John Grindrod

Very happy making

Brooke House, a stylish 14 storey tower on zig-zag legs

Yellow and black geometric mural

Cute 50s wobbly canopy on a shop

Characterful midcentury cut through alleyway, all brown brick, small square windows and a kind of high school vibe

Some town centre eye candy

My dad was an extra in that!

It will be! In September…

Imagine asking someone what an abstract feature signifies. Who could answer that?! Asking for trouble.

Nonsense!

An lovely! No, am writing a piece about new towns so this was part of my research trip

Aw! They look well on it

Concrete chess piece

Concrete chess pieces on a chess board in a suburban estate

Brutalist chess piece

Two concrete chess pieces outside a 1960s house

Stopped to take some pics of these beauties. Lad cycling by shouts ‘They’re chess pieces!’ ‘They’re lovely,’ I say. ‘Yeah,’ he agrees, speeding off to deliver some drive by art knowledge in another part of town. William Mitchell, Basildon, 1966.

Comfy! Aircon!

Will do! Ground control to Basil Spence

Be rude not to

Off to Basildon. Always exciting travelling from Fenchurch Street. A sneaky route out of the city

Monstrosities Mon Amour: The Drum, Margate, with Dan Thompson Podcast Episode · Monstrosities Mon Amour · 01/08/2025 · 31m

Fancy a cheery half hour? Latest episode of Monstrosities Mon Amour is up: the delightful Dan Thompson on an overlooked Terry Farrell in Margate and the charity shop bounty of studio pottery teapots podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/m...

This is delightful. Particularly the phrase ‘we are made for round things’.

YOU should do Morecambe Police Station! Would you?

Thank you so much Adam! Chuffed about that. Dan was great

Monstrosities Mon Amour: The Drum, Margate, with Dan Thompson Podcast Episode · Monstrosities Mon Amour · 01/08/2025 · 31m

Fancy a cheery half hour? Latest episode of Monstrosities Mon Amour is up: the delightful Dan Thompson on an overlooked Terry Farrell in Margate and the charity shop bounty of studio pottery teapots podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/m...

A figure made of coffee sacks rests on a tiny stool in a gallery. Part human, part big cat - a long tail curls behind and feline ears droop at the head. Faint details of a face suggest a cat-like nose.

Laura Ford’s sculpture Beast on display in the Tigers & Dragons exhibition at Glynn Vivian, Swansea. A little forlorn; a reduced diminished power who may rise up one last time or who may weaken & fade away. Her figures have such presence it’s easy to believe they might suddenly twitch into life.

Really looking forward to running this free place-writing workshop in Milton Keynes this week

Oh god every thread on Let’s Run is Blah MF Blah every time a US runner does anything…

Really looking forward to running this free place-writing workshop in Milton Keynes this week

A hot air balloon. It’s red. It’s moving away from me, roaring quietly at intervals as it gains a little more height

A sort of quiet roaring sigh at intervals overhead:

Monstrosities Mon Amour: The Drum, Margate, with Dan Thompson #9. John Grindrod meets writer and artist Dan Thompson to experience Terry Farrell's much overlooked Drum in Margate, and the secret joys of studio pottery teapots

NEW PODCAST EP! Smashing to chat to @danthompson33.bsky.social about his love for Terry Farrell's much overlooked Drum in Margate, and about the joys of studio pottery teapots in the latestMonstrosities Mon Amour open.substack.com/pub/johngrin...

The temptation to mention (again) that @danthompson33.bsky.social wrote the liner notes to my #WesternVerses EP is too strong… he’s guesting, not for the first time (see Arlington House in #Iconicon), with @grindrod.bsky.social in the latest of the latter’s Monstrosities Mon Amour.

Absolutely. Overblown in the best possible way!

Loved all the music in that drama Mix Tape but a version of my life from that era would have featured a bit more Nu Shooz and Lisa Lisa

Good to note that Afrodeutsche’s commitment to The Sun Always Shines on TV rivals my own

Monstrosities Mon Amour: The Drum, Margate, with Dan Thompson #9. John Grindrod meets writer and artist Dan Thompson to experience Terry Farrell's much overlooked Drum in Margate, and the secret joys of studio pottery teapots

NEW PODCAST EP! Smashing to chat to @danthompson33.bsky.social about his love for Terry Farrell's much overlooked Drum in Margate, and about the joys of studio pottery teapots in the latestMonstrosities Mon Amour open.substack.com/pub/johngrin...

More ‘keep your enemy locked up in a trunk’ I imagine