#129 Una's Birthday

Out at Southampton on Long Island.

#128 walk in the hillls near Encino

Long distant memories of walks in the hills of The Valley on Sunday afternoons when I lived in LA. Weekends were islands of blessed relief between weeks of confusing, subsistence work done to keep a creative dream alive, a dream which ultimately died. The sun, the dusty paths, the views, the space, the other hikers all seem so long ago but if I think hard for a moment, I can still feel the fear of waking up on a Monday morning and facing an uncertain future.

#127 Ewing Cemetary

We'd only been dating a couple of months when we went down to Ewing (40ish miles from New York.) I liked that she went to visit her mother's grave because I believe parents are to be loved, cherished and remembered.

#126 View from Lionshead

I had almost (but not quite) met Julie. I was single, working at MTV and--by and large--happy for the first time in a while. Una was and is a rock, a close and supportive friend. Memories of time spent with her are all happy ones.

#125 48th & 9th

Would I love this part of New York so much if I had never lived there? Would I even know it? This spot is only 2 avenues and 3 blocks from Times Square (that's less than half a mile) but very different from, say 48th and 6th, as far away in a different direction. There's no "show" here, just apartments, restaurants and little stores. It's a 10-minute walk to Times Square (and MTV.)

#124 Long Beach Boardwalk

(click for larger view) I haven't been back though I do glance down there now and again when I'm a plane that's coming in to land at JFK. 2007 was an healing Summer, working at MTV and recovering from the failure of Speak To The Stars.  Its a comparatively short train ride out there to a whole different world.

#123 Riverside Park

(click for larger view) Sketched in January 2007.  This text written in 2013.  I couldn't have known when I sketched this view that I would pass this spot so many, many more times.  These days my short morning run takes me to the river, as opposed to Central Park, and I job past those very seats.  When Zoe was a little younger and would actually sit in the stroller, or when she was younger still, barely a bundle, I would take her this way on my way to the pier on 72nd Street.  The paper it was sketched on isn't art paper and buckled due to the water of the watercolors. What seemed transient then, did in fact become a fixture.

#122 East Hoathly Church

The beautiful country church where Dave and Katherine got married. A very English country wedding, like the beginning of Four Weddings and a Funeral. All in all a marvelously sunny, enjoyable day.

2007 Queens Half Marathon

Half marathon #5. Time = 1:42:43.

#120 Westminster Cathedral

(May 27 2007, written Jun 2011) Very close to where I used to live, a few steps down Victoria Street. A cathedral surrounded by homeless men and cardboard boxes maybe because there's a McDonalds there to beg from but more likely because the overhang of the glass buildings leaves dry patches of Square to sleep on. I must have walked past the Cathedral hundreds if not thousands of times before Charlie's son's christening was the occasion to go inside. Like my friend Mark, he went on to become an MP too (Charlie that is, not his son!)

#121 Parliament Hill

Sketched in January 2007. Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consec tetur adipiscing elit. Integer interdum porta vulputate. Quisque a auctor lectus. Morbi feugiat neque sed urna pellentesque quis auctor metus commodo. Nam ultricies aliquet cursus. Vestibulum a eros mi. Mauris vestibulum lacinia purus, vel dignissim elit ullamcorper ac. Nulla facilisi. Ut dapibus placerat purus, sed ultrices mauris fermentum non. Nam dui tellus, egestas sed semper et, tristique et dolor. Vestibulum tristique tincidunt magna at convallis. Phasellus non libero eget tortor ullamcorper euismod a vitae erat. Vestibulum ante ipsum primis in faucibus orci luctus et ultrices posuere cubilia Curae;

#115 The Golden Gate Bridge

Golden Gate park blah blah blah. Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consec tetur adipiscing elit. Integer interdum porta vulputate. Quisque a auctor lectus. Morbi feugiat neque sed urna pellentesque quis auctor metus commodo. Nam ultricies aliquet cursus. Vestibulum a eros mi. Mauris vestibulum lacinia purus, vel dignissim elit ullamcorper ac. Nulla facilisi. Ut dapibus placerat purus, sed ultrices mauris fermentum non. Nam dui tellus, egestas sed semper et, tristique et dolor. Vestibulum tristique tincidunt magna at convallis. Phasellus non libero eget tortor ullamcorper euismod a vitae erat. Vestibulum ante ipsum primis in faucibus orci luctus et ultrices posuere cubilia Curae;

#114 Wedding in Napa Valley

Gary and Cory got married out in Napa Valley. Money was tight and I didn't know if I could go at first. In the end I did and it was wonderful. I had never been to Napa before and a wedding is a good reason to be there for the first time. I stayed at a run-down motel just outside of Yountville but hiked and ran and drank and ate well. There was a fantastic dinner in the candlelit caves of Pine Ridge and the wedding at Auberge de Soleil was sumptuous.

#118 Belvedere Castle, Central Park

Sketched in January 2007. Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consec tetur adipiscing elit. Integer interdum porta vulputate. Quisque a auctor lectus. Morbi feugiat neque sed urna pellentesque quis auctor metus commodo. Nam ultricies aliquet cursus. Vestibulum a eros mi. Mauris vestibulum lacinia purus, vel dignissim elit ullamcorper ac. Nulla facilisi. Ut dapibus placerat purus, sed ultrices mauris fermentum non. Nam dui tellus, egestas sed semper et, tristique et dolor. Vestibulum tristique tincidunt magna at convallis. Phasellus non libero eget tortor ullamcorper euismod a vitae erat. Vestibulum ante ipsum primis in faucibus orci luctus et ultrices posuere cubilia Curae;

#123 Down By The Hudson River

October 3rd, 2007.  Down by the Hudson River near the Boat Basin.

June 2011: Julie and I had just met. Before then I was rarely in this spot. It is a little north of the 72nd Street Pier which was the end of my morning run when I lived on 48th Street. Now, I push baby Zoe in her stroller past this spot at the weekends. We walk past the Boat Basin and out to the end of the very same pier. It is often windy out there. Sometimes I stop and sit on the benches with Zoe and watch
the walkers, runners and cyclists whizz past.

April 2025: This place means a lot to me today.  I don't run as often now (I was 43 then, 60 now) and when I do, it is often north from here along the river to where the car is parked at 125th.  Once in a while I do my "old" run, down to the end of the pier at 72nd Street and then under the Henry Hudson at 83rd past the playground that the kids once went to and back home again.  Just a couple of mile.

There are a couple of scenes from You've Got Mail shot down here by the Boat Basin where Joe Fox (Tom Hanks) and his Dad have the boats moored.  I mention the movie because there are so many scenes shot near our apartment.  The Starbucks in that movie is actually in our building.  I live above it.

#117 Hertford College, Oxford

Mark and I went back up to Oxford as we do from time to time. We walk around reminiscing, go down to the river, have a pub lunch in the city and coffee in the Queens Lane Coffee House. (June 2011) When I think back on my Oxford days, I probably have a tendency to exaggerate the goods and play down the frustrations. Time delivers at least a strong opinion and sometimes a clear verdict on decisions that were misty at the time. There are so many different ways I could have attacked, experienced or floated along with life afterwards that I did not take. I might have gone in to politics (David Cameron was a contemporary though not actively involved in university politics), I might have gone into finance. Looking back, I was very cavalier about ignoring those options. That - being cavalier - is of course the prerogative of youth, often taken. For some, it works, and if they become famous, millions follow. For most, it doesn't. At that age time seems to yawn and stretch out and a mistake at 24 seems uncorrectable at 26. But 20 years later, two years seems a laughably short period of time with perhaps 10 being to long to turn out of. Even now, I know that I could U-turn if I wanted the next (last?) 20 years to be something different but turning the wheel is a lot harder than typing the phrase into a blog.

#113 Lisa in front of the reservoir in Central Park

Sketched in January 2007. Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consec tetur adipiscing elit. Integer interdum porta vulputate. Quisque a auctor lectus. Morbi feugiat neque sed urna pellentesque quis auctor metus commodo. Nam ultricies aliquet cursus. Vestibulum a eros mi. Mauris vestibulum lacinia purus, vel dignissim elit ullamcorper ac. Nulla facilisi. Ut dapibus placerat purus, sed ultrices mauris fermentum non. Nam dui tellus, egestas sed semper et, tristique et dolor. Vestibulum tristique tincidunt magna at convallis. Phasellus non libero eget tortor ullamcorper euismod a vitae erat. Vestibulum ante ipsum primis in faucibus orci luctus et ultrices posuere cubilia Curae;

#104 Midtown from Weehawken

Midtown from Weehawken. Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consec tetur adipiscing elit. Integer interdum porta vulputate. Quisque a auctor lectus. Morbi feugiat neque sed urna pellentesque quis auctor metus commodo. Nam ultricies aliquet cursus. Vestibulum a eros mi. Mauris vestibulum lacinia purus, vel dignissim elit ullamcorper ac. Nulla facilisi. Ut dapibus placerat purus, sed ultrices mauris fermentum non. Nam dui tellus, egestas sed semper et, tristique et dolor. Vestibulum tristique tincidunt magna at convallis. Phasellus non libero eget tortor ullamcorper euismod a vitae erat. Vestibulum ante ipsum primis in faucibus orci luctus et ultrices posuere cubilia Curae;

#116 Lisa by the Hudson River

Sketched in January 2007. Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consec tetur adipiscing elit. Integer interdum porta vulputate. Quisque a auctor lectus. Morbi feugiat neque sed urna pellentesque quis auctor metus commodo. Nam ultricies aliquet cursus. Vestibulum a eros mi. Mauris vestibulum lacinia purus, vel dignissim elit ullamcorper ac. Nulla facilisi. Ut dapibus placerat purus, sed ultrices mauris fermentum non. Nam dui tellus, egestas sed semper et, tristique et dolor. Vestibulum tristique tincidunt magna at convallis. Phasellus non libero eget tortor ullamcorper euismod a vitae erat. Vestibulum ante ipsum primis in faucibus orci luctus et ultrices posuere cubilia Curae;

#112 Lisa in front of her building

Sketched in January 2007. Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consec tetur adipiscing elit. Integer interdum porta vulputate. Quisque a auctor lectus. Morbi feugiat neque sed urna pellentesque quis auctor metus commodo. Nam ultricies aliquet cursus. Vestibulum a eros mi. Mauris vestibulum lacinia purus, vel dignissim elit ullamcorper ac. Nulla facilisi. Ut dapibus placerat purus, sed ultrices mauris fermentum non. Nam dui tellus, egestas sed semper et, tristique et dolor. Vestibulum tristique tincidunt magna at convallis. Phasellus non libero eget tortor ullamcorper euismod a vitae erat. Vestibulum ante ipsum primis in faucibus orci luctus et ultrices posuere cubilia Curae;

#110 Salisbury Graveyard

Sketched in January 2007. Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consec tetur adipiscing elit. Integer interdum porta vulputate. Quisque a auctor lectus. Morbi feugiat neque sed urna pellentesque quis auctor metus commodo. Nam ultricies aliquet cursus. Vestibulum a eros mi. Mauris vestibulum lacinia purus, vel dignissim elit ullamcorper ac. Nulla facilisi. Ut dapibus placerat purus, sed ultrices mauris fermentum non. Nam dui tellus, egestas sed semper et, tristique et dolor. Vestibulum tristique tincidunt magna at convallis. Phasellus non libero eget tortor ullamcorper euismod a vitae erat. Vestibulum ante ipsum primis in faucibus orci luctus et ultrices posuere cubilia Curae;

#109 Central Park, Lisa

Sketched in January 2007. Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consec tetur adipiscing elit. Integer interdum porta vulputate. Quisque a auctor lectus. Morbi feugiat neque sed urna pellentesque quis auctor metus commodo. Nam ultricies aliquet cursus. Vestibulum a eros mi. Mauris vestibulum lacinia purus, vel dignissim elit ullamcorper ac. Nulla facilisi. Ut dapibus placerat purus, sed ultrices mauris fermentum non. Nam dui tellus, egestas sed semper et, tristique et dolor. Vestibulum tristique tincidunt magna at convallis. Phasellus non libero eget tortor ullamcorper euismod a vitae erat. Vestibulum ante ipsum primis in faucibus orci luctus et ultrices posuere cubilia Curae;

#106 Across the Hudson towards Weehawken

Sketched in January 2007. Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consec tetur adipiscing elit. Integer interdum porta vulputate. Quisque a auctor lectus. Morbi feugiat neque sed urna pellentesque quis auctor metus commodo. Nam ultricies aliquet cursus. Vestibulum a eros mi. Mauris vestibulum lacinia purus, vel dignissim elit ullamcorper ac. Nulla facilisi. Ut dapibus placerat purus, sed ultrices mauris fermentum non. Nam dui tellus, egestas sed semper et, tristique et dolor. Vestibulum tristique tincidunt magna at convallis. Phasellus non libero eget tortor ullamcorper euismod a vitae erat. Vestibulum ante ipsum primis in faucibus orci luctus et ultrices posuere cubilia Curae;

#105 George Washington Bridge

Sketched in January 2007. These were difficult times. My business had failed and I was in therapy. As a Brit, I was skeptical of the therapy process. The skepticism was strong enough to make the process less worthwhile in a self-fulfilling way. I started in 2007 and although life improved by Summer and was much improved by the Fall (work, Julie) I kept it going until my therapist graduated from medical school the following July. Sometimes, having someone to talk to or at that you don't know, and more importantly, doesn't know you, is a good thing. Think of the amount of stuff and nonsense they have to listen to without letting their opinions out into the room!

#103 Una's House in Lakeville

Una's house in Lakeville. more and more and more text here

#102 The View from Lionshead

CT again. Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consec tetur adipiscing elit. Integer interdum porta vulputate. Quisque a auctor lectus. Morbi feugiat neque sed urna pellentesque quis auctor metus commodo. Nam ultricies aliquet cursus. Vestibulum a eros mi. Mauris vestibulum lacinia purus, vel dignissim elit ullamcorper ac. Nulla facilisi. Ut dapibus placerat purus, sed ultrices mauris fermentum non. Nam dui tellus, egestas sed semper et, tristique et dolor. Vestibulum tristique tincidunt magna at convallis. Phasellus non libero eget tortor ullamcorper euismod a vitae erat. Vestibulum ante ipsum primis in faucibus orci luctus et ultrices posuere cubilia Curae;

#101 Looking South from The Ramble

(June 2011) A cold January day back in 2007. All roads ahead seemed closed. Life was, like the weather that day, frosty, bleak. When I moved to the Upper West Side my morning runs took me over this spot many times and as the seasons turned, the grays turned to greens then browns then back to grays again. The Ramble in Central Park is a wonderful place and probably unknown to many, if not most, Manhattanites. It is the only hilly wooded area south of 72nd Street and when you are inside it and the birds are chirping and you catch a glimpse of water through the trees, you can, for a second, lose yourself and forget you are in New York. Years later, I planned to propose to Julie on the lake over by the gazebo (at the center of the watercolor.) It didn't work out that way but that's another story.

#100 Carlisle Place

Carlisle Place.  I lived halfway down the block from 1987 to 1992.  I was subletting part of a larger apartment from the MP for Wantage, Robert Jackson.  My friend Mark used to come over and we used to talk about the future - his in politics, mine in business.  Mark later became the Member of Parliament for Central London in 2001 and moved into this very same street in 2005 so when I go back to London I end up walking past the very same buildings.  It's interesting to come back to a single street repeatedly over decades.  Some things change - the cars, the road signs - and some things don't - the railings, the brick, the tree at the front of the picture.  New sensations layer in on top of old memories in a very comfortable way.  Mark's election counts are supervised at the Sports Center that is round the corner to the right at the end of the street.  That's the same place I used to swim before work.  Mark's apartment is almost directly above the Costa Coffee that I frequented long before Starbucks swept across the world and when a good cup of Italian coffee was rare.  Peter, who ran that small shop, is now long gone but Costa Coffee still brews.  And across the street the trains still come and go from Victoria Station dragging millions to work every day and pushing them home again. 

#099 St. Margaret's Chuch

Sketched in January 2007. Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consec tetur adipiscing elit. Integer interdum porta vulputate. Quisque a auctor lectus. Morbi feugiat neque sed urna pellentesque quis auctor metus commodo. Nam ultricies aliquet cursus. Vestibulum a eros mi. Mauris vestibulum lacinia purus, vel dignissim elit ullamcorper ac. Nulla facilisi. Ut dapibus placerat purus, sed ultrices mauris fermentum non. Nam dui tellus, egestas sed semper et, tristique et dolor. Vestibulum tristique tincidunt magna at convallis. Phasellus non libero eget tortor ullamcorper euismod a vitae erat. Vestibulum ante ipsum primis in faucibus orci luctus et ultrices posuere cubilia Curae;