Thursday 2 October 2003

On a Clear Day You can See Forever

From my office window I can see some squirrels that live in the attic of a house - they are playing and skipping across the tiles. I keep wondering if the people who live there are constantly irritated by scratching on the roof. I can also see Ally Pally now that the rain has cleared. And in the far distance on the horizon I think its Highgate.

Its been a bad week. And a particularly bad day. I have these balls and I'm getting fantastically good at juggling and keeping them all in the air at the same time. One of them is an additional 0.6 job with its own little balls around it. Some of the balls are only kept in the air by dependence on others (partners, other individuals, other agencies etc). The funder caused me to drop several balls this week (balls that I've been juggling successfully since April the product of which should be coming to fruition during the coming term). And then one of the partners today dropped a anvil on my toe and I just chucked all the remaining balls down so I could hop around holding my toe. The sad thing is that when a ball hits the ground it stops being a juggling ball and turns into a ball and chain. So I look around at my tasks. And I don't want to pick any of them up cos they are so damn heavy.

Outside the sun is going down and is causing the hazy sky to turn pink starting at the horizon (over by Highgate) and working its way gradually upwards. I love the light at dusk. I love working on the third floor so I can see over the rooftops.

My favourite London rooftops are on the train journey from Waterloo East to London Bridge - all those ones through Borough - very ye olde London, tight knots of streets and balconies high up and ramshackle arrangement of old buildings. Old signalman shacks on the railway. The railway is over street rather than low down and sometimes you get those old trains with the doors that you open by putting the window down and leaning out - which all adds to the ye olde ambiance.

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