A blog by Ross of Penge (formerly of Balham)

I blogged pretty extensively during 2014 and early 2015, but got out of the habit. In the time since there has been a huge amount I've sort of wanted to write about (politics, terror etc) but I haven't. I tried several times, but anger and frustration about what was happening prevented me from getting things down in a coherent form. Given I couldn't express what I felt, and it didn't seem like it would make a difference anyway, I let it lie fallow.

It's now early 2017, and I'm back, blogging about my attempt to do the first month of the year without social media. After that, who knows?

And why gateway2thesouth? Named after a famous sketch popularised by Peter Sellers:

"Broad-bosomed, bold, becalmed, benign,
Lies Balham, four-square on the Northern Line."

I lived in Balham for 23 years - longer than I have been anywhere else, and it still feels like one of the places in the world I most belong.

Tuesday, 7 October 2014

...when you're the driver of a train

I'm not really sure where the last week has gone. I was convinced it was only a few days since my last blog post, and it was all the way back on Wednesday.

What makes this even more difficult to fathom is that I've not been out every minute since then. Yes, a gig and a party pretty much booked up Saturday. Nice to catch up with a very good friend who is off to work in New York for a year, and I think I managed to conceal my huge levels of jealousy quite well.

But Sunday wasn't too full – I easily had time to write something. In part I think I am clearly getting more used to living on my own – the early need to fill every minute and keep really busy has gone. Don’t get me wrong, I still like to be busy and have never coped well with sitting indoors and vegetating, but four months ago a free night would have had me in a panic – now it’s a welcome chance for a rest and a long bath with a good book.

That’s another issue – I bought lots of books for the summer on the grounds I was bound to have time to read them, and I'm pretty much through them all. Most had the unifying feature that they were under a quid on Kindle, but actually there were only a couple that I discarded as not worth reading on the way. And I have consciously tried to stop hoarding books – I used to own hundreds which I never re-read, but couldn't bring myself to get rid of. They have pretty much all gone now and someone else can get some pleasure from them. So I need to replenish stocks in the coming days. Recommendations welcome.

I've a few days to make my mind up as my Kindle has also decided to pack up this week. It works, but only on Wireless rather than 3G, and has the battery life of an IPhone 3. Amazon are being very good and sending a new one – but it makes me realise how much I use the thing – “don’t know what you've got till it’s gone” etc.


Anyway, feel better for putting something up here – even if it is just a quick update written while eating my sandwich. I will write in more detail later in the week with a review of James Taylor at the Albert Hall.

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