London Lives

A pub on Goldhawk Road, west London. £4 on the door to see three bands, something I haven’t done for ages. Friends and friends-of-friends were in two of them. The Charles Hawtrey Experience were bluesy and excellent, followed by Luge, with eighties indie-influenced tracks, all self-penned. Also excellent. The pub was great; the upstairs room restored to a sense of the Victorian. We saw a number of friends we hadn’t seen for years. Stories and bands.

I’ve managed to start my Christmas shopping in November, which is impeccably organised for me. After mooching in bookshops in Fulham, I headed to Shepherd’s Bush and the delights of Westfield. I bought some things for my parents, and cards to thank friends for the lovely weekend. I also tried on some coats, including a lovely Betty Jackson one.

I caught the bus from the shopping centre. The top deck was packed with schoolchildren on their way home, which was a revelation. I’ve got a week’s annual leave (brilliant!) but it’s amazing how quickly one forgets that others are still going about their usual routine. The growing darkness outside made me assume that everyone was home from school. Of course they’re not, and they’re standing in the stairwell of the bus where they shouldn’t be, and shouting across the top deck and eating smelly chips and texting their mates. And the feisty girls are shouting back at the boys on the seats behind. Way to go. Noisy, alive and fearless. And not full of the harm that we like to imagine.

The bus across this area is the way to go. On the Hammersmith and City Line of the Tube, you just get flat slabs of warehouse West London land across Royal Oak and Latimer Road stations. The bus always reveals more.

I really must make a decision on the winter coat, though. The weather really is decidedly nippy now.

This blog should probably be called “Mogs on Pavements”, as I found another example on the way home this evening. This is a familiar one, all patchy colours, that leaps onto the wall outside his house, demanding to be stroked.

It is a lovely balmy evening, even now, and September upon us tomorrow. The time just slipped by this afternoon in Westfield. Shepherd’s Bush has come up in the world. It still has the tower blocks on its Green; I rather like them and they remind me of the ones on Edgware Road. The tube has been expanded and the rail and Overground stations nearby give a wide and expansive feel to the area. This is before you even set foot into Westfield. We had good Italian food (seafood en papillotte) and nice wine and natter. Spent hours mooching in the big cool centre, then picked up food for tomorrow.

The Central line was packed with people coming back from the Carnival, a hot fug of people holding on and grabbing seats where they could. The Piccadilly was an oasis of calm by comparison.