Tuesday, 21 August, 2018
Liat came to stay for about ten days. We looked about a bit other than our visit to the Tate Modern.
Liat’s visit
Art at the Tate Modern
Thursday, 16 August, 2018
Liat has a friend at the Tate Modern and she can get us free entry to exhibits. Now, I’ve been inside the museum many times but mainly because the Turbine Hall is spectacular. (Hate that it’s now divided up by a newer middle bridge section. The view was so stellar before that.)
The Turbine Hall in numbers:
Height from ground level: 26m (85ft).
Size of area where works of art can be shown: 3,300 m2 (35,520 sq ft).
Length: 155m (500 ft), width: 23 m (75 ft), height: 35 m (115 ft).
Roof light consists of 524 glass panes.
Total area of basements under Turbine Hall, boiler house and sub-station: approx 1.1 hectares (2.75 acres), with an average depth: 8.5 m (28 ft).
I’ve never been into an exhibit and there are two at the moment.
One is Picasso 1932: Love, Fame, Tragedy (just that year!). The other is Shape of Light, an exhibit of 100 Years of Photography & Abstract Act (it mostly shows how artists have worked with light – and subsequently shadow.
I don’t really like Picasso. So many millions disagree with me, therefore I must be missing the point. But taste is taste. Mine doesn’t lean to Picasso. I won’t say much more but I’ll caption some photos from the exhibit for you to ponder.
A few words on the next two pieces. The program reads, ‘Picasso turned to a new and darker subject matter: the threat of drowning, and the possibility of rescue.’ This happened after his lover got a viral infection after swimming in contaminated water. ‘This is suggested by some of the works on paper in which fatal accident is transformed into sexual violence.’ What? This might lend a clue: ‘Some biographers have argued that, since the childhood death of his younger sister…Picasso felt doomed to cause women to suffer.’ Do I need to say more? Maybe. Maybe not. Not now, anyway. Sorry, Picasso, you’re not for me.
More about the tree and the traffic island
Thursday, 9 August, 2018
I last wrote about the tree and traffic island a couple of weeks ago.
And the tree. We were quite delighted with the new growth, to be honest. Everything looked great and then we noticed the bark cracking and falling off. Shortly after that the leaves started to get very white. Some leaves are completely white now and some have withered and falling off. We think perhaps the tools transmitted a tree disease. So after hundreds of years, the tree may have met its end. If so, tragic!
A funeral, a birthday, and a bar mitzvah
July, 2018 various dates
I introduced you to my friend Julie not so long ago. Follow this – I have a friend Alistair, who I met back in the heady Usenet days. We became friends in real life. Through him, I met his mum, Juliet – she also became my friend. And then I met his wife, Julie – she’s from Montreal and lives in Suffolk so I don’t see her very often. Now, Juliet has recently had some health problems and was in and out of the hospital for a while so I messaged Al to ask how she was.
He responded saying that he was more worried about Julie than he was his mum. Julie’s son from a previous marriage had suddenly died. My heart really sank. Julie and I had chatted about her son, Olly, during her last visit. I was surprised to hear that he had similar mental health issues as (my son) Robin – both in their thirties. That Olly had died just hit me as if it had happened to me. I know better than anyone how difficult it is worrying about a child (no matter how old) when things are tough for them.
We got a bit of the lowdown from Al, when he came to visit a week or so later. To be honest, the story upset me enough that I won’t repeat it. I will say that Olly had had physical issues and that Al was the person to find him when Julie couldn’t reach him by phone. Tragic.
Krish’s birthday was on 10 July. It was also the day of Olly’s funeral. Krish let me know that he would come with me to support Julie and I was grateful for that.
We left from London Bridge to Tunbridge Wells, about an hour Southeast of London.
It seems that Oliver had joined the Mormon church, where he was admired and had many friends. This really softened the story for me. I was happy to hear that he’d found acceptance and happiness with this group. It made for a rather sombre service, though. There was one very nice tradition. After the eulogies, we were invited to come up and sign the coffin with messages for Olly. I hadn’t met him so I didn’t do this but I found it touching.
After that service we left for the crematorium, where there was another service. What was nice was the beautiful gardens surrounding the crematorium, so Krish and I sat and enjoyed it for a while.
A rather predictable spread followed at the pub by the station and then it was home time!
I’d planned a birthday party for Krish and waited until his birthday to tell him about it. He was quite pleased. And then this very hot summer continued, making the preparations and shopping seem like crazy tasks!
Al and his son, James, came at first. They had been promised the football world cup final and so we sat and munched on snacks and tried not to sweat too much. Al left a little before James and, as James was leaving, Krish’s friend Mark arrived, followed an hour later by another friend, Rosie. And more snacks. The party had started at 3pm and we were finally done at 10pm. It all worked out very well! I hope the next party is in cooler weather!
Hazy summer days
Monday 30 July, 2018
The summer has continued very hot, sometimes with very little breeze. It’s hard to do much and people outside are quick-tempered and slow-moving. London in the heat isn’t a pretty thing.
I’ve stayed indoors as much as I can. And I decided to buy myself a Sindy doll. I really want one from the 60s, when I would have had my first one, but they are scarce and expensive. I got one from the 80s instead. She’s called Bunches. Her clothing is very flimsy but I made her a crinoline petticoat so that her skirt would fill out. I’m not convinced it looks right but it will do for now. I’ll keep my eyes out for another.
My friend, Susanne, and I used to meet quite often. We met through DigitalEve UK. She was feisty and interesting and had come to London from Austria. When her work contracted ended she had a lot of trouble finding something new. So I mentioned eModeration to her, as a stopgap, where she could find a job from home using her German. She’s gone from strength to strength and now works fulltime for them. So it’s much harder to pin her down for a meeting.
But we made it! I sent Susanne, a fellow foodie, a list of ‘hot’ restaurants and she chose The Smoking Goat Bar on Redchurch Street. Susanne is familiar with Northern Thai food so was game to try the new place. My review:
I got there to a quiet restaurant and asked to be sat near the back, where it seemed quieter. Back here there are low stools rather than chairs. There’s a good view of the bar area, where barbecuing takes place. By the time we left it was heaving with people.
We were recommended four sharing dishes so we deliberated. Here’s what we had:
Barbecue Tamworth Skewer – 1 each. This is marinated belly pork alternated with some of its fat and barbecued on skewers
Gai Yang Chicken with Sriracha – This had an extraordinary sour and spicy flavour that surprised me. I would have this again, while from the menu it hadn’t sounded interesting at all (friend’s choice)
Smoked Aubergine with Egg & Chill – an intensely smoky whole small aubergine with a lovely runny poached egg and some lovely herbs
Northern Thai Style Mutton Laab – this was a bit salty but delicious. It was strewn with herbs and chili. Spicy!
Stir Fried Cornish Greens & Soy – our nod to vegetables. Nicely done!
Lardo Fried Rice – I chose it since it’s described in reviews as ‘A must-have.’ So we had to have it! The rice was greasy in a good way and studded with green chillies, crispy lardo and some egg. I did really like it but now I’ve had it, I’ve had it and would move on to a plain jasmine rice, which I hear is bottomless.
I’d go again! (And the price was a nice surprise!)
