Hydraulic

Firstly, Spokes thanks you for all your kind comments about her photograph yesterday. Today, as you can see, she's back in front of the camera!

Our day started with breakfast at the Watch House, Bermondsey Street, a couple of minute's walk from where we're staying. It's a fantastic coffee shop/cafe and serves the most amazing porridge. We may well be back tomorrow...

Thus fortified, we strolled down the road to see a great exhibition at the Design Museum. 'Cycle Revolution: Extraordinary bicycles and the people who ride them' could've been dreamt up specifically to captivate Spokes - and, if so, it succeeded! I think she could've spent all day there. http://designmuseum.org/exhibitions/cycle-revolution

Something which really struck me about the exhibition was that there was a strong, and still all too rare, focus on women cyclists and cycle enthusiasts (whether as professional riders, sportspeople, commuters, parents or bike designers and builders) alongside the usual male suspects. Only when I got to the end did I see that the curator and assistant curator were both women. I hate to say it but I think that's what made the difference...

And, speaking of women, after lunch we walked across Tower Bridge and then eastward along the river to see the mighty Annie Leibovitz's 'Women' photo exhibition at Wapping Hydraulic Power Station, which is where I took this shot of Spokes.

The show included many, many fantastic portraits and it reassured me regarding one of my slight worries about Leibovitz's work - that it's too stage-managed, stylised and soulless. A trait which seemed to emerge in her work for 'Rolling Stone' and then got given free-reign at 'Vanity Fair'. However, the show reminded me that whilst Annie is certainly a genius at creating a shot which is full of spectacle, she can also take simple, bare-bones portraits without the need for bells and whistles but which reveal plenty of soul. All in all, I loved it! www.newstatesman.com/culture/art-design/2016/01/annie-leibovitz-s-women-new-portraits-attempts-capture-womanhood-all-its

After a walk back along the river to the Tower of London we took the tube over to King's Cross to see the amazing aerial theatre company Ockham's Razor perform their show 'Tipping Point' as part of the London International Mime Festival. To be fair, the company are more about acrobatics and gymnastics than they are about mime but, no matter, we were absolutely blown away by the performance which left me feeling very moved by how incredible human beings can be! www.youtube.com/watch?v=VDBYr-FFYKw

It was a good day. And I'm looking forward to tomorrow.

And now Mathilde Santing sings Tom Waits... www.youtube.com/watch?v=kV_PGJetDZA