Clouds

I had two weeks off work at the beginning of August.  For various reasons I wasn't able to go away but I was determined to have a proper break and took lots of days out over the fortnight. Looking through the photos I took the common theme seems to be clouds.

There were clouds over Brightlingsea,

and clouds over the sculptures in the walled garden at Marks Hall.

There were clouds over the warmup track at the Athletics World Championships in the Olympic Park in London,

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and clouds over Orford as seen from RSPB Havergate Island.

There were clouds reflected in the river Alde on the walk from Snape to Iken,

and clouds over the beach at Walton on the Naze.

Fortunately, apart from on one day, they didn't produce much rain!

I'll finish with a picture of clouds taken through the meadow of corepsis and cornflowers at Marks Hall.

If you're interested,  and want to see pictures of more than just clouds, I posted photos of my holiday everyday on my instagram feed.

A Day Out in London

Yesterday I went to London.  I was going to the theatre but I'd also discovered it was Open House London, which is part of Open City, where buildings not normally open to the public open their doors to visitors.  The first one I tried to visit was 201 Bishopsgate.

It's 2 towers, joined by some amazing diagonal stainless steel work with a roof garden.  Sadly there were about 100 people in front of me and they were only letting 20 people in every 1/2 hour and I didn't have that much time (see the people abseiling on the left tower?).

So I went to 10 New Burlington Street instead; a new build behind the facade of both Regent Street and New Burlington Street.  I was lucky enough to join a tour of 10 people led by one of the architects.  No photography was allowed so I've used the images from this website (which also explains more of the detail if you're interested).

Behind the facades (which were either kept in place and propped up during the build, or taken down brick by brick, stored and rebuilt to level the floors up)

is this - 

not what you'd expect to be there at all!

Inside they'd used limited materials - the ceilings are polished plaster and the walls white oak.

There is a large central atrium to bring in light and the handmade porcelain tiles were the only colour.

We went into the listed vaults underneath, which were originally wine cellars and had been sensitively restored with lime mortar and now store bike racks for the people who work there.

It is an absolutely stunning building,  and from Regents Street the only thing you see is this gate - designed to represent the clockmakers who used to be on the site in the past.

After leaving here, a spot of lunch, and a sense of direction failure that had me walking the wrong way up Charing Cross Road for quite a while, I went here.

Kenneth Branagh was fantastic, as were all of the cast.  His daughter was played by Sophie McShera who is known to many of us as Daisy from Downton Abbey.

It's on for another few weeks and it's worth a visit if you're in London.

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A Day Trip to London

On Wednesday I left Suffolk in torrential rain and headed to London.  When I got out of the tube at Tower Hill I was mightily relieved that, whilst still grey and overcast, the rain had stayed in Suffolk.

After a short walk I was at the Fashion and Textile Museum to see the Liberty in Fashion exhibition. 

The exhibition worked through time and I particularly liked the dresses from there 1910s, 20s and 30s  (very Downton Abbey).

This child's dress from the 1930s with beautiful smocking is so similar to those still worn by little girls today. 

It then moved though the 1940s and 50s.

I remember wearing dresses similar to these of the 1970s, especially the one on the seated mannequin at the front!

Although I never had anything as bright as this 1960s number!

It's a lovely exhibition although I was sad I couldn't be there for the guided talk as they are always excellent and add an extra dimension.  But I couldn't stay.

By the time I had walked back up to the Thames the sun was coming out so I decided to take a river bus from Tower Hill up to the Embankment.

After a quick lunch in the crypt of St Martin's, I walked up to Cambridge Circus to the theatre to see Matilda.

Mum had bought me the ticket back in April and I really enjoyed it - the cast of children were amazingly talented, the set was stunning and to see a child launched into space by her pigtails was very clever (no children were injured!).

I can highly recommend both the Liberty exhibition and Matilda - all in all a very good day, and I didn't get wet!

A Very Very Special Day

On Wednesday I walked to the cashpoint - nothing really unusual in that, I often walk into Sudbury, but it is a very lovely walk.

I walked along the river edged with froths of cow parsley, to get some cash for a very special day.

Back in December Mum had told us she'd had a special invitation but it wasn't straight forwards as she was also going into hospital in February for a hip replacement operation. Cue master planner (me).  On my weekly visits to North Norfolk to visit them (amongst taking them home cooked meals and cakes, doing the  cleaning, gardening and a miriad of other little things that become big worries when you're elderly) we:

• bought a dress and I altered it
• bought a jacket
• bought a bag and I altered it
• bought shoes
• bought a necklace and I altered it
• hired a suit for Dad and the shop altered it
• booked a hotel and altered the booking
• booked a restaurant

Why?

Because Mum had been invited by the Queen to a garden party at Buckingham Palace as an acknowledgement of her 20 plus years of volunteering at a local museum, True's Yard (I've never been, must alter that!).

From 6pm I was standing outside the front gates of Buckingham Palace waiting for them.  Dad had been worried I wouldn't find them but I knew I would. 

I spotted them immediately they came out and was so proud - proud of Mum for her volunteering and so proud that she'd been totally determined to recover from the op in order to get there and enjoy it pain free.  

We went for a meal afterwards - a perfect end to a wonderful day, they look so happy :-)

A Day in London - Knitting, Poppies and Who Are You?

When you work in education the fastest weeks are the holiday weeks and this 1/2 term has been no exception, it's flown past.  I've walked, sewed (more of that to come) and on Wednesday I spent the day in London with Celia.

We went to the Fashion and Textile Museum to see the Knitwear, Chanel to Westwood exhibition.

Sadly there was no photography allowed but it was very interesting - I especially liked the hand knits from war time, and also the knits from the 80s which were very similar to garments both of us had either knitted or worn! It really is worth a visit, and the 1pm talk (on Wednesdays and Fridays) is very interesting.

On route to the museum we walked past the Tower Poppies.  I'd seen them in August when they first started installing them but they now almost fill the moat and are a very very moving sight with each poppy representing one of the 888, 246 British casualties of the 1st World War.  

Our final stop for the day involved a walk down Whitehall in the rain to the National Portrait Gallery to see the Grayson Perry 'Who Are You' exhibition.  There are 14 new portraits by Grayson, some individual, some group, focusing on identity.  

The portraits range from ceramic 'statues'

to silk hijabs

to ceramic pots

and tapestries.

They are all thought provoking and several conversations were had with random strangers as we stood looking at them.

The memory jar, focusing on a couple where the man was suffering from Alzheimer's was the most thought provoking for me.  We stood and looked at it for ages, the shards of photos representing the shards of memories, snippets sometimes remembered and sometimes dissected from the main memory.

These, and all the others, have all been/are about to be features in the channel 4 programme of the same name.  I loved how they were placed in different rooms within the gallery, next to traditional portraits of famous people. 

Grayson's self portrait, the Map of Days, is so detailed and intricate I could have looked at it for hours - you can download the PDF of it from here and watch a video of the man himself talking about it as well.

It was a lovely day, we hardly noticed the rain we were having such a good time!

And There Were Poppies Too

After having had a lovely few days in Ireland last weekend I took myself off for a day in London yesterday.  I spent the morning in the Chelsea Physic Garden, somewhere I'd never visited before.

It is an oasis of calm, surrounded by beautiful buildings.  As someone who is very interested in the properties of plants, especially for healing and dyeing I found it all fascinating - and the glasshouses were fab too :-)

After a short tube ride and an unplanned walk from Green Park (courtesy of 'significant delays on the Piccadilly Line') I arrived at the theatre to see this:

I never managed to see it in the 80s when it was first on and all I can say about is that it is totally brilliant.  I've seen many many West End shows over the years and this has to rate joint first (joint with Phantom of the Opera which I saw with the original London cast in the 80s).

Then I set off on a long walk - first of all along the south bank where I wanted to see some of the Books About Town benches.  These are 50 benches in all designed to celebrate London's literacy heritage and to promote reading for pleasure.

William Shakespeare

Julia Donaldson and Alex Scheffler

If you're in London it's worth taking the time to find some of them as they are all so different and such fun (and free!).  The War Horse bench was my favourite.

Micheal Morpurgo's War Horse

But the poppies on the bench weren't the only poppies I'd come to see.  I had come to see the Tower Poppies - an art installation by ceramic artist Paul Cummins with setting by stage designer Tom Piper entitled 'Bloodswept Lands and Seas of Red'.   888,246 individually made ceramic poppies will be 'planted' around the moat of the Tower of London, each one representing a British Military fatality during the 1st World War.

They start off tumbling out from a window in the Tower

and meander their way along the west wall (clicking on an image will enlarge it)

before appearing to leap over the main entrance bridge.

At the moment they don't go much further than this but by November the sea of red will completely surround the Tower.

You can find more here, including a video of how they were made, and also how to buy one if you so wish.

If you're in London between now and the end of November it really is worth visiting this very poignant and beautiful tribute to the British Servicemen and women who died fighting for us in the 1st World War.