Larger than life

Discovered the remarkable space behind Liverpool Street Station today, which I had never passed through before and which has some amazing buildings and fountains and this very big sculpture celebrating the female form. This is what I love about London: constantly discovering new things.


As for the rest:


My day started at about twenty past four in the morning when Scout decided to "go ape"and knock over my relatively heavy bedside table along with lamp, alarm clock, spectacles ... He then plonked himself down in the wreckage as if it were a nest that he had made for himself. Did manage to get back to sleep - eventually. 

Finally finished editing the Istanbul pictures. Learning a new approach to file management with a MacBook as opposed to something running Windows has been a challenge, but have discovered a rather good bit of software called Filepath for doing workflow and a free bit of editing software called Pixlr which is very easy to use for getting your images to look good. Now just need to get the backups sorted. Bored with that little technical exposition? I don't care 'cos I'm geek happy ...

We went up to town at about twelve and walked from London Bridge to Spitalfields market where we had a two o'clock reservation for a fab little restaurant called Blixen. Went the whole three courses with wine and coffee and I have to say it was excellent. We rolled out at four, stuffed and with palettes tickled to culinary orgasm. It was a complete experience in really nice surroundings and excellent staff, although the wine waiter was theatrical to the point of being like the houseboy in La Cage au Folles.

At five we had another appointment at a little known "must do" if you love hidden London. Dennis Severs house at 18 Folgate Street is a totally weird and wonderful thirty minute silent exploration of an eighteenth century townhouse on four floors, decked out with the paraphernalia of a family of Flemish weavers. Groups of eight people are allowed to walk around without speaking or touching (or photographing) anything. It's almost impossible to do justice to it here but imagine Disney's haunted mansion ride combined with Harry Potter and the order of the Phoenix, steptoe's yard, and a tab of LSD and you are just beginning to get a feel for it. We walked out very blown away.

Walked over as far as St Paul's then got the bus to Shaftesbury Avenue where we had tickets for "The curious incident of the dog in the nighttime" an excellent production with amazing use of hi tech effects to support the immediacy of actors taking the stage. West End theatre at its best; a punchy and pacy production with lots to think about afterwards, not least the nature of man's place in the universe, how to navigate the madness of a society where nobody really says what they mean, and the importance of clean toilets.

Amazingly walked out of the Gielgud Theatre at ten and were safely home in Surrey at eleven. 

So a larger than life day in every sense; can't believe how much we packed in. Still more to come before our staycation finishes ...