Category Archives: Change
Rehashing (ii)
It’s a strange feeling to revisit some of my old Canvas columns. Last week I was trying to write a short piece for Essential Services, a new magazine by former Metro editor Henry Oliver, about writing a column and why … Continue reading
Balcony
‘You need to think, and thinking well is the hardest thing in the world to do.’ —Vivian Gornick I was sitting on a balcony above a sea of heads, close to the edge, looking down on a lit stage. … Continue reading
We should catch up. Let’s catch up
1. I started out this morning thinking maybe I’d write something about Poetry Night (which, by the way, you should record a poem for and send to me immediately) but I got distracted by the Frank O’Hara poem where Frank sees a note on … Continue reading
Six inches under water
Then it seemed to be getting dark – or was it that the trees were stealing the sunlight and keeping it above their heads? – “The Reservoir”, Janet Frame “If you look at the whole bush, it’s too much. Look … Continue reading
Describe your street. Describe another street. Compare
Not the exotic any more, but the endotic. – Georges Perec, L’infra-ordinaire (The Infra-ordinary) Around 2004 a French author called Michel Dansel carried out a burying-the-verb ceremony at Sorbonne University in Paris. A few hundred guests attended – academics and writers, … Continue reading
Rust
It’s been a while since I’ve written a bicycle post, so here is one. It will be the equivalent of a quick spin down to the dairy and back. While sometimes I’ve felt an overwhelming misanthropy out on the road … Continue reading
A scattering
‘Good luck and believe me, dearest Doc – it’s better to look at the sky than live there. Such an empty place; so vague. Just a country where the thunder goes and things disappear.’ Truman Capote, Breakfast at Tiffany’s by … Continue reading
Early signs of autumn
You may find you have a few extra house guests as butterflies and ladybirds seek warm spaces to sleep through the colder months. Please report any ladybird findings to the UK Ladybird Survey. – ‘Welcoming the Changing Seasons’, BBC Nature … Continue reading
Finished, it’s finished, nearly finished, it must be nearly finished
CLOV: The end is terrific! HAMM: I prefer the middle. (Pause.) Is is not time for my pain-killer? Endgame by Samuel Beckett This post is in memory of all unfinished works. If there is not already an International Celebration of … Continue reading
That ain’t right
It was a work of colossal administration. First came a kind of slow-leak effect, giving me the immediate worry that Kingsley, when fully deflated, would sprawl out into the street on both sides of the island, where there were cars, … Continue reading
