Imagine my astonishment, Samantha, reading an homage to London by one who’s well adapted to Orcadian life! Perhaps time spent in Edinburgh exhibiting your four painstaking, and fabulous looking works, renewed your love for aspects of city life.
Yet what I read of your being in London showcased your powers of observation, your mental skills of careful analysis, and all the love of life you possess.
True, I do remember, when I lived in Lndon and had very little money, feeling claustrophobic because there wasn't an easy, cheap way for me to get out of the city for a couple of days. I would go to the river for a sense of air and space and sky. I did that last week too, taking the clipper boats that ply the Thames, even when they took longer.
Thank you Samantha, a beautiful reflection of the alienation and communion of city life. And I loved the piece by Kate Tempest-- I haven't heard of them before.
Oh wow, see if you can find their Glastonbury performance 2017, and watch the whole thing. It's electrifying, and by the time the close comes there's not a dry eye in the house (field! So moving.
"What a gigantic collaborative miracle!"
Henry David Thoreau, and probably others, too, said: It's not what you look at, but what you see.
Thank you for reminding us, through your vision, that we are submersed in a miracle.
Every day, we are held up by others, many of them invisible to us.
Face up to see everyone with faces down, still noticing the glimmers of quiet community determined to peek out.
I'm no longer in London, but that's a beautiful picture and I recognise it from past times.
Peoplewatching should be a recognised hobby, like birdwatching.
Yes, the “gigantic collaborative miracle.” Love your newsletter, Sam, especially as a poet and painter (who grew up on a coast). So inspiring. 🩵
Thank you Andrea, glad to meet a fellow traveller among words and image.
Imagine my astonishment, Samantha, reading an homage to London by one who’s well adapted to Orcadian life! Perhaps time spent in Edinburgh exhibiting your four painstaking, and fabulous looking works, renewed your love for aspects of city life.
Yet what I read of your being in London showcased your powers of observation, your mental skills of careful analysis, and all the love of life you possess.
Thank you Gary. I'm home again now and it was the sounds of curlew, skylarks and arctic terns that accompanied my morning run, instead of traffic.
A true homecoming, Samantha. How restorative that must have been.
You survived the city! Bravo and thanks for your piece, the city is amazing, as long as you can leave it when you want.
True, I do remember, when I lived in Lndon and had very little money, feeling claustrophobic because there wasn't an easy, cheap way for me to get out of the city for a couple of days. I would go to the river for a sense of air and space and sky. I did that last week too, taking the clipper boats that ply the Thames, even when they took longer.
This is a beautiful piece of writing Samantha. Thank you. Living mostly in the city I recognise a lot of what you describe.
The city is a wonder, isn't, it, but it's easy to forget that.
Thank you Samantha, a beautiful reflection of the alienation and communion of city life. And I loved the piece by Kate Tempest-- I haven't heard of them before.
Oh wow, see if you can find their Glastonbury performance 2017, and watch the whole thing. It's electrifying, and by the time the close comes there's not a dry eye in the house (field! So moving.
Thanks Samantha, I love discovering new artists. I'll check it out. :)
This is truly beautiful, brought tears to my eyes, thank you
Thank you Gaye. I'm glad it touched you.
Petals on a wet, black bough. Thank you. This was a beautiful ode to the London sea, made me miss living there.
Yes! It is like a sea, tides of people and energy rising and ebbing. Thank you for putting that image in my mind.