We've had a lot of rain recently. Slight understatement. And the weather seems to affect my spirits more than it used to. How I loved those grim louring skies when I first moved to London. And I do, still, sometimes, when I'm inside looking out, and not worrying about how drenched I'm going to get …
Category: London
excuse me
Where have the last three weeks gone? (I could as well ask the same of the last six months...) I'm just about treading water. No new writing but I have submitted to a poetry pamphlet competition, and heard last week that I've had a short story accepted for Wet Ink magazine in Australia. Gold star …
mucking in and agitating
I've recently discovered a wonderful community garden less than 5 minutes' walk from our flat. Yesterday, the first properly fine day after a long wet week, I dropped by for an hour armed with some onion sets kindly sent to us by Nick's mother in Norfolk. I am a gardening novice, but the Doddington Community …
evening buzz
A fine evening on Friday. Balmy would be overstating it, but spring was in the air, it hadn't rained for over a day, and it was light well beyond eight thirty. Near perfect conditions for the private view of the open studio exhibition at Johnsons Island. Brentford Is Brilliant, banners on the streetlights proclaimed, with …
stones and spots
Two cultural outings in this last week. On Monday, to Kings Place for an evening of challenging music performed by Ilan Volkov and friends. I know Volkov as a conductor and have seen him in this role at a couple of Proms concerts. Monday's event was a very different affair, much more initmate and informal. …
two for a tenner
To the Hayward Gallery yesterday evening and for one ten pound ticket got to see two stimulating exhibitions: Jeremy Deller - Joy in People - an overview of Deller's work from the last 20 years. I really like the spirit of his work: enquiring and politically engaged. He's interested in communities and their (often unheard) …
in a Wapping greenhouse
What a great way to end my working week. We ventured out to Wapping on Maundy Thursday evening to attend a reading in a greenhouse. A clear, cold evening, and after a couple of wrong turns we eventually arrived at our destination: The Wapping Project Bookshop - yes, a bookshop in a greenhouse, located in …
a fair fortnight
Two weeks since we returned from Melbourne, and here are a few things that have eased my adjustment back into London life: The weather. We've had a spell of glorious, almost summery weather. Clear blue skies, temperatures into the low twenties, hazy sunshine. Crisp mornings and balmy evenings. Warm enough to sit outside a pub …
not quite dispelling the blues
A brisk walk around Battersea Park. Looking for signs of spring, and for the rhyme or reason that I'm still wedded to London. I need to gaze at water but The Thames is low, the tide right out. The brightest thing in the park is an out of place wattle tree, shaking its yellow blossoms …
playtime!
I can't resist fresh snow. I have to be out in it, scuff through it, touch it, crump it under foot, marvel at it. I love how it transforms London - ever so briefly - into a magical new place: dazzling, crisp, quiet. Hardly any traffic, and what there is slow moving and muffled. And …
Hilaire 