when early summer is here. As a poet almost said.
I love London on long holiday weekends. Quietens down. Thins out. You can find seats on transport, tables in restaurants. And space. In open places. Your space.
Ran back to my place from hers earlier. Got a coffee. Sat on the top of Primrose Hill. Saw what I saw and felt happy.
So, wherever you are, England or elsewhere, hope you have a good weekend.
Feel free to post a song, an image, some thoughts about where you are, what you’re doing
http://i.imgur.com/zeu4EJd.jpg
Finley Quaye
English as tuppence.
Diggin’ holes, but for flowers and bushes rather than cables and drains….
Howzabout this one
Magic. The voice of Mahalia Jackson came through the ether. Swoon.
…and the companion clip from Montreux 1980 hides the sweetest, most mellifluous guitar solo you could wish to hear on a warm afternoon…
You could choose a great many Ralph McTell songs. This is one of my favourites.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Syj5oEtmUww
And a photo taken a couple of weeks ago n the lovely Shropshire village of Little Stretton.
[url=https://flic.kr/p/sf3sJo][img]https://c2.staticflickr.com/6/5465/17224187058_751bf65fc8_z.jpg[/img][/url][url=https://flic.kr/p/sf3sJo]P1040931[/url] by [url=https://www.flickr.com/photos/121104595@N05/]Nick Lee[/url], on Flickr
I’m not in England. I filmed round my home today though as I went for my Sunday run. The videos so shaky it’s unwatchable. That’s cos I was running. Like, duh:
Coo! You run fast!
Thank you. That’s the nicest thing anyone’s ever said to me.
That was brilliant @gary. But I do feel I need to go and lie down and take it easy now.
Looks really idyllic. with all the olive trees, stone walls etc.
And so few cars and people. But I suspect it was fairly early in the morning.
It’s always like that where I live, KFD. I live pretty rural, albeit just five mins drive from a town (Monopoli). I lived in cities (London, Canterbury, Bari) for most of my life. Never saw myself living in the country. But I have done so for ten years now and I wish I’d chosen to years before.
The dry stone walls and the olive trees are two of the characteristic things I love most about Puglia (along with the red soil and the ‘trulli’).
I love the fact that you live near Monopoli. As long as you don’t have to jail too often!
Hey Gary! I’m just down the road from you, near Locorotando. Puglia is lovely, you have chosen a great place to live. Last night it looked like this.
http://i34.photobucket.com/albums/d125/botlblonds/DSC_6730.jpg
Tonight it’s raining.
Wow , Chiz! On family hols? Lemme know via PM if you wanna do a meet and greet and I’ll buy you lunch! (But no worries at all if you can’t, I totally understand).
(Having said that I have no idea how PM works).
Ps. Chiz, whether you’d fancy meeting up or prefer to stay with family, you must try the food in one of the restaurants around Monopoli’s beautiful port. Amazing seafood! I’d recommend Il Guazzetto (but they’re all good). Get the antipasto della casa. Mmm-mmmmmm.
I’ve sent you a PM – hope you can find it. (Start from the little fat bald bloke-shaped icon in the top right corner)
Found and sent reply.
Puglia is amazing. I went on me hols to Alberobello a while back and have always meant to go back.
I love Puglia. Went there a couple of years ago. It’s not stunningly beautiful like Tuscany or Amalfi perhaps but has an understated elegance and a certain quirky charm.
Apparently, it’s an important industrial area too. Something you’d never know when you’re enjoying a Prosecco in the square in Martina Franca. Bizarrely, I had a great Thai Japanese fusion meal in Lecce. And the Trulli houses of Alberobello are just mad. And enchanting.
An Italian friend once said to me that Italians have the lifestyle the French think they have. In Puglia, I began to understand what she meant.
My bedroom is a trullo. It’s well cool (in both senses of the word). Gotta admit I do love Puglia too. Living in Italy can be madly infuriating at times, but it can also be heaven!
The soft fade to a good day
Bobby Hutcherson
Nocturnal
……when the really rather good England Test Match Cricket team win a Test.
Match of the match?
Stokes, Root, Ali……nah…….Alistair Cook.
I spent the weekend at the Bearded Theory festival. There was lots of sitting on the grass in the sun, a lot of cider drinking, plenty of Asian food, a fair bit of silliness, a nonconformist heart, and a whole load of people making music out of doors. All very English, in it’s own way.
I went to the edge of England today, to Wrabness in Essex to see Grayson Perry’s a House for Julie. To my mind Perry epitomises an important strand of eccentric English creativity (respect for craft, favouring narrative and reflection over shock and sensation) and I’m a big admirer. What better way to spend a bank holiday Monday in England?
http://i474.photobucket.com/albums/rr107/Gatz_photos/Optimized-Julie%20001.jpg
I used to live round the corner from Primrose Hill, in Chalk Farm. Lovely area, just down the road from Camden, and walkable to central London. Jealous!