Terry Spinks - Telegraph

Terry Spinks - Telegraph:

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the Hustings For Mayor of London

A group of us booked tickets via the BBC for this recording of the four main contenders for the mayoral-  quite an uninspiring, point scoring, depressing 'debate' but Andrew  Neil  hosted brilliantly.

Stratford 'Circus' is a prefabricated building dumped next to the Theatre Royal which has also mysteriously been renamed Stratford East.

Gospel concert in Waterloo

http://serefo.org.uk/

Dr Arnold, founder of SRF and the Mayor of Wandsworth Mrs Jane Taylor

This was a fundraiser for the Separation and Reunion Forum. a group concerned with helping people heal from the separation of mothers and children in the fifties and sixties as a result of migration from the West Indies. The concert had the most marvellous Barbados nurses choir and the tenor Ronald                 .
I am afraid I can never stop myself trying to sing along...But wanted people to hear the choir

Jonah Lehrer

http://www.jonahlehrer.com/

It's just been a week of continuous rain and it has made us all a bit fed up. After a taste of how wonderful London can be in warm spring weather a couple of weeks ago, London has been given a good thrashing of rain.  We had booked tickets for this lecture by Jonah and our friend was keen to go.
I was too, struggling to learn sewing and get some creativity going as a therapy I was keen to know what the latest research is in neuro- science about inspiration and why some people make a good fist of things- if not brilliance, and others don't.


We booked the lecture through 'The School of Life' and it was part of their Sunday Service series.

http://www.theschooloflife.com/Sermons
 Modelled on a church service we sang a very funny Ian Dury 'hymn'

Noel Coward was a charmer.
As a writer he was brahma.
Velvet jackets and pyjamas,
"the gay divorce" and other dramas.

There ain't half been some clever bastards
(Lucky bleeders, lucky bleeders)
There ain't half been some clever bas-tards.

Van Gough did some eyeball pleasers.
He must have been a pencil squeezer.
He didn't do the Mona Lisa,
That was an Italian geezer.

There ain't half been some clever bastards
(Lucky bleeders, lucky bleeders)
There ain't half been some clever bas-tards.

Einstein can't be classed as witless.
He claimed atoms were the littlest.
When you did a bit of splitting-em-ness
Frighten everybody shitless

There ain't half been some clever bastards.
Probably got help from their mum
(who had help from her mum).
There ain't half been some clever bastards.
Now that we've had some,
let's hope that there's lots more to come.

There ain't half been some clever bastards
(Lucky bleeders, lucky bleeders)
There ain't half been some clever bas-tards.

Okey-dokey!
Oh!
Segovia.
Da-laa la-laa da-daa da-lee
De dump di dump de dump-dump-diddle li-lee.

There ain't half been some clever bastards
(Lucky bleeders, lucky bleeders)
There ain't half been some clever bastards
(Lucky bleeders, lucky bleeders)
There ain't half been some clever bastards
(Lucky bleeders, lucky bleeders)
There ain't half been some clever........
bastards





 followed by a Bob Dylan song which illustrated how Dylan scooped ideas from very diverse sources to produce a flash of inspiration that came out in the song 'Like a rolling stone'


The essence was that we need to choose our aims carefully and in the end how much 'grit' we have, ie determination and perseverance, added to our creativity sparks will be the main predictor of our achievement.  Jonah talked about clusters of creativity, where against popular myth, groups of very highly talented thinkers met together - and this is going to be more and more likely as the problems we need solving get more complicated and team work is more likely to produce genius than the individual working alone.

Liberal England: Songs of Praise and the class system

Liberal England: Songs of Praise and the class system:

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My Life in Travel: David Starkey, historian and television presenter - News & Advice - Travel - The Independent

My Life in Travel: David Starkey, historian and television presenter - News & Advice - Travel - The Independent:

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I so agree with him

The changing face of Brick Lane

The Ice Cream parlour makes way for another money change place

Bengali Cafe goes- coffee and cakes comes

A trip round the Olympic park

the best bit of the park 

the Green Tube walking path 

Only three months to the Games. And we toured the park, courtesy of LO-Cog and a jolly Hockey guide who name checked some of the athletes as if they were personal friends.  It was like 'Here's where Tom is going to dive and Perri is not going to stay in Mile End but here in the village"
The Park has some great buildings but seems very bitty and just like a series of installations like at an art gallery. The loveliest  but was a small fifties type industrial building with a cafe for the builders and that is planned to come down I think. But perhaps it just needs people to make the place live.

Henrietta, Mavis and Joan

Henrietta's  poem

Henrietta and 

Mavis

our three great ladies of Spitalfields

http://spitalfieldslife.com/2011/01/21/mavis-bullwinkle-secretary/

My favourite choir

This is the choir who sings every Sunday at Petticoat Lane Market between 11-12. This song is 'Jesus, Morning Star' and it's my favourite title for him.  
I love this choir and you can just about hear me singing along in a voice that is just terrible. John is at the start of the video and you can just see him rushing away in embarrassment and hiding between the stalls

Spitalfields Life Chit Chats

Spitalfields Life Chit Chats:

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Our friend, the amazingly named Mavis Bullwinkle is speaking tonight

Around Bermondsey

http://www.bermondseyvillage.org.uk/

With an old friend we wandered round Bermondsey- not anything like the place I knew not that many years ago- it must be one of the most pretentious of London's new desirable areas. The notice board in the park, untouched by graffiti or funny comments must have had one hundred invites to waste your money per notice board. This 'Praise the Pork'  was typical- along with massage, soothsayers, nutritionists, herbalists et al

Easter Bank holiday Monday

view from our window

Well this has been the most appalling Bank Holiday. rain for two days almost non stop, freezing cold churches, huge amounts of food to use up from friends who failed to turn up in the rain.  Our lovely fiery plant you can see in the picture began to spout it's red leaves a couple of weeks ago when we had our first spring.  Now I am afraid it will get all confused and get cold and lose it's rosy cheeks

University cash crisis hits historic women’s library

University cash crisis hits historic women’s library

Oldies afternoons at the Picture House

You know for sure you are officially 'old' when you can get in to these silver screen films on Tuesdays and Wednesdays for £2.50 and also stuff your face with custard creams and no questions asked  Having said that it's a nice time to meet 'real'east enders (not easy) and see some truly awful films.  Despite good reviews 'This must be the Place' seemed like pretentious nonsensical beautifully filmed with little motifs like Sean Penn blowing the hair of his face.  At the end I had to ask Ann, 'what was that all about?'  
'Jump Street' was funny and witty but too much repetitious stuff about 'dicks' And a pretty awful car chase.  All very shocking for older people I say!

the size of the walrus

This FREE museum is just half an hour away on the Overground from Shoreditch high street.. It is an amazing place- natural history and this enormous walrus and a very good photographic exhibition of the old cultural festivals of England- and not just May Day.
Even more fascinating was the armies of yummy mummies with their children- coaching them along- toddlers listening to professional story tellers- most of the children were less than a year and could not possibly understand what was going on.  Teaching starts early in this affluent part of South london

Our Saturday workshop

These are some of the results of a three hour workshop workshop at Heba.  Two of these women are complete beginners!   We meet every Saturday at 10am

Free Craft Class

modelling one of the designs

This is a FREE workshop on Monday afternoons at the only school in the City of London.
the teacher, Hafsna, will help with any craft project and there is a friendly atmosphere. The class has some very talented needlewomen and designers and also some beginners.  All are welcome and the classes are aimed at mothers and grandparents-


http://www.sirjohncassprimary.org/familyroom.asp

Olek

http://www.theupcoming.co.uk/2012/03/06/dont-miss-out-street-artist-olek-crochets-an-entire-room/It is a room made of crochet- made by the polish artist Olek and subtitled after Tracey Emin
"I do not expect to be a mother but I do expect to die alone"

Ken and the Prophet | The Spectator

Ken and the Prophet | The Spectator:

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