Lovejit Dhaliwal
Documentary filmmaker
London

Favourite thing: Notebook

I use it when I suddenly see things when I’m out on the street. You just want to remember sometimes. Instead of memorising visually what that person is, I get my notebook and I just scribble it down. I write out little sketches. I’ve done that for years, ever since I was a teenager.

I have a collection of notebooks somewhere. They’re all scattered. They’re all full of stuff like this; full of sketches of very interesting-looking people I happen to see or meet or pass by. I don’t look back at them. I probably should. I should actually do something with it.

“There was this really elderly lady…I’m sure I wrote a little story about where she was going, what she was up to that day”

I remember this one time I was on the tube, and there was this really elderly lady – she must have been in her 80s. She was kind of bent over. She was wearing this olive green colour. It wasn’t just like one item – her hat was olive green, her jacket was olive green, her skirt. She was all very prim and proper. She was wearing round glasses. And I just called her “Miss Turtle” because, I think partly the colour, and because she was sort of bent over. She had a backpack on her back. I’m sure she was carrying either 2 bags or 2 suitcases as well. That image of her really stuck in my mind and I just thought, where is this woman going? I’m sure I wrote a little story about where she was going, what she was up to that day. Again I haven’t gone back to it. I probably should.