Purley Oaks. Tues 22nd March, 10.40am

Lisa and I shot a werewolf today!

Nick's birthday too... Happy birthday Nick!

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Tate Modern. Mon 21st March, 1.45pm

Fast walk to Tate Modern today in blazing sunshine and some real actual spring heat in the air, playing Velvet Underground on my headphones.


Ai Weiwei's Sunflower Seeds at the Tate.

For the record, 100 million tiny sculptures of sunflower seeds, made out of porcelain and hand-painted by skilled artisans in the Chinese city of Jingdezhen.

I liked how Weiwei says the seeds represent the famine under Mao, and also the propaganda used during that era where Mao’s face would be the sun, and sunflower seeds would represent the people, turning toward him for sustenance. But also that during the Cultural Revolution sunflower seeds were a popular snack that people would eat and share, symbolising a common humanity that abides.


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DK. Fri 18th March. 6pm.

Stunning sunset from my floor at work. Soothing for a day of fuzzy head and sugary tea after being out last night with work then with Steve and Harley.

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Paul Stolper Gallery, Museum St. Wed 16th March, 7.30pm

Met Peter Blake tonight! At private view for a small exhibition of his new work. Mum came, and we drank white wine and listened to PB talking about alphabets. He signed his book to Linus, talked about Bath and living in London, and we went home happy!


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Discover, Stratford. Sat 12th March, midday.

At Discover Centre in Stratford, to hear Ed Vere and Axel Sheffler reading. Ed wrote three of Linus and Edie's favourite books, which we brought for him to sign. He showed everyone how to draw his character mr big, which was great. Axel Sheffler is German and very charming, with a gentle, engaged smile.

Beautiful sunny day, we were there until 3pm, then went home and made pizzas.




Our Mr Bigs...


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Berwick St, Soho. Friday 11th March, 1.50pm

View through prints shop window.
One of those pop-up shops that take over premises for a spell in-between leases.

Spent far too long browsing vinyl in Berwick St this lunchtime. Had to claim I'd been abducted by aliens when I got back to work.

Sunny and springlike. Playing a Greensleeves reggae compilation on Spotify, really reminds me of being a student in Manchester.

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High St, Walthamstow. Thurs 10th March, 8.30am

A slice of East London life: halal butchers looking pretty cool in matching straw hats. The entire staff of five or so wear them. Nice touch. Nasty job.


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Old Bond St. Wed 9th March, 1.30pm

Louise bourgeois and Tracey Emin exhibition at Hauser & Wirth London in Old Bond St.


No photography allowed!



The pictures were watercolour bodies by Bourgeois and doodles and scribbles by Emin. It seemed to be about pregnancy and sex and quite a bit of unhappiness around both issues.

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Kenilworth Ave, E17. Tues 8th March, 8.20am

Very foggy this morning when I left the house. The sun was a hazy disc dimly shining from behind a vast curtain of white.

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Pantone Street. Mon 7th March, 1.50pm.

Everywhere you go in central London, you see rows of Boris bikes, and few, if any, are ever in use. Is this just because they only get used in rush hour? Or is the scheme faltering? I hope not because, despite my opposition to Johnson and notwithstanding the fact that I have never used one of the bikes myself, I want the scheme to be a success. I actually tried to use one once but it wouldn't accept my card, perhaps I needed to preregister online.

Long roundabout walk along Mall and up to Old Bond St to see exhibition but gallery was closed on a Monday. Will go back later in the week.



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Barbican Centre. Sun 6th March, 3pm.

Very cold day.

Day of odd family activities at the Barbican. Hip hop maypole dancing. Dolls house puppet theatre. Drumming with pots and pans.

And a large suckling pig, with a strange little secret show going on inside. The kids had to wear tails so the pig wouldn't be scared of them. Linus and Edie thought it was nothing short of marvellous.





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St James' Park. Thurs 3rd March, 1.40pm.

Those pelicans again. There's four that live in the park. Three are pink, one is white. Got talking to a toothless old guy who knew all about them, particularly the one in the foreground, who he called William. He's naughty apparently, disrupting the Queen's parade, chasing school girls into ladies lavatories, and escaping to Leicester Square so the police had to bring him back in a police van. I enjoyed talking to this toothless chap.

Very chilly, not much sun. Played
Miles Davis' On The Corner album, which I love, for all its punk-funk, coke-addled, wah-wah trumpet, Stockhausen-inspired fetid craziness.

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Adelphi district. Wed 2nd March, 1.30pm

Early London flatshare?

Cold today, but wonderfully sunny. Walked around my favourite secret London district, Adelphi.

Also saw this:





Never heard of numismatists before, sounded like numerologists or necromancy of some sort. Turns out to be the study of currency.

Listened to The Good Earth by The Feelies. Good for a sunny, cold early spring day.

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Wood Street, E17 (part 2). Tues 1st March. 9.30pm.

Love this. Staircase to nowhere.



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Wood Street, E17. Tues 1st March. 9.20am

On way to hospital (minor surgery on a mole), my favourite bric-a-brac market. The display window is genius, and, I think, new. Each "unit" has a single item that stands for the whole. (there's a word for that isn't there?) I love the little tiny fry up, for unit 36-38 (the cafe). And the tiny dolls house furniture, for a second-hand furniture unit.













(I'd like to think the word is synecdoche or metonym.
But I think it's probably just "representation".)


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