I cycle into the City of London. The City of London is the financial heart of Britain known more commonly as The City. More money comes through this relatively small part of London
than anywhere else in Europe. The City of London Corporation commissioned myself to write a poem around which a sculpture has been built. I am more than happy with the sculptor we chose and the sculpture he has made. The poem is called The Gilt of Cain.
As my bike swings through Bethnal green around Aldgate and curls off Fenchurch onto Fen Court
a flock of photographers are busying themselves around the granite structures that make up the sculpture. It’s the first time I have seen it, ever. And it is beautiful. The sculptor Michael
Vissocchi is there and has already been interviewed by ITV News. He’s done a grand job of housing the poem and likewise the poem realigns the sculpture.
I put my bike against the wall and join Michael. The press officer from The City kindly takes
my bag, phone, headphones and all. I meet, greet and then stand in all the appropriate places for an hour and an half. I know one of the photographers, from The Guardian, from The Hay Festival
where he shot me last month. The light is good in the morning and they are working hard. It starts to get tiring but if they work so hard then so shall I. . Quick interview with a TV company
whose name I can’t remember and I’m back on my bike from London Bridge skirting the thames until I arrive at The South Bank.
It’s 11.45am and I’m an hour late for a filming session for The Guardian Website which gets one million hits a day. I arrive at The South Bank and The good natured Rebecca Lovell (director and camerawoman) is there with her colleague. This has no connection with the previous job in The City. We find various places on the South Bank to film a poem called Godsell. The Poem is about those dark people whom knock upon my door and ask me questions in the hope that they will trigger a
childhood memory which shall make me feel accountable to their cause, which happens to be a religion. Questions like “have you heard of Armageddon?”. We finish filming at about 2pm and wave goodbye. I shall put the link up when the Guardian sort it.
And then I get some lunch remembering I haven’t eaten at all in the morning. I answer a few questions (via email) for Time Out magazine. It’s a vox pop really. I look at my answers before pressing send. They sound so damned pretentious and they’ll be edited down to a fraction of my
scribblings. Wish I had the arrogance of Giles Coren. But then I wish I had the education of Giles Coren too. But then I wish I had the downright-ness to get angry ebcause there are some people in this industry who deserve to be purely shouted down. (None I have met today it must be said) I should have sent something more succinct to Time out but What is done is done. That freakin send button, busts me everytime. Rescheduled interview for The London Magazine with Nikki Seth.
The actual launch for that sculpture is September 4th. Invites will be whirling their way through London soon. I’ll have visited two African countries between now and then. Off to Botswana in a few weeks. Can’t wait. The Journalist is away in Cornwall for a few days so I am home alone wondering what to do. Got a press ticket or two for The Wizard of Oz tomorrow night. It’s directed by the genius that is Jude Kelly. Filming tomorrow morning and the entire day for Sky TV, unconnected to any of the above.