Busy week

A week with too much going on, and not enough time for reflection, or getting sorted - even though some of the busy-ness was about sorting stuff. A little every morning, before breakfast. (Not on the weekend, though.)

Monday, walking around Victoria - ah yes, Shepherds and all the wonderful papers and bookbinding equipment, must have a look ... the bookbinding exhibition included this lovely prizewinner, Dusk, by Tracey Bush

 A view of the shop -

 Disused doorway in Pimlico -

Following on from the Open House visit to Connor & Lockie in WC1, another tailor (SW1), Redwood & Feller, with a complicated entrance to the shop (love the pattern of tiling) -

 A symphony of brick and stone? Westminster Cathedral opened in 1903 and is the largest Catholic church in England and Wales -

It's not to be confused with Westminster Abbey, which is neither cathedral nor abbey - since 1560 it's had the status of a "Royal Peculiar" -

 The talk on Dorothy L Sayers (Anglican theology was one of her literary subjects) was held in Poets' Corner (rather a difficult acoustic) -

 Tuesday, on the way to drawing (afternoon session) I saw a couple of exhibitions at the Brunei Gallery that were about to end - the architecture of Yemen

 and a collection of early photos from a mining town in Namibia

 So much construction for Crossrail around Tottenham Court Road tube - this row of Victorian buildings is now a mere facade, seen here from the back - perhaps by now, five days later, they have been demolished too. -

 The Royal Society was giving its (30th) annual science book prize - they all sounded terrific, and four of the authors were present to talk about their books.

 Past winners and shortlist are here.

Looking up Lower Regent Street, the lit buildings are dazzling - photos don't do them justice -

Hot on the heels of reading about "drunken forests", I noticed the angle of the trees on Eversholt Street, down which I've walked hundreds of time without "seeing" them -

That was after hearing about research on social adjustment in young women with Turner syndrome, at the Wellcome - the talk was snappily billed as "chromosomes and health" which, when you think of it, is a bit of a riddle. Genes and health, yes ... but in Turner syndrome, a missing or incomplete X chromosome is the root of the problem.

Something completely different - opera at the cinema, Zauberflote from the Royal Opera House.

The serpent made a wonderful start

(via)

and the puppet bird was delightful, as was the rickety bird-gondola the Three Boys flew across the stage in. The singing was pretty good too!

Thursday - a spot of gardening - the big areas are almost all dug out, sifted and sorted; another few bags of soil might be needed,though -

 Walking home past the reservoir, newly mown, with glimpses of "downtown" in the distance -

To the RA for Matisse in the Studio, and the preview of Jasper Johns, and also to "Theatres of Memory", Dubuffet at Pace Gallery (till 21 October) -

The quote says "these assemblages have mixtures of sites and scenes,
constituent parts of a moment of viewing ... by the mind ...
if not the immediate viewing by the eyes"

 The "gridded" small pieces appealled most to me -

 ... and the hoardings outside the gallery provided interest ...

 Friday, walking past the palace just before 11, in time to see the crowds waiting for Changing of the Guard

 and hear the band playing -

 Later, on the way back, all was quiet, and the shadows were crisp ... I was intrigued by the density of trees, and their shadow-outlines -

 Ceramics in the City, at the Geffrye Museum till Sunday 24th, yielded  eyefuls of delight - and a little jar-shaped brooch by Miyu Kurihara -

 Cityscape near Liverpool Street -

 Friday Late at the Institute of Civil Engineers - live jazz, a well-used bar, a rollicking debate on the best infrastructure of the past 200 years ... transport to Olympics? Thames Barrier? London's sewage system? London Underground?  We voted on our phones and the sewers got 47% of audience votes.

Music in the Great Hall

The dome in the lecture theatre

A photo by Matthew Joseph, whose photos of tunnels are spectacular -
 but this is a recent winner of Doggett's Coat and Badge rowing race,
with which Tony's family, which included many watermen, was associated

In the library, explanations of tunnelling, and archaeology

... and a chance to build your own tunnelling machine!

As well as a former presidential chair, used by Thomas Telford

Pick of the week

Sunday - under windy grey skies to the Thames Barrier, the excuse being its annual test closing. The park has some surprising planting and ways with hedges; the cafe was nothing to write home about but did offer shelter from the wind. 

Very few people there, but worth making the trip. When the sluices were (gradually) reopened, the wind whipped the rushing water into a froth. Seagulls abundant, and more birds on the mudflats as the tide came in.

This being, or having been, the industrial docklands, there are a few mills still existing among highrise "subtopia" -

Tate & Lyle sugar refining, still working

The "palatial" Millennium (flour) Mills, built 1905, partially destroyed in
the 1917 Silvertown explosion, rebuilt in Art Deco style in 1933,
 rebuilt after WW2, and currently under redevelopment

Just time to get to Stratford for a little shoe shopping -

Old Faithfuls - and new upstarts

Monday - a talk at the Royal Institution by Priyamvada Natarajan, about changing theories of the heavens, the stars, and all that - and how science comes to change its mind about theories. It seems a theory, especially if posited by a "quirky character", can be quiescent for 30-40 years, during which time independent lines of evidence can accrue, and then the theory is "rediscovered" and gains momentum.

 Tuesday, after drawing at the V&A I happened across photos by Frank Hurley of the Antarctic expedition, at the Royal Geographical Society -

and walked across the park to Bond Street, where the Fine Art Society had various exhibitions on every floor of its building ... including this view from the very top -

Wednesday, just as I left the house a few raindrops fell and by the time I got to the park they were coming down thick and fast - but didn't last long

 so it was a pleasant walk past the new apartments to historic Stoke Newington for a quick wander in Abney Park cemetery

 and a longer stop for coffee till it was time to walk through Clissold Park on the way home. These plane trees were imposing

 and I still haven't found out what this might be - metasequoia? mimosa?

 Thursday - a bit of shopping in Chelsea and a walk along the river to Tate Britain, past the back end of Victoria Station and a "gridded" view of spare trains -

 At Tate B we saw the Rachel Whiteread show (till 21 January 2018), which included "100 Chairs" in the central gallery -

 I would gladly have taken home this humble, unfolded cardboard box with its silver foiling and "true blue heart" -

 That evening, a talk at British Library on the Tree Charter, which gave common rights in the king's forest, and a new charter 800 years later, which seeks of save ancient woodlands -

 

 Friday evening I had double-booked myself again and chose the screening at LRB bookshop of Siobhan Davies and David Hinton's film All this can happen (trailer here). It's based on a novel published in 1917 by Robert Walser and the sotry is blended with images from films of the time, choreographed on a screen split into multiple parts, objective and subjective at the same time. "When has walking ever been interesting in a film? Here, definitely. A combination of formal ideas and emotional ideas, enhanced by the sound design - the silent films left a clean slate for the sound.But the main effort was finding "absolutely the right image" to be a genuine partner to the text.

Throughout the week, a bit of gardening - the dormant seeds are quick to sprout -

 and from behind the window boxes it looks like this now; the area near the house is still under excavation, sifting, and soil replacement -

The camera found some hazard-tape compositions in the Underground -