serendipity

"That all those marvellous serendipities happened to him there does not matter - they can happen anywhere for those with the right habit of seeing" Lawrence Freiesleben on Mark Cousins in the May 2014 Sight & Sound.
I have been reading S&S a bit lately, trying to make up for having hundreds of the damn things sitting in piles all over the house, unread. I think I might have thrown a bunch away in the recent spring cleaning. But I think I refused to read them because they feel painful, they are part of the block, the procrastination. The information about films being made, when I am making nothing.
Anyway, tonight was a night of marvellous serendipities. I think it might have been Cousins again, in another rendition of S&S, talking about taking his little camera everywhere with him and filming things he sees along the way. This time it was Christmas trees abandoned in the New Year.
I saw things tonight, and I didn't think to film them. But perhaps in future I will.
The Things:
tea-light candles outside a house and a smell of incense. 'pray for us we are moving home' on the card on which the candles were placed. and pictures and postcards of people's faces. the family? and behind me, a pile of clothes 'free stuff', clearing out for the big move. I looked at the faces and tried to imagine what they were trying to tell me. Had someone died? Was there something sad - between the prayers and the young faces on the cards, I wondered about the story.
A man laughing and exclaiming about me, that I was just talking to myself. But I wasn't, I was on my hands free - so I shared that with him. Laughter. I like laughing with strangers in London, it has a quality unlike the friendliness of those more provincial cities and towns. It's an uncommon delight to connect with a London stranger.
A lady who made me a sausage sandwich, even though the cafe was closed, and then proceeded to drop a plate on the floor and yell 'FUCK' in rage at herself. I just wanted to be kind to her, and make it ok, so I did. I know what it feels like to rage at myself. We laughed. And then I left my purse and phone behind and as I sat down to eat my sausage sandwich I had to go back. I would like to go back there and drink coffee some time soon.
The commute to London this morning was delightful. Such stunning scenery and skies, the sun drifting in and out of the clouds as we flew by underneath them. As the sun reached the clouds, the wispy edges formed iridescent rainbow colours, I was transfixed, I tried to film it, in slow motion. Here's how that came out:



I do like Cinamatic, it's allowing me to cut together tiny shunts of music and video for Instagram, my vehicle of choice. Some days I think I am getting there, slowly.
Talking about getting there, slowly - check out this 500ft climb we hunkered down on at the end of a day of Tour De Francing. Bloody hell, that took some mental effort to get up that hill. I'm amazed I can even walk today.



anyway - as always, there must be an image, for the front page of the blog. it's a photo of Yorkshire, after a grand day at the Grand Depart. Well Stage Two anyroad. How lucky I feel to get up to this gorgeous countryside so regularly.



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Hi - my name is Emma Jane. I am here to walk slowly back towards my creativity. It's a gentle stroll along a path which does not require anxiety to make my work. Thanks for coming to see what I've been up to. :) EMJx