The journey to and from (23)

Alighting at Camden Station

Often these days we here told of near apocryphal meaning about a journey.
Here's a bit about the 'journey' house for which Number 23 is the identification (and from it too)


I mentioned a couple of weeks back that we'd watched the film The Lady in the Van it ended with a shot of the house that the action was centred on and a fictional' blue plaque being unveiled.


So decided to seek out the house where Alan Bennett lived at the time of the story - seems it's now used by a photographer but I snapped it anyway  (you can see and hear more from Alan here)

The film (and story) were interesting in that they were also  about the relationship between  Alan and his mother running parallel with 'The Lady'.

The visit also revealed to me how close Camden is to the 'West End' on a bright winter's day it made for a lovely walk - although I did sort of get moved along when taking photo's in some posh areas (more about the walk soon).

Posh Houses

And Gloucester Gate is adorned beautifully

What is staggering is the splendour of the Nash terraces - the one in Gloucester Gate particularly stood out (and has been noted by others) it's a lot more exclusive than Gloucester Crescent.

The Matilda Statue also on my walk

And more contemporary in Camden

The fund continues to  accumulate.

Now at £33.15

That Door

Well here it is after all that fuss - but a picture I like anyway

NW1 sounds better than Camden

Alan Bennett, Martyrs and (9)

I often hear dialogue around me which suggests Alan Bennett and his Talking Heads and other observational dramas he's been involved with (my old School Friend Kevin has him as one of his living British Treasures).

A must for the modern hotel room - a smart telly

During our overnight away from home I got a chance to see the film of 'The Lady in the Van'  the film that came out of Alan Bennett's experience with providing hard standing for  a troubled lady (and her van) during the late 1970s  and 80s.


The film was available on 'catch up' an application I've used for quite a few years now but this was the first I've accessed it as an App - on a Samsung TV - preferable to  how we see the iPlayer via a NOW TV box- far from being a Digital Refuse-nik I do now find I'm some distance from what used to be the Bleeding Edge - unlike most people I have a car with no noticeable technology beyond the most basic and it's stretching it to call my phone a 'Smart' one.


Having said that watching the film and a recent documentary about his third volume  of memoirs (Keeping on Keeping on)  I can see how Alan Bennett would be reticent to embrace much of what younger generations take for granted.

I also see how fiction and even biography is always about the writer - there's an awful lot (it seems to me) of reflection (and perhaps even guilt) in the thoughts of the author about his behaviour towards his mother.

There are though many of Alan's qualities that seem fair and generous, he appears to be less selfish than many.

Alan never shared with is parents his sexual orientation and for the generation of his parents this was probably the right thing for him (I remember hearing Miriam Margolyes talking of her regret in  hindsight that she chose come out to  her mother about her own preferences.

One of those new 'Fivers' and I'm at £15

[ Watching the film has meant I've got to visit Camden for number 23 as a Front Door it's the location of the 'drama'.]

Martydom.

Well today I've been bending up double putting our Christmas 'Deccies' up in the roof space void - each year it's a little more challenging but a sure sign that the festive season has come to an end.

Even more stuff

Having said that it's an awful lot easier than the sort of thing that Marina Abramovic has put herself through or the Martyrs of old  that most religions seem to have examples of (in fact looking at this it does seem the Marina is pretty close to textbook case of the Martyr complex condition)

365 Front Doors

Here's number 9 and again it's an Ealing Road - Craven Road 

A modern door on a modern house