I have been thinking for a while now the direction this website should take. I kind of miss the personal tone of my posts over at Journal of Curiosities that was my blogspot for many years before giving it’s way to the magazine you know as Kennedy. It was blog and naturally it carried a certain sense of casual, I could post whatever I liked really from recipes of Steak Frittes to record reviews or jacket I like. I find the website to be stiff and looking rather blunt at times with content mostly visual. I have to try to find ways to post more and bring back the vibe of the old blog somehow. I find it funny Japanese people are still having blogs in 2020 and funnily enough I read quite a few of the. In that vibe I thought it’s not such a weird move to publish photos from a trip that dates a year ago. The truth is that the pandemic has altered the way we perceive the present, the past and the future in a way that is not linear. In this case memory works in an almost healing way. As Andrea Branzi writes in the latest issue of Apartamento ‘‘ The future is an enigma in which the past and the future are no longer relevant but have been replaced by a continuous present. In that context memories from a year ago seem like childhood memories from another life. I thought to post these pics as a way to escape this ‘‘Groundhog day’’ present and imagine a future that can resemble again the past. So here are a few photos and words about a time from when I felt I could breathe the air of another city without fear and live the many versions of my life I can experience through traveling, a luxury missing from our lives at the moment. I always thought traveling is a way to expand life and sitting in Athens for way to long makes mortality look rather scary at times alhough looking at my 9 month son takes aways any existential fear in seconds.

It was a trip that had almost everything I could ask for. Being around good friends for one week, great lunches and dinners, eating at the company of people I love another basic human need that are deprived, Im gonna talk more about that in our forthcoming ‘‘Eating with friends’’ publication which hopefully will be with you soon. Highlights included Lucien Freud’s show at the RA, meeting with Terry Ellis for our Japan issue, a dinner at London’s finest ‘‘40 Maltby Street’’ (also part of our ‘‘Eating with friends issue’’), Rachel’s birthday and a magical session at London’s Standard hotel with my dear friend Cedric who has been an ally in the making of this publication for years whose generosity and devotion have never cease to amaze me. With Cedric we were lucky enough to interview John Rushton while enjoying sardines on toast and salmon sandwiches at our classic lunch spot ‘‘Paul Rother and sons’’ a real institution of British culture. Also visiting Bar Italia with Apostolos a place I have been visiting since 1996. I found out about this place from Pulp’s song by the same name from the album ‘‘Different Class’’

The interview with John is somewhere on this site and Paul Rothes and Son are gonna be featured in our ‘‘Eating With Friends book’’.

That pic was taken just before visiting Lucien Freud’s seminal show at the Royal Academy.

David my best man and founder of Commission.

Nectarios and my self like to visit Golborne road for our meetings. I miss Nectar and his delicate hands, his soft mannered voice. I miss the taste of Portuguese cakes.

It was another trip I stayed with Cedric. I woke up to the smell of dust sitting on radiators and the smell of good coffee. The freezing morning air would storm through the bathtoom window while Cedric played a French Jazz compilation on the turntable. One a Sunday we visited the Michelen buiding in Chelsea for brunch wearing ties. We had a funny arguement with the waiter over the choice of coffee being Nespreso. Those butter bowls with the Michelen mascot though!

A lovely day at the Barbican with Rachel.

Outtake from my story with Terry Ellis from Kennedy Japan.

That was one of my favorite meals in London, beef with mash and radish with some good natural syrah on the side. I had a bit too much of the wine and fell in a coma.

The lovely people at 40 Maltby Street a really memorable evening.

At Saint James park as the sun goes down.

If I blink gargantuan billboards of Coca Cola and Samsung are flashing before my eyes and the buzz of the crowd is still ringing in my ears. Peeping through the strings of lights decorating the windows of Milos restaurant Im surprised to see my self resting my elbows on one of it’s immaculate white tablecloth tables. I can still smell the lingering scent of hinoki on my palms. The walk down to St James Park from Piccadilly was my favorite last November, a ritual I kept on an almost daily basis. The new store of Snow Peak was an island of tranquility among the pre xmas frenzy of the surrounding streets. Passing next to the Statue of the Duke of York you get the first glimpse of the park catching the last bits of light before dusk. The sleepy headlights of cars start illuminating the street as sun goes down. Im picturing people behind the wheel biting their nails nervously while staring blankly at an iPhone screen until the light turns green. Buckingham Palace in the distance is looking otherworldly. It is time for warming my freezing bones with a tea at Wild Honey. Im living through childlike memories of another life when all this is just a year ago. Isn’t it funny?

This pic was taken somewhere around Earls Court. It was during my everyday commute to the station when I was not using the one at Holland Park. The image is provoking a certain feeling of nostalgia on an almost existential level. Its not a noteworthy pic the speed was too low for the scene but I was looking for something to capture a moment when I felt I experienced a deep feeling of momentary bliss, something I get to experience a lot during my many trips to London over the years. Its a certain kind of nostalgia for a life I never lived. I think I was coming back from a long day. I can still feel the cold pinching my hands while taking the camera out to take the pic. Im listening to O Yuki Conjugate’s Another Journey as I write these words. I kind of thought it fitted the colour of the sky, these purple flashes painted across from the London horizon. My mind was stuck to a painting from Lucien Freud’s self portraits show at the RA called Hotel Bedroom. I was distracted by neon light and fried chicken signs. Christmas lights on every corner, festivity melancholia, a tingling sensation of longing. Cedric is waiting at the pub by the corner it feels re assuring to know you are meeting a friend. A warm hug. A sip of whiskey burning my palate. I miss this, I miss getting lost in a moment where everything makes sense while it really doesn’t at the same time. I miss my self.

A TRIP DOWN MEMORY LANE LONDON NOVEMBER 2019.