Mick Hartley

This morning I head west, out of my usual haunts, along the Regent's Canal to the Grand Union Canal under the Westway:

 

with Trellick Tower in the distance, to Ladbroke Grove:

I don't know why it's the stretch round Maida Vale they call Little Venice. This is more like it. Like Venice, that is. Except it's the back of Harrow Road. 

But….look at the birds:

They make me nervous, birds do. And it's getting grimmer by the mile:

The architecture's weird:

Like those water towers they have in Manhattan. But this is Kensal Rise.

Nice stretches, mind. Could be out in the country:

Apart from the, er, gasworks.

But then….more birds!

You see them there? On the railing?

They're everywhere. Are they following me? Why so many of them? I'm getting edgy. It's overcast, the wind's getting up, and I'm nearing Wormwood Scrubs. The Scrubs! I'm way out of my manor here.

I turn back. Pedaling fast. I don't rest till I get back to home turf.

Phew. Back safe. Good old Regent's Park. I get Simmons to run me a steaming hot bath.

Stick to what you know, that's my advice.