New Years Day. Evening home alone. Spontaneously absconded on the Overground to Crouch Hill. 25 minutes from the sofa to a new reality. Down Crouch Hill, Ally Pally glowing luminous green on the other side of the valley. The clock tower draws up the energy radiating from the ley line junction (according to legend) on Crouch End Broadway. Flashback Records. Late night newsagents with window full of drug paraphernalia. The Kings Head where I did stand-up (twice at least). Back up Crouch Hill to a decent pint in The Robin and back on the train to Leyton.
Photo via The Amorous Humphrey Plugg on Twitter https://x.com/SumsionMichael
Fantastic night at brilliant Wanstead Tap in collaboration with the essential Newham Bookshop to talk about my new publication with Three Imposters – The Black Path. Hopefully be announce my next publication with Three Imposters in the New Year.
A video of the full talk is available on my Patreon page (exclusive to Radical Ramblers) and to YouTube Members.
I’m running a 50% discount on Patreon for the first month for new paid members. The offer launches on 22nd November and ends on 6th December. You will also get access to a library of Patreon only content that stretches back to March 2020. Memberships can be cancelled at any time. The discount code is: F0D8F
Last night at midnight, Sunday 13th October, Time was called for the final time at The George, Wanstead, as a Wetherspoons pub. There was a sense of occasion from the time we arrived at 10pm. It was packed and stayed that way til midnight when drinks were no longer served. The George Orwell portrait went missing at some point. I wondered what would happen to the maps and paintings of Wanstead Park with the local history information. I ended many a Wanstead Park stroll in the George. And although the pub will re-open under new ownership it will be as part of a more upmarket chain which will price out many of the regulars who had a second home at The George, particularly the older people who could sit there for a few hours with unlimited tea refills for a pound, or enjoy a cheap meal. Wetherspoons get a lot of stick (mainly for their owner’s support for Brexit) but their pubs provide a valuable community resource which will be sorely missed in Wanstead. It felt like a true end of an era. And good luck getting a pint at midnight on a Sunday in Wanstead now.
Wanstead ParkTea Hut, Wanstead ParkBluebells, Wanstead ParkWood Street Indoor Market, WalthamstowWood Street Modernist Mural, WalthamstowFlats, Southwark Bridge RoadStratford City from Leyton Mills car parkWand Maker, Union Street, Southwark
A late afternoon wander across Wanstead Flats across traces of ancient usage and possible Roman routes.
Resist the lure of The Golden Fleece, where I haven’t been for years, and get drawn down The Chase that appears as a remnant of old country Forest Gate.
Loop around Alexandra Lake through sunset into gloom and to The Red Lion and a few magickal pages of Alan Moore’s Voices of the Fire.
Friday in four images: coffee at Unity Cafe Leytonstone, St. Martin’s Court after a screening of Days of Being Wild at the Prince Charles Cinema, The Round Table pub in St. Martin’s Court, baked Camembert made on a whim after watching an Instagram reel. A good day.
