On 23 November 2009 I was taking the kids to school and saw this tree on the corner of Columbia Road and Ravenscroft Street. Nothing odd about there being a tree, just the fact it was no ‘bedecked in flowers’, like something from a mumming dance/pagan ceremony/US schmaltzy film…

No reason, no note, just planned, well-executed prettiness in the midst of urban London.

Update – 20101206

Here are some photos from the guerilla’s recent floral interventions: beautiful red garlands hung in a tree in Ravenscroft Park, opposite Londis.

Thanks to some incredible generosity by InternetRetailing readers, advertisers and supporters, your Internet Retailing team have braved (if that’s the word?) embarrassment and taunts throughout November, growing (or should I say “growing”?) moustaches to raise money to combat prostate cancer.

The month of November has been renamed ‘Movember’ as men – singly or in teams – start clean-shaven on 1 November and then attempt to grow, maintain and carry off a moustache for the whole month.

As you can see from the ‘mount tashmore’ banner, we had varying levels of success, but overall we managed to raise nearly £5,000.

Actually, we were £43 short of our target, so if you fancy pushing us over the edge you can donate as well as seeing pictures of the team in their various levels of tashdom here:

https://uk.movember.com/mospace/616254/

Thanks again to all who supported, and also to those who mailed supportive notes while giving to other teams – the words soothed the embarrassment signficantly.

You can see the money raised here:

https://uk.movember.com/momoney/team/search_country/gb/size/10/top/100

and the IR team finished 20th in the UK for teams of under 10 – thanks again for the support.

There were some 112,000 participants in the UK (hence the large number of emails asking for your money!) and nearly 450,000 globally. The UK has to date raised nearly £8m for this important cause.

Full information on the funds raised and the use of proceeds is available here:

https://uk.movember.com/momoney/

Once again, we thank you.

Now, time to grow the beard again!

This Thursday, 20 May, the community near Columbia Road, E2, is putting on a charity auction, with some stupendous works of art, of generosity and fun in order to raise money for Sonia.

Sonia is a young and much-loved teacher who suffered a devastating stroke last year leaving her severely disabled. This auction is to raise money to adapt her home and therefore support her independent living.

Taking place at Columbia Primary School, there are some stupendous lots: originals from the Chapman Brothers, Rob Ryan, Gavin Turk, Nelly Duff and a wonderful 1 hour personal tour of Hackney by Iain Sinclair.

We also have hand-delivered warm croissant from Joe’s Newsagent (a local legend), decluttering help, prints, photos, guidance, massage, rare Adidas trainers… You need to see the whole catalogue for info…

Latest news will be on www.raise-the-roof.net, and there’s a full auction listing here (pdf): raisetheroof-auction-lots.

If you can come along then please do – it’ll be a real event and there’s an opportunity either to get some wonderful, one-off art/artefacts at a great price, or (gasp!) pay the full price for them and help secure Sonia’s future.

If you’re coming do let me know. I’ll be there later and we’ll be having a post-auction drink/nibble. Let me know so I have the vaguest chance of being organised!

Meanwhile, if you’re an event organiser or someone who’s thinking of asking me to speak, my own personal contribution is here:

https://pencil.wpengine.com/speaking-and-events-calendar/fundraising-an-accessible-house-for-sonya/

Please do come along. It’s going to be a remarkable and fun evening and to assist a remarkable teach who’s impact on my daughter and countless others will be life-long and positive.

So, leaving aside any nitpicking points about whether “premieres” is a verb, or whether it’s Polanski’s film or Olivia Williams‘, suffice to say that it’s the ‘Olivia connection’ (via Sophie, Olivia’s sister, longest-standing friend etc) that has Vicky heading off to Berlin on the 12th for the premiere of the film at t’Berlin Film Festival.

Here’s the trailer:

The official website’s here: theghost-romanpolanski.com

I’m assuming that the URL is not a reference to Polanski’s imminent disappearance at the US Federal Authorities’ pleasure, just a reference to the book 😉

Looks like it’ll be a blast of a film and I’m looking forward to photos of the evening (while yours truly stays at home and minds the kids – a quid pro quo for one too many trips this year).

In between the rain and snow, a brief and uplifting moment of sunshine on Newport Beach (“traeth mawr” or ‘big beach’).

We’d determined to ‘walk the kids’ every day for a couple of hours, come rain or shine, and this was the first time that the “shine” part had kicked in.

Made it all worthwhile.

The image, btw, is taken on the iPhone using the Pano app to stitch together 3 images.