MY SPLENDID ISOLATION
The boyfriend of Kate Moss is playing Mexican dominoes and dreaming of Liverpool finally lifting the Premier League trophy What I’m watching
To cheer me up, I’ve been watching The Thin Man movies of the Thirties, about a retired detective and his wife solving crimes and enjoying a lot to drink. I’ve also rewatched Sean Connery and Michael Caine in
The Man Who Would Be King, John Huston’s adaptation of the Rudyard Kipling novel, and Robert
Altman’s Mccabe and Mrs
Miller – I love the flawed characters, the evocative cinematography and the haunting Leonard Cohen soundtrack.
One fantastic discovery
has been Around the World
with Orson Welles – six short travelogues written and directed by Welles in which he visits Jean Cocteau in Paris, goes to a bullfight in Madrid and revisits Vienna six or seven years after filming The
Third Man. I also admit to a bit of comforting Yes,
Prime Minister from time to time.
What I’m listening to
As news of the coronavirus emerged, it initially triggered an apocalyptic selection of music: Mozart’s Requiem, for one, and a lot of Vietnam and Cold War era music like John Fogerty and Woody Guthrie. Thankfully, I’ve moved on: a bit of reggae in the morning, BBC Radio 6 and some blues or country in the afternoon, sometimes a bit of jazz, mostly King Curtis and the great Duke Ellington.
What I’m reading
Over the past few years I’ve accumulated an intimidating amount of books, which I now, finally, have time to read. Fittingly, I’m just finishing Philip Ziegler’s The Black
Death. It’s about the plague in the mid-1300s, which coincidentally began in the Far East and entered Europe via warfare and trade routes through Italy. It really helped me put the current crisis into perspective.
I’m also halfway through The Wild Highway by Bill Drummond and Mark Manning, in which they take a trip to Zaire, travelling upriver in search of the Devil. It’s both hilarious and horrifying. Next up is photographer Don Mccullin’s autobiography,
Unreasonable Behaviour –
I admire him greatly.
What I’m working on
I’ve been restricted to stilllife photography at home. But all this spare time has allowed me to sort through negatives and contact sheets, which was long overdue. I’ve also been scrapbooking, collaging images that have been piling up for years and using charcoal and acrylics and these wonderful Swiss inks to paint with. I’m also trying to reduce my smoking (I’m down to 13 a day) and passing the time with a pirate ship jigsaw puzzle and Mexican dominoes.
The thing that made me laugh recently
Speaking with friends and my three brothers on the telephone cheers me up, as does listening to Peter Cook and Dudley Moore’s
Derek & Clive Get The
Horn. All this while I am nervously hoping for the football to come back on so Liverpool can finally lift the Premier League trophy to You’ll Never Walk Alone – a song most fitting for the months ahead.