Polly Allen
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pollyallen.bsky.social
Polly Allen
@pollyallen.bsky.social
370 followers 220 following 51 posts
Journalist and digital marketing person in Bristol. Usually found writing about culture, travel, mental health, etc. She/her.

https://linktr.ee/pollyallen
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pollyallen.bsky.social
Flashback to when I crashed the Pope’s first papal balcony address in Rome (2013), and took terrible photos. I’m agnostic, but it was amazing to be in the crowd.

I was also impressed with the speed of the local traders in getting Papa Francisco-branded merchandise out.

#PopeFrancis
TV news reporter, a white man holding a microphone, at The Vatican. He is smiling at the camera. Out of focus shot of Pope Francis and other high-ranking Vatican members on the balcony of the Vatican during his first address, 2013. A large red curtain is behind them. The Pope wears white and the others wear red with red caps. Crowded streets after Pope Francis’ first address at The Vatican. People walking include nuns. Out of focus hand and camera in foreground with Vatican balcony in background.
April 22, 2025 at 3:11 PM
pollyallen.bsky.social
Lush book talk last night from Danielle Giles, discussing her debut novel, at @smallcitybookshop.bsky.social.
Mere has a beautiful cover and endpapers. The book is set in 990AD and it looks to be a great historical read. Straight to the top of my TBR pile!
@panmacmillan.bsky.social
#Books
Book cover: Mere, by Danielle Giles. Bright orange/red cover with woodcut-style illustration of a green tree with two nuns gossiping beneath it. Endpapers (inner book cover) of Mere, by Danielle Giles, with woodcut-style image of boat in marshy wet landscape with full moon and trees above.
April 11, 2025 at 3:45 PM
pollyallen.bsky.social
Last weekend I popped up to Ullapool, in Scotland, to see one of my oldest friends get married. Here’s a glimpse of the landscapes (and the local spirits) up there.

#Scotland
Seven Crofts gin bottle with ribbed glass. Seen in shop window. Mountains overlooking Ullapool in Scotland, with a box of daffodils in the foreground and blue sky in background Reservoir architecture in Scottish loch seen from car window with grey cloudy sky above Lochside walkway and promenade at Ullapool with mountains and hills behind
February 21, 2025 at 5:27 PM
pollyallen.bsky.social
The new issue of Breathe magazine has my seven-page feature on art and craft travel in Estonia - printmaking and street art in Tartu, sustainable fashion and design in Tallinn, etc.

@visittallinn.bsky.social @mfaestonia.bsky.social

#Estonia #TravelWriters
February 11, 2025 at 5:03 PM
pollyallen.bsky.social
You’ve got until tomorrow to catch my feature on European culture hotspots for 2025 in @theneweuropean.bsky.social, including Alpes-Maritimes, Leuven, Tallinn, and Zaragoza.

#Travel
Newspaper page open, showing a small section of a feature called ‘Right place, right time’, about European cultural destinations for 2025. The paper is placed on a coffee shop table with a teapot and cups beside it. Customers and tables in the background. Partial cover of The New European newspaper showing Elon Musk holding up a Donald Trump puppet. Newspaper placed on a coffee shop table with teapot behind.
January 7, 2025 at 9:27 PM
pollyallen.bsky.social
I’ve got a stinking cold and I’ve been left to fend for myself today, but I’m excited to start this travel book later. Anyone else got some literary escapism to enjoy?
#JoinIn
Book cover: black and white sand dunes with text overlay reading ‘Writers’ Journeys that Shaped Our World’ by Travis Elborough. Names of various writers dotted around the border of the cover.
December 25, 2024 at 4:36 PM
pollyallen.bsky.social
Accidentally found the greatest Christmas gift that I want to keep for myself: a Frank Lloyd Wright Usonian home model in children’s building blocks.
It’s designed by James Paulius; I’m thrilled to be in the correct age category to use it (6+).

www.areaware.com/products/blo...

#Architecture
Wooden building blocks in the shape of Frank Lloyd Wright architectural design for a Usonian house: very angular and geometric, with red accents and panels. Trees and bushes added as well.
December 8, 2024 at 11:22 AM
pollyallen.bsky.social
I was lucky enough to take a street art tour in Tartu, led by one of Estonia’s street art pioneers, Sirla, founder of Stencibility street art festival.

I spotted brilliant protest art supporting Palestine and Ukraine, quirky portraits, and a strong sticker culture.

#Tartu #StreetArt
Street art on the side of a concrete bridge support in Tartu, Estonia, including a pro-Palestinian artwork, and a sign that says ‘Street art, handle with care’. Stencibility Festival sticker bus, travelling around Tartu city centre, covered in thousands of stickers. Sticker art on a lamppost in Tartu, Estonia, with a large mural of cats in the background. Street art mural on plain concrete wall, showing liberated historical figures rising up with paint cans and rollers in their hands.
November 22, 2024 at 7:48 PM
pollyallen.bsky.social
Tartu is coming to the end of its year as a European Capital of Culture, but the typography of this city, and its support for books, printmaking, heritage and street art, means you’ll always find quirky lettering wherever you go.
#Tartu #Estonia
Estonian language books in a water-stained shop window on a wooden shelf. The most prominent has a blue cover with a vintage-style illustrated tree, and the wording ‘Eesti Luule’. A vintage health and safety sign, in tall lettering and written in Estonian, saying ‘Korgepinge Elukardetav!’ With a lightning bolt symbol. The red lettering and lightning suggest danger. Printmaking wooden letters in an old letterpress tray. The letters are a stylised bold slab serif font, sort of cowboy-esque. Electric fuse box on the street in Estonia, covered in stickers advertising street artists and related events, like the Stencibility Festival. The fuse box is labelled ‘JK BOTAANIKA’ which suggests it is by the Botanical Gardens.
November 22, 2024 at 7:37 PM
pollyallen.bsky.social
The giant IKEA bag installation at Oxford Circus is genius.
Side of building in London with blue panel painted to look like IKEA bag, featuring giant 3-D handles, people are walking past, oblivious.
October 13, 2023 at 7:54 AM
pollyallen.bsky.social
Hello, Bluesky! Entering the chat with this fetching conversation starter: a ‘Slumber Helmet’ from 1927. You’re welcome.
I can’t decide which would be worse: the plain one, or the one with decoration?
Vintage advert for the Ladye Jayne slumber helmet - ‘No elastic - no stretching. Halves the problem of dressing the hair’. Advert contains a young 1920s woman wearing an unflattering fabric netting bonnet with a ribbon tie. She looks awkward.
September 29, 2023 at 12:08 PM