In later teenage, I considered that the ideal life would be one without many wants or base ambitions, based on a minimum of economic striving, and given to thought and creative expression – probably framed in some degree of solitude. Thoreau and Herman Hesse were whispering in my lug-hole… Then I got distracted by politics,… Continue reading Conrad
From Auriole
I often talk about you with people about how you basically gave Dad such a lease of life in his last years How you helped us all get through the eleven years of what it was like loving, caring and trying to help a triple amputee. I've sought you out for ages. You were a… Continue reading From Auriole
Walkie Talkie – Sky Garden
Eileen Haring Woods inspired. A photo of her and Michael and the caption Free, invited. Easy to get there - bus, underground and a short walk from Bank, along Lombard Street with the building like a bowing flower head at the end. All glass. 20 Fenchurch Street was designed in 2004 by Rafael Viñoly, a… Continue reading Walkie Talkie – Sky Garden
2018 Journey though France
Why The idea was born out of Barry's suffering. Caught in Mauritania, expressed in China, Barry was returned to the UK with full blown shingles in 2017, diagnosed and treated late, it had manifested in his head with terrible scaring on the surface, and deep pain inside. Even the tough East Ender could not deny… Continue reading 2018 Journey though France
2018 Europe with the 3 S’s – Spain
Spain - football, Dali, Guardi, El Grecco, tomatoes, Bullfighting, Civil War, omlets, inquisition, Hemmingway, Ferdinand and Isabella, Picasson's Gurnica Lloret de Mar As we arrived at our first camp we have our first explosion and I walked off to find the sea. What was it about? A curtailment of freedom. B needed his familiarities more… Continue reading 2018 Europe with the 3 S’s – Spain
At Gills
Surrounded by paintings, all with stories, and Gills clothes, in a proper double bed, in Rectory street, Halesworth, on the coldest February night, east wind from Siberia. One painting, Edwardian? of a young blond haired girl carry faggots of hazel on a woodland path, Peter had found in bombed out London, where the oil was… Continue reading At Gills
Great Yarmouth unexpectedly
Gorleston felt along way away, and I’d only do it for a computer. With some sheepish shame and genuine surprise I discovered without it working how much time I spent on it, and relied on it. Evening - turn on the computer, check emails, get lost in Facebook. After a fleeting thought - live without… Continue reading Great Yarmouth unexpectedly
Robert Sheldrake at the Cut
What a coup, we thought, Robert Sheldrake coming to the Cut. Sara, it transpires, has enjoyed him as her tutor when she studied at Schumacher college. He has twinkly eyes, she said, but somehow did not feel intimate on a one to one. She was right about the eyes, and I never got the one… Continue reading Robert Sheldrake at the Cut
Grimston’s Oak at Epping Forest
The pride of [Epping] Forest is its hornbeams. There is no larger forest of hornbeams in England, nor perhaps in the world. Nikolaus Pevsner: The Buildings of England Difficult to imagine now, where I am in little India, Forest Gate, was once the entrance to Epping Forest, and where I run each morning, Wanstead Flats, was the southern… Continue reading Grimston’s Oak at Epping Forest
Trees and woodland in the British Landscape by Oliver Rackham
The cover is of Loch Beninn, which belies the East of England predominance I've gratefully encountered in the book. Gifted to me by Jon Illes for my 60th birthday, in time for his recommendation for our book club (woods the theme), it is book club which drives the read, as like Jennie says, it's like… Continue reading Trees and woodland in the British Landscape by Oliver Rackham
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