The Legend of the Growler

For Halloween each year, my friends have a party. I made this trailer with them, in honour of Halloween Party Number IV: The Legend of the Growler.

Spending time on tube trains

Lately, have had to ride more tubes than usual. Mainly to one place, The Embassy of Japan in the United Kingdom (to give them their full title) to renew my passport. They're very nice in there, the doorman greets you in Japanese, even though he is not, as far as I can perceive, Japanese himself and he makes this gracious effort as I walk through the security gate to say “ohayo-gozaimasu” and “sumimasen” super professionally. Today, I had forgotten that my rucksack placed through the bag scanner contained a Moomin swiss army knife, which he really considerately removed and sealed in a plastic bag, then gave me a tag for it. Idiot bringing a weapon into an embassy.

The embassy is at Green Park station and I get there by jumping on to the Jubilee Line from the Overground. I ping back and forth over this route a few times in the space of a week, getting to and from the embassy. The first train I get on is the Overground and at the station I see two loose perfectly good tomatoes on the way in, and hairy legs carrying a bike up the station stairs. The change over to the Jubilee line is rammed but I follow a pair of pink sling-back kitten heels with red patent leather points, and I follow them click clacking all the way down the escalator steps. ‘Excuse me, where did you get those shoes?’ ‘These are really old, Top Shop.’ ‘Oh. I really love them.’ ‘Thank you.’

I went to see The Farewell at a cinema in Angel and on the way home I took the Northern Line back down southwards. You really notice the colour palette of Londoners on a Northern Line carriage, because it cuts across the N/S divide. You get all sorts - people meshing in the middle of their journeys into central, or on their way home, or out clubbing in Clapham. Green of moss, slabs of concrete at dawn, freshly cut hay. Dark but not sleek, light but not vibrant. Coats on jackets and bags slung across shoulders, like postmen.

A sleepy man next to the mossy quilted jacket drinking a red bull, stored his half-drunk can in his bag. He nods off... as it drips out steadily... through the corner of his pleather bag on to the seat leaving a brown stain, maybe it was a coke, I don’t know.

Conkers

I am quite enjoying this rain. My new rain-mac (actually it’s old because it was bought at the Buddhist Centre charity shop – which top tip has a better selection of clothing than your average charity shop – I don’t know why) is the main joy. I check the weather regularly and always the night before, and when it is forecast for drizzle the next morning, I am secretly pleased. I like to wear my peaked hood out on the common; my daily commute to work these days because there are road works down my street, meaning no buses.

I like to pick up conkers from the common on the walk to the station. The dirt from the conkers flake off easily like sand off a shell collected while beach-combing. I collect a conker a day, then give it to a co-worker in the office. Noemi didn’t know what it was called, so when I called it a ‘conker’ she was like, ‘what’s that?’ And I said, ‘that’s what you’re holding.’

She thought it was a chestnut, which to be fair could have been accurate. I checked online and a chestnut (edible) is from a sweet chestnut tree and its outer shell has loads of spikes, like a hedgehog. A conker (poisonous) is from a horse chestnut tree and its outer casing is bumpier and smoother, like skin with acne. I have no idea what kind of shells my conkers came in, so I will have to check tomorrow when I walk under the tree for remnants of their husks.

There is also a gathering of crows every morning on the common. Round about the same time I am picking up conkers, you’ll see an even spread of crows all over the grass. Each crow has a patch of their own and they position themselves equidistant from every other crow, so they’ve got it covered. I’m not sure if this is normal crow behaviour, or if this is just a city full of crows.