Oh So Quiet
He probably needs burping again
I've just spent the last two hours trying to make the boy burp. I also have a job that'll take me through to Christmas with Channel 5. The two things are entirely unrelated, but are both notable in their own right. Apart from that, it's just a case of the three of us finding our way - relearning each other's needs and generally looking a bit tired. I had an odd experience walking somewhere or other some day or other ago (times and places seem to be a bit of a blur at the moment) where I suddenly realised that I wasn't surprised by the way he looked ... it was almost as if I knew he'd look like that, or I'd dreamt it or something. You could, naturally, put that down to lack of sleep and the zen like state I get into when I'm walking - the two things are a dangerous combination.
The traumas seem like a lifetime ago, but it's only been two and a half weeks. Since then I've been concerning myself with the never ending cycles of feeding and sleeping and bathing and nappy changing, constantly wondering whether we're 'doing it right' and then reminding myself there's no such thing - but we're doing it, and getting it all done, and beginning, gradually, baby-step by baby-step, to get some sleep at night.
I probably haven't considered my time management in that much detail, but this morning, when I was looking into my calm clean fed son's eyes all I could think was that I can't even consider leaving him for more than two or three hours at a time. That, obviously, is not conducive to a good business. However, for the next 10 weeks I'm going to be forced to, for at least three days a week, so I suppose we could consider this as the establishment of some sort of routine, if only for me.
Mrs D of course performed a miracle recovery, much to the surprise and delight of doctors and consultants and midwives - but I have to keep reminding myself to watch carefully. I don't want to stop her doing things she wants to do, but there is still concern that she'll overdo it. Two heart attacks and three complete blood transfusions have got to take it out of you (literally) and there is continuous concern in the back of my head that two and a half weeks is not time to even begin to recover from that, let alone appear perfectly healthy and normal - which she does.
Help is there if we need it, but we're both so stubborn and bloody-minded (a trait we now share with the boy) that we won't ask for it. Not yet, anyway. We're determined to do this our way, and the enforced input from midwives and health visitors is more than enough to be ignoring for now, without the helpful suggestions and comments of family and friends. Don't want to be rude or nuffink, but there's so much conflicting information out there ...
It's going to be all about time management. Something I've been very frivolous with in the past. But I crave normality, when I can go wandering again, and pontificate on the pointless. Soon.
I’m boring you now
New River Hall. Posh, isn't it.
I'm beginning to wonder if I'm boring myself, to be honest - but it's 4.30 in the morning and the firstborn won't sleep quite yet, so here we are.
I have my grubby mitts on the proposals for the Carlton Cinema site, thanks to the nice chap at 'Four Communications'.
On the face of it, it looks impressive. And very expensive. The plan is to keep the front, restore the insides (keeping the original colour schemes) but then build on top, and I assume excavate underneath, unless there's already a massive basement. There'll also be a massive glass edifice to the back, not troubling Essex Road but completely changing the face of River Walk - and an entrance on River Place to the conference centre, plus entrance to the flats from Astey's Row.
I'm not sure I'd be interested in living in a flat that's built above a church/cinema - so the soundproofing would have to be very good. I expect that'll be one of the things the council will examine when they consider these plans. Obviously it represents a significant improvement to what's there now, and retains the listed front.
A couple of things that may also affect the plans - the protected alignment for Crossrail 2 runs straight underneath the site - although I'm sure that nothing will come of it until at least 2025, it'll involve significant work around River Place to get Essex Road station up to scratch, and there were plans at one stage for a ventilation shaft in River Place. I can imagine all that having a serious effect on 44 flats.
I'm also concerned about where the money is coming from - for a church with no congregation (according to the Islington Gazette) this is an ambitious project. Personally, I would have thought encouraging people to go to St Stephens would be a better use of time and energy and only represents a 50 yard walk along the New River Path, but I suppose Christianity doesn't work like that any more.
Open House Weekend
Keeping me home since 2009
Because of this little blighter to the left and his interesting sleeping and feeding habits (I know most people only come here to see pictures of him) I doubt I'm going to be able to get out to see much of the Open House weekend. But in case I do, I'll be eschewing the grander locations this time around and heading to some of the local addresses.
30 Thornhill Road - someone's house that's been modernized nicely, by the looks of things.
Almeida Theatre - backstage tours are always exciting
Charterhouse Chapel - because I worked almost next door for a year and never got to go in
Conisbee - might skip this one - I get the feeling it's probably just an estate agent trying to flog some flats
85 Mildmay Park - Was this the one on 'Grand Designs'? I shall have to go and find out.
Finsbury Town Hall - Go past it on the 38 regularly, and have often wondered what's inside.
W Plumb Family Butchers - I guess this is open every day in any case, but worth a look.
Carlton Cinema Again
Sadly, due to circumstances beyond my control (arriving home from hospital with baby and wife in tow) I wasn't able to get to the exhibition about the plans for the Carlton Cinema on Essex Road. It now appears that flats are to be built at the back, along with a basement conference centre. There's a lightweight article in the Islington Gazette (no surprises there) - I've been in touch with the PR company dealing with it so hopefully I'll be able to write again with a bit more detail. What made me laugh about the article was the comment that 44 flats would be built - none of them affordable. Then I remembered this picture from a book about Tramways of Holborn and Finsbury - any excuse to put up a picture of a tram - even if the purpose of the picture is to highlight the cinema in the background.
Route 77 circa 1939 on Essex Road
Tube Map
No service between New Queasey and Bawdier Analogy
There's been much hoo-ha surrounding the revised London Underground Map ... why is the East London Line back in it's old configuration? Where have the zones gone? Why are the daggers so inconsistent? (Diamond Geezer has a comprehensive summary) And more to the point, how will we ever know which side of the Thames we're on? Is this TfL's attempt to bring the warring factions of London's North/South divide together? Anyway. I love the tube map, and I love it when they bring new ones out because they always change slightly, and I'm such a geek that I love all that. It doesn't really bother me what the changes are, I like them.
Anyway. The Fact Compiler draws my attention to the London Underground Anagram Map and I am now smitten with Nether Bangle, Burst Racoon and Stoutening Honks. It reminds me of happy times 10 years ago when new place names would accidentally slip into traffic reports on certain radio stations in Surrey. No-one will forget Wardead, Goldenshot, Bucking on the Cock and the Givemhand Relief Road. Anyway. Download the Anagram Map before the poor folk get a cease and desist letter from TfL.
Televisual Treats
Quality Broadcasting
The news that Channel 4 has lost another shed load of profit (this was quite a big shed, apparently, one of those ones with two rooms, a verandah and bicycle storage) has led to the inevitable calls for it to be sold off (Tory), merged with the BBC (Labour) or placed under the guard of the National Trust (Lib Dem, probably). I'm probably more in the protectionist camp - whilst it's doing a good job with its "commercial" channels (E4, More4, Film Four and LoveFilm) its mainstream channel, like ITV, has expectations placed on it that wildly exceed reality, in a classic fudge of proportions that only manufacturers of really good fudge (i.e. the British) can manage. (See here for how to make fudge.) It's worth pointing out that as things stand, given the huge commercial pressure it's under, it's still actually making a profit. As is ITV, which is apparently as beleaguered as it's public-service-commercial-fudge-making partner. So, is it really in such a shambolic state? Or is this just the imagination of the Murdoch-led press, who would love to see both their downfall to boost the Sky network, accidentally supported by the BBC's staff who love any media story that distracts attention away from the BBC's problems, and the Guardian who have a massive media department hyping up every non-story because it drives so much traffic to their website.
The bottom line, of course, is does anyone care? Probably not. As long as the programmes are still good. Ah, well, there's the rub. I got this by email this evening.
My Ugly Best Friend is a brand new show where a glamour puss nominates her ugly duckling best friend for a makeover and we need men to rate these two girls! Whether you like blondes or brunettes, tall girls or short girls - if you have an opinion and know what you like, then we’d love to hear from you!
You will be watching video footage of our two friends and then being asked to comment on everything from their noses to their clothes but don’t worry; you won’t have to meet the girls in the flesh.
We are shooting the show this Sunday, 20th September at 9.00 in the morning in Brick Lane so if you fancy taking part, then apply now! Remember, this is a show for the chaps. Ladies, we look forward to seeing you one of our other shows! Booking is now open so if you would like to join us then you may either apply online via our website at http://www.sroaudiences.com or by replying to this email.
Oh, you so want to go. I know you do. At least we know when and where they're filming, so egg throwing is an option. I'm thinking of listing these audience invites on a regular basis to see which of these crap ideas actually gets commissioned, and who's in charge when they do. Although it's all a bit depressing, really.
The Internet’s Force For Good
Baby. Chilled.
I would just like to commend IanVisits to everyone. Not only does he provide a superb service to Londoners, cataloguing the best of the lesser-known events around the city and emailing them to everyone once a week for free, he writes engagingly and has proven to be a really nice bloke by dropping by this blog and pointing out a way of me recovering the majority of my inane ramblings easily and without pain or stress. So, thank you Ian. You are a straight-up genuine nice guy.
The blog got damaged by a dodgy security update. What can you do? Everything got wiped.
Sadly, I couldn't recover the comments on those pages that got lost - many of them I really wish I could ... so many kind, genuinely lovely remarks on the arrival of my son, and the seemingly insurmountable hurdles that my beautiful wife overcame to ensure his safe delivery. She is a medical miracle. In the week since we almost lost her, she spent a total of four days in Intensive Care, three days in the maternity ward, and precisely 7 days later I find myself at home dealing with the biggest avalanche of shit from a tiny bottom that I could have ever imagined. And it makes me the happiest man alive. I have written a song called 'Drowning In A Sea Of Sticky Poo' which I plan to sing at his 14th birthday party.
I know I've said this before, but I'm going to say it again. Boring, aren't I. I cannot begin to describe the gratitude I hold for the staff of University College Hospital - from the Belgian Professor who came in at 3am on a Sunday morning to advise the team on a technique for identifying rogue bleeding using a chemical injected into the bloodstream and then picked up using radiology to identify the points of escape, to the wonderful consultant who drove the whole thing forward, shouted and cajoled and borrowed and significantly achieved whilst keeping me informed and helping the situation to be, for me, just that little bit easier to handle, to the anaesthetist who was with us through contractions, c-sections, epidural, resuscitation and visited on a daily basis to remind us that it was the scariest experience of his professional career ... the midwives and nurses both in Intensive Care, Maternity Critical Care and plain old Maternity who monitored our every flickering improvement and made things as comfortable as they could be ... everyone should be (and many have professed to be) proud of what they achieved that night. And if ever there was an advert for a health care system that relieves the pressure and concern of transaction and allows professional health care staff to do what they do best, then this was it. Expect me to be at the front of the parade protesting against conservative plans to dismantle the NHS.
And now, back to our regularly scheduled ramblings.
Blog Death
So after just two weeks the whole blog gets completely destroyed by one stupid failing upgrade. All posts overwritten. Author very demoralised.
It’s Alright
Everything is OK
It was the best night of my life, and immediately became the worst night. Last night. Laadl joined us, after a torrid 30 hours of pointless labour, where nothing changed except the amount of drugs and the increase in pain. As I sat with my son, listening to a surreal blur of doctors shouting things like 'if I don't get the radiology team within 10 minutes I'm going to lose her', and 'crash team now' like I was viewing an episode of Holby City from the end of a long tunnel, while my son laid in front of me, eyes darting around, not sleeping for hours, waiting for the moment he knew his Mum was going to be OK and he could sleep. In the event, it was 6 hours in an operating theatre before closings were reopened and closed and bleeding had been stopped and haematology and radiology and consultants and specialists and any number of the people that do the real work had stopped, taken a breath, stopped shouting and finally made the move from theatre to intensive care. By 5am I had to say goodbye to my son, desperate to sleep and with nowhere to find a bed in the hospital, I had to go to my quiet little house, strangely empty of the prepared for invasion.
Three hours later, back, and five hours later communicating in sign language with my beautiful wife who couldn't speak but was desperate for her new boy. The staff of UCH moved heaven and earth; departments from different buildings working together to make the picture happen. And now, for the rest of my life, things are OK. No more fear - nothing could ever trump last night. It's all OK.
Television For London
Now Showing Jack Lemmon in Days Of Wine And Roses
(Anyone that gets the above reference is, like me, a saddo.) Much hand-wringing over the abandonment of the Carlton Cinema on Essex Road several years ago when the smoking ban came in and the people at Mecca claimed it would put them out of business. This somehow meant closing the bingo hall even before the ban came into force and they had time to measure the effect - but the suspicion always was that maintaining such a staggeringly beautiful (in my eyes, at least) building was always going to be a financial drain. And it was only a few weeks ago that I emailed a few of my local friends expressing concern that since it's purchase by a religious group of uncertain covenance, it had lain empty and boarded up. I was reminded of its plight when I stumbled on this fabulous photoset on Flickr. Anyway, I was pleasantly surprised when this came through the door this morning. Basically, it's an invitation to an exhibition in the former cinema by 'Resurrection Manifestations', on Friday 11th and Saturday 12th, where they'll outline their plans. I'm hoping it's not an opportunity to show off how run down the insides are, and explaining that they can't possibly restore it but will have to rip it all out and start again. Something in the pit of my stomach tells me that's what'll happen. But at the very least it'll be the first time we've been allowed in for almost three years, so it'll be an interesting comparison. If you have strong opinions, please turn up. Incidentally, I had a quick noodle around the Resurrection Manifestations website, and while they look fairly benign and it's all about Jesus and the power of God to save lives, they don't seem to have a large number of events planned, and I was quite surprised to see the events arranged under the headings 'Men's Fellowship', 'Men of Vision' and then 'Women's Fellowship' and 'Ladie's (sic) of Excellence' which hints at a somewhat segregated approach to life. They operate out of 'The Sanctuary' in Amhurst Park, and scratching the surface of that leads you to a man called 'Prince David'. This is a man who, according to princedavid.org "People around the globe know [..] as a noted evangelist, prophet, teacher, father and remarkable man of God. His long awaited ministry had been foretold by God through prominent prophets." He also seems quite keen on establishing christianity in the Middle East. Let me tell you, it's been tried. Anyway, there's an opportunity on their website to apply for a prayer, with a box where you can fill in all the details, so I shall ask God not to allow the interior of the former Carlton Cinema on Essex Road to be ripped out. And also to shine His light to give meaning to the scripture, in particular "extension" and "residential accommodation to the rear of the site".