Light / Damp (I’m back)

Happiness is directly related to south facing windows and a lack of mold

I have new perspectives on my obsession with weather. Toronto last week was -16°C. I’ve never been so cold. Walking down the street gave me brain-freeze like I’d just inhaled a pint of ice cream. I stopped in every 3rd shop to warm up. Detract that from my speed of scuttling & it became a normal length errand. On my last day in the elevator, a man said to me “It’s crazy that we choose to live here”. I didn’t miss a beat in replying “I don’t live here & I’m leaving today – YES you are crazy!!” They say there’s no such thing as bad weather – as long as you dress right. B*|+s!%t. Light & humidity play a massive part in a region’s collective psyche, creative expression, joy/depression & late night habits. Which got me to thinking about the amazing bands here & enormous impact of UK music (from such a tiny country), how the weather moulds (pun intended) our creativity or output.

So, I’m back in London & all the words which didn’t flood my head in America are tumbling into my brain like clowns, wanting to see themselves in black and white. Literally, the minute I landed my mental patterns changed, synapses sparked & a new itches wanted scratching. My mind construct was different in the States – I wondered at the lack of writing & put it down to not having My Table; to being surrounded by people so often; being on the road or behind the camera. I was told I simply needed discipline or structure – and then the words would flow. But these words – they’re jumping in when I’m not sitting down writing – they are making me sit down & unleash them onto the screen. They are oozing, flowing down – vocabulary spinning! I always need to know how someone’s name is spelt to be able to say it or remember them. I spell words in my mind when people are talking, like a dymo label-making machine behind my eyes/ears: the absence of words for 6 months was eerie. 

Happiness is directly related to south facing windows and a lack of mold + a tumble dryer (damp clothes in the house – previously so normal, now feels very Mike Leigh) + a vitamix! There is a unique experience of being ‘home’ – a sense of self and place. Returnng to damp, mold cracked England is a familiar shock. It doesn’t suit me here so well – I feel claustrophobic – like an badly tailored ill-fitting straightjacket, which I get used to wearing & even convince myself suits me – what is so normal can so very easily become a default for me. Again and again..

However I’ve never been more grateful to be on Fiona’s table, see my girls (who are not on facebook & rarely online – can you imagine?!!) & re-orientate. A change of clothes is much appreciated – 6 months out of 1 suitcase was good for the soul, but… 

“It really is worse to handle once you experience a life of sunshine… It raises the bar of how much more joyful things could be if we didn’t have to first drag our spirits over the weather..” Friend in LA

Since I left Woolworths has shut down. GONE; McDonald’s latest refurb looks like Foxtons; There is new raw choc in town - Mulu: I had an email from Poteet asking me if the pic on the site of this new venue in Seattle - Cafe Reiki was me. It is! I’m not quite sure how they came upon it & apparently it’s being used in print too. Amazing luck & success to them in their new venture.. ✘