London trip June 2024

Thursday: Wetherspoons breakfast – shoulder surfing Avengers Infinity War on the train – the Dolphin in Kings Cross (Restaurant Guru Best Pub & Bar in London WTF?) – Beef madras and too much beer at Wetherspoons Hatch End with in-laws – Barry Cryer and split trousers – Watford Central Travelodge – too many not Guylian chocs – headache

Friday: breakfast at Cafe Bianco – Watford charity shops – outrageous Watford graffiti – Kensal Green Cemetery – dilapidated Playhouse – Trellick Tower – Rellik vintage clothing – Athlone Gardens – Lil Peep memorial bench – the Eagle – Cara’s Tasty Goat at Acklam Village Market – Grenfell Tower memorial doves – the Knight of Notting Hill – tube to Farringdon and train to East Croydon – Roosters Piri Piri – Germany 5 Scotland 1

Saturday: breakfast at the English and Continental Bar in the Whitgift Centre – rainy morning – 101 Records – Let Him Have It site at 27-29 Tamworth Road – tram to Wimbledon – charity shops – the Old Frizzle – chess club in South Park Garden – Wimbledon Village and Common – ice cream van for sale – Merton Library Monday Manifesto Club and Jah Wobble jam sessions – rainbow over Croydon – Sainsburys room picnic – Art and Craft CRO

Sunday: Queen’s Gardens – another rainy morning – Jermaine Cools memorial – Zodiac House – train to Whitechapel – Mouse Tail Coffee spinach and feta toast, cardamon knot and banana bread – tube to Moorgate – Neon’s Squiggle – the Barbican gardens and Conservatory – the Old Red Cow – Smithfield Market, Andrew Weatherall tribute at Fabric – Sam Smith’s OBB at the Cittie of Yorke – Store Street – Katsu chicken burger at the Rising Sun – England 1 Serbia 0

Monday: All American at Box Park Breakfast Club – train to Victoria – Pimlico charity shops and Small Faces house at 22 Westmorland Terrace – tube to Warren Street and big carrots – the Prince of Wales Feathers – Burton Street bookshop – Saint Pancras New Church – Scottish Stores – Housmans bookshop – train home

Posted in Uncategorized | Leave a comment

Bower’s bitchy Beckhams book

It’s Glastonbury 2017, and Beckham is “in deep conversation with Mary Charteris, a 30-year-old married party girl, the ultimate cool Sloane Raver.” She is, we learn, famous for “being present at parties where others enjoyed cocaine”. Is she meant to be a cokehead by association? Can one catch cocaine? How do you get famous for that?

From today’s Guardian review of the new Beckhams biography by Tom Bower, which looks to be just as pointless and bitchy as we had been led to believe it would be. Great stuff from Zoe Williams.

Posted in Uncategorized | Leave a comment

Bitter!

As a youth in Yorkshire I used to love a pint of John Smith’s. In London in the 90s we drifted apart, and when they went nitro they just seemed severely uncool. I’ve hardly touched the stuff since.

Now, as an old geezer I really miss bitter in this new world of craft IPAs, but I never consider Smiths, so it was a real surprise to find this guide (where to enjoy John Smith’s in London) in today’s issue of Vittles. Also a surprise that Smiths is number one again. 18 year old me would definitely have approved.

Posted in Uncategorized | Leave a comment

London day trip

I wanted to know if this ageing body of mine was still capable of doing a London day trip bookended by overnight coach trips to and from Edinburgh. I booked the Megabus for a very reasonable £31 return with no seat reservations. There were times when people were sat next to me that I thought I was doing real damage to my knees, and I was in a pretty sorry state when I got off the bus, but I managed a few hours sleep on the return journey and I do think I would do it again.

In a packed itinerary I walked 25944 steps, from Victoria to Russell Square and then Pimlico to Battersea (in the pouring rain). I took in two gallery shows, both now closed (hence the need to go last week): Entangled Pasts at the Royal Academy and Crass at Horse Hospital. I was surprised how small the Gee Vaucher originals were, but I guess that’s a necessary part of producing callage work from magazine images.

I ate at the Regency Cafe in Westminster and the Indian YMCA and enjoyed a pint of bitter in the Angel, which used to be a regular of mine back when I was working at Forbidden Planet (I know, I know, 37 years ago). I like that they still have many of the same theatre posters in the saloon bar at the Angel, but Anthony Sher in Richard III seems to have moved on.

I am interested in the memorials that people leave behind and so this trip I wanted to see the plaque for the Denmark Place fire and the Theatre Street floral tribute to the two bikers who were killed there back in 1998. I didn’t know about the Denmark Place fire back when I worked in Denmark Street and it’s a shocking story.

On the walk to Battersea I found another memorial that I didn’t know about previously, Mary Smith’s Pantry, a foodbank in Pimlico which founder Mike Smith named after his mother.

Posted in Uncategorized | Leave a comment

St Columbas Hospice charity shop haul

The Elizabeth Mavor book is the Ladies of Llangollen.

The St Columbas Hospice shop in Canonmills is the best charity shop for books in Edinburgh in my opinion.

#PaulAusterRIP

Posted in Uncategorized | Leave a comment

International Jazz Day

Happy #InternationalJazzDay to all who celebrate.

Posted in Uncategorized | Leave a comment

Dingwall, Kyle of Lochalsh, Broadford and Muir of Ord trip

I’ve just got back from the Isle of Skye, thanks to the generous ScotRail over 50s deal (for £17, holders of a Club 50 card can get a return ticket to anywhere in Scotland, available until 20th March).

I’ve done previous trips to Dalwhinnie and Wick on the same deal, but this was my first time on the Inverness to Kyle of Lochalsh line. I spent a couple of nights in the Waverley Inn in Dingwall which is very cheap, and provided a base for my day trip to Skye.

I try to be mindful on new rail journeys and just enjoy the view from the window, which is easy on the Kyle line. I saw highland cows, deer, stags and two hours of water and mountains between Dingwall and Kyle of Lochalsh.

Kyle of Lochalsh station is right on the water and I enjoyed a day of sun and blue sky, crossing the Skye bridge by bus to Broadford and then on foot.

On my final day in Dingwall I visited the stone in St Clements churchyard and the Windhill standing stone, south of Muir of Ord.

I bought far too many books from the Blythswood Care shop in Muir of Ord and enjoyed the all day breakfast at Wimpey in Dingwall, although my curly sausage wasn’t curly…

Posted in Uncategorized | Leave a comment

Didn’t that guy used to be in Adam and the Ants?

From this story about a statue of Atlas, found in Sicily.

Posted in Uncategorized | Leave a comment

The Orb and Violeta Vicci at La Belle Angele

I well remember the first time I heard the Orb (A Huge Ever Growing Pulsating Brain That Rules From The Centre Of The Ultraworld, John Peel session, Plashet Grove bedsit, 1989) and their Wikipedia page is a good reminder of why I like music.

I very much enjoyed their show at La Belle Angele last week, along with support from violinist Violeta Vicci:

Posted in Uncategorized | Leave a comment

McDonald Road Library 120th Birthday Party

I had a great time last night at the McDonald Road Library 120th Birthday Party, featuring Elsie MacDonald, Lou Maclean and Suffrajitsu (Suffrajitsu’s Facebook page has pics)

Thanks to Neil Cooper’s Substack newsletter The Noise of Art for the tip off.

Posted in Uncategorized | Leave a comment