I barely recovered from the exhaustion of the long drive to and back from Nottingham, but it’s kind of nice to sit outside today with a cup of coffee and just look back at the long journey I endured just to display some Indonesian traditional textiles at the Nottingham Festival.
Is not unusual if England gets a bit rainy at any time of the year, particularly in the north of England, so this month seems to be a rather wet month considering that we are into the summer months now. I was grateful for the invitation by the Indonesian Student Association (PPI) to exhibit my ikat collections at the Nottingham Festival this Year. They told me that I would get a fairly large tent, wide enough to make a good display.
I headed up north the night before, and I was very thankful to Imelda and Ian James for putting up for the night, I truly appreciated their kind hospitality and support. Ian and Imelda live in Leicester, about 1 hr drive away from Nottingham. The drive from London to Leicester was around 4 hours, I was very exhausted when I got there, and I was ready for bed. Imelda got my room ready and I had a good night’s sleep there. I woke up to a beautiful breakfast made by Imelda’s father-in-law, I was truly grateful for their hospitality.
After breakfast, I set off towards Nottingham, sadly there were some roadworks on the motorway that day and as a result, the traffic was a bit chaotic. Stupidly my tomtom directed me onto an alternative route to Nottingham University which made me an hour late. Here I was again got trapped in my “jam karet” culture. “Jam Karet” means rubber time in Indonesia, which means stretchable time with plenty of excuses, in other words, a little less respect for punctuality. I nearly missed my chance to get in, but the kind man at the university gate let me in anyway. Sue and David Richardson from OATG got there before me, it was so kind of them to help me set up the display. Halfway through arranging the textiles, the rain started pouring and part of the tent was leaking here and there, allowing some drips of rainwater onto the textiles. WHAT A DISASTER!!!
Despite the miserable weather, the display went well. I truly had an amazing time. A good experience to get into a better display in the future. Towards the end of the show, the sun decided to come out, but I had to pack the display as I needed to head back to London for the evening. Well, it was a memorable journey to get there, and my love for Indonesian textiles is really not without any sacrifices. Better weather next time.
