Well that’s a disappointment. I was supposed to be meeting three friends at Yorkshire Sculpture Park, but two of them didn’t realise it was a firm arrangement and have made other plans. We meet every month or so and ‘do’ places. Last time it was the Richard 3rd exhibition in York. Oh, and we do a lot of eating and chatting. Oh well, it’s back to finding dates when all of us are free, and to seeing what’s on. YHS was a Henry Moore exhibition I think. Maybe it’ll still be on now  His statures are big enough.

Actually, Henry Moore was the first sculptor I really knew: from the tender age of 5 or so. The Three Graces were on display in Battersea Pak, and that place meant Sunday strolls with my parents when I was younger, and roaming all over it with the gang (an amorphous group of council estate children) when I was a bit older. I well remember clambering over the rockery, (I see it’s called The Cascades now) exploring the old house there, and being chased by the park keeper. I think he was lame. A war injury?

Battersea Park was the best of all London Parks. It wasn’t regimental in its planting, the terrain roamed up and down, and there were such diverse things to do there. The Treetop Walk, the boating lake, the deer to feed, all the wild spaces. There was the Guinness Clock during the Festival of Britain, and of coure, the Funfair, but that meant parents as we had to pay to go in. I first learnt about birds there. Oh, and on the walk to the park, along the embankment, there used to be hawthorn hedges filled with yellowhammers; I had a brill childhood.

Today? Not sure. Unexpectedly free. Think I’ll do the three Look Sheets that I’ve been commissioned to write. They’re due in on 1st July.

Bye.