*living in notting hill at the time of the movie of the same name with julia roberts and hugh grant, i dutifully went to see it at the notting hill coronet. you may remember that there is a scene of grant’s bumbling bookseller tearfully watching his lost love julia roberts at his local cinema, the very same cinema where i was watching the movie (i was sitting not in exactly the same seat, but a little forward and to the left). if you know anything of notting hill and it’s narcissistic residents, you may well imagine the little ironic self-congratulatory cheer which went up in the cinema at that moment. i used to carry around, but fear i have lost now, my ticket stub, where the name of the cinema; ‘notting hill’, and the name of the film showing there, are identical. this must have been unique. unless you know different, and there is a movie called ‘the odeon’ which showed at ‘the odeon’, or maybe there’s a cinema somewhere called ‘jules et jim’. perhaps not. a kind of godardian piece of self-reference if you will. a year or two later and i was working on the corner of notting hill gate with my very own office and everything. the picture here is the view from the window. i was in love at the time. (still am actually, but things change)

*grammar note: i have never, to my knowledge, lived with either hugh grant, or julia roberts. such ambiguity illustrates the dreadful consequences of what is delightfully referred to by grammarians as a dangling participle. those of you who know me well will be aware that i embrace ambiguity at every opportunity