St. Pancras Station Part Two - Brief Encounter

Another look at this jewel, resurrected and shinied up, thanks to Sir John Betjeman among others....

If there's anyone out there - youngish, hunky with means.....(Preferably male?  Sorry girls!)  yes, I would be interested in conducting an illicit affair with you, if it means we can do so in these environs.  I haven't actually checked out the rooms yet.  What do you think?  You can see them here.

Let me know.


(OMG!  EVEN FOX NEWS has called the election for BARACK OBAMA AS PRESIDENT!  8:21 p.m. in Los Angeles.)

"we believe in a generous America, a compassionate America, a tolerant America....... and now, more determined and more inspired - - - FORWARD!"  (10:55 p.m. in Los Angeles)

Coming or Going? - St. Pancras Station, London

Do you love a train station?  I still do.  The anticipation of departure, the joyous expectation of an imminent arrival - whether yours, or that of another.  I used to feel this way about airports but let's face it.....when it comes to that experience these days, THE THRILL IS GONE. 

You know what I'm talking about.

In days well past, Mr. Paradis and I had friends who lived in squats in a place called Stanley Buildings right behind St. Pancras station.  On the day that I took these pictures, the very last of them was in the process of coming down. From Stanley buildings you could see into St. Pancras from the back and I have loved this station since those days.  Its soaring roofline like a giant glass house.  The journey out of St. Pancras to the North has always been very moving to me.  As all train travel is, it's a metaphor of life somehow, of all of one's life, passing before our very eyes, a parade of earthly possibilities flashing by, rushed and compressed into a couple hours' journey.

Now the Eurostar leaves from here, adding another layer of charm, sheen and enticement to the railway station environs. 

Here is a man we can thank that St. Pancras endures and thrives:  Sir John Betjeman, a beloved Englishman of letters and founder of the Victorian Society.  He and his society lobbied strenuously and passionately for the preservation of treasures of the Victorian age.  One of which was St. Pancras Station.  It took a long while for him to prevail - i.e., well into the 21st century. But now, a tribute to him stands in the station.  It's a lovely sculpture, one amongst others in London, that I am quite in love with.

From Wikipedia, here:

Betjeman responded to architecture as the visible manifestation of society's spiritual life as well as its political and economic structure. He attacked speculators and bureaucrats for what he saw as their rapacity and lack of imagination. In the preface of his collection of architectural essays, First and Last Loves says: "We accept the collapse of the fabrics of our old churches, the thieving of lead and objects from them, the commandeering and butchery of our scenery by the services, the despoiling of landscaped parks and the abandonment to a fate worse than the workhouse of our country houses, because we are convinced we must save money."

I could not agree with him more and this sentiment applies equally, if not more, to the American architectural and cultural landscape.  And to our life and times.

We don't realize what we're losing when, throughout the world, we allow our visual history to be obliterated in the name of "urban" and increasingly, "suburban renewal".  

By sculptor Paul Day, this monumental piece nine meters high, called "The Meeting Place" (more pictures here of the lower frieze) towers over the front end of St. Pancras station.  It has a nice "It's Grim Up North",  pulp-fiction, kitchen sink realism vibe to it.

Reminding us that it's good to go......and then again..........

meeting up back in "the Smoke" could just be the beginning of a whole other adventure.

Did you go anywhere good this weekend?  I did.  But I'm not telling where yet.

Breaking Off For the Weekend

From worries

and work.

Time for a little cosseting perhaps?

And soft landings?

It's been a tough time for the people on the East Coast this week - and let's face it, some have a tough time of it everyday of their lives.  How much can we help?  So very little it seems, in the end.  But we yet have to try.  We have a big election on Tuesday.  How much will it change our lives?  What can we do about it?  Do you vote?  Do you think it matters?

Hope it's a very good one wherever you are.

Photos above variously via Bohemian Wornest,  "Inspired" by Tamar and as often Sophie Munns' Seed Capsules plus other Tumblrs

Sandy/NYC - Neighborhoods News: What the Major Networks Aren't Showing You

A cake that washed up in Brooklyn.  From the New York Daily News,  photo by Julia Xanthos.  If you know New York, if you want to know what has happened to the neighborhoods you know or love, the photos and real-time streaming updates are here, you probably won't find them anywhere else.  (It has already been noted in other press and blog reports that some of the major television channels have reported some majorly erroneous stories). 

Also, WNYC radio is providing excellent updates, citizen and journalist reporting and discussion here.  Including damage to nuclear plants along the coast (latest update on them via the Leonard Lopate show).  

Great Dixter - Great Garden

They say a garden rarely survives the gardener.  I guess we shall see.  Christopher Lloyd (1921-2006)

is not so long gone from us.  But much of him survives.

His garden, Great Dixter, tucked into a minutest corner of Southern England

betrays no atmosphere of loss or negligence, or having lost it's way at all.........

In late September its full hot flush of colors and textures

prevails and endures despite changings and rearrangings of seasons, styles and sentiments.

Pointless to add further words.

The garden speaks for itself.

Not much here in the way of demure or understated.

And the plantings are so tightly packed and allowed to reach such heights

that it's clear that this had to be the fulfillment of single man's vision.  He wasn't really thinking about you when he made it.  And so the paths through it are really only wide enough for one person to pass and the plants are hungry to also fill up that space.  

There are many structures on the property, some older than others.  You'll get a good look at typical

English oasthouses, and rustic and ageless building styles and materials.  Edwin Luytens, the great English architect has also made his mark on this place, you will see it, in its gracefulness.

It's now also possible to buy plants from Great Dixter, and to take gardening classes here.  Why not? Check the website or Wikipedia here for more.  Just plan on spending an extended period in the Southeast of England, visiting the wealth of sites and destinations on the coast and inland in a leisurely fashion.  Because take my word for it, driving back and forth from London to here is H-E-L-L.

And kind of spoils the lovely vibe.  Really.  Anyway, how was the weekend?  Good, I hope!

Lately, Down the Hill - Los Angeles

Last Monday, I walked down my hill.  And this is what I found.

L.A., in late October is full of color.

In fact we're enjoying an Indian summer with temperatures in the 80's.  (It's good for the fleas.)

Most native Angelenos are complaining about the weather.  They want it cooler, and "we need rain".  The Santa Ana winds have started blowing anew, and this means fire season again.  Tomorrow is "Day of the Dead" festivities at Hollywood Forever cemetery.

It's always still Hollywood here, and someday you may see this backdrop in a movie at your local cinema.  (It's not ALL CGI's these days.)  Or at the Pantages Theater just down the road.  I would love this job.  I grew up in a scenery shop below a theater.  Oh happy days!

I've mentioned this before.  There are more homeless people in L.A. than ever.  In addition to the long existing and largest-in-the-U.S. "skid row".  (Los Angeles is where the expression "skid row" came from.)  It stands to reason since we have such mild weather.  But now people who have no housing are coming out of downtown and seeking "quieter" places - under overpasses, along freeways and in the bushes by the river, in the hills with the coyotes -  to get away from the drugs and drug users, the other homeless who might harass and steal from them, the police who do regular "hygiene sweeps" and confiscate and destroy their few remaining belongings, medicine, toiletries, photos of loved ones......

Last spring the mattress was slept in by day by a healthy looking blonde woman.  Her space was very tidy.  I wondered then how she could feel safe.  I guess sleeping in the day in a fairly well trafficked area seems safer than in the night. Now someone else is sleeping here next to his few belongings and what has happened to her?

Don't even get me started about those sleazy American Apparel ads, shot and "art directed" by the company's owner here in L.A.  I'm not finding alot of art in them.  I boycott the store.

On a happier note, here's a little local community garden.  Could those be beehives in the back?  (I only just realized they're in the picture.)   I'll have to go back and find out.  In the foreground is a very healthy papaya tree.  I want one!

Yes it's lush here in the "desert".

Christmas is coming, but I can hardly think about it!  Instead, I'm thinking about the weekend.  We're going to this.  (Richard Thompson is a proper old grouchy English geezer with an amazing voice and guitar style.  Do you know him?)

What are your plans?  For the weekend I mean.  HAVE A GOOD ONE.

Farringdon to Shoreditch - Part Two, I Mean, Destinations

You are HERE.  On Clerkenwell Road.  (But not for long.)

  (At the Hat and Feathers Pub.)  ALL PARTIES ARE CATERED FOR.

Even more so at the BOOK CLUB, Leonard St., which IS open on a Sunday.

(this pic via Matador here)

And tho' apparently chill in the daytime, is churning and chock-a-block at night, with a dancefloor downstairs.  If you need to chase some blues away.

More of the East End's surprising kinds of living:  don't forget to LOOK UP!

And don't be afraid to look in.

Remember my post about the Boundary here?  This is the Albion upstairs.  Also open Sunday.   Their baked goods are the biz!

The famous or infamous Redchurch St....... Today at The Gallery a pop-up art space for rent, right across the street from an urban mosque..... London Loves L.A.   On the Sunday that I visited: an impromptu block party, lamb roast and pizza purveying......What might you find?  Let me know as and when!

Loungelover.  Check out the website.  It's fun!  Brought to you by the Trois Garcons guys.  Couldn't you tell?  Because sometimes you have to live life a little over-the-top. 

Sober, earnest, reliable and yes, still hip!  Labour and Wait.

The other side of the Lounge Lover Paradise.  Still scratching your head?  It's a pub!

O.K.?  In America this NEVER would happen.  No.  We would not advertise housing, using an image of a female seated with her legs spread.  It would offend both the Puritans AND the Feminists in us.  But England, you know, contrary to some impressions, is kind of a happy go-lucky place.  Or, well, fundamentally......IRREVERENT.  What do you think?  IS it cool to advertise real estate.  LIKE THIS?

Oui.  Ca bouge.  At the pop-up Box Park.  (Pub with outdoor seating inclusive.)  Sunshine only intermittent.  Shopping, in case you haven't done any in the last 20 min.  Open Sunday.

It would be hard to miss, if (instead of walking over to Shoreditch from Farringdon, like yours truly) you just popped onto this street right out of the (shiny new Shoreditch) station.

All that walking, and too much excitement?  A cool but not cold bevvy (in England, that's a good thing if that bevvy's a beer)  The Owl and the Pussycat might be just the thing.

For "Farringdon to Shoreditch Part One" click here.