ephemera

Today I saw the first sunset I've noticed since moving to London. It was just a sliver, bright behind the darkness of the clouds, and it lasted only a few minutes. Then the bus I was on turned away from Hyde Park into Kensington, and the sky was lost behind the buildings. It put me in mind of Leonard Cohen - "There's a crack in everything. That's how the light gets in."

And I don't even really have much of substance to say. These are days of wandering the city by bus and by foot, looking for work, with Mumford & Sons playing in my headphones. Of breakfast in front of BBC News. Of evenings spent with books and notebooks and films. Of tea and toast.

I spend a lot of time in old bookstores that smell of dust and stale cigarettes. After handing in a CV, I allow myself wander the shelves for a few moments, ghosting in amongst familiar names, pulling loved ones down and reading a few cracked yellow pages at a time. Riding on the Tube or the tops of busses I scribble away in my notebook, turn down my music and listen to the conversations around me. I am surrounded by pages covered in inkstains and half-moons from cups of tea.

I might be unemployed, but I am working and learning every day. I am reading voraciously. I am a little bit addicted to Radio 4 & 7, and BBC dramas (radio and television), and several new fascinations (as well as some recurring old ones). I am making my own syllabus, I suppose. Indulging my obsessions. Recommended trying, if you can, then? Sherlock, Crooked House, Small Island, Terrence Rattigan, Philip Ridley, TS Eliot, the Front Row Highlights podcast, M&S Breakfast Tea, The Man In Black, Laura Marling, Carl Barat, listening to British people do American accents, Saturday, Tipping the Velvet, and I'm sure I've missed something.

Also, Benedict Cumberbatch and Johnny Lee Miller are being directed by Danny Boyle in a new production of Frankenstein at the National Theatre, starting next month, and I cannot wait to see it. Not only do I adore the novel, there are three very good reasons listed above to see it. Most interesting to me, though, is that Cumberbatch and Miller will be trading off the roles of Frankenstein and the Creature nightly. I am very, very intrigued by this.

Oh dear, this wasn't a very interesting post, was it? Mostly I just wanted to check in. I am well, I hope you all are too. I miss everyone, of course.