Devon - Day 2 - Xmas

Devon - Day 1 - Dartmouth

Dartmouth Castle - there is another castle on the other side of the river mouth, and a heavy chain can be drawn between them to prevent entry by sea:

Dartmouth:

A little place we went to for lunch. I skipped the scary food and had an ice cream sundae...

"This bookshop was opened in 1951 by Christopher Robin Milne. He died in 1996. We carry a wide range of Winnie the Pooh books and gifts."

Devon - The Cottage

Spent the Xmas holidays in a cottage in the Devon countryside with our friends, Wes and Mon. It was a lovely secluded location near the south coast - a short walk to Blackpool Sands and Stoke Fleming, or a brief drive to Dartmouth.

The cottage was formerly owned by Christopher Robin (A. A. Milne's son, featured as a character in Winnie the Pooh), and had a large wooded backyard that is kept as a natural reserve. It was wonderfully quiet, pitch black at night, and a great place to recharge one's batteries away from the hubbub of the big smoke...

View of the cottage from outside.

A fine collection of thatched houses near the beach.

The surrounding countryside, as seen from the crest of the valley in which we lay.

Lots of good countryside walks about, yielding this view of cows seen against the sea. A familiar sight for kiwis, though the vegetation is more scratchy and scraggly by comparison.

The famous 'winter beard' in full bloom!

Tracy Chapman (Hammersmith Apollo) 16/12/08

Anna and I went to a marvelous performance by Tracy Chapman tonight, a courageous solo effort given the enormous venue. But even on a bare stage in plain clothes, the obviously shy Tracy (even after 20 years of performing!) was instantly captivating, beginning with a bold a cappella on domestic violence, before moving through a repertoire of honest soulful songs marked by guitar changes and occasional commentary.

Setlist:

Behind The Wall

Baby Can I Hold You

Sing For You

The Promise

Mountains O’ Things

Save Us All

America

Across The Lines

I Did It All

Subcity

Fast Car

House Of The Rising Sun

Give Me One Reason

She’s Got Her Ticket

Talkin’ ‘Bout A Revolution

Encore:

Bang Bang Bang

Say Hallelujah

South Bank Xmas markets

Apparently these things are here all the way from Cologne, bringing Londoners nothing but the finest Schinkenwurst, mulled wine, jelly lolly Schtroumpfs (aka Smurfs), and touristy crap. Still it's nice to see so much activity from our apartment window, and even the London Eye have gotten in on the act by wrapping their engine room up in a big bow.

Some fine beach art. Apparently the sand is a sign that the Thames is becoming less polluted. It's part of its 'self-cleaning' ecosystem, so hooray for that!

Caught up with Jan (who is now on her way back to NZ alas!) and Kyle and had another look at what the markets had to offer before going for a wander (and a beach-comb) along the Thames, and finally stopping off for deliciously-expensive cocktails at the Oxo tower.

December round-up

We've been pretty active the last few weeks. I've been working steadily on the spy film I shot exactly a year ago, plus filming new art events for my documentary. Plus we went and saw Dylan Moran doing stand-up at the Brixton Academy: I've now seen all three cast members from Black Books in person!

We took a long route home afterwards, and ended up catching the Tube at Stockwell station for the first time. This is where an innocent Brazilian, Jean Charles de Menezes was shot by police as a suspected terrorist in the wake of the July bombings. There is a small, and very moving shrine by the entrance.

Otherwise we've had a few nights out with friends. Popped down to Croydon to visit Andy, Megs and Ollie again, caught up with Jan (who is leaving for NZ soon...), played some rigorous Twister with friends from Anna's work, and had a nosey around our local Xmas markets and took in the Press Photography exhibit at the Royal Festival Hall with Wes and Mon.

Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds (Troxy) 30/11/08

Setlist:
Hold On To Yourself
Dig Lazarus Dig
Tupelo
Weeping Song
Nature Boy
Red Right Hand
Midnight Man
Love Letter
Right Out Of Your Hand
Moonland
Mercy Seat
Deanna
Call Upon The Author
Papa Won't Leave You Henry
Get Ready For Love

Encore:
Into My Arms
Nobody's Baby Now
Hard On For Love
Stagger Lee

Art Spiegelman and Posy Simmonds (ICA) 24/11/08

A wonderful discussion between the authors of Maus and Madame Bovary, on their respective work, the legacy of MAD comics, and the influence of countless other comic writers and artists. Matt Groening was in the audience!

Waterloo Snow

To be fair, this looks more impressive than it was - but it's still exciting to see a little bit of snow in London, and we never thought it would make it this far into the city centre where the ambient temperatures are higher...

Tis the season to be jolly...

Party time at Ewelina's!

Dog, Ross, Wes, Ewelina, Anna...

Eerie...

Night shift

Left a party at 3am, and spotted this guy doing a sterling job of nightwatch security...

Mercury Rev (Shepherd's Bush Empire) 13/11/08

Setlist:

Snowflake In A Hot World

October Sunshine

Holes

Black Forest

The Funny Bird

You're My Queen

People Are So Unpredictable

Frittering, Tonite It Shows

Tides Of The Moon

Dream Of A Young Girl As A Flower

Opus 40

Encore:

Goddess On A Hiway

The Dark Is Rising

Senses On Fire

"The Prisoner" walking tour

I've been meaning to do this since I arrived in London, but it's a once a year event, and I keep missing it! But at long last, I attended David Lally's walking tour of London filming locations for The Prisoner. I suppose this consolidates my place in the upper echelons of fandom, but I have to say it was really quite thrilling to stand...

In the corridor where Number 6 delivers his resignation at the start of every episode (a car park underneath Marble Arch)...

And outside Number 6's house at One Buckingham Place.

Films...

Still keeping the film-making dream alive in London... I recently shot another exhibition opening for France 24 news, plus conducted a few more interviews for my London street art documentary. My friend James hosted a short film night at the Coach & Two Chairmen in Soho, where I played old favourite, The House of Raging Women. (Interestingly enough, I put this on YouTube recently, and it's already had 1,800+ views!)

Heather Nova (Shepherd's Bush Empire) 13/10/08

I was priviliged to catch the first gig of Heather Nova's new European tour, to support the release of her new album The Jasmine Flower. I've been a fan since I was about 16 - she was one of the first musicians that I independently discovered, I had her first album on cassette tape, and I snuck out of school one lunchtime to go meet her at a signing in a Queen Street music shop. She played one gig in New Zealand back then, and never again in 12+ years. One of my many-vaunted advantages to living in London - you get to go to these kinds of amazing concerts!

So it was a great night, with an excellent setlist and a talented band. Of course I would have liked to hear more songs, including a couple of personal favourites, but it was a pretty good spread from her many albums, and I had a few emotionally charged moments.

Band:

Heather Nova: vocals, guitar, keyboards

Berit Fridahl: guitar, backing vocals

Bastian Juel: bass, backing vocals

Geoff Dugmore: drums, percussions, Cajón

Setlist:

Ride

Heart And Shoulder

Blood Of Me

Motherland

All I Need

Not Only Human

Heal

Walk this World

Fool For You

Redbird

Beautiful Storm

Maybe Tommorow

I Wanna Be Your Light

London Rain

Island

Like Lovers Do

Winterblue (with lyrics from Don Henley - Boys of summer)

Encore:

Paper Cup (dedicated to Heather's parents, who were in the audience)

Renegade

Second encore:

Every Soldier Is A Mother's Son

Lisbon

Had a work conference in Lisbon, which was a nice treat. I've not travelled for work before, and I hadn't been to Portugal yet, so that's two new things for the price of one. We were inside the conference room at our hotel for 95% of the stay, but I did manage to at least walk around the local neighbourhood and have a lookee-loo. 

Lisbon is a curious blend of normal cityscape and derelict building sites. I passed many abandoned and boarded-up estates, even on main commercial streets. Here's a typical example:

A quiet moment in the park... The sun was a welcome switch from London skies!

Of course, being so close to Spain, Portugal boasts delicious tapas! I also had some excellent mojitos when we went out for dinner. One of the places I ate was a converted convent, where the menu was supposedly the same as what the nuns would prepare for their charges.

Work colleagues (trust the Aussie to be causing trouble...)

London staff ratio is 4:1 women to men. What a hardship!

Cheney

Not everyone's a fan...

Blade Runner: The Final Cut

Took Dad to see this at the BFI just before he and Mum left the UK. Was amazing to see a high quality print on the big screen. As when I first watched the DVD release of Director's Cut, I noticed a lot of extra detail I'd never seen before. Such an incredible film...

Also dovetailed this with an interview with Michael Deeley, producer of Blade Runner, Deer Hunter, Italian Job and others.

Got to meet him afterwards at a book signing.