Not quite a secret garden

A little while ago one of my friends mentioned a small community garden that nestles in a well trod part of Soho.
I was bemused....
I wander round those streets pretty regularly and often use the alley she was describing as running along side it.
I knew the church that borders the other.
But the garden.......?

So a few days ago I went and looked.
Properly.
Not just that brain in neutral wandering along with my eyes open but not really seeing that is often my style of meandering from one place to another.

And there was this wonderful garden!

Peaceful, beautiful, full of people sitting, studying, hugging and just enjoying.

I mentioned it to my workmates today and one of them commented that she had seen it on her travels around london too, but had thought it was a private garden and had not looked for the entrance.

It has its own blog too, now added to those that I'll come back to regularly.

I would have liked to see the agricultural show and church fayre, but theres always next year :D

For now though, I'm just glad to find a place where I can sit and be on my way from here to there.

Just a few reasons why I love the Design Museum

The Idea of a Tree,
Designed by mischer'traxler

Extrusions, designed by Thomas Heatherwick Studio

Soma, by Ayama Serfati

I went around the Design Museum on Wednesday,  my first visit in quite a few months, and, as always, i was left awed and inspired by the exhibits.
I went because I realised that it was the last week for the Urban Africa exhibition by David Adjaye

It consists of a series of photographs plus graphical information about african countries and was thought provoking.

But as always, it was the pieces on show in the annual Brit Insurance Designs of the Year that had me wowed.
From the amazing folding plug and sugru moulding putty to the astounding BMW concept car.
Go and see this while its there.
You wont be disappointed.

British Music Experience

In the Great British Tradition of ' its a bank holiday, what shall we do? ' my family and I [ well most of us - my eldest daughter declined the dubious delights of a family outing in favour of ..... well I'm not exactly sure what, but in her mind something with way more appeal ] went to the Great British Music Experience at the O2 bubble.

Actually, for once, this was a pre planned outing rather than a total spur of the moment one.
My youngest daughter had been mosying around the internet and had come across the face the music game  and being a bit of a music nut [ not surprising given the pretty encyclopaedic knowledge of her dad and my own eclectic tastes in music ] had easily walked away with a free ticket as her prize.
Cue lots of prompting from her for said parents to get their finger out and win more tickety goodies so that we could go and see what was going on.

We were pleasantly surprised overall.
Although our initial experience was that this was a really small exhibition [ its set out around a central hub with rooms leading off representing the various decades, plus other interactive displays in that central area, so you can see most of everything as you walk in ] we were there for 3 hours just listening to and playing with the exhibits.
Some of the pieces I saved on my smart ticket to look at when i got home - a blinding idea BTW - and some I listened to all the way through.
It wasn't incredibly busy, so we didn't have to wait more than a couple of minutes for any one display item to come vacant, and most could be shared by up to 4 people.

The 2 most hands on areas did have queues.
One was a video dance booth, with a short lesson section then a video of you doing the dance that you got to keep via your smart ticket.
My family went for the ' I'll hold your bag while you make a fool of yourself '
and the ' I'm not with you ...walk off rapidly as far away as possible ' approaches, leaving me to try it out solo.

Lets just say it was not a success.
:D

The other was the Gibson Interactive Studio 
Although we got there just half an hour after the experience opened this area was already full.
I'd wondered why the family in front of us were rushing through.
As we walked in to find them already seated at guitar, bass , keyboard and drums it all became clear.
Since it was bass that my daughter wanted to try, and since they were both in use, we wandered off to look at the other exhibits, erroneously thinking they wouldn't take long.
By the time we had looked round, i had given up any hopes of being the next discovery in the dance world, and we had wandered back, it was even more full than before, so, weighing up growl belly against gibson bass, said daughter opted for food over guitar lesson and we strolled through the gift shop,  picking up the 2nd part of our prizes on the way -  BME white canvas messenger style goodie bags with hat, pen and travel card holder.

Blinding value for a few minutes time having fun doing a music quiz on the internet!

The growly tummy syndrome was cured by a visit to the S&M cafe [ thats Sausage and Mash ] also at the O2.
Lashings of gravy drenched sausage and mash for me, Oodles of all day breakfast for him and Yummy baked potato for her followed by gloriously gloopy puds for afters.
Yum!

Altogether a great day out was had by all.

FYI
I decided to drive to the O2 rather than go by train since it would have meant going in to london then out again, and so had to use the O2 car park.
Parking cost £7 for the 4 hours approx that we were there, but it was easy to get to, clearly marked on the A2 and only a few minutes walk from the car park its self [ we were in car park No2 ]
The only downside was the getting out of the car park.
The angle that you have to approach the exit meant that my arms werent long enough to insert my ticket into the slot.
I had to reverse and straighten 3times before I could reach it!!!!!!!!!
Now I may only be 5'2"and have arms in proportion , but I am NOT a rubbish driver.
My car has a good steering circle, it doesnt have a long bonnet or anything else to make it hard to get it into a small gap, and I have had tons of practice at taking the right line to get me clear of a ticket machine while still ending up close enough to insert said ticket.
So having to reverse 3 times is an unheard of occurrence.
 Whats going on O2?
I am just totally grateful that I didnt have anyone behind me while I was shimmying into position.

Oh, and while I'm having a moan.....
GET SOME BIGGER CLEARER DIRECTION SIGNS PLEASE.
The only indication of where to go at the entrance of the O2 are some album sized markers on the floor, which peter out at one point, and a couple of large general banners above your head.
For people with normal vision its not too bad - though we did come to a confused halt on the way in when the floor markers stopped - but it would be impossible for anyone with reduced vision.
Guys .... when you design these things, forget that you know where you're going and pretend that everyone's partially sighted and confused and IMPROVE YOR SIGNAGE.
Thank you.

1:1 - Architects Build Small Spaces

While i was in London on my weekly jaunt to my favourite city I wandered in to the V&A
I recently added membership of this august and inspiring museum to the ever increasing stack of cards that fills my purse because i realised that it was fast overtaking the Design Museum as the most likely place to find me, and the membership has paid for its-self already due to its magic free entry properties at the exhibitions they host.
In particular the Grace Kelly exhibition [ still on as we speak and well worth a visit ] had me feeling like a mini celeb as people in front of me were turned away because they hadn't pre booked [ it was -really- busy ] and i was waved through at a flash of my shiny new membership card.

I didn't need the card yesterday however, because i was looking at the 1:1 - Architects Build Small Spaces exhibition, which is free!
There were some amazing concepts, and i loved the information given on the shortlisted projects that didn't get to be built as well as those that did.

My personal favourite has to be this.

Its inscribed inside with words from an old Norse poem, it sits on a base of wood chippings encased in mesh that look like cooled lava flows until you look closer.
Its by Helen And Hard Architects  and there's a video here which explains the concept.

There were lots of other amazing builds too, including a spiral staircase with performance booths of red velvet that could be opened or shut for different uses which I'm sad to have missed  in action, but  this installation touched me on a deeper, less conscious level than the others.

Its the kind of space i would love to have in my garden, for sitting inside and thinking, or just to enjoy the sense of peace it gave me.

Knit a Squid

I was looking around for things to do on my day off next week and came across stitch a squid at the Natural History Museum
Not that its any use for next week, because its tomorrow, but I think I'll grab the chance to go along while I'm on holiday and can actually get there early enough to get to.

Its part of the Relax, Unwind and Enjoy after hours programme at the Museum.
Sadly the last of the year I think.

I signed up for the Stitch London while I was at it.
I normally have some knitting stashed away in my bag, and have often wondered about joining a stitch and bitch group, but most meet on the same evening every week and start way too early for me to get to under normal circumstances.
This one changes its venue and day each time though, so hopefully I can get to go on the random evenings when I'm wandering around London.

Edited Friday 27th august

Knit a Squid was fun!
There were loads of people there.
Possibly because of its being advertised on the museum website as well as being a normal Stitch London meet.
It was really friendly though :D
I didnt knit a squid myself, although lessons and patterns were available.
I carried on making the scarf that has been my project since February when my aunt sent me part of her stash.
She had found some beautiful silk wool in a shop, but there was only about 100grammes of it, and she couldn't decide what to make, so when she saw the hat I'd knitted for my daughter she thought it would be perfect.
When i got it, I decided it was far too gorgeous a yarn to use for a hat, so i found a suitable lace pattern and started the scarf.
Being a somewhat intermittent knitter, its still not finished, though I'm hoping that by Xmas it will be winging its way back as a thank you.
Pictures of finished item will no doubt surface in a later blog, so give a cheer if you see them and know i will have sighed with relief and satisfaction as i cast off the last stitch.