This deep sense of place and home, landscape and buildings is exactly what I wrote about in my most recent book The Giant on the Skyline. I was writing about my area of home which is south Oxfordshire and across the downs into Wiltshire. I really tried to understand the way a place imprints itself onto us, and how we imprint ourselves into it, in return. I got very interested in the lives of normal people who lived there, and I am certain that sometimes we can touch the energy of the past, to feel their lives for a moment.
Ah Clover, thanks so much for reading and taking the time to comment. This time last year about ten of us were aboard Veronica for a powerful Memoir Masterclass which you led so superbly with Alexandra. I'll never forget that day, I got such a lot from it and you gave me a great deal of reassurance after I'd had a wobble with both my son and my agent at the time. The reading you gave from The Giant on the Skyline resonated so. The lives of ordinary people from the past, who lived here in the village where I live now, and where I come from down south, have got under my skin, I think they'll always be with me now. Place writing is crucial, I think, there should be a category for it here on Substack.
Off on a tangent… What’s it all about, Alfie? 🎶 [Cilla] ‘Black reacted negatively on hearing the demo "of some fella singing 'Alfie' ... I actually said to Brian 'I can't do this.' For a start—Alfie?? You call your dog Alfie! ... [Couldn't] it be Tarquin or something like that?" ‘
Alfie, Wikipedia 🐾
Tarquin??😆
You mentioned a puppy???
The notion of place is so powerful, isn’t it?
I could go on but it’s 4pm — time for a walk with Odysseus.
This is lovely, Bee and I'm so happy you met up with Jane!
Friends for life, thanks Lily!
This deep sense of place and home, landscape and buildings is exactly what I wrote about in my most recent book The Giant on the Skyline. I was writing about my area of home which is south Oxfordshire and across the downs into Wiltshire. I really tried to understand the way a place imprints itself onto us, and how we imprint ourselves into it, in return. I got very interested in the lives of normal people who lived there, and I am certain that sometimes we can touch the energy of the past, to feel their lives for a moment.
Ah Clover, thanks so much for reading and taking the time to comment. This time last year about ten of us were aboard Veronica for a powerful Memoir Masterclass which you led so superbly with Alexandra. I'll never forget that day, I got such a lot from it and you gave me a great deal of reassurance after I'd had a wobble with both my son and my agent at the time. The reading you gave from The Giant on the Skyline resonated so. The lives of ordinary people from the past, who lived here in the village where I live now, and where I come from down south, have got under my skin, I think they'll always be with me now. Place writing is crucial, I think, there should be a category for it here on Substack.
Off on a tangent… What’s it all about, Alfie? 🎶 [Cilla] ‘Black reacted negatively on hearing the demo "of some fella singing 'Alfie' ... I actually said to Brian 'I can't do this.' For a start—Alfie?? You call your dog Alfie! ... [Couldn't] it be Tarquin or something like that?" ‘
Alfie, Wikipedia 🐾
Tarquin??😆
You mentioned a puppy???
The notion of place is so powerful, isn’t it?
I could go on but it’s 4pm — time for a walk with Odysseus.
Oh, Is that a recent photo of you?
Thanks Frances 😄
Yes, a puppy, Baillie.
The photo of me was taken on the beach this summer, and of course the photo of me with Baillie is recent too, a summer selfie!
The summer selfie is quite special — so natural 🪷
I gobbled this up like a Sunday lunch. Now I will go back and read it all over again. Delicious!
Thank you for your encouragement.
Some great history there
Ah thank you. I might be addicted :)