Ruth Fainlight
Time and Ladbroke Square

 

For almost 30 years I have lived close to Ladbroke Square. Often, when I feel the need of exercise and fresh air after sitting too long at my desk, I walk around it for a while. Like the microcosm of a whole world, providing the physical, aesthetic and social pleasures of weather, trees and flowers, animals and other people, it has also been my destination at crucial moments: a sheltering environment in which to absorb the effects of new joys or griefs, to observe and meditate on life and death, renewal and decay. Learning about its history, and stories of individuals involved in its development, has been another sort of pleasure, satisfied me in quite different ways. Writing this commission seemed an ideal opportunity to express whatever thoughts or feelings I wished while writing about my local square.

 

  • (i) Solstices
  • (ii) A Short History of Ladbroke Square
  • (iii) Early Spring
  • (iv) An Encounter near Ladbroke Square
  • (v) Autumn
  • (vi) A Day at the Races
  • (vii) Late Winter
  • (viii) In Ladbroke Square

 

Ruth Fainlight's collections include The Knot, To See The Matter Clearly, Sibyls and Sugar-Paper Blue, which was shortlisted for the Whitbread Prize in 1997.  Her other work includes a collection of short stories, translations from Spanish and Portuguese, and a libretto, The Dancer Hotoke.