I am sitting at the kitchen table in the flat of my dear friend and fellow poet Agnes Meadows. When I turn around, there is the most incredible view of central London. I can see The Gherkin, St. Paul's Cathedral, The Shard and hear the church bells ringing out over the city. I have a lovely little room of my own at the top of the flat with the same incredible view. In a word - bliss.
Since the last blog, I've walked my ass off all over the city while there's been a break in the weather. On Friday after breakfast, I jumped on the tube and went to Piccadilly Circus. The moment I stepped above ground, the gale force winds turned my umbrella inside out and broke it. Then it started pouring rain. I was drenched. I ducked into a cafe for coffee, bought a copy of TimeOut magazine and discovered that tomorrow night's Polari reading was a critics' choice for the week. Hooray!
Later that evening, the weather let up and it became almost balmy. I caught a cab to Soho and met my lovely friend Dave Cross for dinner at an Italian restaurant and then we walked through Soho Square and I caught the tube back to the hotel.
Saturday was glorious and sunny, so I went for a walk around the newly-refurbished Leicester Square, listened to some of the music being played by bands in the park and popped into HMV for a bit of shopping. Since I'm on a budget, I only bought one CD - the re-issue of Everything But the Girl's
Baby, The Stars Shine Bright. I went to the BFI Imax cinema on the Southbank to see
Prometheus only to discover that every screening was sold out for the day. I booked a ticket for Tuesday. The streets were teeming with people out enjoying the break in the weather and there were, of course, service disruptions on the tube, which meant all the trains were packed.
Tonight, Agnes and I are going for dinner and jazz at Ronnie Scott's in Soho. They're doing poetry and jazz.
More soon!
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