Ball and Chain Street.

FRIDAY 21st SEPTEMBER

On the wishlist: subterranean boat tours through the City of London. the Old Vic tunnels.

Breakfast in an executive suite of the Intercontinental Park Lane, the windows looking out over the southside, Knightsbridge and Hyde Park Corner, bowls of berries, multi-coloured juices, whiter-than-white fresh yoghurt –
And then early to bed for more of these strange dreams I ve been having lately.. what is my subconscious trying to dislodge?
Cheesefests. Extra-green Roquefort (sweeter, more fragrant), Port Salut, and a young raw milk goats cheese from the Borough Market that melts slightly to the touch of the knife.

Trips to Essex on the train for cups of tea and cigarettes.

My suzerainty.

My bicycle – looking terrible after being left outside for 4 months in Ps back garden – is put in the shop for a new headset and bottom bracket. They charge an extortionate amount of money, but do a good job and the feeling of cycling fast and slipping through the traffic on my Falcon fixed gear is exhilarating.

From the Wellcome Collection:
Philippa Verry drinking coffee using her foot.

On the watchlist:
‘The Tin Lids: The Thalidomide Story’ (1991)
‘Only the Beginning’ (1969)
‘Crewmaster 3’ with Aimee Mullins, whose TED tv talk is also something to be seen

Tom Simpson, the first British cyclist to wear the yellow jersey, died while climbing the demanding Ventoux stage of the 1967 Tour de France. He was found to have traces of amphetamine and brandy in his blood, and pills in his pocket.
Strychnine hydrochloride, used as a stimulant to treat heart disease and muscular dystrophy, was widely taken in the sport at the time.

I still havent recovered from the 5 bottles of red wine P and I sank the night I arrived back in London (that weird, weird night) and in general am drinking far too much. But who is counting?