AofA's Hot To Trot Talking Points
Every Friday
This week we move from Grace Jones at 77 to Water Cremations… our usual sort of tangentiality in fact.
Grace, Grace, Grace - still giving it out big time. Touring in Australia, she’s beyond a wild performer and at 77 inspiring us all. In The Age -
‘Hula-hooping and a nip slip: Grace Jones delivers chaos and fun at St Kilda gig.
On an ominous, stormy night on St Kilda foreshore, Jones makes a declaration that sounds a bit like a threat: “I’m gonna have some fun tonight.”
Read Nick Buckley’s review: https://tinyurl.com/2kmtttmr’
Photos: Richard Clifford
How do you fancy a water cremation? Scotland is the first place to legalise this kind of cremation. According to the two Kates from the Coffin Club compost burials are still the most eco-friendly. ‘The body is immersed in water and 5% alkaline, such as potassium hydroxide, for three to four hours in a pressurised metal cylinder and heated to about 150C (300F). This dissolves the body tissue, leaving only bones, which are then dried and pulverised into white dust.’
The King’s Head in Islington have got a new idea to support Over 50s around loneliness. Sounds fun. ‘NEW lunchtime theatre performances in Angel are tackling isolation among Islington’s older LGBTQ+ residents.
The Old Queens Club, at the King’s Head Theatre in Upper Street, will be an opportunity for over-50s to watch the latest shows while mingling with people they might not otherwise have the chance to meet.
Theatre CEO Sofi Berenger told the Tribune: “There is a lack of opportunities for people to come together and make new friends as they get older, so we have thought about what we can do to change that. Being told to just ‘make friends’ can be really daunting, but we have the benefit of a medium that already gives someone a shared connection and something to talk about.”
The idea is for a cast member to pop out and chat to the group after they have watched a matinée, giving further fodder for chit-chat.’ Islington Tribune
One of our AofA members, Helene Corr, is a multi-crafting queen. In the photo above, she’s foiling a jacket. That took 12 hours solid graft. She’s giving a shimmery your shoes workshop on March 24th. Contact her through FB or Insta.
I went to the London Museum in Docklands this week and as a coincidence - or perhaps not - this post appeared. ‘It was Happy Speak Cockney Day this wee
k - the ‘fird of the fird’!
Would you Adam and Eve it - Cockney is one of London’s oldest and most beloved identities, stretching back to the 1500s.
Traditionally, a Cockney is anyone born within earshot of the Bow Bells of St Mary le Bow on Cheapside. But the culture runs far deeper than that: pie and mash, pub singalongs, boisterous market traders and a resilience that’s pure East End.
Rhyming slang itself only emerged in the 19th century - and the evolution hasn’t stopped since, with the culture now thriving as far afield as Essex and Kent.
Give it a butcher’s and discover the full history.’
A trader sells fruit at Petticoat Lane street market. Grant, Henry. © Henry Grant Collection/London Museum
Penny Kiley wrote a piece for AofA this week because it’s the launch of her memoir Atypical Girl which is about being a punk in Liverpool. Penny used to write for the Melody Maker and this is her first book. Above is her book tour. Do go along to one of them. She’s a great writer.