Arts
Kenneth Essex’s 101st Birthday Challenge
My name is Kenneth Essex and I will be 101 on 20th July 2021. I intend, starting on 11th July, to do a sponsored walk of two 500m circuits from my house, each day for [more…]
Culture
Arts
The Swaling, Part Sixty Three
Pandemonium has broken out. “Why the f___ would I want to marry you? Why would anyone want to marry you?” Natasha is yelling and has started to throw things about. At first, Jakey laughed so [more…]
Arts
A Rose by Any Other Name – A Beginner’s Guide to Perfumes
Even before I became obsessed with plants, I was fascinated by perfumes. As a small child, working on the premise that more is more, I remember mixing several bottles of my mother’s precious scents into [more…]
Arts
The Swaling, Episode Sixty Two
I’m in the lobby of an Islington apartment block. Natasha has directed me and my ward, a wet and dripping pushchair containing a toddler called Jakey, to the lift. Too small for the three of [more…]
Arts
Rough Gardening In A Pandemic & 40 Things To Do…….
An eventful couple of weeks on the political front has culminated in a horny Government Minister apologising (and having his apology accepted by the PM), not for shagging his bit of spare, but for “Breaking [more…]
Arts
The Swaling, Part Sixty-One
We are in Battishill Street Gardens, Islington. It is raining. Myself, Natasha Williams and Jakey the borrowed toddler are sat on a bench, sheltered by a tree, next to bushes over-growing a monument. Natasha had [more…]
Arts
The Year Turns, Part 6
Litha Litha is the name given to the summer solstice. While the rest of the sabbats that make up the Wheel of the Year have reasonably secure roots in past beliefs and traditions, ‘Litha’ has [more…]
Arts
The Swaling, Part Sixty
It is nineteen eighty-four. If Big Brother is watching he will observe myself, my colleague Natasha Williams and a disguise enhancing borrowed toddler (called Jakey) in a pushchair hunkered on a bench beneath a tree. [more…]
Arts
A Whimsical Look at the Gentleman’s Club
I am & have been a London clubman most of my life. I have been accused of being a Wodehousian character over the years, I am happy with that, his characters, even the villains are [more…]