On Tuesday I was privileged to go on a free tour of the National Trust property 575 Wandsworth Road. This was part of an event for the National Park City Festival, a week of events to celebrate London being declared the first National Park City in the world, and encouraging Londoners to get out and …
Continue reading An extraordinary house, and promming at Battersea Arts Centre
That was my May, and I'm still recovering. I eased into the month with a double reading at Loose Muse on 8th May. In the first half, Joolz Sparkes and I read from our joint collection London Undercurrents, recently published by Holland Park Press. Over the five or so years that we've been working on …
Continue reading Three readings, a workshop, a virus and a Fun Day
My month ahead, I mean, not the Prime Minister. No, no, no. May is looking a bit crazy for me, but I'll get through it. Scratch that. I'll ENJOY it! (Thanks, Joolz, for the 'be more dog' tip!) First up, on Wednesday 8th May, Joolz Sparkes and I are featured readers at Loose Muse, London’s …
I'm taking part in The Poetry Society’s second Poem-A-Thon, which aims to raise funds to help the Society continue their fantastic work promoting poetry and supporting poets across the country. The event is on Saturday 18th May from 12noon to 10pm at The Poetry Café, and features SIXTY poets, reading for 8 minutes each. Having …
Continue reading on your marks… for The Poetry Society’s Poem-A-Thon
It's a week now since I got back from a month away in Australia, visiting family in Melbourne. I'm finally over the jet lag, and getting back into the swing of London life. I was very glad that Nick could come with me on this trip, my first "home" in nearly 3 years. It makes …
A long time ago... briefly... but it's true, ABBA alighted in Battersea in 1976, when they were promoting their album Arrival. Back then, I was a teenager in Melbourne, an ABBA fan, and although London was on my radar, I doubt I'd heard of Battersea. There's a photo of me on Christmas morning, delightedly clutching …
I won first prize in the City Harvest Holiday Poetry Competition! My first first prize, and City Harvest's first poetry competition. And it all came about thanks to the local surplus food project, Waste Not Want Not, that Nick and I have benefited from over the last couple of years. WNWN circulated details to all their contacts a …
Continue reading how my breakfast inspired a prize winning poem
There was a long stretch when I didn't seem to be dreaming. Certainly, I couldn't remember any dreams when I woke in the morning. I can't pinpoint when this began, but it bothered me. There'd been a period, many years ago, when I'd kept a dream diary of sorts, but I'd fallen out of the …
The Balham housewife who transcribed compositions dictated to her by dead composers including Liszt, Chopin and Brahms. Mock mayoral elections held on Garratt Lane in the 18th century, accompanied by much debauchery. Donkey racing and pigeon shooting on the banks of the Thames, where Battersea Park now stands. These are some of the weird and wonderful …
For several weeks now, I've had a particular song going round in my head. It's by The Triffids, one of my favourite ever bands, and appropriately, the song is Hell of a Summer. You can listen to it here on YouTube, and maybe listen to the rest of their classic album Treeless Plain. It's certainly …
Hilaire 