[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":11},["ShallowReactive",2],{"blog-post-london-pop-up-festival":3},{"_type":4,"body":5,"bodyHtml":6,"excerpt":5,"featuredImage":5,"publishedAt":7,"slug":8,"tags":9,"title":10},"blogPost",null,"Today's the Fourth of July and as I was hurrying off this morning to my event at the \u003Ca href=\"http://pop-up.org.uk/\">Pop Up Festival of Stories\u003C/a>, there must have been some strange current in the troposphere because my nice floaty dress decided to celebrate its own Independence Day by defying gravity. Repeatedly, incessantly. Sometimes in a big swoosh into the air, and sometimes going aloft in an upward step-by-step crawl. \\r\n\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/popupfest-1-abf187cc4f.gif\">\\r\n\\r\nIt would have carried me up and away over this fine city had I not remembered the advice of my trusty friend Bridget, who said she'd sewn pennies into the hem of her skirt. At the time, I thought she was joking, but this morning it seemed very sound advice, indeed, and since I didn't have time to run home and change, I dashed into a chemist, bought some surgical tape, borrowed some scissors and did the deed with about ten pennies (including a few American coins, which for some reason I never seem to be able to clear out of my bag), while people in the shop looked at me quizzically. A little peek at my handiwork while on the train:\\r\n\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/popupfest2-81b9544148.jpg\">\\r\n\\r\n\u003C!--more Click here for more festival pics under the cut-->\\r\nI was a bit worried the humidity might suddenly make the tape go unsticky all at once and rain down a shower of pennies during my events, but fortunately this disaster passed me by. You'd never know, would you? Look at that illustrator, \u003Ci>so\u003C/i> calm and collected... \\r\n\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/popupfest5-1f4a798ccb.jpg\">\\r\n\\r\nI was so impressed with myself that I spoiled the mystique by showing all the kids my nifty little penny trick. I somehow don't think they were as moved by it as I was. But they drew some very good monsters, here's one of them. It's not the scariest or the most detailed, but I think it's a very pleasing shape. Thanks for all your help and for hosting us, \u003Ca href=\"http://www.camden.gov.uk/ccm/navigation/leisure/libraries-and-online-learning-centres/holborn-library/;jsessionid=30301C98F9A1335CF261843B1DE7D30F.node2\">Holborn Library\u003C/a> staff! We had two school groups come through, from \u003Cb>Christopher Hatton\u003C/b> and \u003Cb>St Joseph's\u003C/b> primaries.\\r\n\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/popupfest4-65b68783e4.jpg\">\\r\n\\r\nHere's lovely \u003Cb>Dylan Calder\u003C/b>, the director who set up the festival and has been one of the busiest people in London these last few days, keeping the whole massive event running over a huge number of sites, which will culminate in a huge festival \u003Cb>this weekend at Coram's Fields\u003C/b>. Have a look at the \u003Ca href=\"http://pop-up.org.uk/festival-programme/\">Pop Up Festival programme\u003C/a>, and you can go see a host of amazing creators - \u003Cb>Fiona Dunbar, Candy Gourlay, Geraldine McCaughrean, Philip Ardagh, Axel Scheffler, Chris Priestley, Catherine Johnson, Michael Rosen, James Mayhew\u003C/b> and others - and join them in fab activities. You can follow Pop Up \u003Ca href=\"http://twitter.com/#!/PopUpFestival\">here on Twitter\u003C/a> and click through a slideshow of events so far in their \u003Ca href=\"http://yfrog.com/h3fpftjjj\">photo album\u003C/a>.\\r\n\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/popupfest3-a7859b3f5d.jpg\">\\r\n\\r\nAnd thanks for the coffee, Dylan! I'm making a note to go back to \u003Ca href=\"http://www.beasofbloomsbury.com/\">Bea's of Bloomsbury\u003C/a>, 44 Theobalds Road, and try one of their macaroons.","2011-07-04T16:07:00.000Z","london-pop-up-festival",[],"london pop up festival",1776628720450]