

[00:18:02] Emmie: Oh, I love that. Yeah. I hadn't thought of it that way, but yeah. 

[00:18:07] Jamila: And then in the village, yeah, I would feel a bit stuck as well. And also I wonder, you know how you said your husband was driving you, so don't you drive? 

[00:18:18] Emmie: I can drive, but I absolutely hate driving, and I also wasn't insured on that car.

[00:18:22] Jamila: Yeah, so that again, because then it would have meant in the village that you are stuck there, isn't it? 

[00:18:29] Emmie: Well, I would have had to drive, yeah. Yeah, you can't really live in a village and not drive. 

[00:18:35] Jamila: Yeah, so how did that convincing him then go? 

[00:18:41] Emmie: to live on a boat? No, as soon as I said it, he was like, it's the perfect solution.

Yeah, we were immediately like, I was like, how about this? And he was like, yes. And within a month, we'd put our flat on the market. 

[00:18:53] Jamila: Wow. And when was that now? Time wise? 

[00:18:56] Emmie: It was 2022. So I guess it was like winter 2021, we started the process. 

[00:19:03] Jamila: In the winter? Okay, but maybe with the 

[00:19:06] Emmie: That was just, yeah, the selling of the flat, and then by the time we bought the boat, it was summer.

[00:19:12] Jamila: Okay. How'd you buy a boat? 

[00:19:14] Emmie: I think a lot of stuff, uh, sales happened privately, but we went to, like, a boat estate agent, basically, that was called A, B, and B, and they were like working from a marina in, near Leicester, and they just have like, you know, just like an estate agent, like, they have their website with all the boats they have for sale.

[00:19:34] Jamila: And so, so you went there and then love at first sight for your boat, or? 

[00:19:39] Emmie: I shouldn't, this is not the recommended way to do it, but basically I was, I was working full time and Stu wasn't, I saw the boat online, I said, that looks like I like that boat, he went and viewed it, he was like, I confirm it's a good boat.

So we bought it and I never even saw it in real life, but we did get a survey done and things. 

[00:20:00] Jamila: Did it need work? 

[00:20:01] Emmie: Not a lot of work, like, so every couple of years boats need blacking, where you lift it out the water and you put this thick black, what's it called? I've forgotten the technical name, but it's some kind of special paint that protects the hull from rusting.

So you have to do that every couple of years. So we did, needed to do that, um, engine servicing and so on, but the inside was fine. We didn't, yeah, we kind of just wanted to move on and go, no DIY, no decorating, so. 

[00:20:29] Jamila: When did you spend your first night there? 

[00:20:32] Emmie: It was very neat. We moved out of our flat on like the 30th of June. We didn't move onto the boat until probably the end of July. So we had like a month. 

[00:20:41] Jamila: And what was your first night like? Because I think it's always like these, you hear these sounds the first time you're staying in a new place. What kind of sounds do you hear on the boat at night? Do you hear rats? 

[00:20:55] Emmie: Rats? No.

[00:20:57] Jamila: This is always my biggest fear about narrowboats. I'm just like, I just think there are a lot of rats near the canal. 

[00:21:03] Emmie: Uh, no, I've never, I've hardly ever even seen them. Okay. Um, but I am afraid, like, cause Stu wanted to, my partner wanted to put like a bird feeder on the front of the boat. And I was like, we're not doing that because rats might come on.

[00:21:17] Jamila: Yeah. Yeah, our bird feeder got - was feeding the squirrels. 

[00:21:21] Emmie: Oh, I don't, oh yeah, squirrels would be fine, but I just, I wouldn't want a rat to come and move on.

[00:21:29] Jamila: So how has, how has it been then, apart from obviously the, the personal life difficulties, but just the act of living on a boat, has it been everything you hoped for and more?

[00:21:42] Emmie: It has been, it's been amazing. Really. Um, I don't think I could do it alone as Stu does an awful lot of the, like, heavy lifting.

Like, I did not realize how heavy a toilet would be. Okay. Like, um, I was imagining myself merrily emptying it. But I just find it incredibly heavy and so, yeah, he does a lot of that sort of thing and also just understanding how electricity works and the engine things like if something goes wrong, he's like, Oh yes, the flippity floop must have done the floppity flip.

And I'm like, well, thank God someone understands. I really want to understand though. I am envisioning myself learning how an engine works and being able to service the engine in future. 

[00:22:27] Jamila: So, and then. You've got a vlog. How did that idea come about? 

[00:22:33] Emmie: Again, really something Stu wanted to do. I, um, I was really hesitant because I'm quite, I'm a bit private, really, and I was a bit like, I don't know if I want to do that, and I was like, but okay, I'll make one video, and then it was just really, it was fun, I think, just because, like, lovely people came and commented, and, you know, it's a small YouTube channel, but there's, like, really lovely people that watch and, like, chat with us in the comments, and, and it's like a little, it's recording our memories, and, 

[00:23:05] Jamila: Yeah, like a diary.

[00:23:07] Emmie: It's great. Like a video diary, yeah. 

[00:23:09] Jamila: No, but because you are, um, very regular, like almost weekly, isn't it, your, your schedule? Do you do all the editing and stuff yourself? 

[00:23:20] Emmie: Um, I had been, but, um, Stu's been learning and now we've got a sort of system going where we're both editing, which is really good. 

[00:23:28] Jamila: What would you say has surprised you about the, the life on, on, on the boat? Is it more that, how much you love it? You didn't expect it quite so much or? 

[00:23:43] Emmie: You know, that probably is the most surprising thing. I did not know how I was going to feel about it. And it was the compromise. I wanted to stay in Tottenham, really. But I also wanted my partner to be happy. So, yeah, the compromise that turned out to be the best thing for both of us.

[00:24:00] Jamila: Yeah, perfect. A win win. Can you, with the boat, leave the UK? Can you go over to another country or not? Can you go to 

Ireland? 

[00:24:14] Emmie: No, not really. It's not seaworthy.

[00:24:20] Jamila: Okay. Um, so have you been to Wales yet? 

[00:24:25] Emmie: Not on the boat, no. 

[00:24:27] Jamila: Could you? Are there enough canals to get there? 

[00:24:31] Emmie: In fact, in Wales, they have the tallest aqueduct, I think.

I don't know if it's outside the UK, but in the UK it's definitely the tallest aqueduct. It looks amazing. Like, you'll see other people's YouTube videos of them crossing this aqueduct I cannot pronounce, and it's really, really, really tall, they're just, I won't even make a guess because I'm so bad with numbers, I'll probably say something completely ridiculous.

[00:24:58] Jamila: And In Scotland, you've been on a boat in Scotland, and did that put you off from taking your own boat there now? 

Or are you planning? 

[00:25:09] Emmie: The canals don't actually link up to Scotland, so my friends, when they moved their boat to Scotland, had to have it taken by road. And they said that the canals are actually not very good in Scotland either.

They've got different rules there. 

[00:25:22] Jamila: What's the history of all these canals and canal boats? 

Do you know a little bit about it? 

[00:25:29] Emmie: I can't promise I'll be very accurate with timing and everything, but I think it's something to do with in the industrial revolution, it was for transporting things, basically.

It's like cheaper than and easier and smoother than transporting things by horse and cart. They built the canals so that things could be pulled. They were put, the boats were pulled by horses along the waterways before trains were invented, I think. 

[00:25:55] Jamila: The horses? 

[00:25:56] Emmie: So the horses were pulling the boats, so they were on the towpath and like, before engines were invented.

[00:26:02] Jamila: Really? 

[00:26:03] Emmie: I think, yeah, and they were pulling. Yeah, when I said that to my mum, she was imagining the horses in the canal. 

[00:26:08] Jamila: Yeah, that was my first thought. I was like, what do you mean? Surely not. 

[00:26:12] Emmie: No, they were on the towpath and they would pull it along and then through the tunnels. People would lie on the boat and like push the boat through with their legs on the tunnel walls and it was to transport things like coal and Flint and or whatever.

[00:26:26] Jamila: Yeah, because definitely I could see this because Tottenham was very industrial, um, transporting goods. I could, yeah, with the, with the River Lea and stuff, yeah. And then how did the, the whole houseboat movement come into that? Is that a new development? 

[00:26:45] Emmie: A bit newer, because I think when people worked on the boats, they might live on it while they were transporting the goods, but then they didn't live on the boats the full time.

But when the trains were invented, the canals weren't needed so much anymore, and that's when it became like a place for like leisure and people living on the canals, I think. 

[00:27:04] Jamila: All right. So it is already quite a, quite a long period of time then. All right. And, and how long does a boat live? How long can it?

Is it like, okay? Your boat, how old is it, how, how much longer can it live? 

[00:27:24] Emmie: I think. It's um, it just depends how good the hull is. The hull is the most, like, that's the key bit, you don't want to sink with holes in your hull. Our boats, like, I think it's like late 90s it was built. It wasn't totally clear from the paperwork.

We're not 100 percent how old it is. Um, but there are boats still going from like hundreds of years ago, I think. 

[00:27:49] Jamila: Okay. Oh! 

[00:27:50] Emmie: As long as they're well looked after. 

[00:27:52] Jamila: Hmm. Nice. Okay then, Emmie, I'm now very excited about hearing your top tips Tottenham, have 

you got some? 

[00:28:03] Emmie: I have got some. I think, I'm sure they've been done before though.

So, I mean, my number one is the Tottenham Cemetery Lake. Um, I lived near there. I absolutely loved it. That's where I fell in love with Canada geese. It's most, incredible place for bird, water bird life. Like it's really concentrated. You see more water birds there than on the canals even, just because they're so concentrated there and living together.

There's Canada geese that have babies every year and you watch them grow up. There's the frogs that have babies and there's like baby frog day when they all leave the pond and you have to walk very carefully. Um, ducks, moorhens, coots, and just like If you go there early in the morning, I've seen people going there specifically to birdwatch, I think, and you can hear all the birdsong.

[00:28:54] Jamila: Um, okay. Any, any other tips? 

[00:28:56] Emmie: Um, prestige patisserie for the best cakes in Tottenham. 

[00:29:01] Jamila: Any particular that you're, that you're fond of? 

[00:29:04] Emmie: The passion fruit cake. Um, and I'm still following their Instagram from afar and I desperately want one of their pistachio and raspberry, um, eclairs, or is it a donut?

Something with pistachio and raspberry that I'm just like, I want it. 

[00:29:21] Jamila: Because you've done a, uh, a drawing of theirs, haven't you? It was fairly recently? 

[00:29:26] Emmie: That was this year, yeah. Oh, okay. And, uh, loon fung. The huge Asian supermarket near Ikea. 

[00:29:34] Jamila: And what, what are you getting from, from the supermarket? What are you stocking up 

on?

[00:29:40] Emmie: Big bottles of soy sauce, bags of tofu puffs, general, just general ingredients. My mom's Japanese. So, um, being able to get ingredients for Japanese cooking is important to me. And it was a reason I didn't want to leave London for ages. I was like, do they have Asian shops outside London? I wasn't sure. And it has been hard along the canals, but Sheffield does have good Asian shops.

[00:30:05] Jamila: But your grandma that is ill is not your mom's mom. 

[00:30:09] Emmie: No. 

[00:30:09] Jamila: Okay, so she doesn't need Japanese food, you don't know, otherwise, otherwise she would, she would know. So with the kidney, everything went okay for both of you? 

[00:30:20] Emmie: Yes. Eventually, yes. 

[00:30:21] Jamila: Okay. Yeah. That, that's terrible. Like during the pandemic that you had to have that worry as well for both of you.

What are we, are we manifesting for 2025? 

[00:30:33] Emmie: I'm hoping to spend a bit more time on my art. In 2025, but I'm, I mean, I want to just to say that this is, it's hard, but it's also a really good situation in a way, like I'm so happy to be able to be there for my gran and to have been able to just uproot and like move this way and to have this time and space to be able to, to do that as well as still taking this bit of time for myself and, and I'm working on my art.

[00:31:04] Jamila: Right. Did you have another top tip? So we had some food, something for the sweet tooth, and something for the savoury. We have a bit of nature. Any, um, kind of, like, activity, dancing, or doing, I don't know, doing sports? 

[00:31:21] Emmie: Oh, I definitely don't do any sports. But the Bally's studios, Is a lovely place if you want practice rooms, um, and things to do music, did play music with friends for a little bit and we would meet up there and it was really, really fun and a lovely place to, to do that.

And it's really affordable, like when you're all putting in. 

[00:31:41] Jamila: Yeah, I interviewed them as well for the pod. Okay. All right. It was nice talking to you. 

[00:31:51] Emmie: Thank you for having me. Bye. 

[00:31:53] Jamila: Bye. So in the show notes, I'm going to link in Emmie's Instagram, her website. I think you should still order the calendar because it's just wonderful.

And. And I'm also gonna try and do the top tips for the last 11 episodes, do a little summary of that one. Okay, so I hope everyone is ending their 2024 well and I wish you a wonderful, wonderful start to the new year. All the best. Bye! I hope you enjoyed today's episode, learned something new, and let that Tottenham love grow.

Take care, and until next time, 

byeeeeee!