Since I was young and used to visit my grandmother in Ireland I have been fascinated by taxidermy. She only had one item but I had never seen anything like it and ever since I have frequently sought it out and for a few years now I have been trying to get on a course to learn how ot do it myself.

Unfortunately, as it is a niche subject, so far I have not been able to do so. Courses have been either completely out of my price range or have booked up before I even see the email about spaces. I think I'm on the waiting list of every course I could find out details of, but the wait has been a long one. Then when I was in New York in a round about way I found out about Taxidermy London.

I originally booked to go to a talk and demonstration last week, but as it was the day I came back from New York I managed to sleep right through it. But then last Wednesday I emailed the talented fashion designer Lee Paton and merely a week later here I am in his studio getting started.

Now obviously I have no problem with taxidermy, but some of you might, and rather than turn you all off I'm not going to give details of what we did, or show any photos showing the bird, until it's finished. But I will tell you I'm working on a beautiful Moorhen and getting to see it up close has been a real privilege. These are beautiful birds and I only hope I can do it justice. The process of doing this work has been very different than I expected and is a lot gentler, cleaner and more enjoyable than I hoped for.

Today we worked until 2.30 and then we had done all we could for the day. With time to spare before I was meeting friends for dinner, I decided to pop to the local cinema. As I hadn't planned on going I had to take pot luck and as two of my three choices were Arthur 3D or a Twilight film I went with the only other option: My week with Marilyn.

This was not a film I wanted to see, and already knew the story(which you can read about here) but I decided to give it a go and was glad I did. When the film started I wasn't sure if Michelle Williams would make me believe she was Marilyn but as the film went on she won me over with her protrayal of an unhappy, lonely Marilyn caught in a world and life not of her choosing. The film was sad, very funny and captivating. There were times I wanted to reach into the scene and take her out of that World, especially knowing how her life progressed and I left worn out but also in love with both Marilyn and Eddie Redmayne.