#ReasonsToBeCheerful no.9
Found a new battery for the electric scales in the kitchen crap drawer.
The days of approximate bread are over, @Miridoesntweet
#ReasonsToBeCheerful no.32
This tree sprouted from a conker in north Essex in 2002 and was planted in Peckham Rye Park in 2012. In 2018 it was snapped off by vandals but now it is thriving again out of its broken stump.
Of all my #ReasonsToBeCheerful so far, three have slipped through entirely unremarked.
One was the bark on a plane tree, so fair enough.
But the other two were telly and wine which makes me suspect that not everyone is being wholly honest about what makes them happy in lockdown.
#ReasonsToBeCheerful no.36
‘People on a Bench’ by William Roberts, pencil on paper, c.1937; @AshmoleanMuseum
It was given to the Museum by a group of his fellow artists including Muirhead Bone and Albert Rutherston.
#ReasonsToBeCheerful no.37
Sheep’s-bit scabious; out soon on the cliffs at the Logan Rock, Treen, Cornwall.
Insufficient reasons to be cheerful lately but I went for a walk today and here are #ReasonsToBeCheerful no.42
Sky and trees. I’ve done them before but no apologies because they are wonderful.
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I have a manuscript written in the early 1820s by a clergyman named Robert Fiske. It’s a long, terrible poem called ‘The Seasons’.
So, for a small adventure, I’m going to Fulbourn, near Cambridge, to see the church where he ministered for 45 years.
Then I’m cycling home.
2/ First stop, @hotnumbers in Gwydir Street for breakfast with @RobertHanks then, via Cherry Hinton Brook and Fulbourn windmill, to St Vigor’s, Fulbourn, where Fiske was rector from 1781 to 1826.
Excellent tomb there (not Fiske’s, obv).
On, on.
3/ The next section, from Fulbourn to Saffron Walden started with the pleasure of a Roman road, between Babraham and Linton, through the swell of the Gogmagog Hills (no giants, though, @alixebovey) and then the glorious swoop of north Essex after Hadstock.
6/ St Paul’s, Bow Common, had the door open to air the church so I took a look inside to see Charles Lutyens’ mosaics in Maguire and Murray’s amazing building. Thank you so much to Mother Bernadette (and Julian) for making me welcome.
7/ After that it was a bit of a race: past Dod Street, where I worked at the DHSS in the 80s; St Luke’s Victoria Dock, like a great upturned ship; across the Royal Docks and past Tate & Lyle.
8/ The last leg was crossing the river at the Woolwich ferry, which is a treat if you do it on a bike once in a while but a bit of a nightmare if you have to queue every day in a van. After that, Greenwich and a welcome drink.
1/ I stripped the bike to the bearings yesterday and now it’s cleaned and rebuilt, so today I’m out in the sunshine.
New stickers courtesy @UGClimbing and @hgskate with thanks.
2/ First stop, haberdashery: the brilliant @williamgeeUK, in Dalston, for sewing supplies. Thanks for your help.
3/ London Fields for some of the best plane trees in the whole city.
#Cummings
Sitting down, in the garden, like a man who’s chosen an amusing ‘outdoor’ Zoom background.
Sitting down at no.10 and explaining how, because he has a farm with three houses, it was fine for him to drive to Durham, with a family sick with Covid-19.
The rest is just a long, whiny, indignant story that says, ‘I did nothing wrong and you’re all mean’.