Lesbians North London

Armistead Maupin

2010-12-02T13:16:00.001-08:00

At the announcement of the new book in the 'Tales of the City' series 'Mary Ann In The Autumn' I e-mailed the 'Gays The Word' bookshop to see if Armistead Maupin would be signing books at their store. The reply was yes but the agony was prolonged as they weren't going to announce the tickets sales for a month or so and then it would be on a first come first served basis..

I have loved the 'Tales of The City' books since i first read them in the early nineties, during that time I worked in hotels, the life within the gates of Barbary Lane was not too dissimilar to the life i was leading in hotels. I know it sounds like a stretch but we were a young group of people living under the one roof sharing our day to day adventures. We were a mixed bunch some gay, some straight and some unsure... So these books found me at a perfect time in my life. On occasion we would have 'Tales of The City' evenings - this comprised of a group of us getting together with wine and beer and spending the evening watching the whole of the first series all the way through. Lots of my friends then read the books and fell in love with the world as much as I did.

Now all these years later I have in my life my own Mrs Madrigal, a lovely lady called Margaret who either I have adopted or who has adopted me, she is 91, fit as a flea, great company and doesn't give a damn about who people are and who they love.

It was with great excitement that I called 'Gays The Word' on the morning the ticket sales were announced, hoping against hope that I would get to meet Mr Maupin surrounded by a group of friendly like minded people and hosted by the lads from the book store, as opposed to the cold walls of your average book signing. It took a while but I got through, Uli said how pleased he was that I had managed to get tickets.

Sunday 28th November, we wrapped up warm and headed off to the 'New Bloomsbury Set' Bar it was already jam packed when we got there. There was a 'Mrs Madrigal' selling cakes in aid of the Terrence Higgins Trust. We weren't sure if they were laced or not... The audience, as expected, mainly comprised of men but there were a few token women. Armistead arrived at 7.30 accompanied by his husband Chris Turner. He was introduced firstly by Uli who shared all our sentiments by telling us what a life changing event it was to discover that there could indeed be a world where people like us could happily co-exist with straight people and have a wonderful life whilst we were at it.

Uli was followed by the Mayor and Mayoress of Camden, Amy Lame and Jonathan Simpson. Jonathon told us of a flight back from San Fancisco. He was reading 'Michael Tolliver Lives' he was sat next to an older lady who smiled at him when she saw the book, he naturally assumed it was because of the gay content but read on and when he got to an emotional part and actually shed a tear the lady looked at him and remarked: 'I knew you would get upset at that part!' Proving that Armistead crosses many boundaries - basically he writes a damn good book that is suitable for all!

Armistead then stood and read a part from the book that he said he wouldn't have been able to read at the normal book signings. For those who have read the book it's the Sound Of Music section :-) There was such a great atmosphere in the crowd, we have all shared this journey, after the reading he answered lots of questions from the group, ranging from how does he make all the characters so loving, to does he want to shave his moustache off for charity!

Armistead was very generous with his time and his answers. After the Q&A we joined the huge queue to get our books signed. I joined the queue at the end as I had bought ten books with me hoping Armistead would sign them all! About four of mine but also ones for my friends who enjoyed the book as much as I did.

I rambled on inanely to him in my nervousness but he didn't seem to mind!

So all in all it was a wonderful night spent with a rather wonderful man! Oh and if you haven't read the review yet check it out here. It's a wonderful book and I was very sad to read the final page and leave those friends behind until the next time.

2010-09-14T06:56:00.000-07:00

On Saturday Liz and I headed up to London to meet up with Liz's friend John. He is a keen photographer and decided to take us to the London Photographer's Gallery which turned out to a lovely old building down a back street off Oxford Street. John had warned that sometimes the gallery show images that could be a little disturbing.... but here's the thing, the main focus of the work of Sally Mann, is focused on her children, to quote the bio from their website:

Sally Mann (b.1951, USA) first came
to prominence for Immediate
Family(1984 – 94),
a series of intimate and revealing portraits of her three young children Emmett,
Jessie and Virginia. Taken over ten years, Mann depicts them playing
and acting to camera in and around their
homestead in Virginia. Capturing their childhood in all its rawness and
innocence, both this and the later series Faces were born out of a
collaborative process between mother and child.

But John was telling us that in America there had been big controversey about these images as most of them feature her children naked. It made me very sad that in this day and age this was deemed inappropriate, due to actions by a few people. I have to say that initially I was guilty of thinking the same prior to arriving at the gallery which saddened me but as soon as I knew it was a mother taking pictures of her own children I was ok with it. Is this right? You tell me. The photos were actually wonderful! Theplace where she lives is just beautiful and she has captured both the scenery and her children with such clarity! I highly recommend it! But anyone who knows me will know the highlights for me were the images of the trees..... just beautiful huge black and white images of these trees that had no doubt born witness to all sorts of history in deep southern America... Oh the stories they could tell. Be warned if you do go to visit her exhibition there are some very disturbing images included.. Funny that the ones of lively lovely children made more of a fuss than these darker ones!

Having visited the gallery it gave me the inspiration to have a morning walking round Epping Forest the next day and take some snaps of our ancient friends over there. Alas not a patch on Sally's but here they are all the same.

Skyriding Around London

2010-09-14T06:46:00.000-07:00

What a wonderful day we had taking part in Boris's Sky Ride around London.... I must admit I was really looking forward to the opportunity to see those wonderful landmarks that we all know so well from the vantage point of my bike, with no cars to worry about! We set off from Enfield station, having cycled into town and found we

were not alone in this notion, lots of families got on with their bikes at the station - we had decided the easiest thing to do was to get to Liverpool Street. I must say it was very odd to be wheeling my bike round a station in London and let me tell you it's not actually that easy to get a bike up an escalator! Liz took me through all the back streets as it's right near where she works. Suddenly we turned a corner and there we were in amongst literally thousands of like minded people in bright yellow tunics, madly cycling round London. We later learnt that approx. 85,000 people had turned out for the event! So as you can imagine the going was not exactly fast paced but that was fine as it gave us the opportunity to look at all the sites. We went under a tunnel that they had designated the loud zone - people rang their bike bells in sheer joyous abandon. Liz was very sad to discover she hadn't actually got one! There were also people on weird and wonderful bikes, a very cool lady adjacent to us for a time had a tricycle on which she had added a massive speaker! She played some awesome music as we peddled along, I really wanted to stay by her but she was soon swallowed up by the masses. We passed alongside the Thames and got a wonderful view of the Millennium Wheel, as we reached Big Ben we came to a grinding halt as lots of people like me wanted their picture taken beneath it... The pace picked up as we zoomed past Buckingham Palace and decided to see if the Queen was in, judging by the flag she was! That was my favourite part of the journey, there was more space and it felt rather wonderful to be hurtling through London on those red roads on my bike from Rugby! We had a spot of lunch in St James Park and they had laid on a bike repair centre where we got our tyres pumped and Liz's bicycle saddle fixed... All too soon it was over, I was in half a mind to go round again, but instead it was back to Liverpool Street! Can't wait for the next one Boris!

Hampton Court Flower Show

2010-07-13T11:56:00.001-07:00

We headed off nice and early for the flower show, having watched it on the telly the night before we had a small idea as to what we were in for but the reality was just amazing!! Sooo many wonderful flowers and things to do to your garden - the imagination of some people is just amazing!

There were some lovely hanging glass features. We had a great chat with a fella about Bumble bees for a while and was lost in nostalgia when I stumbled upon the lego garden, years of birthdays and Christmasses when Mum had wanted to get me a doll when all Ireally wanted was the latest beach boy tape and lots of lego!

The theme this year was Shakespeare plays, so lots of people had put their imagination to great use coming up with floral ways of displaying a play in a flower. Some were rather lost on us but some like the one below were just beautiful! When I asked the lady what the flower with a white bottom and red top was, she replied 'Hotlips' to which I replied 'Hoolahan'. This could be lost on those not old enough to remember MASH!

The day was a scorcher, at least 32 degrees. We wandered about and got more and more laden down with plants and ornaments, a splendid day was had by all. I highly recommend it! So although it's all over for this year make sure you take the time to purchase a ticket next year to visit the largest annual flower show in the world at Hampton Court.

War Horse

2010-06-18T00:19:00.000-07:00

War Horse

Based on a novel by Michael Morpurgo and adapted by Nick Stafford
In association with Handspring Puppet Company – A South African adult puppeteering company established 1985

The play is set during the outbreak of World War One when Albert’s beloved horse, Joey is sold to the cavalry and sent to France to assist in the war. Albert is heartbroken and can not forget his trusted steed so enlists with the cavalry even though he hasn’t come of age. This set’s the scene for Albert’s enduring search for Joey and Joey’s time serving for both sides.

The puppets are truly amazing. They have the mannerisms and behaviour of the horses spot on. There is a particularly dramatic scene when a horse gets caught up in barbed wire; the puppets reaction to this is so realistic that you totally forget it is a purely a puppet.

The stage is minimalistic but warrants being just that. The actors’ performances are great but the real stars are the puppets! Each horse is operated by 3 performers – 2 inside the puppet and 1 who operates the head of each horse. Their skill in operating the horse as a whole is mesmerizing.

A powerfully, moving production that takes you through many human emotions along the way – laughter, tears and joy.

A play for all the family just bear in mind really young children might find some of the play disturbing. I strongly recommend it - it's a must not to be missed!

'So exhilarating it makes you rejoice to be alive. Its sheer skill and invention are awe-inspiring.' The Times

'War Horse only confirms the National's extraordinary knack of turning children's literature into the finest drama. Stunning.’ Sunday Times

'An extraordinary piece of theatre which is both epic and intimate. Guaranteed to move the heart.' Sunday Express

John Grant @ The Jazz Cafe

2010-06-10T10:43:00.000-07:00

Liz and I were lucky enough to get tickets to the Tuesday night of the 'Mojo Honours' concert at the Jazz Cafe in Camden.

I have been a fan of John Grant's work for many years now. I never had any hope of seeing him perform live however as his band 'The Czars' split up a number of years ago and I had read that John had lost his way somewhat. But thankfully the band 'Midlake' found him and gave him the support, musicianship and studio time to be able to create his first solo album - 'The Queen of Denmark', which I have reviewed here.

As ever Liz and I were way too early but this was fine as we found a nice spot in the bar to people watch. I can freely say that there is certainly not a 'type' of John Grant fan. A wonderfully eclectic bunch of people passed through the entrance to the Jazz cafe which I had never been to before. It was a lovely venue, only small, but intimate and with two bars as far as I could see. You can also book to have dinner in their restaurant which overlooks the stage and if we had known this is definitely something would have liked to do.

John came on stage at 9, he is a lovely big bearded American who exuded a great calm about him! The songs he played were mostly taken from the aforementioned solo album which is a birds eye view of John's world - songs filled with a bitter sweet irony in places. His voice just soared and sounded even better in person than it does on record!

John was backed by a fantastic band of young Americans they really did rock and really brought the songs to life. The highlights for me were 'T C and the Honeybear', 'I wanna Go to Marz' & the sublime 'Where dreams go to die'.

About an hour into the performance the band left the stage and John was left with just his piano and played 'Drug' one of the best Czar songs. The concert was over way too soon but I felt very privileged to be there for John's first solo performance in the UK and well done to the Mojo for bringing him over here!

Night at the Boogaloo

2010-05-11T07:52:00.000-07:00

Last night Liz and I had the great pleasure of attending the first lesbian music night at the ‘Boogaloo Pub’ in Highgate. We had been told of the event by its organiser Vanessa and had gladly mentioned it on our website. Therefore we thought it only right to go and check it out, especially with our love of music. So armed with the sat nav some great tunes and my gorgeous girl off we went.

We had no idea what to expect, we found the pub very easily, propped up the bar for a while and then Vanessa came over to say hi. She is a lovely french lady and made us feel very welcome at her event. I checked out the 'famous' Boogaloo Juke Box and have to say I was VERY impressed! It had some very eclectic tunes, I popped on a little Gram Parsons, Etta James, and of course the Beach Boys – ‘Here Today’, which sounded great!

At nine Marvin Gaye was interrupted by the start of the live music, his very appropriately named – ‘What's Going On’. Well the first act to go on were called 'Nice and Loyshk' a female duet armed with acoustic guitars and melodious songs, they reminded me a little of the 'Indigo Girls'. All the sets were kind of brief, but I liked that as it gave us a good variety of sound. After a very brief interlude a very nervous Vanessa took to the stage with her friend Miri, the reason for the nerves was Vanessa had been roped in to play the guitar and she hadn't played in quite a while but I have to say you never would have guessed. Miri was my favourite act of the night, found she had a lovely voice and good stage presence, she held our attention and played some great songs. That was it for the ladies it was then the turn of two men, the first of which was 'Phil McKay' to me he was very reminesent of The Sterophonics, he certainly upped the volume of the whole event and sang with great passion. He was then joined by his rather drunk friend Toby August, who played an awesome 12 string guitar whilst regaling us with tales of his recent song writing trip to Nashville. As he was rather hammered (self confessed) it was kind of a shame as he had the talent but tended to drift, so I must say we left during his set.

But all in all a great night! We met some lovely people, heard some great tunes and are looking forward to more nights at the Boogaloo!

Thanks Vanessa, you put on a great event.....

Stonehenge & Glastonbury

2010-04-10T09:00:00.000-07:00

So Thursday morning we headed off to Glastonbury via Stonehenge. I have always wanted to go and see Stonehenge but never got around to doing so. Shortly before my Grandma died I asked her if she had ever been, she replied yes but was rather hesitant - she sadly suffered from dementia, when I asked her what it was like she paused again and said 'Well, it's the sort of place you have to see for yourself' which really made me laugh as it was her clever way of getting out of it!

So I decided that it would be a kind of pilgrimage for her as she had just died the month before also Liz had always promised to take me there and as I have had rather a lousy year she thought this would be the ideal treat!

The weather took such a wondrous turn for the better, it was as if the gods were looking out for us. The sun shone and the warmth from it was glorious after such a long winter.

As we neared Stonehenge I was keenly looking out for it, many people had said to me that it was quite small now, but we spotted it; Liz first. It looked so wonderful placed there in the beautiful English Countryside as it has done for so very long now. I thought of all the people who have gazed upon it with awe just as I was doing, we also wondered of course as everyone does as to what purpose it served. I love all the notions of lost civilisations that Graham Hancock tells us of and remember his books telling us that it was positioned to highlight the placing of the sun on Midsummer's Day. But I guess we will never know the answer and that in itself is half of its pleasure - a long lost mystery.

Thankfully there weren't too many people there. I managed to upset the lady selling the tickets by giving all my change as the admission fee. We walked through the underpass and out into the blazing spring sunshine and there it was before us. I took hundreds of photos, Liz is more inclined to look and take things in. We walked all the way around it, I think it's better now that you can't actually walk between the stones and at least I was able to get some nice snaps without lots of tourists being part of the shot. Once we had walked around it we went back to the car via the shop where I purchased the obligatory fridge magnet.

We found a lovely pub just down the road for a quick baguette before heading off to Glastonbury. It was my turn to drive so itunes on we headed off down the long winding road over some beautiful countryside. It took longer than we imagined to get there, I guess with the two places being known together you think they are neighbours - but they're not and it took us about an hour to get to our destination.

Liz had left the choice of accommodation to me and conscious of funds I had booked us into the Travel Lodge, which was perfectly fine for me but Liz had images of a romantic hotel so was rather disappointed, once unpacked we asked the chain smoking receptionist how to get to town, as ever even armed with instructions we still managed to get completely lost! However, we found it in the end, it wasn't quite as we imagined it but it was rather fun! For those who have never been, there appears to be only one high street brand, other than that the place is full of hippy dippy shops selling stones and wonderfully colourful clothes. The shops I found to be unique with soul and energy and totally loved browsing around them. The people tend to walk about barefoot, long hair, a few staffs dotted about. Liz couldn't believe the pace of the place, working in London in such a fast paced job it was such a change to see people just sat around watching the world pass them by - we forget about this in our hurly burly existence.

We popped into a great pub called most appropriately the 'King Arthur' there was a lovely lady behind the bar who chatted away to us telling us all about the place, they had not be there long but have big plans as whilst we were there a folk band were warming up in their back room, check it out if you are passing, we were shattered by this time so headed back to the hotel.

Friday we had big plans, first of which was to walk up the Tor. This looked a most daunting task, we were pretty shattered by the time we got to the foot of it, and I suddenly realised we hadn't any water so we took a walk round the Rural Museum mainly to buy a bottle or two of water. However, we were glad we did as it was a very interesting place - showing how life used to be and the tools, clothing etc in keeping with that time.

Then for the hill. It took a good half an hour to get to the top, kids and old men with dogs passing us by.... but WOW what a view! It was well worth it, you could see literally for miles, on a clear day they say you can see the sea, we alas had some mist, but that added to the whole 'Avalon' feel of the place and put me in mind of that wonderful film 'Excalibur'. Luckily the journey back down was much easier and we found a lovely veggie cafe called the 'Blue Plate' where we stopped for lunch. A lovely cheese and marmite sandwich plus chips set us up for our walk around the Abbey. This was just amazing, we were greeted by a young monk at the door way and once you pass by an archway made of a giant whale jawbone you are to be found in such a magical place. Rumour has it that Jesus even visited the Abbey. King Arthur and Guenevere are allegedly buried there, their bodies were found in a huge oak trunk buried beneath the grounds in 1100 or so, I like to think they are there. There is so much history in this one place, you could sense all that had gone on there. We sat and just took it all in, beautiful... so sad that Henry VIII had it knocked down. Imagine how it would look if it were all still there! It was like peeping back in time walking round the place, you could lift up wooden lids and beneath were actual medieval tiles! Well after all that culture there was really only one thing left to do.

Shopping! Literally five minutes out of Glastonbury is a place called 'Street' where there is a shopping village that sells discount stuff, so heaven for shoppers!

There endeth our trip to Glastonbury! Well worth a visit, especially if you want to revel in the hippy within you!

Hampstead

2010-03-28T10:47:00.000-07:00

Well the sun was shining in London today and after a most productive day in the garden yesterday we decided to head out for some lunch. Last year on the day of the Wimbledon Mens Final we went to Hampstead for a spot of lunch and spotted Jeanette Winterson ambling about on a Sunday morning, so thinking this was all very civilised I suggested we go there again today.

I drove so the ipod was on, great selection of tunes, mostly Liz friendly which was a relief! Parked up and wandered into the town, it wasn't too busy.

I was surprised at the amount of blue plaques there are on all the houses, some great people have lived there - we spotted George Du Maurier, who I assumned was Daphne's father but have just googled and he was actually her Grandfather. Other people of note who have lived there are Dirk Bogarde, Audrey Hepburn, Liz Taylor, H G Wells, Aldous Huxley. Hampstead is also a keen spot for films - 'The Killing of Sister George' and 'The Collector', and 'American Werewolf in London' were all filmed here.

Not to forget that Hampstead is also well known as a popular gay area for gay men with the pub 'The King William' also a destination for the lesbians of Hampstead, though when we popped in for a drink today it was sadly only populated by men!

Once again our search for a lesbian friendly gay bar has failed.... we decided to have lunch at the Cafe Rouge which was really nice! Then followed another wander about the shops before heading home.

I recommend Hampstead for a great Sunday afternoon amble with your girl! Also great for people watching, we saw some great characters there.

2010-01-07T08:41:00.000-08:00

I have just updated my Photographs website with some new winter scenes, check out the latest snaps page http://www.lucyhallphotographs.co.uk

2010-01-07T06:19:00.000-08:00

Poppy in the Snow

Thoughts and Words

2010-01-07T05:43:00.000-08:00

Sat here on this gorgeous cold London day, looking out at the beautiful snow, glad that it hasn't impacted on my day other than to give me some beautiful scenes too look at, Poppy (my cat) is loving it, been out playing in the snow like a little child, I am warm and thankful listening to 'Astral Weeks', happy! I have a good feeling about this year! All will fall in to place, after years and years of searching and wondering where my life will go, I feel now that the answer is just around the corner! I hope this is the same for you as well! I read that Dan Brown Book last year and I enjoyed it, but also the thing that I thought he did, was to plant the seed of a common thought, that if we has a human race were to strive for and think the same thoughts that that would some how have an effect on our reality! I was impressed, he knew he would have lots of people reading his book, most of the population of the planet by the look of things, and that he therefore used that as a platform to get us thinking differently! and now with all that happened last year I really feel people are looking for more, wanting more than the day to day toil, having seen that that really gets us nowhere! am I making sense or is Van making me ramble.... who knows.......

New Year New Website

2010-01-01T07:08:00.000-08:00

So here we are 2010! where have the last ten years gone? last night we saw the new year in and it showed images of the last ten years, so much has happened and yet it is all so fresh in my mind as if it happened just one year ago, as ever this last decade has produced some momentous memories, some of which I would much rather forget such as 9/11 and 7/11 bombings, but also these last ten years have altered the course of my life for the better, we moved house in 2000 and I met some wonderful people there, people that it seems I have known all my life. And then three years ago met my partner and moved in with her....
I sit here and wonder what the next ten years will bring? I have launched this blog today to be able to share what happens next. I hope that with the launch of our new website we will get to meet more firm friends, and make it a place worth visiting often, we will need your input to help make that happen. So happy New Year..... bring it on