Welcome to Almost An Island

Almost an Island is a writing project exploring the Greenwich Peninsula in London through words, sounds and stories.

Writers in residence, Sarah Butler and Aoife Mannix, will be blogging about the project. They will record their own responses to the Peninsula and the people they meet. The blog will be a showcase for new writing Sarah and Aoife create over the course of the project, and for the writing and words of workshop participants.

Sarah and Aoife will be creating a soundscape that will represent the lives and stories of those connected with the Greenwich Peninsula. They are running a series of workshops and activities to support this - check under 'events' for more details.

The soundscape will be presented at a public event in November 2008. Keep an eye on the blog for details

Almost an Island is a collaboration between UrbanWords and Spread the Word, in association with Art on the Greenwich Peninsula. The project is funded by Awards For All.

Monday 13 October 2008

Balconies (Sugar 3)

I’ll let you into a secret, just so long as you don’t tell anyone. It’s about the balconies. If you laugh I won’t say and you’ll never know. It’s your call.

It’s strange to me how people don’t know this already, but then I guess most people don’t realise about magic.

You’ve got to pick a colour. Then you’ve got to find a flat with that colour and get onto the balcony. It’s easier than you’d think, but I couldn’t tell you how.

Red is for love.

Blue is for dreams.

Green is for travel.

Orange is for family.

I forgot to say, you’ve got to find a balcony where you can see the river, and that wooden thing with the twirly top. It won’t work otherwise.

And then it’s simple. You reach down both hands to touch the colour. You look at the spinning top and at the water, and you make your wish. Don’t expect a thunderbolt. Don’t expect something to happen straight away. Wishing’s a delicate business, my mum told me that. You’ve got to be patient. You’ve got to keep your heart and your eyes wide open. You’ve got to be prepared to wait.

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