London. Fascinating place but an absolute bastard when it comes to finding peace and quiet. Anything resembling real countryside is bloody miles away, the parks are filled with joggers, buggy-pushing parents, cyclists and kids; the streets are simply full. My recent lightbulb moment was the realisation that cemeteries are usually empty, save for dead people, and give some opportunity to walk quietly while smelling wet grass and trees rather than exhaust fumes and Lynx. The bonus in London is that some graveyards have famous residents… And so, by bus, train, then another bus to cover the six miles between here and there, I went to see Sandy Denny’s final resting place at Putney Vale Cemetery, between Richmond Park and Wimbledon Common. It’s a simple grave: a horizontal rectangle of stone marking its limits, covered in green gravel, the headstone reading, line by line, The Lady // Alexandra Elene // MacLean Lucas // (Sandy Denny) // 6.1.47 – 21.4.78 Her birth name was Alexandra Elene MacLean Denny – MacLean from her Scottish granny while Lucas came from Trevor Lucas, the Australian musician she married in 1973. I didn’t know any of this until the last couple of days, searching it out » Continue Reading.