A Day In The Life - Dyke4Dykes

This time we asked Polly and Izzy who run Dyke4Dyke together and have shared their parallel days.

Polly - Not pictured is a classic frantic hungover morning routine. Including but not limited to three alarm snoozes, gagging at an overflowing food bin in my student house and messaging Izzy to complain about it all. Pictured is my prized possession, a beautiful
red Bobbin Bike. Manchester is one of the flattest cities in the U.K so it is the perfect
place to take up cycling. The cycle from mine to the library should take twelve minutes,
today a combination of heat and hangover means it takes me nearly twenty, not a great
start.

Izzy - 7:45am : Abruptly woken up by aggressive drilling from the construction work that is currently taking place outside my flat.
8:50am : Decided to finally get up after trying to fall back asleep - not in a great mood but it’s sunny so not all is bad.
10:30am : Finally eating breakfast after faaar too much faffing about, never quite sure how I manage this. Eating miso noodle
soup for breakfast this week #health.
11:29am : 10 minute bus journey to campus.
11:42am : Walking into uni listening to the playlist Polly made for me the other night as I come across this lovely patch of sunlight
peeking thru the bushes.

Polly - I arrive at the library just in time for a lunch break with some friends. A tuna wrap and a daisy chain later I am ready to lock in. On my laptop I am working on my second-year research project for my History degree, titled ‘Labelling the lesbian: conflicting
identities of gay women in Britain 1945-70'. In my notebook I am organising our fourth
issue Dyke4Dyke launch for the end of June. My degree has a much more pressing
deadline, but zine planning admin is far more enjoyable. The two go hand in hand well
though.

Izzy - 11:54am : Realise I’ve forgotten my student card and therefore won’t be able to do any work. Text Polly to aggressively rant about this situation.
12:07pm : Realise that sitting around all pissed off won’t change anything. Head to info desk to buy a new card. Unfortunately, I am dedicated to my craft.
12:25pm : Start working on a secret little project in the riso room. Tried working on this earlier in the week and failed miserably thanks to the temperamentally of riso printing and my lack of knowledge on navigating the machine.
12:32pm : Realise my new student card does not in fact work yet.
12:40pm : Overcome this issue with just a little bit of socialising that I was for some reason trying to avoid, for lack of looking like I don’t know what I’m doing.
2:15pm : Several failed attempts and misprints later, I have successfully printed 9 things. Now off to walk to my yoga class for 3pm.

Polly - I feel a day in the life must be realistic so here I am hours later in the same spot working on the same project! A few smoke breaks and a call to Izzy to discuss launch party details have broken up the grind but I am still flagging. I ate an apple funny and thought it looked like boobs, maybe all the lesbian content has gone to my head?

Izzy - 3:00pm : Realise I have in fact gone to the wrong yoga studio and therefore missed my 3pm class (not an uncommon occurrence).
3:05pm : Head to Arnolfini cafe to at least try to be productive for the remainder of the afternoon.
5:00pm : Spend a few hours flicking between tabs and getting distracted by menial tasks.

Polly - It’s a sunny afternoon so to enjoy it to the full I exit the library swiftly. I meet up with my course mates for a pint and stop at a park on my cycle home to read the new Joan Didion I picked up. I’m thoroughly enjoying it although it’s not exactly a sunny read. I
call Izzy again to catch up on our days and complain that we are going on separate
nights out, the woes of long distance.

Izzy - 5:20pm : Give up on working for the day and sit by the harbour momentarily to decompress after a looong hard day as a fine art student. I love living near a body of water in a city.
5:47pm : Head home to spend far too long cooking and preparing dinner for myself. It’s almost meditative for me. Like father like daughter I suppose.
7:13pm : Call Polly, finish cooking, and escape my disgustingly dirty shared kitchen. Fried sardines, miso rice, and spinach for dinner tonight (same as most nights this week, student life aye).

Polly - My Friday night is probably best left mostly unpictured. A pesto pasta dinner to line the stomach and some tequila and ginger beer is my go-to combination. We go from
bedroom pres to a carnival themed birthday party and end up at The White Hotel. It’s a
great night out and as we leave to get in our uber home we are greeted by a glorious
sunrise. Six hours at the library, six hours at the club – a delicate balance.

Izzy - 8:45pm : I rush to get out the door in time before happy hour ends at the pub. Miss the happy hour deal and end up spending too
much money on semi-shit pints of lager for the rest of the night.
9:00pm onwards : Honestly, not too sure. But I did wake up with a pounding head and level of remorse that signals to my brain - I talked a lot of shit last night.