Mural in progress. 

I decided to get out of the studio and begin a painting on a wall in a disused underground carpark. Progress is slow. This is partly because I find it tricky to get proportions right on a larger scale. But mainly it is because it is very dark and immensely creepy down there, three or four levels down, and I keep scaring the bejeezus out of myself. There are many strange sounds and unsettling signs of human presence – smashed lighting and used condoms, mainly, which just raises so many bewildering questions I don’t want to know the answer to. And I’m conscious of how vulnerable I am to attack by winos, or zombies. Or raptors.

I realise these are mostly irrational fears, so I try to keep working and not flinch at every noise. But then yesterday three or four men actually did come thundering down the pedestrian stairwell and I instinctively turned off my torch and hid behind a pillar. I couldn’t make out what they were saying, partly because of the cavernous echo, partly because I was standing near a noisy vent, and partly because I was having a goddamn heart attack. 

Anyway, they didn’t notice me and left and no one got attacked. Unless they got eaten by something on their way out. But I’m taking a day off today.