Robert Bruce

A Head In The Clouds: A Year Of Looking Upwards

A blogpost by Robert Bruce:

It is a year since lockdown and during the whole period I have found it helpful to look upwards to the skies. It soothes and calms. It reminds us that the world goes on, mostly beyond our control. From our small roof terrace in Maida Vale and, when allowed, from elsewhere, this has been a year when clouds, mostly free from the vapour trails of aircraft, have become towering and tumbling symbols of freedom. But first: A wave of farewell to the old world we knew before lockdown. Now look upwards from the roof terrace. Continue reading “A Head In The Clouds: A Year Of Looking Upwards”

The Empty Streets

A friend kept phoning us in the mornings of late April and early May. She was, rather against her will, still gallantly fulfilling her duties at an office in Oxford Street. She disliked being there and feared the possible consequences in mid-pandemic. But the reason she kept phoning was to tell of her exuberance in the early mornings at being able to walk the length of Regent Street alone and in the middle of the street. She described the complete peace and quiet in the utterly empty street free of people, free of traffic. Continue reading “The Empty Streets”

A Jaunt To See Jenner

Yesterday, in need of exercise on a bright Spring day, I walked down to the Italian Gardens at the north side of Kensington Gardens. I made sure that I was socially distancing all the way. Though this was relatively easy. Not many people about. Continue reading “A Jaunt To See Jenner”

St Luke Blesses St Ives

We were blessed to be in St Ives when the period of clear sunshine and late, late, late summer, known as St Luke’s Little Summer broke over the town. Continue reading “St Luke Blesses St Ives”

Alien Spacecraft Strike Terror Into The Hearts Of Art-Loving Londoners!

As we learned from the books of our childhood, alien fleets of spacecraft always invade London by flying up the Thames. The aliens know from their knowledge of British popular culture that the public links the threat of enemy action with the image of St Paul’s standing firm and reassuring against the invaders. And strange spaceships were always depicted as smoothly shaped craft, devoid of the oddities and quirks of our own aircraft or rockets. Concorde was the only one we ever built which could be said to have an alien sheen. Continue reading “Alien Spacecraft Strike Terror Into The Hearts Of Art-Loving Londoners!”