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Gabrielle Gweneth

Gabrielle Gweneth

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Right under your nose: the free entertainment you’re probably missing out on

The view from my living room window.

In the scheme of ‘firsts’ we’ve experienced being in lockdown, I’m willing to bet you haven’t had a staring contest with a pigeon. 

If you’re wondering whether I’m speaking metaphorically, about to make some insightful observations related to flight or focus…I’m not. I literally challenged a pigeon to a staring contest. 

It happened on one of the many days I found myself sitting at my living room window, watching life outside. Right beside me, on the other side of the window, was a plump pigeon. Unlike its friends bobbing their heads and strutting up and down, this guy was content to stay perched on the ledge. I looked at it, it looked back at me, and I thought, Ok pigeon, it’s on.

There we both sat. The seconds ticked by, and eventually I looked away. Either that or the pigeon got tired of me and turned its head. I figure we called it a draw.

Escape through my window

Window watching has become a major pastime of mine since we’ve had to stay at home. For the first 11 weeks I worked from the black leather couch in the living room, computer propped on my knees. I’d get up and look outside whenever I needed a break or was craving a distraction.

At the start of week 12 I got a desk, which is where I’m writing this. Now all I have to do is raise my head and I have a near panoramic view of the outside. At sixteen weeks and counting you might think there’d be nothing new to see, but whenever I need a little boost there’s still plenty to help usher my day along. Instead of feeling like I live among strangers, now I can tell you all sorts about what happens in the buildings opposite and catty corner to my own. Here’s a sketch of my neighbourhood:

Golden Green Thumb

My flat is on the corner of a building which is itself on the corner of a main road and little dead end street. In the building diagonally across from mine, on the opposite side of the main road, is a man who, like me, regularly spends time staring out his window.

I’d guess he’s in his late 60s or early 70s. His head is nearly bald, he has a round tummy and his favourite t-shirt is a golden yellow. On nice days he opens one of the bay windows wide and sits on the ledge. While I can see other people working in their living rooms, the only other activities I see him engaged in are eating and watering his plants. I appreciate his plants: they’re large, leafy and green, the only green I see in all the windows of all the surrounding buildings besides the basil and mint in my own. Golden Green Thumb lives alone or, like me, is the only person in his household curious about what’s going on outside. He’s the only one I ever see at his windows.

Tatted, loves tea time

In the same building as Golden Green Thumb, actually in the flat next door, there’s a guy in his 30s who likes to take breaks at his window. Unlike me and Golden Green Thumb he doesn’t stare outside. Instead he reads, or sometimes sits at a desk. I see him there all the time, and in fact right now he’s sipping tea and reading a book. He’s got a thick head of brown hair, a beard and a moustache, and at least one partial tattoo sleeve. Once, when we were both sitting and sipping tea, I wondered if he was looking at me as I was looking at him, but the distance was too great to know for sure. He’s got a girlfriend and sometimes she sits at the window with him. They’re cute, in their companionable domesticity.

Bread for the birds

The weather has been too wet for this to happen lately, but the neighbours in my building and the one opposite love to dump their leftover bread outside on the ground. The minor street dead ends onto a patchwork of pavement, a rectangle of space that’s basically a concrete extension of the asphalt sidewalk. In the centre of this paved rectangle is a small garbage bin, and in front of this bin is where people leave their scraps.

I’ve seen men and women, but mostly men, come out with large plastic bags of bread. Are they in the restaurant business? It’s hard for me to imagine another reason they could have such huge amounts of bread going stale. They tip the bags upside down and shake them directly onto the ground. Then they walk off, and within seconds pigeons and some seagulls fly down and feast. Minutes after that, all the bread is gone. 

I’ve seen rice and other leftovers on the ground too, and one day a woman came out with a pot of popcorn. She stood with the pot in her outstretched arm, waiting for the pigeons to come and eat from her hand. When they didn’t approach, she tipped the pot over, emptying the popcorn onto the grass under a small tree, and went back inside. 

I’m baffled by this behaviour. How can you just leave food on the ground? And what if the birds don’t want it? Two days ago I saw a street cleaner stabbing what looked like watermelon rinds and other food waste off the ground. I sent him a silent thank you. 

Pedestrians and processions 

Moving my gaze left, to the main road, I watch people passing through the area as well. Two weeks into lockdown I saw a man sitting on a low concrete wall, below Tatted’s flat, talking to two police officers. It looked like they were writing him a ticket, and I assumed he must have been in trouble for being outside. A few minutes later I looked out and the three of them were still there, plus a police van had pulled up with two more officers. They put the man in the back and then all four officers climbed inside and drove away. 

The scene remains a mystery. Was the man drunk or high? Were the police looking for him regardless of the lockdown? Who knows. It all happened so quietly that I wouldn’t have seen anything if I weren’t at my window.

Another day, sitting on the couch, I could swear I heard bagpipes. I got up to look and….nothing. So I sat back down and tried to go back to work, but again heard the music. I got up, looked as far out the corners of the windows as I could, but still no bagpipes. There were a couple of men in the concrete rectangle, chatting, apparently unaware of the music. Maybe the lockdown was getting to my head and I was hallucinating the Scotland I wished I could see. I sat back down. 

Still, there were the bagpipes. There was no way I was making this up. I was tempted to look for them a third time, but the music didn’t sound any closer. Forget it, I told myself, maybe I’ll never find out where they’re coming from. 

A few minutes later the music seemed to be right underneath me. I jumped  up, excited, and there were the players, two men leading a procession down the road. My excitement vanished when I realised that the music I heard was a funeral dirge. Behind the men was a hearse with two, maybe three, plain brown coffins. Whether they were victims of COVID-19 I don’t know, but the march continued and I stood watching until the players were out of sight. Mystery solved, and a moment for me to reckon with the cost of the virus.

Squad rolls deep

Just when I thought I’d figured out the rhythms of our buildings and the quirks of the people inside, a new element came on the scene. Over the last few weeks a group of men started gathering at that paved rectangle and in the minor street. It’s a little hard to predict when they’ll show, but it’s almost certain that they’ll make an appearance. 

There’s never less than four of them, and they pull up in Mercedes, BMWs and Audis. Some of them sit in their cars with the windows and the tops rolled down. Others stand on the pavement, and they stay for hours. Every now and then they play board games on one of the utility boxes, but most of the time they’re just talking. Their voices carry straight up to my living room and bedroom windows, and while I’m happy for them to have friend time, I do wish sometimes they would gather in a park instead. Particularly when they’re out until 10.30pm and 11pm at night.

A slower pace and a simpler pleasure

Before lockdown, window watching sounded incomprehensibly dull. I couldn’t understand how there could be any entertainment in staring outside. Now I realise there’s so much to see, whether you live on a busy street or have birds in your backyard. You could be missing out on an extra dose of worry, concerned for children standing right up against their third storey windows. Or you could get positivity points as cheerleader for the woman who was great about leg day at the beginning of lockdown, but now seems to have given up on exercise altogether.

I will be so grateful to get outside again. To be too busy with the world to check on Golden Green Thumb or wonder what book Tatted is reading now. But I’ll miss something of this time too: the pace that encourages me to stop and stare, all that I’m learning about my neighbours, and finding pleasure in something as simple as looking out my window. 

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I’m Gabrielle, and you know how they say breakfast is the most important meal of the day? I like mine with a side of recipes. I can’t contain my enthusiasm in the kitchen, so this space is for me to share my adventures with you. Read More…

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Tuesday, 11:15pm. ⁣ ⁣ Thanks to Glasgow I’ve Tuesday, 11:15pm. ⁣
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Thanks to Glasgow I’ve discovered the unique pleasure of a light-but-late-night walk. 🌙☺️
These beautiful pink flowers sprung up in my neigh These beautiful pink flowers sprung up in my neighbours’ front garden recently. They’re right on the sidewalk, facing the main road, so I see them whenever I’m outside. Since they’re on the corner, I also see them when I look out my living room window!⁣⁣
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They’re *delightful* aren’t they?! They weren’t here last year so I’m really thankful to  whoever planted, or scattered, these seeds. I think they’re poppies but I’m not sure, so tell me if you know!⁣⁣
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Yay for…⁣⁣
🌸 summertime⁣⁣
🌸 people with green thumbs⁣⁣
🌸 small things yielding big joy⁣⁣
🌸 feeling loved by the stranger who made this joy possible for me 😊
One thing I’ve noticed travelling solo is how ea One thing I’ve noticed travelling solo is how easy it is to meet people. ⁣
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When you’re on your own locals and other solo travellers are far more likely to come up to you, or strike up a conversation, than when you’re in a group. I’ve made friends with so many more strangers being alone versus being with even one other person. ⁣
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Living in Glasgow, now that we’re getting out of lockdown, doesn’t seem to be that different! The people here are really friendly, and twice now, standing at this spot (one of my favourites) during my afternoon walk, I’ve had great conversations with strangers. ⁣
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The first one challenged me to a skipping contest (I accepted. And won 😉. ) The second, on Monday, just wanted to talk. ⁣
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Our conversation ended up being pretty long, which surprised me since on the surface we had nothing in common. But when I think about it, I realise we connected on the level of our stories: immigrants alone in a new country. ⁣
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We skipped the small talk about the weather and went straight to our homelands. I learned more about Lebanon in that afternoon than in my entire life, including the fact that they serve 7 appetisers before a meal! 🤩⁣
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It’s amazing how sharing stories helps you feel connected to people, even ones you’ve just met. ⁣
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Now I’m curious: when was the last time you had a great conversation with a stranger? Do you have a fun story about meeting someone new?
When you’re building a business it’s easy, too When you’re building a business it’s easy, too easy, to skip over the foundational work that sets you up for focused, long term growth. You need money 𝘯𝘰𝘸, so you prioritise doing all the things that will bring it in the door. And that makes sense! ⁣
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But avoiding the foundational work, or doing it in a haphazard manner, will bite you in the butt. ⁣
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You need to know, for yourself and for your clients:⁣
🪄𝘩𝘰𝘸 your background and skills are unique, and create a powerful connection between you and your people⁣
🪄 𝘸𝘩𝘢𝘵 differentiates the way you deliver your service or product from everyone else⁣
🪄  𝘸𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦 you’re taking your business in the long run: what’s the number one value that guides your work?⁣
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Even if you started your business out of necessity - like the pandemic yanked away your job stability - these questions are at play in the work you’re doing every day.⁣
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They’re shaping the future success of your business whether you’ve got a handle on them or not.⁣
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So you should probably have a handle on them right? ⁣
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What if I told you that I could help you sort all this out in just a few conversations - and that it could be fun! That we could lay the foundation for a multiple six figure business…. with stories? 🔥⁣
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I’ve worked with clients who do everything from creating handmade, bespoke tea blends to providing leadership coaching. ⁣
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Regardless of industry, if you’re in business and want a framework 100% aligned with your unique stories that maps out your positioning for years to come, I can help. I’d 𝘭𝘰𝘷𝘦 to help. ⁣
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I’ve got 4 spots available to work with me this month. Ready to feel powerful and inspired by your OWN bad self? Let’s talk! Send me a DM or go straight to my calendar and book a call. 😉
Scotland is 𝐬𝐨 beautiful y’all. I went out Scotland is 𝐬𝐨 beautiful y’all. I went out of town for the weekend, to the northeast coast, and I felt - finally - like I was in all the instagram pictures I’ve been swooning over since I moved here.⁣
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Thanks to @emmaseabuckthorn I went cycling and on long walks to cliffs and a castle. I also tried a bunch more Scottish dishes - like Cullen skink! It’s the bomb.com! - and overall felt a lot more grounded to life 𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦. Not inside my computer or across the ocean, where most of my family and friends are. I get lots of comments from y’all about how amazing my life looks, but don’t let the ‘gram fool ya! It’s not all rainbows and I’ve felt painfully lonely at times over the last year and a half here. ⁣
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Anyway, on Monday I spent the day in Edinburgh with a dear friend from high school, who I hadn’t seen in ages, and that was wonderful. We saw the Queen! Like for real for real. We were having a picnic lunch outside her palace and not long after she drove right past us. ⁣
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It feels like summer! And I’m so glad. 😊 How’d you spend your weekend?
Flashback to around this same time in 2017! ⁣
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I was in the studio recording the narration for my story, Rushin to Bacchanal: When Caribbean Festivals Collide, for podcast Afropop Worldwide. ⁣
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This was the culmination of months of interviewing and script writing, a project that built on research I did for my master’s degree on Junkanoo and The Bahamas Junkanoo Carnival. ⁣
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Such fun times! I lived my best life talking to people about their experiences and opinions, and then wrote a story about it! Similar to what I’m doing today. 😊⁣
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What were you up to 4 years ago this month? #fbf
What’re your hobbies? Reading’s one of mine! I What’re your hobbies? Reading’s one of mine! I wasn’t always sure that it actually counted as a hobby, since I’m not physically doing anything, but then I realised - Lots of people find other ways to fill the time that I spend reading! Like, there are other options! 🤭 😄⁣⁣
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Around high school I became uncomfortably aware of the lack of books with characters, settings or contexts like mine. ⁣⁣
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Where were the stories of people from the Caribbean? Little girls who grew up anticipating mangos and scarlet plums, afraid of stingray encounters and taking Emancipation Day (our Juneteenth) for granted? ⁣⁣
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Representation matters, and we can’t rely on people that aren’t us to do all the representing for us. It’s not even that they’re all being wilfully malicious or exclusionary…. they’re just living their own version of normal. ⁣⁣
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So how are you representing yourself in your business? Connecting who you are and the work you’ve done to the bedrock of your marketing and positioning? ⁣⁣
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The meaningful, memorable way you can do all that is through stories. ⁣⁣
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If you need help, we should talk. Book a free, 20 minute call with me and we’ll find one story you can start sharing today! The link’s in my profile. 🙂⁣
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P.S. I literally had a library card before I had a place to live in Glasgow. 😅
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