| Peter Sheppard Skærved | name Weather watching, people watching. Summer 2020 |

Cold light of morning/Blackthorn under the window 29 9 20

Water beneath the woods 27 9 2020

Overnight: Fury at High Tide 27 9 20

A first word from Winter 26 9 20

The hour after full tide. Swell from barges, and offshore patrol vessel HMS Tamar, newly commissioned. Feet in the water. 16 9 20

Two cups of coffee – the spirit of 1867: I began this while Malene Sheppard Skaerved & I waited on Friday under the astonishing William Henry Barlow train shed (the amazing girders all bear the casting date by the Butterley Company of Derbyshire-the year before the station was completed). But sitting near Kings Cross, with a second long cup of coffee today, brought thoughts of the spirits who haunt this place, of J C Bach, Mary Wollstonecraft, the Soanes, Abel, all buried in the miraculous Old Church graveyard behind the stations, along with Abel’s Gamba. This is where Shelley first saw Mary Godwin (who was visiting her mother’s grave) , and later, the young Thomas Hardy reorganised the graves to cope with the encroachment of the tracks. Oh, and Blake included it on his Mystical Map. There are spirits abroad, and the station is full of them, and they crowded on the page 13 9 20

Canterbury 11 9 20 – A moment under the city walls. War Memorial garden and site of the Ypres Cloth Hall stone

Two sides of the river, from the train. Thurrock & Ebbsfleet 11 9 20

Chris Redgate plays Paul Archbold. RMA Conference, Goldsmiths, 9 9 20

A moment away from the practice desk. I hour after low tide. West or northwest 3 to 5. Slight or moderate becoming smooth or slight. Showers. Good. 5 9 20

An hour by our river (90 minutes after high tide). Weather dirtying – Southwest, veering west or northwest, 4 to 6. Slight or moderate. Rain or showers. Good, occasionally moderate. 4 9 20

An hour out from work-a lunch in the garden at the east end of All Hallows by the Tower – a miraculous haven in the midst of the city’s hurlyburly on a Bank Holiday weekend when every Londoner, for once, is in London 30 8 20

Coffee and conversation by the river. Broken Wharf. One of C H Mabey’s wonderful lampstandards, moved East from its original place on Balzagete’s 1864-70 Victoria Embankment (which begins at Temple Gardens). Looking across to SimpsonHaugh Architects’ One Blackfriars, which today at least, looked wonderful 28 8 10

Morning and evening by the water. Woman at breakfast – Shad Thames. Five minutes before supper (wonderful) thanks Richard Bram & Monika Machon – the view of the City from Limehouse Reach. 26 8 20

The last ‘look up’ drawing from Susan Sheppard & Tony Sheppard’s forest-side garden yesterday. Spinthrift late afternoon clouds over tea outside 22 8 20