the velvet biscuit

Summer Tart

2009-04-27T00:30:00.000-07:00

Puffing away on a disused fag
If only she had another hand
To carry another Primark bag.

For the kids its just a drag
Those in a pushchair
Too young, they couldn't care.
Keep them quiet, keep them fed
It's McDonalds all round
But naughty again
It;s home and straight to bed.

Where have the little ones gone?
You can't see them
But you can hear them.
She's screaming, he's making a mess
But its not home time yet
Till mum gets her cheap new dress
Who she bring home tonight
Is anyone's guess.

Ghost Town

2009-04-07T07:11:00.000-07:00

It is a lonely town, it’s a ghost town
The remaining living have departed
The thieves are here, they’ve just started
So clear out and clear off
Single lock, make it a double lock
The thieves are out to run a mock.
If you are on your own
You are home alone
Doors locked windows shut
You had just better hope
They don’t step foot.
There is nowhere to goBut they will find a place to hide
Staying here is only a risk
It could be described as suicide.
No more air to breathe
Only a place to thieve
Remember this is a ghost town
Even the bars are shut
The bars won’t keep out the thieves
They will find their way
They will make you pay.
You won’t be the winner
They have nothing to lose
Will you stay and risk the wrath
Pop out to the cafe
They are already up your garden path.
Remember this is a lonely town
Close your earsKeep your head down
This is a ghost town.

Light Up Your Night

2009-04-07T06:52:00.000-07:00

Make it a lucky strike

Time to meet the girl you like
Be sure not to get a fright
Now you see her in Marlboro Light
Don't be shy come outside
Somewhere to go with no where to hide
Strangers we were but lets not pretend
It always begins with you as a friend

Cigarettes
No regrets
It's soon to be
Fun and games in Benson and Hedges.

Love to Have.Have to Love.

2009-04-07T06:35:00.000-07:00

Your Valentine’s Day date is probably going out with someone else by now. That person who was thinking of asking you has probably still not. London, New York, your mum, there is something for everyone to love and not only that but you can display it loud and proud. Love was once something precious and a word saved for those something specials. Like everything in our consumer world if everyone can have it then everybody wants it. Love is not a choice. You can’t buy it with a packet of Marlboro lights on a Friday night or with an English breakfast on a Sunday morning. Don’t keep kidding yourself, it’s the one thing that doesn’t cost a thing.

'Super'market times.

2009-03-22T13:57:00.000-07:00

Indeed they are everywhere and they are for all. If i have counted correctly i have the choice of three on my five minute walk home after a spell on a red London bus. In a world far far away you would get your meat from your butcher, fruit and vegetables from your grocer and the papers from the newstands. Now you can can buy everything in the same place, genius i think surely?

Thia leads me to say that this paradise of everything is something i find rather iressistable almost everyday. With variety hailed as the spice of life our city supermarket cartainly deliver a fne blend. Once you are there a short visit can turn into much more and you couldn't run away from the choices on offer if you travelled at the speed of light in the oposite direction. My trips to Tesco at Liverpool St station are a sure fixture of my post work routine. A brief look at what will soon be yesterdays papers in case i've missed a trick, then i get caught up in the 'shall i have that,no maybe i might have that' process, followed by a spin in the deal zone as some of tem are known, a scramble in the reduced to clear and then finally.... the self checkout. They look uneasy, they shuffle anxiously and they are those that stand afraid of the self checkout. Many who do take part in have to get off before those rollercoaster dips get too deep. 'Assistance required' Unknown item in bagging area' signalling their departure. But for those like me it's like hook the duck in that you can't lose and while the rest are still feeling sick off the waltzer and theself checkout is all too much, i've already collected my clubcard points and shall be sure to return tomorrow.

I can only describe my visits as an unknown pleasure to a place i genuinely consider my city centre theme park.

Brick Lane is Wonderful.

2009-03-11T14:06:00.000-07:00

#1:Demelza
It's Sunday and she has jewellery to sell
slightly hungover but you couldn't tell
what happened last night i said
smiles like she means it
sang a song she said.

Demelza is the first in the Wonderful series.She is #1. These people make their london yours every week. She gives our market value.

Lewis Floyd Henry

2009-03-09T11:48:00.000-07:00

One Man Band,does he need a hand?
One Man Band, lyrics at his command.

He will sometimes sing a cover
A song about a lover
Have no doubt
He's always out
He might just play another

One Man Band he is the sound of sunday morning.

Dance Your Way Home.

2009-03-08T13:26:00.000-07:00

The tiles were indeed exceptionally clean this weekend by anyones standards. No adventure and do i feel unfulfilled as a result?Well the bank balance will look like a prettier picture than it usually does on a monday morning, but storytime will be a shorter occasion. Not to be let down there was a little magic courtesy of the number 25 to Ilford. The 25 always comes in not single decker, not double decker, but perhaps best described as a double single decker. This time like most times there was no seats. A few 'excuse me i just getting pasts' later and i found myself on the revolving dancefloor. To explain more speifically, the bit that connects the two buses. Everytime you turn a corner the dancefloor turns and turn you do. No chance to twist and shout at the weekend, don't worry there is always that opportunity on the 25 home.

Shortly Shall Come

2009-03-08T13:25:00.000-07:00

All of the pictures of you beautiful people will be on here monday.Many thanks x

The Punk Poet.

2009-03-03T02:15:00.000-08:00

He opened for Joy Division

Not such a poor decision
He opened for The Fall
Not such a bad call.

He is John Cooper Clarke
Not dead but made his mark
He's battled drug addiction
That he's alive is nearly fiction.
Wherever can this great be found
Heaven knows if he's around
He's fucking lost he's fucking found
Evidentley in fucking Chickentown.

Are You Local?

2009-03-03T02:03:00.000-08:00

'With nearly 6 pubs closing every day of the week, and local pubs under threat, we believe that the Government should be doing more to save the Great British pub.' The Conservative Party

Its all very well isn't, one minute it is the NHS and the damaging aspects of alcohol and now its 'Save the Great British Pub'.

Local pubs they will all be gone.

Soon enough there will be none.

Then you'll wonder where they've gone.

Broken Glass and Back to Class

2009-03-01T11:00:00.000-08:00

Sunday 19:01 hours, the weekend wonders whether it has seen enough. I hope we have all done enough because Monday's are tough.

The wine in tesco shouldn't look appealing after Saturday's after hours activities, as you scramble through the reduced to clear setion in an audaious attempt to find the appetite that you have been missing all day. There is still no text from the girl last night. Ideas of coffee sounded just wonderful at the time to her, but really they were only ideas of an illusion i suspect. Another number that looked just lovely in my phonebook but its stay was shortlived. We can certainly all cheer ourselves up with the thought that 'there is always next time', but really? Forgive my lack of patience, but i didnt go out on saturday for next time.

Sixties beat and dancing feet were for all to enjoy with nobody shy of their active enthusiasm. Liberation beyond expectation, something definitely good for soul. Staying in is not the new going out and the bright lights will always shine bright. Unfortunately the weekend can't and won't quite last forever, but there is always next time.

This Year's Love.

2009-03-01T10:56:00.000-08:00

Some are old some are new, some are brown some are blue. They have left their country homes and outdoor pursuits and are now in the city far away from their roots. The Barbour jacket comes to the city and can be seen on young and old, whichever one you choose, they keep you from the cold.
Picture by:shotbyshooter.blogspot.com

Scared to be Proud?

2009-02-27T11:46:00.000-08:00

A visit to Camden Town today painted a picture unfinished. Quite obviously the fire has effectively had its impat, as Rodney explained to me, it left him with no alternative but to ’start from scratch’. Something quite a task, or maybe not so for a man who previously repaired garments for Paul Smith many years ago. By unfortunately i did not come along with the appropriate tools to mend his broken heart.

Friday is just another day in Camden, like any other that precedes the weekend. It seems Saturday and Sunday, for Camden’s vintage vendors are the only two days of the week. I couldn’t help but wonder ‘what was’. Proud galleries showed little sign of life and I can only hope that the night lights change this forgotten planet into one that plays its part in our London solar system.

Couture For Sure?

2009-02-26T03:18:00.000-08:00

Chanel have reported a 20% increase in demand for its couture. With some dresses around £200,000 most would wonder just how this would be the case in times we now know as the 'credit crunch'. It is the secret rich than ensure that couture will always have a home, most likely a wonderful home too.

Daddy's Girls.

2009-02-26T01:41:00.000-08:00

Lizzie and Georgia Jagger are sisters and fellow models, whilst the Geldof sisters i'm sue we are all too familiar with. These kids have it all, but when there is more, what you have is never enough. Meet Coco Summers (picture), singer in I Blame Coco and daughter of Sting, plays Proud Galleries on March 5th.

Parisian Pleasures at Christie's.

2009-02-26T01:01:00.001-08:00

During the first two days of a three-day sale at Christie's nin Paris, buyers parted with £272m (€307m) for items that belonged to the late French couturier Yves Saint Laurent and his former partner Pierre Berge.

Friday i'm in Love?

2009-02-20T12:43:00.000-08:00

All set to be a 'Katie Grand' affair? We shall see, with the first issue of her new magazine 'Love' gracing our shelves today. See it all you certainly can, you only need to look at the front cover.

Tod Papageorge

2009-02-20T11:28:00.001-08:00

Nominated for the Deutshe Borse Photography Prize 2009, Tod Papageorge's Passing Through Eden- Photographs of Central Park, makes a trip to The Photographer's Gallery worthwhile. His work amongst others is displayed from today till 12th April.

Good Smile Great Come

2009-02-18T00:00:00.000-08:00

If you can afford to do exactly this with your money, then you can have been the proud owner of Tracey Emin's 'Good Smile Great Come, which recently sold at Sotheby's for £16,250.