Italy - Florence, Potter's Bar, Swanage and ice-creams

Back in the 1990s I managed to photograph a bird flying along il ponte vecchio (it's just above the people's heads).

Near Potter's Bar, this stone is on a piece of grass. It reads "Near this spot at 3.30 in the afternoon of September 15th 1784, Vicenzo Lunardi, the Italian balloonist, made his first landing whilst on his pioneer flight in the English atmosphere. Having handed out a cat and dog, the partners of his flight from London, he re-ascended and continued north-eastward."

This is the "great globe" in Swanage, Dorset. It was made in Greenwich in 1887.

It features an eroded Italy

In a Swanage restaurant I went to the toilet and saw this air freshener - showing where I was married.

This dates from 1993, before the euro. I brought it home as a souvenir.

Mill Road, Cambridge

This was my local laundrette long ago. My wife-to-be and I used to go there on our early dates. I'm amazed it's still open.

This cinema closed down before I arrived in Cambridge. I think it was opposite St Barnabas church, but I'm not sure

The Bath House opened in 1927. The area was poor, so the baths were an important amenity. In 1969 a sauna was added. In 1975 a bath cost 10p to the public, but the real cost was £1.09, so it became a centre for community groups. It's still running. I spent many happy Saturday mornings there in the Friends of the Earth office. See my Bath House notes for details.

Hughes Hall Literary Day 2026

20th March. I listened to novelists Megan Hunter, Burhan Sonmez, Sarvat Hasin, Rebecca Birrell, Yvonne Battle-Felton, Joe Mungo Reed and Sam Sussman, followed by poets Anthony Vahni Capildeo, Adam Crothers, Bhanu Kapil and Angela Leighton. Novelists often interviewed each other. Many interesting points were made. Here are a few -

• Burham Sonmez mentioned that Marquez turned down lucrative Hollywood contracts on aesthetic grounds. 10 years after his death his sons did a deal with NetFlix.
• Sarvat Hasin talked about long-term friendships - how Ferrante's written about them; how the codes of conduct aren't clear (how can you end them?)
• Joe Mungo Reed said that his advice to students is sometimes "Too much stuff! Just tell a story!" - advice which struck a chord with me.
• Adam Crothers (partly tongue in cheek?) said he'd discovered subject matter.
• There was quite a lot of discussion about auto-fiction and "truth".

Bedford

John Bunyan wrote The Pilgrim's Progress while he was imprisoned in Bedford jail. I've not visited his museum yet.

The Panacea Society have a museum which I've not visited, though I've read about them - see their fascinating history.

Eagle bookshop has been open for years in Bedford without me realising. I shall visit it frequently in the future. It has many second hand books (including a useful poetry section), and a section about local - living! - writers, a shelf for each one. I think Ouse Muse poets meet there nowadays.

4 literary events in 4 days

Feb 28th - Matt Riches, Matthew Stewart et al at St. Albans.
Organised by Ver poets, which has included some famous members over the years. About 20 people watched the headliners (an experienced and excellent pairing) and 11 open-mic poets. It began at 11 a.m. which is a convenient time for some of us. It was free. The poets sold several books.

Mar 1st - Anne Berkeley et al at CB1, Cambridge.
I bought her latest book, "Object Permanence", there. About 40 people attended, paying £5, with a lively open-mic. At least 3 of the people were first-timers.

Mar 2nd - A.E. Stallings (The Oxford Professor of Poetry) at Trinity, Cambridge.
The first of a short series of free talks. This one was entitled: "The Spell of Rhyme". About 100 people attended. She looked at what rhyme does, at some types of rhyme, then at why some types (e.g. between different parts of speech, or between an abstract noun and a proper one) succeed better than others, using as examples works by Shakespeare, Wordsworth, and "The sunlight on the garden" by Louis MacNeice, etc. She doesn't think that English is short of rhyming words - compared to other languages there's more scope for rhyming verbs with nouns, etc.

Mar 3rd - Cambridge Writers short story prize results.
A hotly contested members-only annual event that I usually enter and rarely win. This year was no exception. 30 entries. Over 30 zoom and in-person attendees. Many excellent stories.