I truly do understand the excitement about the Bayeux Tapestry coming back to the UK for the first time in 1,000 years, I really do. 
But I just cannot reconcile this splendid artifact with the corporate circus surrounding the exhibition at the British Museum. Celebrity private viewings, wealthy luxury hotel guests jumping the queues, endless online queues for tickets which are 3 times more expensive than the tickets to see it in France (why aren't I surprised?), more queuing to see the actual exhibit and, worse of all, A LIMITED AMOUNT OF TIME TO SEE THE TAPESTRY!!! 41 minutes is NOT enough to appreciate the sheer awesomeness of this historical piece of art! I feel slightly embarrassed by the whole thing... With the inflated ticket prices and the "parcours du combattant" just to get tickets, I can't help but feel that things could have been done better... 

It's not that I wish to come across as smug but our experience seeing the Bayeux Tapestry two years ago in... Bayeux (which is not that far away really, and easily accessible...) was a wonderful experience - we just turned up, didn't queue, paid 12 euros to get in (yes, that's 10 quid!!!!), and spent as long as we wanted (in our case, literally ages!!!) in a near-empty exhibition space! Also, it was held horizontally, which I think makes it much easier for the viewer to appreciate the array of wonderful details weaved in the tapestry). We were able to experience the tapestry in the best circumstances you could wish for, and for this, I am very thankful! 

Talking about the Bayeux Tapestry, there's a brilliant programme on BBC2 (iPlayer) at the moment, Secrets of the Bayeux Tapestry: Inside the Museum about the tapestry coming to the UK and it is really cool to see how it was transported and placed in situ at the British Museum. It's really lovely to see how much it means to the museum workers on both sides of the Channel.
​But I think the best thing about the documentary are the staggeringly beautiful animations by London-based company Peepshow - dark, eerie and otherworldly, they really add an edge to the programme. Highly recommended! ​

Did you listen to the Radio 4 programme LIFE AS A MUSE this week? It's on iPlayer... 

And I think this is just the perfect time for me to do a little bit of promotion for my first novel, I Am a Muse, which deals exactly with the theme of the artistic Muse!
Go and have a look at the novel page HERE, there's even an extract for you to read! I started work on this first novel in 2010 (Arcane Publishing didn't even exist then!) and it was finally published on my freshly-launched imprint Arcane Publishing in April 2013; I did a lot of promo at the time and sent copies of the book to countless people (read all about it HERE and HERE) with finally very little impact. But hey, there is a copy at the British Library so life goal achieved! 
This first novel was followed by The Book of Thoth three years later... 

I have no idea about whether I will ever manage to write and publish any more books - it looks like the universe has been plotting against my third novel The Right Place and I haven't been able to resume writing for quite a while now... I haven't given up, it will get published... one day... I have recently managed to secure the printing (and potentially proofreading) costs, which is a step in the right direction! 
​One tiny step at a time... 
Watch this space! ​

Last Saturday, I helped @mattartpix on his stall at the fabulous Go East Vintage and Antiques Weekender at Wapping Power Station in London. 
It always feels rather special working in London - you feel like you are part of the fabric of this iconic city (although I have to admit that I haven't always felt that way whilst working full time, commuting long hours and living in shared houses then minuscule one-room flats...). I have to say that it was thrilling to drive on Tower Bridge on our way to Wapping Power Station! All the years I lived in and around London, I never drove around the capital, apart from the first time I moved there many moons ago and got lost because of road closures!
I am definitely discovering more of London now that I have moved away - and the good news is, there's still so much to explore! 

The Go East markets are basically what this type of events should always be like: a brilliant and involved team, excellent promotion and organisation, an iconic location and plenty of customers ready to support small businesses! The place was literally buzzing! 
​
Below are a few pictures of Matt's stall and the books and prints I had brought to the event! 

The fabulous traders were not the only attraction though - the Victorian Wapping Hydraulic Power Station is a massive draw for lovers of London's historical architecture! The pumps and various other items of machinery are still there!
​*Please note that I took the pictures during set up before any customers were allowed in, this is why it looks so quiet! 

I also found my dream house on site, built in 1891! I'd never be able to afford it, though - it sold for close to £1.5M back in 2022 (oh yes, I've checked!)! 

We also had some classic cars on display! 

I am now preparing for an event in Bristol in October (but we'll be back in London beforehand for some MUSIC!) Watch this space, and keep an eye on the Arcane Publishing Instagram! 
​

I will be helping @Mattartpix on his stall at the Go East Vintage Flea Weekender at Wapping Power Station, London, on Saturday 5th September. 
I'll have some art and fashion prints, books and a few CDs. For more details about the stock I'll have at the event, go to my post on the Arcane Publishing Website (or the Arcane Instagram!). 

​More news about writing, music, etc. soon! 

After having spent a productive morning at a fantastic car boot fair, we dedicated the rest of the day to visiting Mere, a pretty historic town just south of the A303 (the town is luckily protected from the roar of the road by Castle Hill). 
The town is full of extremely handsome buildings and is dominated by Castle Hill (or Mere Hill) where there was once a castle which fell into disrepair as early as the 14th Century! 

Castle Hill comes with a herd of supremely laid-back resident goats who were protecting themselves from the sun under a nice clump of trees. 

Mere has a great feel and we promised ourselves to come back in the autumn when the grass is greener and the tearoom is open! The Monarch Way passes through the town, which makes it the ideal base for further exploration... 

The green and pleasant land of Dorset has been burnt to a crisp and is barely recognisable. 
We spent some time at one of our favourite spots, mostly sitting under some trees on a blanket. 
We did a short walk towards Portesham, but gave up quickly because of the heat - we will be back soon!  

I am not ready to give up on The Right Place just now. But the truth is that I have barely done any work on my third novel since Covid. The clear idea I had about what the novel was supposed to be gradually faded to the point of becoming invisible, I realised that I was not happy with the tense I had used in some chapters and would have to rewrite them again, and, to put it simply, writer's block set in... I also had other priorities (but that's another story) and couldn't find the headspace to write. 
But the time has come to start again... The first draft stands at around 50,000 words and I am really happy with some sections.

I intend on starting work again on my third novel on 1st September, with a pub date of late 2027.
​I have a lot of work to do on it.

Watch this space, I will update this blog and the Arcane Publishing news page regularly throughout the autumn and winter...  

We were recently back at the superb Imperial War Museum in London to see the exhibition Beauty and Destruction: Wartime London in Art - the Blitz painted by war artists. 
I have been fascinated by the story of the Blitz since studying it at University as part of my British and American studies degree. I had fallen in love with London aged 10 on my first visit to the UK and the idea of this incredible city full of history and life being bombed touched a nerve... 
This is a small but beautifully put together exhibition. Every single image is significant and carries some kind of poignant beauty, but here are my two favourites:

I now belong to a family whose members have lived through the Blitz and it has become part of my story, in a way (if you had told 10 or 20 year-old me that it would one day be the case, I wouldn't have believed you!) and even though I have moved away from the capital, it still feels like my real home each time I go back.  

Walking back to Central London from Lambeth via Lambeth Bridge, we spotted one of the iconic Thames tugboats... Everyone was on Westminster Bridge and therefore, we had this one to ourselves! 

Then it was to the Water Rats in Gray's Inn Road to see the fantastic Light of Eternity live again. We saw the band for the first time last year in Bristol, then in London as support for one of our favourite bands, Ministry! 
I just adore Light of Eternity's sound (post-punk, metal, industrial... it's all there, led by Pauly Williams's guitar and Paul Ferguson's drumming) - there is basically not a weak song on any of their releases.
One of the many strengths of LOE is Fred Shreck's voice - I like his precise, clear yet devastating delivery. The fact that the band now have a new member on bass (James Oz Bowery) has freed Fred from bass duties.
​On Wednesday at the Water Rats, he was genuinely compelling!

I am no longer a music journalist and therefore will not write full-blown reviews of gigs on here, but after having neglected my blog for several years, I am back posting about writing, reading, art and music, and as we now have tickets for some super exciting gigs over the next few months (and already two in 2027!), expect gig photos to appear on here regularly! 
I've come to the conclusion that social media is the most useless piece of overrated rubbish ever created, and I don't want to waste my time on it.  

Social media is dead, long live my (old) website! 

Earlier this week, we were back in Salisbury (been a while...) to see Salisbury Museum's exhibition Bloomsbury in Wiltshire.

The Bloomsbury group has been an endless source of inspiration to many for decades, falling in and out of grace with critics and the public according to the era and trends, and this exhibition concentrates on their links to Wiltshire. Photographs, films, books, letters, paintings, ceramics and more are on display at this small but perfectly formed exhibition. I particularly loved Henry Lamb's large portrait of writer Lytton Strachey painted in the former's Hampstead studio. Unfortunately, I couldn't get a good picture of it due to the shining light... 
Visiting the group's Sussex Home, Charleston, has been on my to-do list for many years... ​

The museum is located in my favourite bit of the city - Cathedral Close. When you are there, you step into a time warp, a welcome escape from our noisy technology-led reality. 
On West Walk, we stopped to gawp at Leaden Hall, formerly an Independent girls' school, now a suitably gothic-looking abandoned(?) building (would they sell it to us for a few thousands, I wonder?)

We tried to emulate Constable by taking a walk in the (without)water meadows... 

I have been busy with things unrelated to Arcane Publishing business, but plans are starting to take shape for this autumn/winter... Over the past few months, I have been mainly working (my freelance day-jobbing) and... buying gig tickets! 
Expect a lot of gig pictures on this website in the coming months, starting next week! 

I have started plotting my return writing (this to start on 1st September) with the aim of publishing my third novel The Right Place in 2027, which is a very important year for me for many reasons... 

I also intend on opening a trial online bookshop in the winter, starting with my novels and building up a small amount of vintage/preloved books for sale. It will only be a six-months trial and then I'll make a decision about what to do next... 

​Watch this space! 

We love going back to London. After 10 years away (of course, we go back from time to time, and in the past couple of years, our visits have become more frequent) we have started to miss it quite a lot, and we really still feel like Londoners each time we are there. Dorset has always felt like some kind of temporary home, whereas London IS home.
 
The things that we miss the most is to feel that you are in a place that matters, where the most important decisions take place. For people like us who love (social) history, architecture and anything to do with culture, London is the place to be. When you live and work in London, you can’t help to feel that buzz and excitement to be in one of the most iconic places in the world. Matt ArtPix’s family all come from London back several generations.
  
For example, we have tried over the past few years to go to gigs outside London. I'm very sorry to say: it's not the same (and very few people turn up for bands that have a full house in London, even in a big city such as Bristol!). 
We knew things would be different when we moved to Dorset, but we had given ourselves 10 years before reconsidering and moving on to pastures new. With that time almost up, we have started thinking about what to do next… We will never be able to go back to London 100%, but it would be nice to get closer to it and be able to reach it within a 2-hour drive maximum!

London is an incredibly green capital and its parks provide very welcome respite from the heat.
We went back to Battersea Park – it was quiet and cool, with an end-of-school year feel to it!
Our favourite bit of the park has to be the Festival Gardens which retain a little bit of the structures built for the Festival of Britain. I have found a fantastic blog about it HERE (the whole site is fascinating, I can’t believe I haven’t come across it before! It’s called “A London Inheritance” and is well-worth exploring for anyone interested in the history of the capital). Near the Fountain Lake, you can find a small kiosk where you can purchase drinks (hot and cold) as well as food. It’s a fab location for a nice tea stop!
Incidentally, this year if the Festival of Britain's 75th anniversary and there is... nothing to show for it! I had a look at the Southbank Centre website and there is very little going on of any interest, really... I have the feeling that the powers that be just couldn't be bothered with it. In 1951, the festival was a brilliant showcase of the country's creativity, with brilliant designs and ideas. Can't we do something similar now? It feels like a massive wasted opportunity... 

We wanted to go and walk along the river at Chiswick but we didn’t quite make it down to the Thames in the end (it had been a long day!) So instead, we decided to make our way to the wonderful Chiswick House (one of our favourites) and sit by the lake looking at the geese, coots, moorhens, ducks and occasional hot dog enjoying the coolness of the water. It was simply divine after such a hot day!
 
We’ll be back in London in early August, and I can’t wait... ​