Mosaics

Spurred on by the sheer beauty of the mosaics we saw at St.Mark's Basilica in the summer, Sabine and I decided to learn the craft and so spent a happy 6 hours cutting and sticking bits of tile in a workshop in Brighton. We may have a long way to go, but we can hold our heads high with our first attempts. The lizard will be taken to its new home in Italy at the end of this month when mum and I return to San Ginesio for a chestnut festival. How chestnut festivities can last a weekend remains to be seen. As an aside, I learned today that the word “basilica” denotes the fact that a church houses the remains of a saint.

Regents Canal

The Regents Canal is at the bottom of my road and a favourite route of mine for jogging, largely because it is flat. I think combining running and hills is sheer tomfoolery. There are many sites to distract me from the boredom of a slow trot and I have posted pictures of two of them here. One is an attempt by the council to humanise the Haggerston Estate, which has a poor reputation locally, by displaying huge portraits of residents on the side of the flats, accompanied by the words "I am here". Another, a multi-coloured wall of a warehouse that backs onto the canal, is the work of a Japanese artist Yuko Shiraishi. Both brighten up the area. I was running along the canal last week and a cyclist stopped at the entrance to a tunnel, to let me pass and when I'd run past him I heard a splash. I turned round and he must have been too close to the edge and toppled in. He was so embarrassed as I helped him pull his bike out and then he cycled back home dripping wet and trailing weed.

Those of a nervous disposition look away

I went on a free guided walk around Holborn this morning, aptly named "Horrible Holborn". The guide didn't hold back with the grisly details of executions, to the extent that the man standing next to me actually fainted. I know people faint at the sight of things but I've never known anyone to keel over at a description. We started the tour in Whetstone Park which was famous for being a centre for prostitution in the eighteenth century and where Francis Grose went to research his book "Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue" a collection of slang terms including "gollumpus" a large, clumsy person and "bum fodder" which means "lavatory paper". Okay that one's more rude than slang but I am adding it to my lexicon. Grose and his assistant Tom Cocking (I am not making this up) took midnight walks through London, picking up slang words in slums, drinking dens and dockyards and adding them into their 'knowledge-box'. The tour finished outside a pub where Dennis Nilsen, the serial killer of the 1980's, picked up one of his victims. He used to work at the job centre around the corner where, to save money one Christmas, the workforce decided to self cater their staff party and everyone brought in something to share. It came out at Nilsen's trial that the pans he cooked his contribution in, were the same as the ones in which he boiled up his victims. Brings a whole new meaning to Pot Luck suppers.

The Glamorous '30s

The summer is well and truly over in Islington, leaves are falling on the patio and I am contemplating turning the central heating on. I check the weather in San Ginesio most days and at the moment it's 25 degrees and sunny and I wish I was there but I am back in London looking for work, which is slow going, but I have high hopes that something will turn up soon. I went to the Victoria & Albert Museum on Friday tonight for a tour entitled "The glamorous '30s". We started with Charles Sareant Jagger's Art Deco bronze relief called "Scandal" which was commissioned by Henry and Gwen Mond as a humorous reference to their early ménage à trois with the writer Gilbert Cannan. In Scandal they stand naked before outraged onlookers who peer at them with hands raised in horror. Apparently Gilbert was involved in a traffic accident outside their house and Gwen decided that he should recuperate at their home and then one thing led to another... Most shocking. We also saw a beautiful, jeweled headband that belonged to Countess Mountbatten, who married at the age of 20 and then "embarked on 2 decades of frivolity" as I read somewhere. I am contemplating amending my CV. Did you know that cigarette holders come in 4 lengths? Opera, theatre, dinner and cocktail to reflect glove lengths - wrist, elbow and full-length. How did I get this far in life without knowing that?

Seconds out, round one.

I went for my weekly boxing workout this morning. It is such brilliant fun it doesn't feel like exercise. The guy in the blue T shirt is Paul, my trainer. And there is never any point in trying to make an excuse for why I can't do something because something aches. We just work around it. I don't hit people, I hit bags, although one of my brothers suggested I should start hitting people and he'd give me a list. I think he was joking.

It's official, summer ends this Tuesday

I spoke to a friend in San Ginesio yesterday and they said it is very hot and humid there and the sunshine is set to continue. However the open air pool is only open June to August so sadly it closes this Tuesday until next year. So summer is officially over and it's back to school.

Rude Britannia

I have decided to keep the blog going but it's going to be "Autumn in London". And from the weather today I am being optimistic. It just won't stop raining. Wet and miserable. But it does save me from sweeping up the entrance in preparation for my neighbour coming home from his holiday. He is so neat and tidy (hoovers his decking which I am sure he won't mind me sharing with you) that I feel I ought to clean up the rubbish that blows in from the street. Also we had strong winds the other day and his tomato plants were almost blown over. His flatmate has tied them up but they aren't upright and I am worried that if I try and correct this, the main stems will snap. I went to Tate Britain yesterday to see "Rude Britannia" an exhibition of British Comic Art. Each room is curated by a guest editor like Harry Hill (never understood the fuss myself) and Viz (purile I know but absolute genius). Someone showed me a copy of Viz when I was at university, which wasn't long after it launched and I couldn't believe a publication could get away with being so rude and un politically correct. Anyway the Viz room was very very funny and I kept laughing out loud and getting strange sidelong glances. I have no idea what the picture of the man and dog was doing in the exhibition but I liked it. And the letter is an extract from Viz.