Head Space Daily Words...

We went to Cornwall for the first time as a family several years ago, when the kids were younger - and it was horrendous. The first week of August, when you think there may be a chance of decent weather was cold and it rained constantly. For some reason we thought a week in a teepee would be a good idea. How wrong could you be? There was no space inside, the rain leaked in through the hole created in the roof, where the poles joined and the walls were lined with slugs. A children's back garden wigwam would have been more use. The other downside is that when it is raining and you have children to entertain, there is bugger all to do in Cornwall. As we drove across the desolation of Bodmin moor, those memories of the first time came flooding back. There wasn't the sense of returning to to an old friend which you get when you go back to a much loved holiday destination. This time we were stopping in a 'compact,' converted farm building, which was literally in the middle of nowhere. When you looked out from the field behind our barn, all you could see for miles, were more fields and moorland. The colour palette had entirely changed from London. Shades of green and brown met the blue sky and white clouds. Once my city dwelling mind had adjusted to the fact that there wasn't a local shop two minutes walk away, it was fine. As it turned out our accommodation was the perfect base, as the weather was glorious and we were out and about all the time. In April, as far as the weather is concerned, you go away with no expectations, thinking that any dry day is a bonus and if the sun is shining, even better. We got lucky. Each day was spent on a different windswept, sun drenched, rugged beach or two, taking in some lethargic Cornish towns, or visiting interesting places. It may have been sunny but it wasn't especially warm, which tricked me into not putting on sun cream on day one and ending up with a sun burnt nose, which is currently peeling. The stark contrast of people on Great British beaches and their reactions to the weather conditions was in evidence, with some wrapped up against the elements, such as myself and my missus in our winter coats and scarves, whilst others treated it like they were on the Costa Del Sol at the height of summer, my kids were in their trunks, playing in the sea. Kids seem immune to the cold. The beaches were impressive, particularly Sennen and St.Ives, the fish and chips from 'The Top Chippy' in Porthleven were sensational, the Barbara Hepworth museum and sculpture garden is a must see and St.Michael's Mount is a thoroughly enjoyable experience. I'm not one for period drama but I started watching the opening episode of Jamaica Inn on BBC1 the other day, which is set in Cornwall. The word bleak doesn't even come close. My view of Cornwall though is no longer bleak and slug infested but positive and I see it as a place to explore. No period drama is going to change that view...

The sun sets over Porthleven...

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Here are a few pictures from a recent family visit to Cornwall...

Two hang gliders fly a little close to the sun…

A view from the Barbara Hepworth sculpture garden…

                           

St. Michael's Mount looking splendid in the sunshine...

Some wind protection on Gwithian beach…
























The surf at Sennen...

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Don Thomas - Come On Train…

My latest Northern soul tune. Be uplifted...

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Today was my first day off work for a couple of months and it was good to be back in the 'hood. The local post office has been done up all red and spacious. The guy who runs it proudly told me how it was now part of 1,750 post offices in Britain and that they offered loads of services. The girl who works in the dry cleaners was telling me how she has caught her younger brother trying to feign sickness to bunk off school, by chewing food and leaving it on his pillow, to make it look as if he has just vomited. I had a good chat with the lady working in the local bakers, whose daughter plays in my U9s football team, about the mix of kids in the team and how well they are doing. An elderly couple who live at the top of our road were telling me all about shark fishing in Lewes and then I performed my good deed for the day by running to hail a bus for another elderly couple who live on our street. If that's not all, the lad next door came off his scooter, banging his head and scraping his face, the lady from the bakers son was injured playing football and had to go to hospital, then I bumped into a girl who lives a few streets away, who plays for the girls team of a major football club and whose team has a good chance to finish second in their league. Life moves at a pace and it was good to be able to spend a day at home...

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Two fantastic old deers smoking cigarettes outside Westfield in Stratford this week...

Head Space Daily Tune...

Billy Butler - Right track

A reissue of Billy Butler - Right Track on Okeh Records is my latest Northern Soul purchase. This tune is huge, just listen to that brass section at 1 minute and 8 seconds into the tune and put a massive smile on your face...

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As another freelance gig comes to an end, I wonder what lies in store next. Spending time in town, around Fitzrovia and Soho is always fascinating. You never stop making new discoveries, finding new ways of seeing the same old streets, that never actually become old, because they keep on reinventing themselves. The people, the shops, the buildings, the construction work, the derelict, the upcoming. It never stops. Below, is a picture from outside the Blue Posts pub on the corner of Eastcastle Street and Newman Street, looking out towards the disused Royal Mail sorting office situated on Rathbone Place, which coincidentally is where I held my first job in television and TV promos, working at the Paramount Comedy Channel, from 1997 until 2001.

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A couple of building site workers take a break outside Soho Coffee Club on Dean Street...

Head Space Daily Tune...

Neneh Cherry - Everything

Neneh Cherry's Blank Project album is my latest purchase and it is very good. Stripped down and minimal are excellent words to describe it, with Kieran Hebden of Four Tet's production but the space allows Neneh Cherry to express herself. I love her la lah la lahs in this song. The whole album sounds very live and natural…

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This week I have been working in one of my favourite areas of London - Fitzrovia. I may have mentioned before, that in a book called London Calling by Barry Miles, it talks of how the area got it's name. It sounds very regal and stately but according to the book, I think it was in the late 1940s - early 1950s, a collective of poets and authors would meet regularly under the leadership of a guy called Tambimittu, who had come to London from Ceylon, Sri Lanka as it is known today. Anyway, these 'meetings' would start at the Fitroy Tavern and turn into a pub crawl, which worked its way down Charlotte Street, Rathbone Place, across Oxford Street and down Dean Street. Tambimittu termed this procession, of visiting these various pubs 'roving' and being as it started in the Fitzroy Tavern, the pub name and the idea of roving became combined and the term Fitzrovia become attached to the area. So, now you know, it is not a stately name but actually associated with the act of becoming drunk by visiting many public houses within that particular area of London...

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The tower of All Saints Church on Margaret Street cuts through the blue of Fitzrovia this week...

Head Space Daily Tune...

Marvin Gaye - Mercy Mercy Me (The Ecology)

It was thirty years ago this week since Mavin Gaye was shot dead by his own father. What a waste and what a mesmerising voice - sweet, pained, vulnerable and optimistic, all at the same time. I've been listening a lot to the What's Going On album this week, which was released 43 years ago this May!! It is just as relevant today, with its messages about war, poverty and incredibly, the environment, as this song testifies. Not many people had the foresight to see what harm was being done to the planet in 1971. The production on the album is breath taking. I have just got back home from seeing my team get beaten badly at home by Fulham. If we had won, I may well have gone for a more upbeat number, or a duet but Marvin is more than that. If you don't own a copy of What's Going On, go out and buy one NOW...

Head Space Daily Tune...

Frankie Knuckles - Your Love

Frankie Knuckles (Satoshi Tamoiie) - Tears

Frankie Knuckles was a pioneer, being at the forefront of establishing the warehouse scene in Chicago, laying the foundations for what we all know as House music, without which, much of the music we hear today would not even exist. Jamie XX, James Blake, SBTRKT and many current makers of dance music would not have the blueprint for what they are doing today. Here are two of Frankie's biggest tunes. Without Your Love, we wouldn't have Candi Staton And The Source's Your Love, which in turn wouldn't have spawned Florence And The Machine's cover - a meandering dirty, deep house monster of a tune, which was created for late, late all night club parties; whilst Tears is just a gorgeous celebration of vocal house. R.I.P Frankie Knuckles…