Home Made Cherry Bakewells

For Julie Snell's Birthday Tea

Progress

OK. I have just checked my blog to see when I began this painting and it was practically a year ago this week. I make no apologies - painting is a hobby, not work. I think that aside from being extremely busy this last year, I got a little bogged down in the planning stage with this one. After one year, I still only had the flimsiest of outlines on canvas but now, I have put the pen lines in, prior to painting and my enthusiasm is back. I still have to tread carefully, as I don't want to get bogged down again, but I feel quite pleased with the results so far. Missing at the moment are the halo (which will be three-dimensional) and the sky, which will be painted rather the outlined to keep it light. It will be framed in cedar and gold, studded with rubies.

tee hee

Images of Brighton Pier

Here's that 'smile', Vince!

I don't know why....

...but this image has appealed to a few people.

An Overnight Stay

Sunday was an absolute delight with a nice mix of people joining Robert and Ian for a buffet in Hove. The weather was gorgeous and as I was on holiday this week, Sean booked us into a small hotel in Brighton for the night. It was an absolute joy to hang around the town on a Monday morning and to check out all the shops and boutiques without crowds.

A small tanning salon in the gay quarter caught our eye for some reason.... apparently there was 15% off!

I took quite a few of these images as the wreck of the old pier is quite a sight. I shall try and do something arty with them.

I also took a few of these for the same reason. After the sight-seeing we headed to Harry Ramsden's for Fish and Chips and then hit the shops. I bought some blue jeans - 34" waist, slim fit - and two very nice Summer Shirts. As you can see from the picture below, Sean is carrying the bag of shame!

The Journey To Brighton....

...begins with a walk through Crystal Palace Park. The entrance directly opposite my road is titled as above, which always makes me smile when I see it. Note, I had the lenses in this day!Crystal Palace Park is truly a beautiful part of London and I cannot imagine why I never visited here before.

The lakes are small but terribly pretty and there is plenty of room to simply chill out with just the sound of the geese and trickle of a waterfall to disturb you.


Perhaps the biggest thrill of all are the dinosaurs, which must send kids into a frenzy when they see them for the first time. I know I fell in love with them when I used to see them from the Crystal Palace train.

Of course, for me the best thing in Crystal Palace Park is the National Sports Centre. An ode to Seventies architectural design, it has recently been undergoing a refurb that thankfully, doesn't ruin the fabric of the building. Today was some sort of big Triathlon Day and hundreds of people seemed to be taking part. I, on the other hand, was heading to Clapham Junction, extremely surprised not to be nursing a hangover, to meet Sean and take the train to Brighton.

Men and Meat

I was looking forward to Simon and Cassy's party for such a long time as it would be the first time I'd seen them since February. Both put on a fine party and this year I managed to stay for longer than three hours. As with last year, there was some striking totty on show and the weather - well, perfect. I must have mixed about 10 different batches of cocktails inc. White Ladies, Strawberry Dacquari's and of course Cosmopolitans. I left at about 10pm and the 249 bus goes all the way to Crystal Palace, which was really handy.

I am not sure who looks more scared.

Hollie, Trannies and Saying 'No'

I had a particularly bizarre evening yesterday. To begin with, Scott and I ventured to the Roundhouse in Camden to witness the launch of Hollie Steele's first album. For those of you who might not know, Steele was a finalist on Britain's Got Talent last year and her 'act' is having an unusually powerful vocal range for such a small child. To see her perform live is actually very odd as she hits all the right notes and yet doesn't have the maturity to emotionally connect to the lyrics. Should her range mature properly, she may become an interesting vocalist in the future but at the moment she is, in the nicest possible sense, a curiosity.

After this I dragged Scott, if you'll pardon the pun, to Tranny-oke at Escape in Soho. I don't know why but the drag and tranny world don't bother me in the slightest, as it can with some gay men although I have absolutely no interest in dressing up - other than professional curiosity, natch. In my humble opinion there is little difference between the 'cocks in frocks' at Escape and the 'pricks in plaid' down at Comptons. This said, Escape was remarkably empty and although I got to sing (badly) once, the whole evening seemed desperately slapdash. I shall try again in a few weeks, when Stacie Dee is back in town from LA.

Anyway at about 11.00 it was time to head home and I thought I would catch the bus (176) as it was a nice evening. I didn't have to wait too long for a bus to come along but whilst waiting at the bus stop, two guys started hitting on me. Big time! All the way home on the bus, they were chatting me up and inviting me back to their place for a threesome. I demurred, politely but as the bus hurtled through late-night Forest Hill they came on stronger and stronger. I thought it best to say, plainly, that nothing was going to happen. They tried it on even harder! It suddenly occurred to me that - horror of horrors - they might get off at my stop. One of them even began to explain that as they had come all this way, we should go to my place! The look of utter disbelief on their faces when I got up and got off the bus at Sydenham was an absolute picture.

Mon Homme

From a feature in Attitude, no less.

Remembering Who I Was

It seems like a million years ago now, but this must have been about 1971/72 at the school summer fete in Longlevens, the area where I grew up. I remember that my sisters Lorraine and Sally had done a rehearsal earlier in the week. I was in my swimming trunks that had been tastefully arranged with crepe paper flowers, whilst my sister Sara was in a similarly adorned swimsuit. We both had crepe paper flowers on our head and on my torso was written Flower Power - it was the seventies after all! I remember at the rehearsal I looked great but on the day our mother had to do the body painting because Sally and Lorraine were working. I look at this picture now and still giggle at my mother's dreadful lettering and insane face painting (actually, this was at a time before face paints were available so we just used watercolours). We won! I guess we looked kinda cute, and the Mayor of Gloucester - Mayor's really looked like Mayor's in those days - presented us with first prize. It was an enormous tin of watercolour paints, which I probably used more than Sara.

For the first 18 years of my life I always imagined that I would spend the rest of my life at 6, Church Road, Longlevens, Gloucester GL... well, you never actually needed postcodes then. I can't even begin to imagine how different things would have been had I still been living there. I have an enormous family who I rarely see these days and I am no longer in contact with my mother. I think about her occasionally, like when I was scanning in this photo and I try hard to remember the happy times we shared but it gets more and more difficult as time moves on.

Denim

Off to search for a new pair of jeans. Imagine my shock at discovering that I am now a size 34" waist. Bloody hell! How did that ever happen? I now have the perfect outfit for Julie's Black & White party in July. Needless to say, I went on to try to find some blue jeans and was met with so many different shapes and cuts that I got completely lost. I also discovered another phenomenon - the ignorant sales assistant. As any of my close friends will tell you I rarely shop for clothes, so competant advice is important to me. I didn't meet a single shop assistant who felt it their job to assist me.

In fact, it was as much as they could do to unlock the door of the changing room for me. No wonder purchasing online is becoming preferable - at least there you have drop down boxes!

Rules

After leaving Euston Sean and I headed back to the West End. I was desperately hungry and Sean decided on treating me to a meal at Rules, London's oldest restaurant. I had only eaten there once before as a 40th birthday present from Jacqui Stuart, so I knew I was in for a treat. We also happened upon Gareth, taking a break from moving scenery on Love Never Dies.

Rules was absolutely gorgeous. We began with a Rules cocktail - Dubonnet, Gin and Champagne followed by our starters. I had the Fois Gras and Sean had the Potted Shrimp. For the main course we opted for the Roast Beef and OMG, how good a choice was that?! Mouthwateringly succulent thick slices of tender beef, accompanied by Yorkshire Pudding, Creamed Leeks, Potatoes Dauphinoise and grated fresh Horseradish. For desert, I opted for the cheeseboard whilst Sean savoured the Treacle Sponge.

Now I shall just have to think of a suitable way to work off those calories - any suggestions?

Lingering Whispers

Last night, Sean and I geared ourselves up for Lingering Whispers, an art gallery installation at Euston. I had been looking forward to this event for some time and Sean had made a couple of hats for the extremely glamorous Clementine, the Living Fashion Doll. Clementine was performing at the venue and in all honesty seemed to be the biggest draw. The rest of the venue offered space to over forty artists to show some of their work. I can understand how wonderful it is that Predrag Pajdic, the curator, has helped this event come to fruition but the room seemed to be brimming with missed opportunities. Such a venue - the Crypt of StPancras Church - is bristling with potential and yet many of the installations seemed fairly perfunctory. There were moments of inspiration, not least Carolyn Cowan's photography and an alcove laid out like a 1940's lounge and some interesting batik but little to keep one lingering.

We have developed a passion for self promotion on the internet - it's generally cheaper and easier and will ensure that your work is seen by a massive audience - but have we completely forgotten the power and possibilities behind a live installation?

The drama! That's what was missing from my evening - drama!

My First Podcast

http://blogs.thestage.co.uk/podcasts/2010/05/debbie-reynolds-the-stage-podcast-62/index.html

What a way to start!!!!

The Sights You See

One of the great things about living in London is you never know what or who you are going to see next. Only last week I met up with Howard around town and in Trafalgar Square we got a glimpse of the Batmobile being un-crated. Bizarre!

Hair - the street art

I am not sure if this was an art installation or just some weird Soho schtick, either way it prompted me to use my mobile phone as a camera. If you are wondering, then the answer is yes, it was all hair!?!