Went to London this weekend. Because of the train strike and coach company weirdness, I found myself in town very early on Saturday morning. So I took myself to Kensington for a mooch, as it’s been a long while.
I thought I’d find breakfast at Whole Foods, but the whole first-floor food court seems to have gone: another victim of covid, perhaps.
The Japan Centre was an obvious calling-point. Interesting contemporary art exhibition in the basement. I also spent too long lurking around a not-for-sale glass-cased model of a Shinkansen. This was either a crushing disappointment or just as well. Or both.
Next, the Design Museum: the final weekend of an exhibition of works by Ai Weiwei. It was pretty expensive to rock up on the day, but worth it for the entertainment value. Just before I walked in, a visitor had stumbled over one of the works and sent little ceramic balls skitting and bouncing all around the gallery. I wondered why they’d been arranged only three feet behind the entrance to the exhibits. Perhaps deliberate on the part of the artist? Creation and destruction? A means of stimulating a visceral reaction, even if it’s public shame? Or just poor curation. Who knows.
Then onto Holland Park. I like the idea of the new plot drawing upon Japanese garden themes but without being a pastiche. So I took a look around the Kyoto garden which uses traditional and non-traditional planting to capture the essence. The weather was turning pleasant so I lingered a while and watched how people interacted with the space. Adults would slow down. Children would grizzle. Serenity is not their thing.
I caught the tube into the centre and went to the new Present & Correct shop in Bloomsbury, where I spent too long looking at everything before buying a couple of bits. I like interesting stationery far more than I need it.
Later, met with friends with whom I’m in contact almost every day but had not seen in person since The Beforetimes. We went to see the Groundhog Day musical at the Old Vic; perhaps my favourite show. I was delighted when I found it was returning to the stage and booked immediately.
The following morning, met with another friend I’ve not seen for ages on account of them selfishly living in San Francisco. Lovely brunch. Entirely too much brunch.
Even with the train strike over, it took an amazingly long time to get back to the Midlands. I probably should’ve treated the day as a strike and chosen a different route back.
In the week, took almost the entire contents of a garage—tools, offcuts, the lot—down to the new house in the van. Garage-first is a weird way to move, but the idea is to sort the garage out so it can host storage etc. while other things are done. The floor is being sealed but the rainwater’s getting in through the ash-block walls so more work is needed. I’ve always wanted a big working space like this.