Category Archives: Postcards 2023

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The pleasure of a handmade willow basket

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“It will last you for years.”

There is something so beautiful about a wicker basket – in fact I think everything is beautiful about a wicker basket. For a start they are handmade, sustainable and strong.

The one in the photograph was bought at the craft market in Farnham, where the man who made it, Stuart Philpot, was on hand to demonstrate. He made the process look so straight-forward, easy even, but I’m not sure it was. He told us that his father used to make baskets, and passed the skills on to him, however he chose a different career for a decade or so. Then in 2020, with lockdown time on his hands, he returned to the basket weaving his father had taught him. Now it is what he does, and judging by the range of baskets stacked around his position, he is very good at it.

Just touching the baskets made me wonder why we’ve become so addicted to machine made goods.

If you a few minutes free to watch a little basket weaving you might enjoy this link.

Copyright Georgie Knaggs & The Phraser 2023

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This book was a revelation

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Recently I shared a two hour journey with a young man who happened to be an expert in Pokémon. What a privilege that was! It was like being given a crash course in a whole new planetary system.

The best part was that my guide knew all the interesting bits, plus he had the Pokémon Super Extra Deluxe Essential Handbook to back him up. What a combination. Right beside me was the who’s who of the whole brilliant world – the evolving, the powers, the connections. I was absorbed.

The names of the different Pokémon are not simple, but my guide’s reading was excellent. Each name was carefully pronounced according to the description details, and then we noted the measurements. Some Pokémon are the size of skyscrapers, others little more than hazelnuts, and each has particular skills that often link back to the name. There is magic on every page.

I span around that galaxy fascinated, studying pages and pages of extraordinary creatures. By the time we arrived whole new layers had been added to my understanding of life as we know it. I only wish I’d had the time to study the world of Pokémon when earlier guides had offered their services.

Copyright Georgie Knaggs & The Phraser 2023

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“…nightmare upon nightmare …”

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This morning, while driving along an average road on an ordinary day, I heard the testimony of three women caught up in the tragedy exploding between Gaza and Israel. The emotion in their voices was as raw as an open wound.

The first to be interviewed was a female journalist. When asked how she felt about her role in such a situation, she described a deep sense of responsibility. She said her role was to bear witness, to report what she found. It was she who described the situation as “… nightmare upon nightmare …”.

The second interview was with a grandmother whose community and family had been attacked. She said the knowledge of how close she had come to losing her own grandchildren had switched her peaceful DNA to one that fully supported Israel’s army. Voice shaking with grief she then spoke of her anguish at not knowing the whereabouts of her friends.

The third interview was from a video recording with a mother in Gaza where bombs were falling. The interview had been adapted for radio. She tried to describe the view from her apartment, the devastation, and went to open a window on to her neighbourhood to do so, but could not see anything and started to cough. “I cannot breathe …” she said.

I drove on – the agony in the voices stretching ahead of me down the ordinary road.

Copyright Georgie Knaggs & The Phraser 2023