london, art, dylan

we’ve been staying in southwark for the last week, in the borough market area and it reminds me of a neil gaiman novel. with its quaint little streets, funky little pubs and old wharfs brimming with history; i can imagine neil’s characters flitting about all over the place, either as ghosts, in the shape of mice or people who can’t be seen and live ‘under london’.

i miss reading books. i would ‘blame’ having a child for not having read books in quite some time, but the honest truth is that i tend to only read when i’m on trains or on holidays. and i’m only on trains when i have a job somewhere which requires me to ‘train’ to it, and i don’t have such a job at the moment. and i’m also not often on holiday, maybe once, rarely twice a year. so, i miss reading, but i won’t read unless i’m on a train or on holiday. it’s a kind of compulsion really.

me and london are good friends. we go way back. i first arrived here in 1995. if london were a person he (yes, it’s a he) would say to most people; ‘hey, come on in, make yourself at home! nope, i don’t care that you are different, unusual or a tad bit weird, i’m accepting and kind that way’. he would also say though; ‘look; just do your thing, i’m a bit busy and don’t really care about what you do or don’t do, but feel free to just ‘do your thing’. the first thing means that everyone is welcome here, no matter what race, creed, sexual orientation or lack of fashion sense. the second bit means that you live here rather anonymously and loneliness can kick in if you don’t actively seek out friends. london doesn’t provide much of a community. neighbours don’t really know each other, and most people just focus on their own little circle.

but i like it here. london, it makes me feel free. i love its cobble stones (although they do make sure dylan is jostled around violently in his pram) and variety of architecture and old buildings. i love the buzz, the shops, the restaurants. but mostly, i love that i feel free here.

the hotel room we’re staying in looks like a baby shop exploded in it. toys, half eaten pots of baby food, a blown up hippo ring, pram, nappy changing gear is strewn all over the place. staying in a hotel room for a week with a baby is not conducive to neat living!

for the first 2 nights dylan did not agree with the hotel room, he woke up at 2 again which is really unusual as he now standardly sleeps from 9 to 5ish. he’s been back in the bed with me for the rest of the week and that went better.

i went to holborn yesterday to buy some very cool rubber stamps, did a bit of art with them;