Tropically hot

Venus the planet has just about completed its six-hour journey, as apparently it can be viewed as a small black spot crossing the face of the sun. This is supposedly the first time since the 1890s that this has happened.

And it has brought an abnormally hot day for early June, with a 30 degree Celsius high. Global Warming burns on...

The Cannabis Festival was amusing: quite busy but not thronging, with "crusties", proper hippie types that must have come into London for the event, because you rarely see them about London. There were small dance and music tents and a small main stage. There were a lot of colourful and bohemian people to ogle at. The weather was dry but overcast all day. The closing act was a bit hill-billy, apparently called Alabama 3, with a harmonica-player (or mouth organist) that was soulful with ease. Apparently he is the son of the mastermind of the original Great Train Robbery.

Had a non-Spanish tapas dinner in Brixton, and it is still surprising how trendy Brixton has become. I can't think of anywhere in Newham that has bars or restaurants of its kind.

Went on to Ian's place in Vauxhall, where I had such a surreal encounter with two very inebriated Bohemian couples with infant children. Vauxhall is so genteel compared to the warzone that is East Ham or Little Ilford! There is no Bohemianism anywhere in East London except maybe in parts of Hackney.

It was a rare but pleasant reminder of bon vivants. One couple had two children, and the other had just had their first and were swearing against having any more. On the Sunday morning they were already downing Bloody Maries. You could see this was some last gasp as they watched their lifestyles already transforming so that in about 8 years time, they will drive about in 4x4's taking their children to school. They will deny any of the madness of their youth or that anyone else should ever be so foolish as they. They will be plotting to live in neighbourhoods with good schools, and judging whether their family inheritances will afford them to send their children to private schooling.