January 2023 - Part One - Starting the year with a trip to London.

 I'm sure it's a rite of passage for everyone to say "this is going to be my year" and made upteen plans about how this year will be their year, and all the changes they are going to make. I'll admit, I do exactly that, and then halfway through January I've failed all of them and am stuck in a cycle of frustration and crippling lack of drive. I think we all get like that though, don't we? I think it's a sort of rite of passage in the middle of January.

Anyway, it was a quiet start to the year, work was quiet, and once all the christmas stock had cleared and the new spring stock was in place, it was nice to have some slightly lesser crazy days, and I could spend some time doing those small jobs that you never seem to have any time for.

Anyway, I'd worked so many hours over christmas that my manager gave me an extra day off, and tagged it onto a weekend I was off on, which was great. James took a half day, and we decided to head up to London for the weekend and spend some time exploring while enjoying the relative quiet of the city.

We caught the Jubilee line down to Bermondsey station, then headed up to the river. I adore this part of London, office blocks in the distance, old converted wharf buildings dotted in-between modern low rise apartment blocks, the river, with all the different riverboats and little inlets, it's just a really fascinating area, and down every street there is something different to see. This view is fun, with the Gherkin and other towers behind tower bridge, and that immense concrete brutalist block to the side. I'd love to live on a riverboat on the Thames, but I don't think I would ever be able to afford to!

Apparently a real Banksy! He really does get about!

And I love how they have restored the wharves to their former glory, while converting them into apartments. I wonder if you can use the cranes to winch in your furniture when you move in?

I know this is such a frequently used place for filming & photos, but it's such a fun place. It was fantastic wandering down Shad Thames to see all the old buildings and the metal bridges between them. We were there on a friday afternoon, and it was lovely and quiet. There's also quite a few little boutiques, bakeries and other little shops nestled in, we got some tasty pastries from one, and some greetings cards from another. Well worth checking each alley you walk past to see what treasures are tucked away!

We then headed up to Tower Bridge, where I got this wonderful picture of the bridge, which actually has two different types of blue on it, which I had never noticed before. I wonder why the bridge part is painted a darker blue than the supports? I also told James about how of all the films and tv shows the bridge has been a part of, that it's the part in Spiceworld where Victoria Beckham drives the double decker Spicebus over the bridge as it's opening. He told me he had never seen Spiceworld, and hoped that he never would. I told him he was missing out on a gem of British cinema. I think he said something rude about me not having any taste in cinema, before heading off to get himself a cup of tea.

I decided it was too warm for a cup of tea, so I grabbed myself a caramel sundae instead. Talk about making the pigeons jealous! 

After all that exploring, it was time for some dinner! We had been wanting to try some Korean for a while now, and so we headed up to Hanrue on Kensington High Street. Oh my god was the food good. It was all freshly prepared, and the staff were so attentive and kind to us, taking the time to explain the dishes, the history of the food, and how best to cook it. We had a fantastic time, and really enjoyed the experience. They also host Karaoke sessions, but we had eaten far too much to take part! Find out more on their website HANRUE - Tasty Korea

We had a good night's sleep at the Holiday Inn Kensington where we were staying (comfortable bed, but very tiny & cramped room room), before heading out early to the Design Museum in Kensington. Entry to the permanent exhibitions is free. I can't remember what the paid exhibition was about, but we didn't fancy it.

It had some interesting exhibits, this one was about how badly hyperinflation affected Zimbabwe, where the situation got so out of hand the paper was literally worth more than the money printed on it. That's a pretty crazy concept to try and get your head around! There was also first generation playstation console as well, something that I figured did belong in a museum, considering how iconic the design was, and to show us how much gaming has changed over the years. Then, I was hit by a proverbial bus.

A nintendo Wii was in front of me. In a museum. A console that I played on as a child, and still did up until a few years ago. (I now only play on the Xbox or computer). It was a stab in the gut, how can something from my childhood be in a museum? It didn't make any sense, was I really that old that my early life was classed as history? I was raging about it, something which James found hysterical! I certainly didn't, bloody cheek! 

It did bring one other interesting thought to mind. When we had a Wii at home, everytime we had someone round to play on it with us, we would created them one of the little characters so we could keep track of scores on it. I know there's one of my late grandad on there. And it made me think, what happens to our digital footprints when we die? Like I've seen on Facebook you can put a memorial notice up on your profile, but what does that really mean for us? I suppose when family & close friends depart, I would revisit their pages, blogs and other web entries. But for how long? Will eventually a time come when these things are listed for deletion? Take this blog for example. At some point, Blogger might shut down and everything will be lost. If I'm long gone, I suppose nobody would notice would they? What happens when we get to a point when there are more dead online than living? It's a curious thought isn't it? When you die in real life, the presence you leave behind gradually disappears. Your grave becomes untended to and overgrown, your assets & possessions sold on or lost, people stop talking about you. You become forgotten. It's a morbid but interesting concept. Me and James had a long discussion about it in the cafe. They also do very nice cakes too, if discussing these things makes you peckish, like it did to me. Nothing like a slice of cake to ease your fears of being forgotten!

I loved this shot across the main atrium. The sign that says maker is actually a moving board, I think it also says designer on it to. You don't see many like that anymore. I suppose they were cutting technology at one point, and seemed to be used everywhere, like train stations, airports and on billboards. But I guess it works well in a design museum! It's was once cutting edge, yet now is seen as almost obsolete.

The Design Museum is open everyday, and it's permanent collections are free to visit. You can find out more about the museum on their website, designmuseum.org

Continuing our theme of high brow activities, we decided to head across London to the Tate Modern, somewhere James had been, but I had not. I'd wanted to go for a while, but for some reason never seemed to get the chance to. I'm terrible for getting distracted by the tasty food of London and never quite making it where I was supposed to be going to! But then I suppose, when you're like me and never really have a set plan, then that is to be expected!

We had a quick look at St Pauls while en route, and grabbed ourselves a pot of takeaway pasta from a little italian cafe as a little spot of lunch before heading into the Tate Modern.

What I love about the Tate Modern, is how in your face some of the work is. Like I love to look at beautiful landscapes, classical ruins and still life paintings, but also, I love to be shocked by art. And some of the works at the Tate, do just that. 

The first is a model of the Burj al Murr, a building that was used in the Lebanese civil war as a sniper outpost and used to kill many people, the majority of them civilians in Beirut. It was an unfinished tower block, and has this very haunting feeling of emptiness to it. We are used to seeing buildings, particularly tall tower blocks as being busy places, something that makes this piece of art feel even more sombre. There was also this rather bizarre artwork, composed of a shopping receipt from a trip to the CO-OP. I don't think of this as an artwork, more of a historical record, especially when you compare how much some of the prices have changed! 

Now this was one I really liked, of plants growing from used ammunition shells. I think it really spoke volumes about conflict, but how hope and regenerations will follow.

I loved the concept of this one, the messages on these tall lighboxes asking questions about society and lifestyle. The next one was a little more curious. It was based on a piece of graffiti on a wall by Dutch peacekeeping troops in the Srebrenica area, who failed to protect thousands of Muslims fleeing the war, who were massacred. It was particularly outrageous, due to the Dutch peacekeepers failing to provide safety and shelter to these people, and then left anti-Bosnian graffiti on the walls of the town. While Srebrenica was the worst massacre of the Bosnian & Yugoslav wars, it was by no means the only ones, and today, thirty years since it happened, the Bosnian state is still trying to exume, identify and then formally bury victims from the massacres, a project that will take many more years. Having been to Bosnia, and seeing even now the scars of the war, it makes you wonder just how long it takes people to fully heal and recover from such events. Do people ever fully recover? Or do they live in a sort of limbo for the rest of their lives, anxiously hoping peace will remain. It's a question on a lot of people's minds at the moment with the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Physical wounds heal first, but the mental wounds take a lot longer, if they ever actually do fully heal. As the physical wounds heal, we need to see a concerted and international effort to provide Ukraine with mental health support as well as just a rebuilding effort.

We went and grabbed ourselves a spot of late lunch and something to hydrate ourselves with. I don't normally drink a bottle of wine with lunch, but I thought hey, were on holiday! We had a charcuterie on the side with the wine, and spent a little while sat watching over London going about its business. The restaurant on the top floor gives you some fantastic views across the city, it was expensive but well worth it!

We continued to explore the Tate Modern, getting to see this multimedia piece entitled "Babel" after the giant tower in the bible. It's made up of loads of different radios, all playing different music and sounds of them, and seeks to re-imagine the fabled Tower of Babel.

And this is a piece by Roy Lichtenstein, who is one of my favourite artists. I studied his work at school, and I just loved the comic style of his art, combined with the feeling of action and motion in his works. I remember working on a copy of his work, "Girl with hair ribbon", and it taking me forever to do all the dots in the pictures. I think there was several tantrums and arguments while I was making it, and handed it in, only for my efforts to receive a C I think it was. Needless to say, I didn't continue studying art for my GCSE's. But a few years later, my mum handed me my picture, which had been hung on the wall at home, and ever since it has had pride of place on my bedroom wall, and has continued my love of his works. And here's my version of "girl with hair ribbon", and no, I don't think it will ever sell for six million dollars like the original one did. I think it would be lucky to get six pence!

Maybe a career as an artist is a little too fanciful!

Now this piece took me a while to get my head around. It was a room full of seemingly randomly placed blue lines, mirrors and floating pieces of card, and you wandered around wondering what was going on. The suddenly, you found a particular spot in the room, and all the blue lines matched up, giving you a single blue line across all the pieces. It was cleverly done, and I'm glad I took the time to walk around the room to find the point in question!

I was musing to myself about the reasoning behind the work, when James told me it was time to leave as the gallery was closing. I couldn't believe we'd spent all afternoon here! And we didn't get to see everything. We planned to come back the next day if we had time to to so.

It was dark when we left, and I couldn't resist grabbing a shot of the lit up office blocks in the distance, as we headed back to Kensington. We were off to Dishoom, a restaurant somebody James works with had recommended to us. They don't take reservations unless you're a party of six or more, you turn up and hope for a table. What a very London thing to do! I have to say though, the food was fantastic. It's a great mix of traditional Indian food with a modern twist, and the restaurant is fabulous, with this grand Art Deco theme running throughout. It was very busy, and we waited about 15 mins for a table which I didn't think was too bad. The menu is extensive, but everything we had was delicious. A particular highlight was the crusted lamb with pomegranate seeds, which gave it a beautiful sweetness.

This was one of those meals where you didn't want to food to ever end, so tasty and overall a great experience. Just be aware though, it is heaving there, so try to go on a quieter evening in the week if you can. They also have products you can buy in the restaurants or online, to make at home. Definitely worth looking at if you are wanting to recreate your favourite meal! Find out more at dishoom.com

We were stuffed afterwards, and headed back to the hotel to relax. Especially because tomorrow, we were going somewhere very special, and looking forward to making some new friends!