If you’ve ever listened to the song Running to Stand Still from U2’s Joshua Tree album you will have heard about the Dublin neighbourhood of Ballymun in the lyric, “I see seven towers but I only see one way out.” Located on the northern periphery of Dublin city, Ballymun was at one time Ireland’s largest and…
Month: September 2015
Cure the Sunday blues
I haven’t had much time to write recently as we have just moved into our new house in Chiswick; this task involving a significant deal of packing, lifting, unpacking, rearranging, realising it doesn’t look quite right and then throwing away altogether. I saw this sandwich board while we were walking through Hamstead last week. After…
Camden Street Art Gallery
I’ve really taken a shine to London’s street art scene over the last year. On my lunch break the other day, I grabbed my camera and went for a walk around Camden Town, hunting for pieces. I found a great collection of works at Camden Mews and took a few photos that I hope you…
The Chalk Philosopher returns
I found another poem written on a boarded-up demolition site in Camden Town this afternoon. Judging by the handwriting, I believe it has the same author as yesterday’s work. It would appear that the person responsible for these poems is indeed a vagrant – or at least someone getting their night’s rest in a sleeping…
I am an Emperor
Simon & Garfunkel sang in The Sound of Silence that “the words of the prophets are written on the subway walls.” I don’t know much about all that, but I happened upon this poem chalked onto the boarded up window of a condemned building on Camden High Street this afternoon. The grammar certainly leaves a…
A Break in Brighton
To call Brighton an eccentric town would be a criminal understatement. Some call it the gay capital of Europe, and on every street you will spot flamboyant queens, proud transvestites and every assemblage of the LGBT initialism.