A grand day out
The last time I posted I mentioned that I had donated 350 of my husband’s books to Robinson College in Cambridge. Last week I returned to Cambridge, the city where Peter and I met and got married. His books have now been catalogued by Robinson’s splendid librarian, Judith Brown. I had lunch with her and […]
Three Little Words
What do these things have in common: my daughter’s birthday present, the printer cable, several thousand books and the kitchen scissors. Just this: I have no idea where any of them are. Well, I know where the books ARE. They are in one of the many many cardboard boxes that surround me as I write, […]
A poignant experience
I always feel at home in a library or an archive. When I made an appointment last week to visit Sheffield University library, it took me back to the many days I’ve spent doing research in the British Library, the V & A library, the Courtauld Institute, and elsewhere. I arrived at the library, and […]
Packing Up a Life
My husband, the architectural historian and critic, Peter Blundell Jones, died in August 2016. It all happened very fast. I didn’t think to ask him where he wanted his archive to go and he didn’t leave any instructions in his will. It is an important body of material. In the course of his career Peter […]
Apple blossom
Earlier this month the apple tree that we planted in memory of my husband, Peter, was in bloom. The warm days were followed by cold and windy weather that brought to my mind one of Shakespeare’s most famous sonnets. The power of art to console remains undimmed in these difficult days. Indeed, we need it […]
A wonderful thing
BEFORE: Peter’s journals stretching out of sight to the front door Over the fifty years since Peter had first been a student at the Architectural Association he had amassed hundreds and hundreds of architectural journals and magazines. In many cases there were more than one copy, because he had been a contributor to so many […]
Found between the pages of a book
There are a lot of books in our house. I have no idea how many, but thousands, certainly. That is what happens when two academics marry and when they read a lot outside their subject. Our books are a kind of biography, marking different points in our lives when we bought them and when we […]
Thanks to all my kind friends and good wishes for 2017
The last day of 2016 and what a terribly strange and sad year it has been for me and my family in ways we could not have anticipated this time last year. Peter’s memorial event at the university was recorded and can now be seen on Youtube. You can find it here: https://www.sheffield.ac.uk/architecture/people/pbj My own contribution […]
Sentimental Journey
On Thursday I took part in a splendid event at Heffer’s bookshop in Cambridge. On my way there I took the opportunity of stopping off in Ely where my new series of novels is set to pick up a bit more local colour. I walked around the marina and went into the cathedral. Peter and […]
One day teacher, whole life father
On 16th November the Sheffield School of Architecture held an event to celebrate Peter’s life and work. It was an amazing evening, attended by around 200 people. Peter’s ex-students, some of them professors themselves now, came from places as far afield as Korea and Taiwan. It was intensely moving to hear what an influence he had had […]