Hello. How are you? I am quite busy doing many little jobs, thanks for asking.
So I am not thinking so much about books today. But I have put some dried fennel, is it for fennel or is it the other one, dill? I don't know. But I have put it in some conical flasks, atop my bookshelves, and I thought you might like to see.
Confession time. There are occasional moments when I have doubts about living in London. About living in Walthamstow. About the mess and the noise and, you know, all that stuff.
And then there are days like today. Days when I watch old friends and complete strangers chatting in my kitchen, my tummy full of cake, tea and joy. For the past three days of the E17 Art Trail, we have kept our front door open, with a big sign saying 'COME IN!' - and not a teaspoon was stolen.If there is such a thing as a feral underclass, they must have been hanging around somewhere else, because the only people that we saw were just LOVELY. Asking kind and interesting and unexpected questions and bringing their children and dogs.
Thanks in particular to all our great friends and neighbours who came, also to the two librarians who came, the four social workers, the bloke who popped in after Friday prayers, the lady whose husband disapproved of her book-buying habit, the woman from The Mill who popped in to chat, and especially the people who came on Saturday to meet their friends and stayed talking for a while.
There was even a little time at the end of it all to go and see a very few of the other venues, including the Designers' Market, and I was frankly gutted that I hadn't had more time to get out there and see more of it.
I meant to take more pictures of my visitors but for one thing I was a bit shy (can you tell that I was hiding behind the bunch of flowers in the top picture?) and for another, there just wasn't time with all the chatting and tea-making and what-not.
So anyway tonight, Walthamstow, I salute you. You are, indeed, awesome.
How do you do? We are Venue 52 and we are open today from 11am - 2pm, showing some photos of books and serving tea and cake. It's a little quiet at the moment as you can see, but do stop in later if you are passing.
Also open tomorrow and Sunday between 10am- 4pm.
Free slice of cake to our first visitor! Come soon to avoid the rush.
While many of the E17 Art Trail shows have already started, The Borrower is only open this Friday-Sunday, which means that this evening it was time to hang up the pictures. Exciting.
With a lot of help from the lovely Rhys, some plasterboard screws and some fishing wire, a few play clothes pegs and a little bit of standing on a chair, we got the photos up on the wall. Hey! That wasn't so hard, was it?
Now all that is left is to bake a few cakes and perhaps buy a new doormat in case it stays very rainy (we don't have a doormat at the moment). Do drop in for cake and tea if you are passing by!
ps - sorry about blurry photos - it's late you see and we are tired.
So this is my exhibition space as it looks today, getting ready for the E17 Art Trail. Hmm, yes you're right, it still needs some work.
But don't be fooled - things are happening: I have rung up photo printers, discussed hanging options, requested leaflets, sent out invitations, made lists, thought about cakes, sent emails, thought a bit more about cakes and actually eaten quite a few biscuits. Now all that remains is to translate all that thinking and planning into something real - some photos and a little text, some cups of tea and a smidgin of something to eat.
As well as the Art Trail, there is another exciting event on the horizon: the broadcast of the BBC Radio 4's adaptation of Vasily Grossman's Life and Fate. As you certainly know this is a very much loved book of mine, and I am quite hopping with excitement and a little apprehension even. The broadcast will take place throughout the week beginning 18 Sept, and will feature the lovely voices of Kenneth Branagh and David Tennant among others.
If you live in or near Oxford, you can now get tickets for the recording, and the website readinggroups.org has done a special page of resources to support anyone who wants to read the book during the period around the broadcast.
Something else to think about, as I stare at my blank wall.
So, as you may know, I have a lot of books to read at the moment. As a result it would just be madness to start getting more of them out of the library.
But this brings me on to a subject that I have been thinking about for some months now - the subject of house music. I'm not talking about the sort of house music that goes thump thump wooo, no I'm thinking of music that you listen to in a house. You see, with little children around, I find these days that I just can't listen to a lot of that crazy rock music of my youth. I just can't hear what anyone is saying for one thing.
So, recently, I bought a Brian Eno album (Another Green World) - I don't want to use the term 'background music' because it's so horrible and quite rude really, but I suppose that is a little bit what I am looking for. But even Eno was a little bit intrusive at times. I don't know, I started thinking, maybe I'm turning into the sort of person who likes whale music or something.
So I went to the library and got out four CDs (for the princely sum of 90p each, which isn't cheap in this new world of Spotify), which might be the start of my new kind of house music. Bob Dylan was the one I saw first, and that doesn't make any sense because it's loud and shouty and all, but I picked it up anyway. The other three are Schubert, Brahms and Homage a Andrei Tarkovsky by Claudio Abbado. Yes. That last hasn't been taken out since March 1998.
I'm enjoying listening to them very much, and finding out how toddlers dance to Schubert piano trios. They are soothing sometimes and beautiful (and yes, best enjoyed with sherry and flat peaches). At least they aren't blinking whale music.
I decided to stop buying books for a year, to explore the role that libraries play in our lives. This blog is part reading diary, part news-watch, and all in favour of holding on to the precious public space where reading and learning are encouraged. Sssh! No talking please.
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