It's all about the weather

The cold weather that began last Sunday continued into the beginning of the week. Suddenly, we had gone from sunny days in the high 70s or low 80s F to chilly temps that didn't make it out of the 50s in the daytime. Fortunately, each day got a bit warmer and brighter, and by the end of the week things were feeling much more seasonal. Apparently, this is the driest May for the past 60 years in Britain. I know that's not good for plants, but for me it's a welcome change from the wet and gloom that I experienced here last autumn. The wisteria is now past its peek, replaced by lilacs, and other new blooms appear daily. One afternoon I emerged from the Belsize Park tube station to see all the chestnut trees along Haverstock Hill had suddenly blossomed, some with white spikes of flowers and others with pink-red ones. 

On Monday, the sun struggled to peek out from behind the cloud cover and rain threatened most of the day. Despite the gloominess, I set out for Little Venice to catch a bit of the final day of the Canalway Cavalcade, a rondezvous of narrow boats in the basin where the Grand Union Canal and Regent's Canal meet. The last time I'd been to this event was in 2004 -- it hasn't changed much. There are boats decked out in bunting, food and craft vendors, music (not when I was there, however), and kids' activities. I did catch the tail end of the boat handling competition, seeing the winning boat make some tricky maneuvers in the basin. The winner was Iquitos (on the left in the photo below), with steerer Mike Moore, a previous winner. Since it wasn't exactly a cheery way to spend the morning, I headed to the nearby Cllfton Nurseries to mooch around, looking at plants, pots, and knicknacks and using their toilet. 

I next headed to the Southbank in search of a cheap lunch and a vantage point for the VE 80 (the 80th anniversary of VE Day) flypass. I bought a mediocre salad at Waitrose, found a sheltered place to eat, and then wandered to the base of the Oxo Tower where other people were clustering to get a good sight of the planes, including the RAF Red Arrows, as they came up the Thames before turning to fly over The Mall and Buckingham Palace, releasing red, white and blue smoke. It was over in a blink of an eye, but I managed a decent shot. The rain started just as soon as the flypass was over.

Without a plan for the rest of the afternoon, I stopped in at Bankside Gallery to see an impressive exhibition of prints. I had hopes that I could rock up at Tate Modern and get a ticket to see the Do Ho Suh exhibition that afternoon, but those hopes were dashed. The exhibition had just opened to big crowds and much acclaim. I couldn't get a ticket that would have me out in time to meet friends for drinks near London Bridge at 5 pm. So I drifted through the various permanent galleries, visited the Tanks to see the small Giacometti sculptures, welcomed Louise Bourgeois's Maman back to the Tate, ate a brownie in the caff, and pottered around in one of the gift shops until it was time to walk to The Horseshoe Inn for a good time with mates, conversation and beer. 

Tuesday was another day spent partially with Betsy and Jim, my friends from home, along with their friends Polly and John who had come down from York for a few days. At Polly's suggestion -- and a great one it was -- we booked tickets to see the exhibition of paintings and drawings by Mexican artist Velasco at the National Gallery. I'd never heard of him before and thoroughly enjoyed this rare opportunity to see his work. He painted Mexican landscapes at about the same time that Frederic Leighton was doing the oil sketches I'd seen the week before. It was interesting to see that both Velasco and Leighton did plein air sketches of landscapes that they later incorporated into fully realized paintings. 

After lunch in the crypt cafe in St Martin in the Fields, we parted company and I pushed westward to the White Cube Mason's Yard. The current gallery exhibition is of Antony Gormley's lead sculptures, done early in his career and precursors to his cast iron bodies. Follow the link for more photos and a whole bunch of word salad on the gallery's webpage. I got a laff out of seeing that there were as many invigilators as sculptures in the gallery. 

I wrapped up my Tuesday activities with an evening tour of Shoreditch Town Hall as part of the second annual Hackney History Festival (a whole array of talks, walks and tours over two weeks). Like many town halls across greater London, this one was made redundant when the 28 former metropolitan boroughs were amalgamated into the current 12 metropolitan boroughs (of a grand total of 32 boroughs in greater London) of today. Several town halls have found new lives as arts, events and culture spaces. This tour was totally fantastic! We saw all the major rooms as well as various nooks and crannies of the basement (I think several people on the tour thought the basement was the best part). My favourite part of the building was the Assembly Hall, which has seen use for music hall performances, tea dances, discos, boxing, and will soon be a venue for South by Southwest when it comes to London this summer. You can read more of the fascinating history, see a timeline, and learn how the motto of Shoreditch council ("More light, more power") is incorporated into various aspects of the building. Kudos to Susannah Bramwell, Cultural Programme Manager, for giving us such a fascinating tour. 

More art, more Hackney was my theme for Wednesday. Good weather had returned! The art part began with a strenuous uphill walk to the Camden Art Centre, about 20 minutes from my gaff through lovely streets of NW3, where I saw an exhibition of Richard Wright, with works from 30 years of his career. This Turner Prize winner is another British artist who is new to me. The pieces are abstract, primarily geometric, meticulously painted and rather eye-hurty. One of the young women (probably an art student) who was invigilating told me that she could only look at the paintings for a limited amount of time before they made her head spin. 

After eating my packed lunch in the Centre's garden, I hopped on the overground (now the Mildmay and Windrush lines) to get to Shoreditch High Street. From there, I mooched around, looked at streetart and popped into several galleries -- Hales Gallery, Kate MacGarry Gallery, and the Autograph Gallery -- on my way up to Hoxton (another part of Hackney) for another building tour. 

Hoxton Hall was built at about the same time as nearby Shoreditch Town Hall, and also used as a music hall then and an events space now, but there the similarities end. It was purpose-built for a music hall promoter, who then sold it to another promoter, and saw a short life for this purpose. The small, galleried theatre was often filled to the rafters with people in all states of behaviour and inebriation, and it lost its license to operate as a music hall only 8 years after it opened. It was then purchased by the Blue Ribbon Army Gospel Temperance Movement, followed by a group of Quakers (it's still owned by Quakers today) and put to use for more uplifting purposes -- as a temperance hall, for the Girls Guild For Good Life, and in the later part of the 20th century for a variety of arts activities for children and youth. Like Shoreditch Town Hall, it is currently a Grade II listed performance space and will be a venue for South by Southwest next month. Both halls are registered charities and get no support from the government (or the Quakers). 

I was back on Southern Railway on Thursday, this time for a day trip to Lewes. Faithful readers of my blog will remember that I went to Lewes by car last year with friends, stopping first at Charleston, country home of Vanessa Bell and Duncan Grant, to see the garden there before touring the cottage and gardens of Virginia and Leonard Woolf at Monks House nearby. This time I was on my own, headed for Charleston in Lewes, a cultural space which is showing Vanessa Bell: A World of Form and Colour. The exhibition is very extensive, with works from her entire lifespan -- mostly paintings, but a few textiles, ceramics and covers she designed for her sister Virginia's books. I do enjoy her use of form and colour, but with over 100 works on display it got to have a bit of a samey quality to it. Many, many paintings of flowers. I was disappointed that none of the famous women dinner service she designed was included in the exhibition. It had gone on display in Milton Keynes soon after I flew home last autumn. But despite these complaints, as well as the dreadful lighting in the gallery, I enjoyed the exhibition and was glad I made time for it as I saw things I'll probably not have another chance to view. 

I spent the rest of the day wandering around the town, through the lovely Southover Grange Gardens (my packed lunch eaten on a bench there) and up and down the steep lanes of the old town, looking at the architecture, peering over walls into people's back gardens, and shopping at the indoor Lewes Flea Market. I bought a sterling and turquoise pendant necklace for 16 quid. The weather was perfect and I thoroughly enjoyed roaming around taking photos. 

Friday was a day for more art -- some I thought was great and some not so much -- and a bit of World War II history. I met my friend Judy at the Barbican Gallery for the first show of the day, Noah Davis, a painter of huge talent who sadly died at the age of 32 from a rare form of cancer. Once again, I had to come to Britain to learn about a painter of African descent from my own country. His skill as a painter and his vision of bringing art to all communities were remarkable and this retrospective exhibition really struck a chord in London. I heard of people going to see it multiple times. If it ever comes to a city near you, buy a ticket immediately. In the meantime, click on the link above, see some of the paintings and watch the short trailer video. 

I hustled my tail from the Barbican to the London Archives, where I'd booked a free ticket for one of their document viewing sessions, this one on World War II in London. For these events, the curators bring out photos and various documents that are not normally on display and they give you an opportunity to walk around the tables to view/read them. I'd seen British Pathé newsreels about the volunteer firefighters who kept St Paul's from burning to the ground during the Blitz, but didn't know much else about the vast number of ordinary citizens who volunteered in London as part of the war effort. I learned about the ambulance drivers and ARP (Air Raid Precautions) volunteers, especially the women -- initially excluded from these roles -- who provided so much civilian support. 

I bought a proper sandwich from a deli, ate it in Myddleton Square Garden, and then faffed around in Islington for a bit. Next I got on the canal towpath and walked to the Victoria Miro Gallery in Wharf Road, where I saw Ian Hamilton Finlay: Fragments. It was about shapes, forms and lettering. I didn't really get it at all, possibly because I was tired or perhaps because it didn't make any sense to me.

Saturday was more of the Hackney History Festival. I heard two fabulous talks in the Round Chapel. In the morning, it was Nigel Smith's talk "Tales from Hackney's Memory Palaces", in which he recounted stories of some of the 60+ cinemas that once dotted Hackney. Nigel's website has more info about him, his walking tours and cinema history. With two hours to kill until the next talk I'd booked, I had a little walk with my friend Lesley, ate yet another pita and hummus sandwich on yet another park bench (Clapton Square Garden), and wandered the nearby streets on my own for a bit since this is an area I don't know at all. The afternoon talk was right up my alley -- "Look Up, Look Down: Spotting local history everywhere" from Amir Dotan, a Stoke Newington Historian. With much enthusiasm and wit, he encouraged us to look up and down all those things I love so much -- coal hole covers, boundary markers, plaques, rain hoppers, boot scrapers and street signs. Amir's website is a treasure trove of stuff about his projects, walks, events, etc. 

My week ended with two great guided walks on Sunday. In the morning, I did a walk I'd had on my list for years but had never worked into my itinerary -- the free Artists' Houses walk from Leighton House in Holland Park. Our guide John, who has lived locally his entire life, was so knowledgable about the architecture and artists who lived and worked in the Victorian studio-homes in the area. The walk covered only a small amount of territory but John filled it with a multitude of stories and much humour. 

I then got on the tube and made my way to Bloomsbury for the afternoon walk, gobbling a meal deal sandwich that I bought at Waitrose in the Brunswick Centre (alas, they were out of Forgotten Ends at the sushi counter) in Brunswick Square. This walk was about the life of Thomas Coram, founder in 1739 of the Foundling Hospital, an institution that provided shelter and care to children whose parents were unable to do so. Although I know a lot about the Foundling Hospital itself (after numerous visits to the Foundling Museum, listening to podcasts and reading about it), it seems I didn't know much about the man himself. Louise Choo, a qualified Camden walking tour guide who also guides in the Foundling Museum, took us around Bloomsbury and down through Clerkenwell to learn of significant places to Thomas Coram and his associates, including Coram's final resting place in St Andrew's Church Holborn.

 

That's my second dispatch, done and dusted. Please subscribe ("Follow"), leave a comment, and come back for more in a week or so to read about what I've been getting up to next. More warm and sunny days in the forecast!

Stats:

Monday:
£3.50 salad
£5.25 brownie
20,940 steps
8.59 miles

Tuesday:
£7 Velasco exhibition (half price with Art Pass)
£6.95 lunch
£13.48 groceries
£4 Shoreditch Town Hall tour
20,963 steps
8.69 miles

Wednesday:
£3 cookie
£8 bottle of wine
16,964 steps
6.96 miles

Thursday:
£14.79 train to Lewes
£6.25 Vanessa Bell exhibition (half price with Art Pass)
£1.50 pain au raisin for train journey to Lewes
£3.90 almond bakewell slice
£3.50 wine for return train journey

£16 pendant at flea market
16,644 steps
6.83 miles

Friday:
£9 Noah Davis exhibition (half price with Art Pass)
£4.50 sandwich
19,930 steps
8.19 miles

Saturday:
£11.40 farmers' market
£2.70 pastel de nata
£4 beer
£1.90 Daily Star
18,507 steps
7.84 miles

Sunday:
£2.60 sandwich
£10 Thomas Coram walk
£8.92 groceries
20,133 steps
8.26 miles

A Tale of One City

It's bloomin' lovely here!

I am back in Blighty, from whence I am channeling my inner Dickens in order to describe for you the sights, sounds and smells of the streets of London. But if my attempts at great literature fall short (and surely they will), I'll channel my inner Bill Bryson to regail you with Tales of Tourism in which I'll detail my misadventures and provide ample commentary on the differences between our two English-speaking cultures, separated by a vast ocean. 

The trip across the pond, via Dublin as usual, was looooooong but uneventful. The only thing of note was the number of questions fired at me from the woman at UK immigration & border control. At 4 in the morning, I'm pretty groggy but usually able to respond that I'm on holiday, staying in London for five weeks. This time through, I was asked what I'd be doing for that long time, (seeing art exhibitions and going to theatre), what type of accommodation I'd be staying in (AirBnB), and to show my return ticket. I really hadn't expected that last question as I'd never been asked before, so I didn't have it ready to show on my phone. But I found my reservation, showed it to her, and then was waved through. Unfortunately, I didn't get a minute of kip on the plane, owing to the discourteous behaviour of my fellow (American) passengers. Nuff said about that. 

In the afternoon of my arrival day (Thursday), after unpacking, setting up all my tech, and unrolling my yoga mat (stashed year-to-year at the AirBnB) for a bit of stretching, I had the delight of showing Belsize Park to some mates from America. My friends Betsy and Jim, whose son and young family moved to Hampstead 18 months ago, arrived on the same day as me (different flight) and are staying for the first time in Belsize Park, though this is not their first visit to NW3. Late in the afternoon, I met them at their gaff (three blocks from mine) and showed them some of the key sights -- Eton Avenue (the loveliest street in London) with the Hampstead Theatre and the weekly farmers' market at the Finchley Road end, the Washington pub, the best charity shop (Mind), Boots, Daunt Books, and a few of the grocery stores in Haverstock Hill. Between stops I blathered on about the history of the area, pointing out the architecture styles and other bits both historic and folkloric, including the ever-changing crocheted postbox topper in England's Lane (currently an Easter theme: Be the change you want to see).

After sleeping 10 hours on Thursday night, I thought I'd be ready to hit the road with all my wits about me on Friday. How quickly I was proved wrong, when I went to the Belsize Park station and got on the Northern Line when I'd meant to be going to Swiss Cottage for the Jubilee Line. Chagrined by my stupidity and cockiness, I got off at Euston and tried to figure out how to reroute myself. I'd been planning to go first to the Holland Park station on the Central Line and then walking a short distance to the Piano Nobile Gallery for the Barbara Hepworth exhibition before strolling through Holland Park to Leighton House. It was clear that the Hepworths would have to wait (the exhibition is on for a bit longer) and that I needed to head straight to Leighton House for the Frederic Leighton landscape exhibition that was ending at the weekend. The silver lining of my screw-up was that I had more time for the Leighton exhibition, which was well-worth the ability to do a thoughtful examination of his landscape subjects and techniques. He traveled widely, to Italy, France, Egypt, Ireland, Scotland and other destinations, sketching with pencil, watercolor and paint in every location. Although he often had these sketches on the wall in his Holland Park studio, using them as inspiration for the background in his larger paintings, they were never meant for public display. This opportunity to have a glipse at his private work felt like a real privilege. 

I then strolled into Holland Park to look at the tulip beds in the Dutch Garden and to have the first of what will be many, many pita and hummus sandwiches eaten while sat on a park bench. I could have stayed much longer, but needed to push on, back into central London to meet a friend at the Courtauld Gallery for the exhibition Goya to Impressionism. The exhibition features 25 works, all of them top-notch, originally owned by the Swiss art collector Oskar Reinhart. Some of the paintings haven't been out of Switzerland for yonks (if ever) and several I remember from my Art 100 course in college. After taking a look at the Nelson Staircase, we left Somerset House and made our way towards Charing Cross, stopping at The Ship and Shovell where I bought a round of half pints of Badger Brewery Fursty Ferret. High marks!

On Saturday, I sent myself on a day trip to Chichester, a cathedral city south of London in West Sussex. First up, I visited the Pallant House, a lovely gallery housed in a Grade I listed 18th century townhouse with a modern extension. The gallery specializes in modern British art, with a collection said to be second only to Tate Britain. Only a fraction of what they hold is on display at any time, and they have excellent temporary exhibitions. I had a butcher's at a small exhibition of paintings by Maggi Hambling, inspired by nights spent in woodlands listening to the sounds of the creatures who inhabit the night, and thoroughly enjoyed Masterpieces in Miniature: The 2021 Model Art Gallery (tiny works done by contemporary artists during lockdown when they couldn't make or exhibit large pieces). 

These were the icing on the cake, as the real purpose of my visit was to see Dora Carrington: Beyond Bloomsbury. She was a less prolific (making personal works rather than focusing on exhibiting) and perhaps the least known of the Bloomsbury set, but certainly no slouch in the talent department. The works in the extensive exhibition covered her short lifetime, from drawings done when she first enrolled at the Slade School of Art as a teenager, up to her death at the age of 38. Her free-spirited bohemian lifestyle was a bit hard to keep track of, with the members of her set changing partners of both sexes in rapid succession (there was a timeline on the wall that attempted to sort it out). Throughout her life, her artsy friends and lovers provided inspiration and subject matter for her painting. The works were stunning and I hope now she'll claw back some attention from those better-known Bloomsberries.

It was a gorgeous, sunny day and perfect for a ramble around the town in search of streetart, followed by a stroll through the Bishop's Palace Garden (with obligatory sandwich et on a bench), a walk along the top of bit of the Roman wall, and a quick stop for a look around Chichester Cathedral. Before heading back to the train, I met up with a Facebook friend -- someone I'd known online for over a decade but had never met IRL -- at a local caff. All in all, a most excellent day trip.

Since I had to miss the Saturday farmers' market on Parliament Hill, I started my Sunday adventures by taking the bus down to the Marylebone Farmers' Market in order to buy two pies (spinach & feta and spicy potato) from my favourite pie vendor, Sires Hill Bakery, and a hot cross bun for my mid-day snack. My pies and I then headed to the other side of the Euston Road to follow the new Regent's Park Estate Story Trail. I'd heard about the trail on the radio and thought it would make for a good, low-key Sunday option. The trail is a series of art pieces, made by local artists and/or the community, that relate to the culture, ecology and heritage of this very large estate (population 12,000 in 2000 homes/49 buildings). I'd been on the perimeter of the estate before (the Euston Road, Albany Street, Hampstead Road) but hadn't walked around inside it. The architecture of the buildings varies so it doesn't have that monolithic and intimidating look of many social housing estates. On this quiet Sunday, it made for an interesting ramble (some of the installations more interesting than others). I wrapped up my afternoon with walk through Regent's Park (by contrast very crowded), up Primrose Hill Road and back to my gaff to heat up one of the pies for me suppa. 

I began on Monday to make my way around London to a slew of exhibitions, prioritizing the ones ending soon, and beginning with The 80s: Photographing Britain at Tate Britain. This exhibition covered EVERYTHING: politics, racial tensions, strikes, gay and women's rights, AIDS, the economy, Thatcher, consumerism, leisure, etc., etc. Enlightening, powerful and impressive, but way too much for my little brain to take in. A friend said the Tate couldn't decide if it was a history or a photography exhibition. 

I spent that afternoon seeing a small exhibition about black music at the Barbican Library, a display about Dick Whittington ("a rags-to-riches tale of penniless orphan who came by wealth and fame with the help of his cat") at the Guildhall Library, and the exhibition Evelyn De Morgan: The Modern Painter in Victorian London at the Guildhall Art Gallery. Like Dora Carrington (although a decade older), Evelyn De Morgan studied at the Slade while in her teens and did life drawings that looked remarkably like those of Carrington. But the similarities ended there. I think Carrington was the real "modern" painter, while De Morgan was distinctly Victorian in her style and subjects, which reminded me a lot of George Frederic Watts and William Morris, who were friends of hers. I prefer Carrington any day. 

That evening, I stayed in the City for Curious Histories, an event consisting of three talks on peculiar tales from history. I listened to the talks about Victorian postmortem inquests and highwaywomen, but skipped the one on Shakespeare. It was a long day.

On Tuesday, I took in three soon-to-close exhibitions, startings with Flowers in Contemporary Art and Culture at the Saatchi Gallery in Sloane Square. This is one of the spring blockbusters (the exhibition has been extended) and it was heaving with people including -- the horror! -- a group of about 20 primary school lads. The exhibition was incoherent (anything with a flower in it was acceptable, apparently), ostentatious, and reminded me of everything I dislike about Chelsea, i.e. more concern with style than substance. 

The day's other stops were Piano Nobile Gallery in Notting Hill to see Barbara Hepworth: Strings (I wonder if she created any of the pieces when she lived in the Mall Studios near my gaff) and an exhibition about tarot cards at the Warburg Institute in Bloomsbury. 

Having had my fill of art over the past few days, I spent Wednesday in search of bluebells in a peaceful woodland setting. I took the bus to Highgate Station (good plan, as it would have been an uphill slog to walk from Archway) and then walked up, up, up Muswell Hill Road into Highgate Wood. With legs aching from the climb, I found myself under a canopy of trees with bluebells, dappled with sunshine, spread out in a carpet. Lovely. Pita and hummus sandwich eaten while sat on a bench. The woods were cool -- a welcome respite from the heatwave going on across Britain, with an all-time high temperature reading in Central London. Since it was mostly downhill to get anywhere from there, I walked down (yay!) North Hill, passing High Point (a residential blocks designed by Berthold Lubetkin, built in the 1930s on one of the highest points in London) and down to Highgate School where I caught the bus (full of school kids) back to Belsize Park.

Thursday was May Day, and what better way to spend it than leading my friends Betsy and Jim around Clerkenwell to see sites of rebellion and revolution. We started at the Angel, followed the path of the New River to Spa Fields, stopped at the London Archives (exhibition on London during the second World War), and pushed on to Clerkenwell Green. The Karl Marx Library was having an open house (I'd never been inside before) while lefties of all stripes were assembling outside, awaiting the step-off of the annual May Day March to Trafalgar Square. We enjoyed talking with one of the enthusiastic library volunteers who made me promise to come back again for one of their tours. 

Lunch was take-away tuna sandwiches from Scotti's Snack Bar in Clerkenwell Green. My idea had been to eat them in the cloister garden of St John Priory Church, near St John's Gate, but the gates of the garden were chained shut and we had to seek out an alternative. This ended up being sharing a low wall with three blokes in St John's Garden in Benjamin Street -- a nice spot but a bit crowded with people from the nearby offices who were enjoying the nice day by lunching al fresco. After lunch, we zipped around to take in more history -- St Bart's the Great, Cloth Fair, Postman's Park and bits of the Roman Wall before getting the tube at Moorgate. 

I had promised Betsy & Jim a 2-3 mile walk -- it ended up being more like 4 or so. Ooops. But it was such a nice hot day that the purple haired Energizer Bunny (me) just kept going and going. And so I did, even after seeing them back to their gaff. I made myself an early supper and headed down through Regent's Park to the Royal College of Physicians, where they were having their monthly Thursday lates, with tours of the garden and a chance to learn more about medicinal plants. There's also a small exhibition of recipe (or receipt) books from 1500-1800 inside. These hand-written journals were kept by and for women, often passed down for generations, detailing ways to use plants for healing along with culinary recipes, advice on preserving food, keeping house, etc. 

On Friday, I was up and out of the flat early to take the train to Sydenham, where I met up with friends David and Janie for what has come to be an annual day trip adventure during my London stay. We usually go to someplace that I haven't been (and sometimes they haven't either) that would be difficult or impossible for me to reach via public transportation. Last year we saw the gardens of Vanessa Bell and Virginia Woolf. Carrying on with the Bloomsberries, this year we went to Sissinghurst, the home and vast gardens of Vita Sackville-West in Cranbrook, Kent. I'd seen a couple YouTube videos about the gardens, and had heard that they were spectacular, but I wasn't prepared for just how exceptionally splendid they would be. It was another drop-dead gorgeous day -- a bit cooler than the two previous ones -- with blue skies and sunshine galore. The gardens feature room after room of blooming treats for the senses. I'm not all that good at identifying plants, but I know I saw wisteria, anemones, poppies, roses, ranunculus, trillium, bluebells, and lots more. One "room" is a white garden and another is all oranges and yellows. There's even a marvelous vegetable garden, meticulously kept, with various trial beds of different plant varieties and organic gardening techniques. The whole place was buzzing with bees that obviously were having the time of their short lives. 

Keeping with the garden theme, and not wanting to waste what would be the last hot, sunny day for a while, I spent all of Saturday outdoors. First, I put a load of clothes in the washer. Then I walked up to the Parliament Hill Farmers' Market where I got some of my favourite items (bread, olive bread sticks, a corn fritter, aubergine and red pepper tart, and a samosa) and caught the bus back to hang my clothes on the airing rack. Then I took another bus to the west Heath and walked a few yards to the Hill Garden and Pergola. Last time I was there, it was late autumn, grey and gloomy, and I got caught in a downpour. This time, the purple and white wisteria was dripping from the long pergola and a cascade of various coloured rhodedendrons tumbled down a hillside. 

After enjoying the elevated pergola and the gardens below, I walked down through a bit of Hampstead Heath to the Vale of Health, a small cluster of charming cottages tucked away in its own enclave. 

And now it's a cold, windy Sunday with lower temps forecast for the next few days. I stayed inside in the morning, banging out this post, then hustled into town for a bit more art: Yayoi Kusama and Niki de Saint Phalle at the Opera Gallery, a super exhibit of Peter Mitchell's photos at the Photographers' Gallery, and an exhibition of cats in cartoons at the Cartoon Museum. 

The day ended over pints with my hosts at The Lord Southampton (recently brought back from the dead and reopened as a very nice local boozer on the Kentish Town side of Belsize Park).

I've got lots of good stuff planned for the upcoming week, so stay tuned. I'll try to be better about blogging more often. 

Stats:

Thursday:

€3 tea at Dublin airport

£16.19 groceries, wine, toiletries from Budgen's

£10.94 groceries from Nisa Local

14,506 steps

5.95 miles

Friday:
£50 top up Oyster card
£6.50 beers at Ship & Shovell
£5.47 groceries
Leighton House free with Art Pass
Courtauld Gallery -- used David's extra ticket
16,252 steps
6,71 miles

Saturday:
£14.79 train to Chichester
£6.25 Pallant House (half price with Art Pass)
£7.99 salad for dinner
18,396 steps
7.54 miles

Sunday:
£1.75 hot cross bun
£8 pies (2) from Sire's Hill at farmers' market
£3.99 bread
£4.19 groceries
20,698 steps
8.49 miles

Monday:

£10 Tate Britain (half price with Art Pass)

£5 Curious Histories event

£1.15 pastel de nata

£2.45 Forgotten Ends from Waitrose

£6.45 beer at event

25,001 steps

10.25 miles

Tuesday:
£10 Saatchi Gallery (concession price)
£.75 Lockets (lozenges)
£2.75 cookie
£3.40 groceries
17,061 steps
7 miles

Wednesday:
£5.99 bread at Panzer's
£3.40 farmers' market

£2 flapjack

£3.50 t-shirt from charity shop
£10.50 wine

£171.70 one-month zones 1-2 travel card
21,752 steps
10.61 miles

Thursday:
£3.75 groceries
25,873 steps
10.61 miles

Friday:
13,625 steps
5.59 miles

Saturday:

£16.40 farmers' market

19,060 steps

7.82 miles

Sunday:

£4.25 Photographers' Gallery (half price with Art Pass

£7.50 book from Photographers' Gallery

Cartoon Museum free with Art Pass

£2.50 groceries

19,040 steps

7.82 miles