SPITTING YARN

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All in london

Letter from lockdown

May 16

May 16 Letter from lockdown

autism, family, london, memoir

“Coronavirus cast its shadow over our chalk-edged island. WhatsApp groups thrummed with digital missives speculating about an Italian-style lockdown and my heart sank. Of all the Italian-style things I enjoy (coffee, ice cream, salad dressing), stringent lockdown measures are way down the list.”

The Laundry Bird

May 9

May 9 The Laundry Bird

creativity, culture, family, london, memoir

“A tangle of clothes hangers;

A nest for the laundry bird.”

May 3

May 3 Word arrows

autism, memoir, family, london

“Perhaps mindful that his words do not always have their desired effect, he gesticulates often. Finger writing fragments of his words which seem to hang in the air, like the trail of light that lingers when a sparkler is pulled through the dark.”

Oct 3

Oct 3 Everybody pees

autism, family, london, memoir, travel

“Here, serried ranks of these technological wind boxes blast their keening roar at harried, damp-handed commuters.”

Jun 29

Jun 29 Installation

travel, london, culture

“Crows stepped carefully on the shady lawns, peering beyond their beaks, waiting for something. Cobalt dragon and damsel flies zinged in my peripheral vision. And then I caught sight of something monolithic.”

Jun 26

Jun 26 Sultry

family, london, autism

“Walking up our road on a sunny day entails staccato sprint bursts through the sunshine, followed by a painstaking crawl through the shade cast by the large plane trees which line the street.”

May 12

May 12 Humans

autism, london, culture

The dream journey.

Apr 2

Apr 2 Bubbles

autism, family, london

“When Spike was smaller, I remember giving him gifts that he liked so much, he couldn't look at them directly - only squint at them using his peripheral vision.”

Nov 22

Nov 22 Segue

autism, family, london

“The intensity and singular focus of his special interest and of the emotions it inspires seems akin to falling in love.”

Oct 29

Oct 29 Railside

family, london, travel

“Things were turned around for Spike when he found a tall, straight stick and announced that he was "taking it home to put in my bedroom. If I get a bad leg, I'll have a stick!"“

Oct 16

Oct 16 Mail Rail

london, family, culture

“The diminutive rolling stock trundled alongside the platform and disgorged their passengers, who unfolded like origami. “

Oct 13

Oct 13 Caffeine

culture, memoir, london

“[I] pulled over, and sat at the side of the road winking and twitching, and admiring my own personal firework show.”

Oct 3

Oct 3 Goldhawk

london, travel, culture

“It feels like Shepherd's Bush is teetering on the brink.”

Sep 24

Sep 24 Landmarks

family, london, travel, autism

“When you know a place well, you can stand at the centre of it and your mind can travel ahead, reaching out through hedges, over walls to the boundaries of your personal experience.”

Aug 26

Aug 26 Meanwhile

“I can tell you that I opened my door that morning to the chemical smell of burning plastic.”

Aug 22

Aug 22 Treasure

family, london, books

“Instead, my eye was caught by something else. A thrill turned into a shiver as I shifted my cold-stiffened toes and took a careful step forward. Now I could reach the unmistakably brassy-yellow crystalline rock, glinting at the stream edge. Gold!”

Aug 15

Aug 15 Rail

travel, autism, london

“He discriminates a train by the acoustic fingerprint it sends shuddering down the tracks, before it heaves into sight.”

Aug 6

Aug 6 Pavilion

london, family, culture

“Since 2000, the year I came to live in London, the Serpentine Gallery in Hyde Park has commissioned a temporary summer pavilion by a leading architect. I love the regularity and predictability of it. An annual marker of the summer months.”