Tuesday 28 August 2012

Fun at the fair

We managed a good balance between being busy out and about and relaxing at home this long Bank Holiday weekend.

First thing on Saturday, we shopped for provisions locally (fish from Walter Purkis, vegetables for the grocer shop next door and bread from Gail's). Then it began to rain, but we chanced it and journeyed into central London to check out a few art shows - the Deutsche Borse 2012 photography prize at the Phototographers' Gallery (I came specifically to see one of my favourite photographers Rinko Kawauchi) and graffiti artist Mr Brainwash's first London show at the Old Sorting Office. I thought the latter's work would be over-hyped, over-wrought and over-blown but walking through the sorting office's cavernous spaces, I was drawn into the work's humour and satire.

Lunch was sushi rolls, sashimi salad, lotus crisps and edamame beans at So Sushi in Soho. Little R has mixed reactions to sushi - sometimes she eats raw fish with gusto and other times she rejects it on the grounds of being "too slippery" or even "too stripy" (the salmon!). This day she turned her nose up at it and tucked into the edamame beans and lotus crisps instead. We should have ordered tempura and teriyaki for her.

Dinner at home was grilled sardines and salad.


Sunday was a sunnier day, so we drove to Hampstead Heath. There we picked blackberries, visited the funfair on the Lower Heath and ate candy floss (of course!). We returned home and ate smoked salmon sandwiches in the garden. Then we made a start on sorting out our overloaded bookshelves. Too many books, in every room, but when packed nicely on shelves they are a joy to look at. I am always a bit perplexed when I go to someone's house and see hardly any books. But then we're a family of bookworms and I shouldn't be such a snob.

Dinner was fish again, but this time grilled sea bream and salad.


On Monday, we drove to London Zoo. M and I have annual membership here but now that Little R has turned 4, she needs to be a member too. I think she felt quite grown up posing for her photo and taking possession of her very own membership card! I enjoy admiring the foliage at the zoo as much as the animals - I always come away with ideas for our garden.


Also this weekend, I finished reading Joshua Ferris' Then We Came To The End ("They spend their days – and too many of their nights – at work. Away from friends and family, they share a stretch of stained carpet with a group of strangers they call colleagues" - Amazon) which I absolutely loved, mainly for the finely tuned characterisations of a broad cast. I've now started reading Gillian Flynn's Gone Girl, which I am already engrossed in.

And so another week begins - the last week of the school holidays. Little R has her last performance workshop and I have the last chapter of my novel to complete. In between we have friends and family visiting. Hurrah!

Monday 20 August 2012

Sunday calm

Sunday was an altogether calmer day. For a start, it rained so the air and therefore our tempers were cooler. We didn't do much but read, play and visit the local market.






Sunday 19 August 2012

Purple sand, blue skies and frayed tempers

What a glorious Saturday we had, with blue skies and hot sun. A little too hot and muggy for me. And for Little R too, who whinged rather too much on Saturday. Um, okay I admit it that M and I whined quite a bit too.

Blue skies over Bermondsey / Our little family chilling in the park / White Cube, Bermondsey / Rainbow fun at the White Cube / Zhang Huan at the White Cube / Running through the book maze at the Royal Festival Hall / Ice creams and purple sand on the Southbank / Back home to cool off under the sprinkler / Al fresco dinner of lamb chops and tabbouleh for M and me - our good tempers restored as the weather cooled down











Friday 17 August 2012

Summer rushing by

Spending time with my mother / Lots of playing / Performing Leonard Cohen's Hallelujah at the end of her three-day Song & Dance workshop / Reading my first ever crime thriller and becoming engrossed in it / M working late all week, meaning some quick and easy evening meals - omelettes one night, octopus and potato stew another.

Still two more weeks left of the school summer holidays and it's rushing by.







Monday 13 August 2012

Our weekend

A walk through Dalston / Shopping at Columbia Road Market / Eating at Pizza East, Shoreditch