St Paul's Churchyard, WC2. Tues 5th April. 1.55pm.

Neptune fountain.

Lunch in graveyard. Sunny day, spring in the air.


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Embankment Gardens. Mon 4th April.

The early bird; a few days later all were out.

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Parliament Hill, NW5. Sat 2nd April.

Picnic lunch with Tom, Lincoln, Steve, and families, plus Jay. Kids mucking about at the end while we said goodbyes. Daring Harry, Linus following, Billy in his own world, Edie smiling for the camera as usual!


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Airspace above Alps. Wed 30th March, early morning!

Flying back from Bolognia bookfair. Just amazing views of the Alps.


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Apple Store, Covent Garden. Fri 25th March.

9.30am: Queue for iPad 2, launched today at 5pm.

Springfield Park, Hackney. Sat 26th March.

Lincoln and Oscar turned up unexpectedly from Japan, escaping risk of radiation from nuclear power stations disrupted by earthquake. (Poor Mayumi stayed behind!)
Had nice walk through marshes to Springfield Park. Found good climbing tree, ate lunch in cafe, played football.


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Finsbury Park tube. Thurs 24th March.

Rob Perry and me talking about Pauline Brody last Thursday in pub. Then today realised I'd been standing in front of a Tate poster featuring one of Brody's paintings. Coincidence.


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Royal Opera House. Wed 23rd March.

View of Covent Garden Piazza from upper terrace at the Opera House. The occasion: Pearson Results Presentation.

My book -- LEGO Star Wars The Visual Dictionary -- shown on slide. People tittered! Pearson people surprised such trivia could sell so many copies!


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Purley Oaks. Tues 22nd March, 10.40am

Lisa and I shot a werewolf today!

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

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

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.


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

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.

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

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!


Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

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...


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

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.

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

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.


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

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.

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

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.

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

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.



- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

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.





- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

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.

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone