The Singing Blues

It’s the smell of decay

Following the way

Making up the footsteps

Of my day.

 

It is the smell of years spent

Chasing the ideals of a money tree

In the concrete place

We all call home.

 

The numbers appear and disappear,

Just as the hungry

Appear and disappear;

The numbers, they dance

To the songs of loose change falling

Into a coffee cup.

 

The numbers, they dance

To the sound of spare change

Ringing on the counter top

In exchange for whiskey,

Tissues and food.

 

The numbers, they dance

Unaware of the blues,

Unaware of the evil,

The evil of dreaming higher

Than the nothing you have,

The nothing you are.

 

And the blues, the blues they sing

Of historic troubles undreamt of,

 

They sing of the decay

Making hearts weep for days,

They sing of footsteps

Leading to no place.

 

The blues, they sing

Of what’s always been known

And never acknowledged.

 

And the numbers, they dance

To a master that isn’t your pocket.

 

And all the while

Each second

Seeps into the gutter

Until you are drowned so far

You can’t even see the stars.

Walk with me through London :)

I recently started focusing on doing walking tours and wrote this piece about some of the tours I lead. Have a read and if you can do join us.

London is a wonderful city full of fun things to do.

This month we are playing host to the amazing Open House/City event and hundreds of magnificent houses will be open to the public and entirely free to visit. The event will be running on the weekend of 16 and 17 September and is the perfect opportunity to visit those places you have always said you wanted to visit, but like most Londoners and the London Eye, never actually get around to visiting.

In honour of this event we have decided to do 5 tours within walking distance  of some of the more wonderful houses on the docket that weekend.  We will also be launching a new tour because this is one of the best weekends to celebrate London. Why not make a day or even weekend of it and join us on our walking tours and actually visit some of the places we talk about on our tours. 

On Saturday the 16th we will be hosting a walking tour of Westminster at 10 a.m. You can plan your day around this 2 hour tour which takes you past some of the great places of Westminster. After the tour why not visit Banqueting House which is where Charles I was executed. Or visit 10 Downing Street (designed by Sir Christopher Wren) where Prime Ministers great and downright despicable have lived for the last 277 years.  Who knows, you may even bump into the “strong and stable” Theresa, or Winston Churchill’s ghost, or chat to Larry the resident cat.  

At 2 p.m. we will be launching one of our many new Autumn and Winter walking tours which will be the Embankment City Walk. You can organise your day by visiting the above mentioned attractions before joining us at Westminster Station for a very beautiful and striking 2 hour and a half walk. After the tour you could also visit the New Scotland Yardand learn a little about policing in London. If you are keen on London‘s history during the Roman era you can also visit the Roman Baths which are next to Somerset House; another fantastic 17th century house to visit. You can also arrange to visit Canada House, Australia House (they filmed Gringotts Bank from Harry Potter here), The National Gallery or the Supreme Court where you can gaze upon the Magna Carta. 

In the evening, at 6 p.m., we will be doing our South Bank Culture and Sin Tour which uncovers some of London‘s less talked about secrets and desires. Why not arrange a visit to any of the places mentioned above (particularly the Roman Baths as they are a talking point on the tour) and close of your evening with a lovely and scintillating walk along the South Bank? Advance Warning: This tour is the only one that is NOT family friendly. 

On Sunday we will be offering 3 more tours (Tower Walk at 11 a.m., Primrose Hill and Regent’s Park at 3 p.m. and South Bank Culture & Sin at 7 p.m. Here you arrange your day to visit any of the houses you missed on Saturday or plan to see new buildings. In the City of London (after the Tower Walk) you can have a relaxing pint or meal in St Katherine’s Docks at the wonderful Dickens Inn. You can also visit the many City Churches like St Lawrence Jewry and St Mary-Le-Bow (both designed by Sir Christopher Wren) which will be open to the public. Of particular note will be the Gherkin which you will be able to explore for free. There are also the Bank of England Museum, Leadenhall and Borough Markets (2 Harry Potter filming locations), The Tate Modern and The Barbican Centre.  

However you decide to spend your weekend, join us on one of our tours and have fun while learning more about this wonderful city. 

In closing it is advisable to have a look at the Open House/City website because some of the houses require advanced booking as they may not be able to accommodate many people. Here you can find a full listing of what is on offer, including many places located in Camden which would couple perfectly with our Primrose Hill & Regent’s Park tour on Sunday.

We look forward to meeting some of you on our tours and should you be unable to make it we hope you enjoy your weekend and keep an eye out for our future tours, we are will to be launching many new tours for the winter season soon. 

You can find our tours here: http://www.wondersoflondon.co.uk/

And follow us here https://www.facebook.com/wondersoflondon/

As Ever, Keep Wondering London! 

Five Thousand – Vincent Edward Manda

Five thousand cigarettes

And I am still here,

 

One thousand whiskeys

And I am still here,

 

Ten thousand beers

And I am still here

 

A million thoughts

Running every minute,

Providing ten million opportunities,

 

Why am I still here?

Why am I still here?

Why am I still here?

 

When the silence

Whispers so softly.

The Cave – Vincent Edward Manda

Spring brought the sun

Months later than foreseen.

They’d forgotten their sister time

And danced together, along

With Autumn and Summer,

To ethereal Nordic music played

In the midnight sun;

Their colourful skirts swirling

Amidst northern lights.

 

In a cave further south

A bear awoke promptly

To find all covered in darkness;

A thick wall of ice

Blocked the entrance to her cave.

 

For weeks, from behind this ice wall,

She watched salmon skipping up streams,

Heard the colourful music of flowers and bees

And smelt the enticing promise of honey

Hidden high up in trees

Whose bark she’d use

To scratch her itching back,

 

But winter had stayed

To cradle her head day after day

In the dark, frozen cave

Until one night

She dreamed her last dream

Of salmon dancing out to sea

While the flowers wilted and their petals,

Riddled with caterpillar holes,

Were carried off

Into dark tunnels by

Droves of emaciated ants.

 

When summer came

The maggots had

Turned into flies

And worms in the bear’s brain

Crawled out from patches of parsley

Growing in its eye sockets and

Into fishermen’s hands,

 

While somewhere far away

A man wrapped the lemon and dill drizzled

Carcass of an Atlantic salmon

In foil and placed it on a charcoal lit,

Tulip shaped barbeque stand.

16 December 2016

When against a

Sky of dreams

Tree limbs

Resemble phantom smoke

From forest fires,

I would pluck a

Moonlit yellow tulip’s shadow

That bees

May bathe endlessly in the

Rooted, breathing flower’s

Fragrance filled air

While we share

Some of its

Dusky beauty.

The Upside Down House by The Canal – Vincent Edward Manda

Above, where waters reflect

A blue sky slightly tainted grey,

 

In between, where all

Is an unresolved mess,

 

Or below, where the windows to many souls

Are reflected on the water’s surface,

 

Where is it

That dreams lie in wait

For weary eyes

Hidden beneath the water’s face?

The Devil’s Invitation

Melancholy dreams and

River kisses

Speak from behind

Lighted houses and

Beyond the jungle’s trees

Where stars are blinding

And the brilliance of the sun

Is reflected off a

Rock suspended in space

By unknown forces

That have rightly or wrongly

Been given names.

 

Melancholy dreams and

River kisses

Delivered first class

In silk threaded wrapping

With an ivory bow

Tied neatly round;

A summons to the never ending party.

 

Melancholy kisses and

River dreams

In a bed of earth

Hidden far from

Prying eyes and

Sensitive ears.

A story Lived Here – Vincent Edward Manda

It was worse

Than watching that last twenty pound note

Meant to tide you over coming weeks

Fall out of your pocket

And float in hot, flushed air

Signalling an oncoming

Piccadilly line train

As you put your oyster away.

 

Much worse

Than watching trains

Pull away

To reveal your piece of paper

Turned into Hors D’eouvre

Served to a rat

In that exclusive restaurant

Between live tracks.

 

Worse than

Walking hungry

Past smells of

Friday night kebabs and quid burgers,

Sober, right through boulevards lined

With music, frenzied dancers and booze.

 

It was almost as bad

As walking into the

Darkened, silent house

Clinging to a fading scent

Emanating from dusty shelves;

 

An essence particular to her perfume,

 

That faint memory dwelling in a home

After all the books

Are closed.

A Simpler Time/Make…Great Again – Vincent Edward Manda

Back in the day,

Back in the day,

Back in the day…

Ah, back in the day

I was an abomination,

The offspring of an

Unholy and inhuman union

Between the races.

Back in the day you:

The writer, the poet, the journalist,

And you:

The accountant, the soldier, the dreamer,

Back then; whatever the tone of your skin,

You couldn’t even read or write!

Back in the day

Your knees were worn

And your back bent.

Back in the day

Your eyes knew the bull’s shit

And never dared steal

Glances at rainbows

In the presence of your betters.

Back when times was for

King and queens

And ours was

Hung, drawn and quartered.

Back in those long seasons,

That never ended for some.

Seasons of side sickness and plague,

Small pox and cholera,

Polio and malaria…

Back in that simple time

When thirty was old age

And grandparents were never seen

By the likes of you and me.

Back in the day

They lived in the present,

And someday soon

Our glorious dreams,

Of a bright and peaceful future

Full of food

Will be longings

From back in the day.

Back in the day

Will be a time when

Women and minorities

Worked twice as hard

For half as much,

While the women from minorities

Worked even harder for much less.

Back in the day

Will be an age

When FIFA 16

Was better than PES2016,

A time

When a self proclaimed genius

Butchered Queen

And threatened Bowie…

It’ll be a time to ask why

Fresh food was discarded

Amidst world hunger.

Alas, I can’t predict the future

But I can imagine a scene

From the time of our descendants;

A time with cures for cancer and AIDS

Wherein some writer, poet, journalist,

Accountant, soldier or dreamer

Will gasp for oxygen

And wonder what tree bark

Felt like against the skin,

All the while

Longing for Universal Healthcare.

Looking For Wilde Stars – Vincent Edward Manda

On the land

We dug up and replaced the jungle

With concrete structures

Spewing effervescent lights,

While in the skies

We stole the stars

And put in their place

Lit up planes

Ferrying us to distant shores

Like Charon did the damned.

All through our descent

Deeper into a chasm

Where even the North Star is invisible,

We mix our air

With the fumes of industry, progress

And celebration

At turning our concrete jungles

Into one hollow land

Made up of

Monolithic glass structures

Reflecting the effervescent lights

Devouring the diamonds of our skies,

Taking them directly into

The clogged gutters of our dream kingdom,

This creation of ours;

Our very own never ending valley of dying stars.