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Earthquakes at the Circus
My writing compadre at WooA Joan Taylor-Rowan’s first novel The Birdskin Shoes is now available to purchase on Amazon – Kindle edition. “A wonderful tale about love and redemption set in a Mexican Circus. Joan Taylor-Rowan writes with great freshness and assurance, and her descriptions of the ‘cirqueros’ and circus life are pitch perfect.…
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Welcome Yule

The to do list is getting smaller. Presents bought and wrapped. √ First batch of mince pies cooked and eaten.√ Cards written and posted or delivered.√ Christmas concert sung√ Carols sung and money raised for Crisis√ Someone else’s carol singing event attended.√ Family visits lined up.√ Christmas tree bought.√ Decorate tree√ Gather winter fuel.√ Still…
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Writing With Your Ears

Booking has opened for my first ever writing workshop! Blackheath Halls 23 Lee Road London SE3 9RQ 29 January 2012 3 to 5.30pm Join me for a taster session on writing (particularly fiction) using all your senses, with an emphasis on hearing. Write to a background of the Blackheath Orchestra rehearsal of Mendelssohn’s A Midsummer…
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music is taking over my life

Haven’t written anything here (or anywhere else much) for a while, and I blame that pesky singing lark. It has taken over. We are rehearsing Ramirez’s Navidad Nuestra, carols and RTR stuff for Blackheath Halls on the 16th December, end of term concert for Raise the Roof at the Horniman Museum TODAY!!!! 2.30pm, and a…
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Remember

For by my glee might many men have laughed, And of my weeping something had been left, Which must die now. I mean the truth untold, The pity of war, the pity war distilled. Strange Meeting, Wilfred Owen For the past week we have been asked to remember: Remember, Remember the fifth of November Gunpowder…
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Etruscan Smiles at the Estorick Collection
The Estorick’s collected twentieth century Italian art, a period and region I thought I knew nothing about, but there are a couple of Modiglianis, the piercing turquoise gaze and pursed lips of Doctor Francois Brabander standing out in a room of more muted pictures. I did find myself thinking oh yeah Modigliani and moving on.…
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Days Out by Bus at the Estorick Collection

The second of our forays into North London on the lovely Overground; appropriate, since we were heading to an exhibition strong on leisure journeys by public transport. I didn’t know the Estorick Collection existed until A’s walking buddy J handed her a leaflet about their current exhibition of Edward McKnight Kauffer posters, The Poster King. …
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Fast and Furious Figaro

Puzzle Piece Opera’s Figaro in 50 minutes, is the latest in a series of 50 minute operas they have performed and my second Figaro in a week, but it was worth the journey, and what a journey! Figaro transported to the office at top speed. How do you get through the Marriage of Figaro in…
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Feasting the senses

It’s been a bit of an indulgent weekend, feasting our senses, and there’s more to come. We started with the visual and a trip to the Guildhall Art Gallery in the heart of the city for an exhibition of John Atkinson Grimshaw paintings. Grimshaw started out as a bit of a fellow traveller with the…

