28 Days

Caroline Thomas

10 – 30 September 2023

28 days is the approximate time it takes for the moon to orbit the Earth.

28 days is the average length of a human menstrual cycle.

28 days is the length of a holiday I took to the UK in July this year, leaving Wellington on day one and leaving London on day 28.                                             

This piece is a representation of those 28 days – each number marks the different days and the different phases of the moon during that time in July.

I set myself the task of noting down one positive thing from each day of my holiday as a riposte to my past experience of many years of trying to have a baby against a persistent metronomic 28-day cycle which ultimately denied me that future.

On first glance, the constituent pieces of this work look relatively organised and regular. However, on second glance it becomes obvious that none of the elements are similar. The lack of formal measurement and placement by eye gives me pleasure, as I have learned through grief that embracing the random can be a means of survival.

The 28 positive things I saw or did on my holiday:

Day 1 Seeing London from the air was emotional, the Push Play building, the Shard, Buckingham Palace, Wembley Stadium, Kew Gardens. Later, travelling on the Elizabeth line, the huge variety of types and number of humans was awe-inspiring.

Day 2 Acquiring two very pleasingly coloured yellow fabric ties that were tying up some new IKEA towels - the perfect shade of sandy but strong golden yellow. I’m already wondering how they can be incorporated into jewellery.

Day 3 The nostalgic sound of wood pigeons cooing in the early morning.

Day 4 Feeling ridiculously buoyed up by positive reaction to my work from a gallery in NZ.

Day 5 “Thursday is the new Friday” – the comment of a stranger on the tube when she overheard me remarking to Kate how busy it was at eleven in the evening on the Jubilee line.

Day 6 The bosky beauty of the Welsh countryside seen from the top of a double-decker bus.

Day 7 Witnessing beautiful craft in Ruthin.

Day 8 Getting back to London from North Wales in time to see the sunset over the Thames in Greenwich.

Day 9 Revelling in the ubiquity and choice of public transport in London.

Day 10 The joy of meeting Magda after 50 years and sitting on Blackheath, both feeling anchored in our childhood landscape.

Day 11 Drinking with my brother and Dave in a proper boozer, the Scarsdale in Edwardes Square.

Day 12 Listening to entertaining work stories from Mathilde, a tour guide taking a group of Americans to Paris on the Eurostar.

Day 13‘Julie & Caroline’, the name of a cafe in Lyon which I and my friend Julia enjoyed.

Day 14 Thankful to have realised I had left my phone in the loos at Lyon Part Dieu train station only minutes after I had done it, rather than later on in my journey when it would have been too late.

Day 15 Going to the Older and Wider podcast recording, drinking wine in the theatre and laughing like a drain.

Day 16 “Of course I talk to myself, I’m a good listener” – quote from my dear friend Dodie.

Day 17 Spending time with Iain and revisiting the budgie story.

Day 18 Loving the glorious architecture of Devon towns and villages and the beauty of the Devon countryside.

Day 19 Walking through Greenwich Park at night just before closing.

Day 20 Felt like a grown up after making a successful pensions phone call.

Day 21 Visiting Sutton Hoo in the rain.

Day 22 The bliss of sleeping in my own bed after living out of a suitcase for a while.

Day 23 Revisiting the Lewis chessmen in the British Museum

Day 24 Walking through Greenwich Park at night and seeing a fox.

Day 25 The glorious serenity of the dining room upstairs at Mallow restaurant after making our way through the boiling hordes of folk at Borough Market outside.

Day 26 Going to Woolwich on the bus and feeling thankful that the local junk shop man took my decrepit Lloyd Loom chair under his wing, after I unsuccessfully tried to give it away on a local free stuff website.

Day 27 Drinking and eating at The Old Joinery and the Ashburnham Arms in Greenwich.

Day 28 Watching ‘Kajillionaire’ and ‘Hedwig and the Angry Inch’ on the plane from London to Vancouver.

Caroline Thomas website: carolinethomas.co.nz | Instagram: @carolinethomasjewellery