George Clooney and a backpack

See the new George Clooney movie Up in the Air - the trailer makes it seems more interesting than it is... (though it has good reviews, perhaps I missed the point.)
But there is a backpack! And Clooney as Ryan Bingham, the apparently shallow, heartless, womanising (albeit gorgeous) motivational speaker uses it as a motif for the baggage that we carry through life.
His backpack is very light. He has no real relationships - just casual sex. Nowhere truly 'homelike' just a clinical white shell of an apartment. He exists in a world of airports and hotels, frequent flyer miles and hire cars. (Endless promotional opportunities in the film for American Airlines and Hilton - one of the things I found irritating).
But - it's interesting that he uses the backpack as a metaphor, carrying emotional baggage as well as material possessions.
Our new map/suitcases in I Packed This Myself also pose questions about the baggage you carry when you travel. Whether emotional or material. With the aim of linking this to individual and collective ideas of identity.

Daniel Defoe on migrant workers

Am reading A Journal of the Plague Year by Daniel Defoe, with a preface by Anthony Burgess. Burgess mentions Defoe's satire, the True-Born Englishman, written in 1703 and attacking xenophobia and intolerance of immigrants.

"These are heroes who despise the Dutch,
And rail at new-come foreigners so much!
Forgetting that themselves are all derived
From the most scoundrel race that ever lived!"

Three hundred years on and we still have xenophobia and intolerance of immigrants.
Later talk to a friend who says he often finds, when he gets home and takes off his coat, that he has been spat at . (He was brought up in the UK but his family originated elsewhere.) He generously says the people (who spat) just don't 'get' what he considers the essence of being British i.e. a core tolerance.

What is the essence of being British?

Another early phone call - plus a review

An early phone call from John Childs, head of art at Chenderit. The school is closed for the second day running - a foot of snow has fallen overnight. So the exhibition will not open tonight. Possibly on Sunday, weather permitting.

Later in the day am delighted to see a review of I Packed This Myself on Global Dimension, a website funded by DFID (the government's Department for International Development) promoting educational resources.
Why Global Dimension? From the website...

The global dimension explores our connections with the rest of the world. With a global dimension to their education, learners can engage with complex global issues and explore the links between their own lives and people, places and issues throughout the world.

An early call from Blackburn and other messages

Snow falls across the country. An early call from Saj at Tristar Printers in Blackburn. Their courier service didn't work yesterday due to the snow. Saj lives a five minute drive away from the factory but it took him 40 minutes yesterday. So our A3 card leaflets to accompany I Packed This Myself won't be delivered to Chenderit School until Thursday.
But Chenderit proves to be closed today, anyway. And to judge from the weather forecast, possibly tomorrow too.
Have a meeting with Hannah Walker to discuss developing the Education Pack.
And Jack Seal in Cornwall has been admirably active on the phone. Jack is a 3D design student at University College Falmouth and a whirlwind of energy. He created a brilliant suitcase for I Packed This Myself when it opened in Camborne (see this Guardian gallery) and arrived at the private view straight from the beach where he had been surfing ( I remember). He has tracked down a printer who might be able to print our new suitcases with maps of metaphorical journeys on to corrugated plastic. Excellent.

An icy trip to Chenderit School, Banbury. The service station car park transformed by the frost. I Packed This Myself opens there at the Michael Heseltine Gallery on Thursday and will run for just over a month. Art head John Childs has printed up Tom Pilston's photos of migrant workers in Cornwall. And we will be unveiling our new suitcases with maps of metaphorical journeys by Glyn Goodwin...Local primary schools will each contribute a suitcase.

Putting together the new cases

Another busy day. A lot to cram in post the holidays.
Off first thing to Kensal Green to buy dried cod (bacalhau) from a Portuguese grocery shop (very lively early on a Sunday morning.) Picked up a calendar, too, with Portuguese and UK holidays marked with respective national flags. Then back to the office to make up the new folding suitcases with our designer, David Cross. Pack up the car, ready for the trip to Chenderit School, Banbury, later (install tomorrow). A great plus when transporting suitcases:  you can pack them inside each other like Russian dolls.

A long day and the suitcases travel to London

A long day. Left Cornwall with the suitcases at 7am when it was still dark. And frosty. Everything only just fitted into the car.
I Packed This Myself is due to open at Chenderit School, Banbury, this Thursday, 7 January .
Install Monday 4 January.