Friday 16 March 2012

One fine day........

On my way to the bus stop I passed a catering sack of long-grain, Chinese rice; ripped open, half empty, it stood about 2' high, leaning against a school fence. Why?


I took the bus to the train station and noticed the hazy dome of St.Paul's looming above a Victorian terrace, flanked by the cranes of much new building work in the city; the sun bouncing off the the gold, reflecting the past into the future.


I went to Hertford to film a hair salon and discovered, hidden down an alley, Manic Munchies: a red and white, spotted cafe full of delicious, homemade cake.


I had dinner with my dead friend's husband and kids, the eldest has learnt to cook and made a fabulous supper with these excellent oven-baked potatoes.......


....and cookies her Mum would have been proud of. It was an evening full of fun and food and wonder at how much can happen in a year.


I went home, too sad to sleep and watched Luck, recorded from Sky Atlantic. It is utterly amazing. It's about horse racing, I think. Actually, I have no idea what is going on at all and I have watched several episodes. It has Dustin Hoffman and Nick Nolte and Ian Hart and Michael Gambon and Joan Allen. In a telly show. But everything about it is brilliant, the acting, the music, the characters..... you don't need to know what's going on you just disappear from your own world and hang-out at a race track in the sun.......

To tip: Lucian Freud Portraits at the National Portrait Gallery, catch it while you can.

15 comments:

  1. It is amazing what can happen in a day. I am lost in the thought of hanging out anywhere in the sun right now. It's deluge season here right now.

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  2. Hasselback potatoes, I call those. Someone (a great cook) I used to share a house with used to make them.

    Saw some Lucien F portraits in Kendal last year. Great stuff - one of those tiny fraction of artists doing something new in an established genre.

    I do enjoy your jaunts round (and out of) town YAH.

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  3. I love your explorations around London. How strange is that sack of rice? I love the cranes in the background, it reminds me of an amazing Channel 4 documentary I saw a couple of years ago recording conversations with the drivers. x

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  4. Paging James Joyce - What a day



    Aloha from Waikiki
    Comfort Spiral

    >< } } ( ° >

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  5. I thought the rice may have been included in one of those experiments that school pupils try.

    They're supposed to look after a sack of rice or flour as if it was a baby... In this case, massive FAIL.

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  6. The abandoned pack of rice reminded me of the photo taken during the city riots & looting of a boy holding up a large pack of value rice & grinning. The caption read, " His mother is so proud of him !
    Love the photo with St Paul's in the distance.
    It was lovely to hear about your friend's husband & children the potatoes & cookies look fab !

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  7. What a day ..... would love to know the story behind the sack of rice and that image of the Victorian terrace of houses and St Pauls is brilliant. It was good to hear that you had dinner with your friends husband and children ...... isn't that the house where you had an accident with the floorboards ?
    ....and, if I'd known you were in Hertford, I would have come and had a cuppa with you in Manic Munchies ! XXXX

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  8. Hassleback Potatoes are a favourite here too. I hope your friends family are doing well. Great snapshots of your time. xxxx

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  9. Did you pick up the rice on your way home? I have thrown out rice myself occasionally; some rice (like pasta) just ain't right (especially 'value' rice).

    I used to do those spuds for my children; I'd forgotten all about them!

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  10. That's the art of blogging, sharing the world as seen through your eyes.

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  11. NEver made potatoes that way, will have to try it. Loved the photos of all the food!

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  12. Can you send me an email? I'm at evil-pixie@live.com. I wanted to ask you something. :)

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  13. OMG, I think I should start taking my camera with me everywhere I go...so many things you've posted about might seem ordinary, but no...they were interesting & introspective. Happy you liked My Week With Marilyn...me too. Except I don't have a guy to go with me :(

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  14. That sounds like tip top advice to me - hanging out at the race track, in the sun.

    Have a super weekend

    Nina x

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  15. I love "Luck". I also don't know what is going on and my 11 year old son tells me it hasn't been commissioned for a second series.

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