Open House London

Another adventure soon befell us, though much smaller in scope.

Open House London is a festival of the built environment. It offers Londoners the opportunity to see 'behind-the-scenes' at some of the most significant buildings and places. Unfortunately, this year's festival did not include my favourite feature of the London skyline - but did offer other chances to see cool things.

A lovely, sunny Saturday began with brunch in Spitalfields Market before heading into the uber-cool arty ethos of EC1.

Lots of new media companies have their groovy headquarters and galleries here, and I have visited a few times to discuss work projects with designers etc. Even though it is much quieter at the weekend, I still think it feels about to burst into a new-New York sort of status as an art destination.

Our first stop definitely maintains that vibe. Village Underground is a modest project placing out-of-action Underground carriages on top of old railway viaducts to form new office space for designers.

I say modest because it doesn't look much from the street:


But it is pretty cool once you get up there:


The small space is well-maximised, and the view out of the carriages were quite good. I liked that one could sit in the drivers' cabin in the sunshine - cos buttons and switches are cool:


However, the workplaces themselves were quite dull, and I was actually underwhelmed by it all.

Luckily, the second part of the complex blew me away. The old brick viaduct underneath the offices had been turned into a massive gallery and this weekend was hosting the winning glass works in a competition to design a new martini glass for Bombay Sapphire.

The new media and marketing people were clearly let loose all over this campaign - it was awesome. The atmosphere in the gallery was ethereal - candles, blue hydrangeas and glass everywhere. Quotes about martinis were 'written' on the wall with white lights:


Plus, a bar at one end sold especially designed martinis. (Sadly, we couldn't quite bring ourselves to drink that early in the day!)

The designs that had made the finals were fantastic.

My favourite was a glass with blue cooling liquid in the bottom to ensure the martini remained at the correct temperature without being heated by the hand holding it. I liked it most for its shape:


My second favourite was this one because it is creepy yet elegant:


And the winner was this one, which did not blow me away at all:


Amorn Thongsaard from Thailand designed the glass. He called it 'Ramify', and was influenced by the way bubbles rise when a martini is poured. Strangely the judges gave him the award because they liked the way the bottom of the glass has facets that reflect the shape of the Bombay Sapphire bottle. Can they have it both ways?

Whatever the case, this glass offically 'expresses the elegance of the evening martini cocktail moment'. So there.

Once we emerged from the show it was far too sunny to stay indoors. So that was the end of Open House London for us.

and we can visit the Eden Project too!

Our third day in Cornwall was wet and cold, so instead of our planned surfing lessons, we chose to travel south and see the Eden Project.

My parents had raved about the Project, so it was an easy decision to pass up a cold day in the surf for a drive through gorgeous country lanes to get there. The villages were very sweet, and every cottage had its own name - Haven, Little Overton, Sunny Down etc.

Once we got to St Austell, I was immediately impressed with the scale of the complex and the insane modernity of it all. It's hard to express in a photograph, but trust me that the biomes are enormous:


A lot of effort has gone into making the complex accessible to all. Not only does it have excellent facilities for mobility impaired visitors, but it is one of the first non-publicly funded places I have visited that deploys Easy Read principles on their displays.

The first thing I really liked was the vegetable garden. I spent ages exploring the varieties of food grown outdoors at the Project - and was delighted to learn that ginger, lemongrass and chillies all survive outside in England. I was even more interested to see Amaranth - my favourite breakfast cereal - for the first time. Lucy lost me in the garden for quite some time but I emerged eventually...

Apparently, the Project has the biggest glasshouse in the world. Once inside the rainforest project, I can believe it:


Not many glasshouses have five-story waterfalls inside them:


It got very very warm walking all the way to the top of the forest, and by the time we came down we needed a rest before visiting the next biome. Naturally, the Project gives you every opportunity to spend your money, and the cafe had the added bonus of selling food from within 5 miles of the Project. It made for a good break.

Fortified, we ventured into the second biome - based on mediterranean climates. It was much drier and more pleasant than the first biome, but also less interesting. There were ony two things I really liked. The first was a series of sculptures amongst the grape vines celebrating all things Bacchanalian. They were very cool:


And secondly, I enjoyed the low-key display of commercial flowers that demonstrated the links between changes in fashion and ups and downs in species protection. It was educational AND pretty:


We spent five hours or so at the Project, which was enough to tire us out and ensure an early night after dinner. Unfortunately, the weather had got quite bad by the time we reached our campsite, and I am such an amateur at camping I was convinced our tent would be squashed by the tipping over motorhomes of aforementioned empty nesters. Thus, I spent my night more or less awake in the car.

The eight hour drive home the next day compounded my weariness. But, actually, it was so good to get out of London and do some great things with Lucy that I don't mind at all. Yay for a holiday!

and into Cornwall!

Even a tent is a better place to sleep than our dingy London flat! So, with another decent rest behind us, Lucy and I woke up ready to conquer our surroundings. It helped that the weather was glorious:


Padstow was as picturesque as expected. It is a small tourist town pretending to be a fishing village, so has plenty of quaint shops selling Cornish deicacies and seaside souvenirs. There was many an intriguing lane to wander, and even the pubs were pretty:


As it was getting on to lunch time, we thought we should try another Rick Stein outlet (Lucy is quite the fan). My steak pasty was excellent. Unlike yesterday's fish and chips, it needed not Watties.

Having furnished ourselves with a picnic, Lucy and I strolled up from the town and towards the lookout. Much like Padstow, it was full of affluent empty nesters walking their dogs (two spaniel minimum!).

The view was nice, but Lucy will testify that the water is freezing!:


So, rather than swim, a better way to make the most of the weather was to hire some bikes for the Camel Trail. It's been two years since I did any sort of decent riding, so was great to be back in the saddle:


Lucy and I loved the muddy, filthy trail so much we couldn't help but go quickly. Fortunately, we had most of the fast bits to ourselves:


Having ridden to Wadebridge and back in just over an hour, we'd built up quite an appetite. We were totally out of mood for anything English - and were lucky to find the one Italian place in town. Being a gourmand's holiday destination, it wasn't much of a surprise to find that even the little foodie places in Padstow are fabulous.

It really is quite a delicious place, especially in the cool summer evening when the crowds have mostly gone home:

Get me out of London!

It's a good thing we like a challenge, as Lucy and my holiday in Cornwall coincided with the worst weather in months. We drove out of London through torrential rain that had already flooded villages, caused landslides and flipped caravans in Wales.

But, Lucy is a calm and magnificent driver, so we made it to our overnight stop in Salisbury only an hour later than expected.

The best thing about going on holiday is that the rooms are always nicer than our one at home. And, a really good night's sleep led us to a cool and clear morning just perfect for exploring the small farmer's market in the centre of town. Our nibbles made good company as we strolled along the river Avon towards the cathedral.

Being as it's 750 years old, one can forgive the massive restoration that makes a decent photograph impossible. Luckily, a picture from elsewhere is a pretty good substitution:


Lots of things about the cathedral are the tallest, largest, firstest or bestest. It makes the whole thing enjoyable and impressive.

One of those impressive things is that the cathedral was built very quickly - the nave and transcepts took only 38 years to finish. Being something of a devourer of cathedral-based fiction, I know that a cathedral within one generation is phenomenal. And I love that the cathedral had a really excellent model showing how it was done:


The finished product is phenomenal. The nave is beautiful:


And even the plainer of all the stained glass windows were pretty:


It would take quite an item to trump these highlights, but the cathedral manages it by hosting one of only four surviving copies of the Magna Carta. Wow. Yes, I think I'll write that again. Wow.


Annoyingly, this isn't actually my picture of the MC. A pain-in-the-bottom guide hovered in the way of the majority of the display, keen for every opportunity to launch fact after fact at us.

A few things were cool - such as how much skill it showed to write the document from start to finish with no mistakes, and no extra spaces between clauses where naughty Lords could later amend erroneous details. But, I would have preferred the guide's zealotry be replaced by opportunity for quiet contemplation of the glorious implications the document wrought for law and democracy.

So, instead, I made like a monk and used the cloisters for pondering:


Having 'done' the cathedral as much as we could, it was time to leave Salisbury and get back on the road to Cornwall. It took four hours to get to Padstow and, even though it had started to rain, the trip was far better than the previous day's experience.

Especially since we arrived in time to dine with Rick Stein. Okay, so it was fish and chips, and they were only as good as your average Friday night treat in NZ, but they were the best I've had in England. (This was probably helped by my Aotearoa accompaniment, snuck into the restaurant in Lucy's backpack - thank you Mummy!):


It was a very warm way to end a long day, and a tummy full of food explains why neither of us had any trouble falling asleep in our tent.

Me and my mates at the Mela

On a typically wet August day, the flatties and I headed off to West London and the the Mela festival. The Mela is more or less an Indian Festival, and is on a similar scale as the Rise event I went to last year. London's Mela is not the largest, these are in Birmingham and other northern towns with higher Bangladeshi/Hindi popuations.

However, it was still kinda fun on a small scale. Especially since Lucy and Kelly were game enough to take on this massive ride - and be flung about in the air for five horrid minutes:


They said it stopped long enough at the top for a decent view:


This being a London 'summer', they were only up for a minute or two before the clouds rushed in and a thunder and lightening storm began. It was hard taking their picture whilst heavy rain banged my face - Kelly said they were being thrown into the rain upside down - which meant the drops were pelting them feet first!

Once back on terra firma, Kelly, Monique and I headed off for food whilst Lucy looked for some colleagues who were running a stall. After the latest downpour, they had decided to pack up, so Lucy was released from her duties and able to join me checking out the stages. Nothing much took our fancy, as most of the performers were just wannabe DJs channelling Hollywood gangsta or Essex boy youff culture. It didn't feel very authentic.

However, there is always an exception at these events, and we were delighted to find the heritage tent. Inside, the fifteen-strong South Asian Youth Orchestra was about to begin:


I recognised sitars, but the rest were mostly new. It was interesting to learn that such old instruments, played acoustically, have to be retuned in between songs. This took about ten minutes, and it was inidicative of the audience's pleasure that they did not get restless:


We stayed for almost three songs before deciding to leave the Mela altogether. It was getting late, and the trip back home was going to take two hours. Overall, a low-key outing. But I enjoyed myself.

Southend-on-Sea

Having passed my probation period at work, I am now able to work out of the office ('Smart Working') one day a week. In a fit of perfect timing, my second Wednesday of doing so co-oincided with Lucy having a day's training in Southend-on-Sea, a small town at the very Eastern end of the Thames and only one hour from London by train.

The weather in Southend was absolutely lovely, and it was very hard to drag myself into the first McDonalds I saw so I could take advantage of wireless internet and begin my projects. However, I shouted myself a silly breakfast and actually got lots of work done.

Southend has an unfortunate reputation as being full of unemployed people and pensioners. I think whomever first formed this rumour might have been visiting McDonalds on dole day, just like I was. From lunchtime onwards, the locals cram the town centre, mostly having flaming rows and ignoring their misbehaving children.

It made concentrating difficult, so I thought it a good time to see my first Southend sights. Reputation aside, the beach looks nice enough:


Naturally, there's also a funfair and pier to enjoy:


I thought it best to wait until Lucy's class finished before exploring those, so instead ate a pleasant sandwich in the little park overlooking the beaches. The sun was hot and it was fantastic.

After a nice hour of sunbathing, I got all responsible and decided to find somewhere new to set up shop. I took a gamble that Southend's libraries were probably quietly roomy, and it didn't take long to find one. Fortunately, I had guessed they wouldn't have wireless access, so had put all my work from McDonalds on a disk.

Another couple of very productive hours were spent in a corner with a warm breeze blowing through the open window. One strange lady told me off for asking for her help to watch my stuff whilst I visited the ladies' room, but apart from that, it was excellent.

In no time at all, 5:30 rolled around and I could meet Lucy for a swim. She had found her training interesting, and told me good stories about the locals as we wandered to the beach. Unfortunately, all the water had left!!!!:


Not having known Southend was on a tidal lagoon, we were both very disappointed. It was hot and we would have liked to get wet. Instead, we had to content ourselves with walking the longest pier on the mainland UK. I can't say it was on my 'Must Do' list for England, but was perversely satisfying in it's own way - especially since the 45 minute walk to the end led to a cafe with excellent icecreams.

Too hungry to walk the 2km back to the beach, we took the pier's electric tram (the pier has a tram!) for the ten minute drive. Once back in the town centre, it took a long time walking amongst every kind of takeaway-cum-amuseument arcade, to find somewhere serving non-chips-based meals. But, eventually, we found the Pipe of Port, a basement wine bar serving excellent French food.

The waiter was patient and knowledgeable, the menu was perfect and the food was divine. My dinner date was pretty happy:


Having made the excellent decision to linger over our meal, we didn't actually make it home until 11pm. Smart Working is very tiring!