There is a picture of baby me
Somewhere in a dusty album
Perusing books off the bookshelf
As if I understood the meaning
Of the swirls on the page

I have been a member
Of my local library
Since forever
We visited almost every week
A giant pile of books each
Growing up I read a book a day
It was marvelous preparation
For a degree in English
Though the books at uni
Were denser
And required more analysis
Than the books
I had grown up with

My memberships are a testament
To my moving record
Not counting
Automatic membership
For the four schools
And two universities
I attended
I have been a member of over 15 libraries
On three different continents
In my twenty-eight years

I love to read
I love the quiet of the library
I love the shelves and shelves of books
The order of them
The insurmountable amount of
Knowledge
Contained therein

I feel at home
When I've joined the local library
It's as important as packing tape
And boxes
To have that library card in my wallet
Access to books
And a quiet place
For exploring
The world

The end.

I've moved to
Zone 6
The commute is longer
But oh my
It is worth it!
The 500 year old barn
That houses a library
A skip, hop, and a jump away
Down the road
The Lido
Complete with swans
A beach
And a walking trail
Three sets of ancient woodland
Will soon become my
Running route
And my bedroom
Inside a 400 year old house
Is picture postcard pretty
And quaint
Yoga on the slightly uneven floorboards
Sunlight through the square window
And room to breathe

The end.

The boxes are nearly all packed
My life once again
Reduced to
Two suitcases
(Just about...)

The shelves and rooms
Seem bare

The space I have called
Home
For the past twelve months
Will soon be
Another place
I once lived
An address to remember
When I fill out forms

Right now it's hard to imagine
Sitting in my room
Staring at it all
Right now
It all seems quite real

And in the morning
Time to say
Goodbye, little flat
Goodbye, kitchen table!
Goodbye, stove!
Goodbye, fireplace!
Goodbye, bathroom!
Goodbye, window seat!
Goodbye, view!
Goodbye, room!

Close the door
And turn the key.

Well, this video pretty much sums it up.

The end.

Every week
If I can 
I try and buy 
The Big Issue
I'm struggling myself 
Two-thirds of my paycheck
Is spent on rent
The other third covers
Food, bills, and a weekly train ticket
There's not much left 
If anything
Once it's all paid for 

But I realize 
How lucky I am
To be healthy
To be surrounded by
People who look after me
Treat me to dinner
Or a show
Or even a holiday 
I have a roof over my head
And food in my belly
And in the middle of a recession 
I have a job
That I enjoy
Brings satisfaction
And fun
Even if sometimes
It is exhausting
To be part 
Of the daily slog 

Today between Leicester Sq
And Covent Garden
I passed no less than 9 vendors
In a journey 
That takes 5 minutes by foot 
And I see these vendors
And men and women
Who are homeless 
Literally every. single. day.
People
Who for a myriad of reasons 
Have not been so lucky in life 
And need an extra hand 
And I just wish
I could offer every single one of them
A bed 
A cup of coffee 
Lunch 
A chance 

And if my £2.50 
Can make the tiniest difference
In someone's day
And allow them
To be one step closer 
To their own 
Eudemonia 
It's a difference 
Worth making   

The end. 

Today I went running
And the mercury was pushing
14 degrees celsius/58 degrees fahrenheit
And it felt so warm!

And there were two people
Practising tai chi in the park
Slowly turning in their forms
Present enough to smile
At runners by

There were arborists
At work
Grown-ups paid to climb trees
Whilst juggling chainsaws

There were babies
Toddling and laughing
In the playground
There was a designer mummy
With her designer mini me
The tiny daughter with perfectly neat hair
And flouncy pink frills
Maria Von Trapp would never have approved
She was not in play clothes
There was a baby in the pram
Exclaiming "Oooh!"

By my second lap
The tai chi practisers
Were sitting on the ground
Meditating

The sky was blue
The sun was warm
People were smiling
And it was lovely

The end.

Dinner at Belgos
Where the time you order
Is the amount you pay
For your main
Two mains and a dessert and drinks
For less than £30
In the heart of London
Not bad at all!
And delicious food
With good service
And nice company
Is always welcome

And then going to a new venue
The Arts Theatre
Not new at all
But new to me
To think I walk past it
Every single day and
Wasn't aware of the wonderland inside
Sparkling cupcakes
And hot chocolates with marshmallows
A cosy little theatre
In the West End
Showing
Off-beat work
Hard working actors
And musicians
And crews
Delivering
To half-empty houses

And still the vibe
Is pulsing
And strong

And tomorrow
Promises to be warm
The end.

A stick of incense
Some beautiful music
And quiet meditation

The end.

Tonight
I had dinner with a dear friend
We had delicious pasta
And banoffee pie
And several beverages
It was marvelous

He lives in the south of London
I live in the north
It took me a while to get home
By the time I got to Green Park
And changed from the Victoria Line
To the Jubilee Line
I was busting for the loo
I'm only human
I knew there were toilets at the station
Up two escalators
Down the long corridor
And out of the ticket gates

The toilets were shut
The station staff did not have keys
Or sympathy
They said I must use
The pay toilets

I detest pay toilets
On principle
Charging humans
To pee and poop
Is a failing of mankind

I knew there was a hotel above the station
The entrance
A full block away
The Ritz
Is very fancy
To spend just one night there
Would cost me
Literally two weeks rent

The porters
Late at night
Are thankfully very lovely
"Excuse me, I need to use your restrooms"
"Is it an emergency?"
"It will be."
"This way madam".

And that is how I came
To use the facilities
In one of the fanciest
Most lovely loos
I have ever used in all my twenty-eight years of existence

The end.

My achievement today
Was getting out of bed
And going to work
And despite feeling like
Crap on wheels
Having a really good day

The end.