A selection of my zines/fanzines I've made over the years, going back as far as 1996 are on display in an exhibition at University of The Arts London. Athemaura zine features, as well as lots of other titles. The oldest zine features electronic typewritten text and mentions John Peel's love of mushroom birhiani!
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I've only just discovered that Mayfair has a public library, dating back to 1894. An area largely associated with money and business, it is also a fairly mixed residential zone, and every pocket of London needs its library service. Nearby boroughs can also use their library cards in branch. This is a special library and it's quite the luxurious library experience. Mosaic flooring: Interior of the entrance in all its grandeur: Close up of the glorious stained glass windows: Weddings are held in another area of the building. The library itself houses a brilliant collection of mostly recent DVDs, and there was a book sale with a lot of interesting cookery books, recent novels, CDs, etc. Neighbouring, plush, historical flats and park were incredible: Mayfair also has a superb cinema, which is grade II listed and has origins in the 1930s and the 1960s, with a lot of old signs remaining. If you pick the right day, there are hunks of homemade chocolate square cakes that are worth almost any trek to taste!
August is the most prolific time on the allotment. Everything suddenly bursts into abundant, lush, green, glorious life. I have been snipping at salad leaves a few times a week, enough for plenty of sandwiches. I've also had enough courgettes to feed people several different kinds of dinners - everything from pasta dishes, to stir-fries, to additions to salads and sandwiches, and just raw alone or with hummus. I've had lots of melt-in-the-mouth broad beans as snacks in between too - I was amazed at the sight of my first beans growing in their little pods, as they seemed to appear of a sudden, fully formed, one day: My first yellow patty pan - so tiny, so delicately formed! Recently harvested - these were transported the same day to a friend's barbecue, where the courgettes and patty pan were chopped up, put on skewers - so much pride and delight in being able to provide fresh food like that, and so tasty! Broad beans also pictured, but these were gently boiled another day, and instantly enjoyed just as they were: Lots of other allotment - and non-allotment - updates to catch up on still, hopefully coming soon...
London College of Communication in south east London houses a long-running zine library. By coincidence it was during International Zine Month, and on zine library celebration day, that I went to access the collection. I've long been donating my work to the collection, but never made it over to visit properly till July. I was glad I did. The collection comprises thousands of individual zines, all boxed up in special archives - available to users of the library - including the general public, if you contact them in advance. You'll see from the above that the zine library is now 5 years old - so Happy Birthday to it! Athemaura zine turned 5 years old a couple of months ago, too, but I kept forgetting to make mention of that on here.
I'll recommend an indie pop fanzine called Whoosh. It boasted risograph print in bright colours typical of indie fanzines of the 80s and early 90s. References to Horlicks and sleepiness in relation to Galaxie 50. An early interview with my Bloody Valentine - which felt a bit of a privilege to pore over even if I'm not such a fan. I looked at a bunch of other music fanzines from the 80s and 90s, enjoying the transportation to other eras, and how many of the writers of music fanzines were freely critical and vitriolic, plus many titles were so scattershot in look, cramming as much in as possible - not conscientious or clearcut in design or in delivery, which was good to escape into. I recall a cartoon of John Peel upside down riding a skateboard. I hardly scratched the surface of the collection, since there are over a thousand individual zines in the collection, across various topics and eras. Also enjoyed reading and raiding from the bookshelves, a fair few books that collected zine works, such as the personal zine Doris, Savage Messiah (which provides healthy critique of gentrification of London), and the most famous fanzine of them all, Sniffin' Glue. Zines on display in glass cases in the library: There is an RHS library at Wisley! We stumbled across it towards the end of our visit to the gardens, but it was still difficult to tear myself away. Another reason to visit again in the future. You can become a member to borrow items, or look at reference books on your visit to the gardens. What a place it would be to work too. Just outside the library there was a display of mini gardens from a recent competition, which were full of the innovative and the wacky (sorry not to have names to credit - please comment, if either of these creations are yours)... I took a lot of photos on my film camera as well - yet to be developed, so that will be a nice surprise one day soon.
I will catch up on other stuff I want to write about from last few months when I get chance too - quite a back-log now... I enjoyed being immersed in so much uplifting colour at Wisley, with all the flora. I was excited to find that there was also room for a display of allotments, and delighted in all the neat rows of various vegetables: Whether I wanted to or not, I kept being reminded of The Fall with various bizarre and amusing names about the place. Possible new album title?: This lavender is kept so precisely! Put me anywhere near allotments and I am in heaven, lost in a daze of awe. But there were also vineyards! You can just go and sit by the vineyards and orchards - surrounded by fruit galore - and it seems to go on for a couple of miles. I wished I had brought books and paper and pens with me, to while away a lot of time amidst it all. I'm sure you could even bring a discreet picnic. I was really overwhelmed by the amount of space at Wisley, it's an incredible place.
Meadows too: As I catch up with a backlog of writing going back to May, here are some photos of the RHS gardens in Wisley, Surrey, a wonderful haven of a place. This was my first visit, and it was long recommended and long due. We visited at a time when there had been a lot of rain, and it was quite atmospheric to see all the leaves a-glisten with clear, bright, wet drops of water. Now it's been so long since the visit, what with being so busy, I forget the names of the plants and flowers. I plan to go back with notebook, and sketchbook too. Good to be able to duck under cover of the hot-house when more rain started up. This image of the waterfall was taken from a height and from behind the water: I marvelled at this Who-inspired flower name: I've seen some of these flowers in gardens round where I live, so it's nice to know the name now. 'Mark E Smith Woz Here' ? This little sign, I can't explain, though :
Surbiton library is one of the most astounding library buildings inside and out I have visited. If the art-deco style train station you alight at in Surbiton impresses you, then the walk up the hill is well worth it to be invited in to this library. I like that the library is not on the main high street and instead stands detached, in a haven of quiet, surrounded by greatly lush greenery. This is a traditional civic building that is grand and awe-inspiring like libraries should be. Majestic light pours in through the ceiling panes: The shelving is my favourite mahogany wood, old style. The variety of stock displays and promotions had a lot of creative thought put in. Art deco style writing in the Staff Recommends section: A healthy number of independent shops in Surbiton, it was good to see. Nice cafes and the odd brilliant old pub too.
The grand train station: |
AthemauraEnthusiastic about 'zines, libraries, gardening in the city, independent book shops/record shops/cafes, vegetarian and vegan, London in all its variety, local living/community. Archives
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