Wednesday 27 August 2025
Maggie is a V&A volunteer and was keen to show me the new V&A Storehouse, V&A East, out at Stratford. Oh my word - what an amazing place! It's a treasure trove all some of the 'spares' of the V&A collection. Some are too big for the South Kensington museum, such as the columns from Agra, whilst others are duplicates/triplicates.
A giraffe piano and a row of busts that look as if they are in straitjackets from trying to escape.
There is a display showcasing an ornate ceiling from a palace in Torrijos, an example of Islamic art in medieval Spain (circa 1490). It is all the more interesting as you can see both the interior and exterior, showing the construction of the room.
Another large item was the front cloth, 10 m x 11 m, that Prince Alexander Schervashidze painted in just 24 hours for the travelling dance company Ballets Russes. 'Two women running along the beach", 1922, set the scene for the musical comedy Le Train bleu. Apparently Picasso was so impressed that he signed the work himself.
We sauntered back through the lovely Stratford area, which greatly benefitted from the 2012 Olympics development. I've re-visited other post-Olympic parks which have certainly become white elephants. Apparently Arcelor Mittal Orbit, the red twisted sculpture, now has the world's largest tunnel slide on it: now that I want to do!
I'd mistakenly left a few things at Caitlin's and, as her new office wasn't too far away, we swung down to meet her to collect my stuff. 8 Bishopsgate is pretty fancy and has a bar on Level 26 which we popped up for a drink and to admire the view.
Thursday 28 August 2025
I went free range today leaving Maggie and Keith to their own devices (or was it the other way around)? I started at the Textile and Design Museum, just east of Guys Hospital. It was the first time I'd been there since Mum's cochlear implant so it was nice to explore the area outside of the hospital canteen and wards.
It's not a huge museum, and I wasn't quite sure of the flow of it, but I enjoyed a slow meander.
This is a sampler of 3! (3 factorial) - I didn't quite get this one but I do know that numbers certainly make patterns.
I was quite taken by Lynn Setterington who uses running stitches to create some beautiful memories.
I then walked across the Thames to Maughan Library, part of King's College London. Maughan Library held the Public Records Office until 1998, when it moved to Kew, but I was drawn there because of their map exhibition, 'From streets to stars, 500 years of maps'. You can see by the security bars over the doors how secure the records used to be kept.
Being a free and small exhibition, it didn't take too long to go around, but I can never tire of seeing any sort of map (or two). This is a Ptolemy map copy from around 13/14th century (?) and a revised map of a John Stow 1598 map released in 1633.
I was particularly interested in the Gertrude Bell letter they had as she was influential in the definition of the Middle East after the partition to the Ottoman Empire. Sorry, no map accompanied the letter.
I then happily meandered back westwards down Oxford Street towards the Marble Arch
and the Joy of Life foundain in Hyde Park, and Hyde Park corner. According to Strava, I walked over 11 km today pottering around London - happy days :-)
Friday 29 August 2025
Maggie treated me to the Cartier exhibition at V&A South Kensington today - she's a member so can take a willing accomplice in for free. Blimey, what a load of bling!
Some really beautiful stuff there, although I'm far more of a classic necklace/tiara woman (hark at me) than some of the broaches and necklaces based on animal designs.
Then it was up to Liverpool Street for a train to St Margaret's - Linda and Rob time now.
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