The girl in the pink skirt

I was reluctant to travel to London today but it was my only chance to see Sasha for a while and long planned. My original train was cancelled due to strikes so I had to take the longer route to Marylebone which adds 30 mins on the journey. In the end it was almost empty and very cool. The underground was stuffy but not too bad and the short walk to Tate Modern along the river rather pleasant. We tested out the members bar and enjoyed the terrace with its wonderful views before we hit the Surrealism exhibition which was fantastic.

We thoroughly enjoyed Eugenio F Granell’s Magic Blazons of Tropical Flight which sparked a conversation about Dr Seuss and The Lorax in particular. Over lunch we decided that was the highlight along with (for me at least) watching two young girls sat on the floor laughing heartily and thoroughly enjoying Jan Svankmajers’s 1968 film The Flat.

Tom and I had eaten a beautiful lunch at the Tate’s Bar and Kitchen some weeks back but this time it wasn’t half as good. The dishes were unbalanced and the ‘leek fondue’ with our hake was gritty. We mentioned this to the waitress as none of us was able to eat it and she assured us it was supposed to be that way - and informed us that leek ‘has texture’. As we left we overheard another table complaining about grit in the leeks… oops, if you don’t wash it well during prep there’s little you can do after cooking bar start from scratch. They did give us a free dessert to share though which was delicious and we weren’t really complaining, just trying to alert the chef to it as it’s a rather embarrassing rookie error.

The train back was fuller, slower and much hotter than my morning one and I was glad to get home and jump into a cool shower. Now my mind is buzzing with ideas thinking about the art we saw today. It’s a wonderful exhibition and I hope to return to it now we have membership and can come and go freely.