March 15-21, 2025
SATURDAY 15 Spotted Nic in the audience at the Barbican for a performance of Wynton Marsalis & Co with the London Symphony Orchestra. Marsalis was a musical figure of my youth, so it was pleasing to see he can still blow the arse off a trumpet, as demonstrated at the end of his Symphony 4 The Jungle with an amazing solo of squeals and yelps. Nic was over from Spain on a long weekend with husband José.
SUNDAY 16 An article in the New European argues that the UK should back off cosying up to Donald Trump and instead court Canada as its chief ally in the north Atlantic. I’d be tempted to add Greenland, Iceland and Scandinavia to that alliance.
📌 Re-watching The World At War is a sobering experience.
MONDAY 17 Hitler’s annexation of the Sudetenland area of Czechoslovakia in 1938 is being widely used to warn against accepting the outcome of Trump’s negotiations with Putin on territorial claims over Ukraine.
TUESDAY 18 At last we were able to locate a streaming source for Season 3 of The White Lotus and were instantly wallowing in the incremental intrigue of a bunch of tourists settling into a stay at a health and wellbeing resort in Thailand. Just like on a real holiday you form instant impressions about those around you. There are three 40-ish women on a reunion, trying to be nice to each other. But as soon as one of them goes to bed the other two get the knives out. There are two brothers who are obviously gay but pretending not to be. There are two stupidly mismatched couples. And there is the business mogul who while on holiday is being investigated back home for some kind of financial wrongdoing. And of course there is intrigue among the staff, who are all about to have their own carefully buried secrets unearthed. What is missing at the moment is laughs and, two episodes in, the show is starting to feel like a suspense story rather than a satirical comedy. It is nevertheless extremely absorbing.
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Plus a useful summary of Trump’s proposed peace deal with Putin for Ukraine. More echoes of Hitler and Czechoslovakia in 1938.
WEDNESDAY 19 Today’s session in the gym at the Royal London Hospital gave us more space to spread out and splash the paint. Winnie was once again the standout contributor, settling easily into her own groove exploring colours and patterns. John and Simon held up the social end of the table. Jo told us that “10-second” John, Bobby and Dan had all been discharged. And Michelle went one-on-one with a Polish guy who didn’t seem very comfortable at all and was obviously struggling. Finally, I got Molly and Esther to knock off some pictures.
📌 Had a very long online ruck with DPD, who screwed up a delivery and lost me £90 worth of lovely sparkling white wine.
THURSDAY 20 At the Bomb Factory I joined Sam, Tony, Brian and Johnnie at a table to sit and do exactly what we do in the studio, which is paint, draw, stitch and natter, while exhibition visitors circulated. We were effectively a human zoo of creatives listening to Spotify’s Easy 70s playlist. Affiong joined us later and one of our neighbours, Christine, tapped me on the shoulder saying she decided to pop in on her way to a keep-fit class.
My own task was to carry on with the stitchwork of a frog, which I’d lost interest in but was won back when I started on the face, which seemed to have character. I have provisionally named this piece The Miserable Frog
📌 At a local history walk with the St Luke’s social group we learned that Bunhill graveyard (contains Bunyan, Defoe, Blake and more) was originally Bone Hill because it was a dumping ground for thousands of bodies removed from St Paul’s graveyard. There were so many bodies that bones stuck out visibly from a large mound. We also learned that Golden Lane, our street, was originally Gelding Lane.
📌 After our walk we ate at Pasta Nostra then arrived at St Giles just in time for the election count. All our favourite candidates won, but I think one newly elected councillor, Mercy, was embarrassed when her brother guffawed loudly when she uttered “God Save The King” in response to the Beadle’s forceful instruction for the assembled masses to honour the monarch. My wife mumbled jfjfjfhfhfhf under her breath. I said nothing.
FRIDAY 21 The day after the local elections brings the news of a failed coup attempt in the ward of Castle Baynard. Two of the councillors we most dislike got the boot. Hooray!
📌 Vinca Wine were upset to hear I’d lost my 36 cans of Italian sparkling white because of a screw-up by the delivery form they use and have said they will replace them, and send them via Royal Mail rather than the evil DPD. Hooray!
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📌 A second visit to the Noah Davis exhibition at the Barbican did not warm my frozen blood any more than the first visit. In fact, Davis’s privileged background made me even more skeptical about his art and it’s worth.
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