Chicargo

The Seven Dials area on the edge of Convent Garden, dates back to 1690 and has had a chequered history and deterioated to a dark slum. After considerable restoration and developement the area now has reemerged as a thriving bustling area. It's the area where seven roads converge and at it's centre is a column with seven sun dials on it's top. This coloumn is relative new as the ancient one was demolish some decades ago.

In one of the building between the converging roads is the Cambridge Theatre where the musical 'Chicago' is being performed. The lead at the moment is Suzanne Shaw.

After a early evening meal in an Aberdeen Angus Steak house we headed for the Theatre and took in the show. I had no pre knowledge of the story line of Chicago at all and was a little surprised by the sparse stage sets. Sumptuous it wasn't but the, singing and dancing certainly made up for it. Overall, I enjoyed it but I wouldn't say it was my most favourite stage show. Phantom takes allot of beating.

Summer Exhibition at the Royal Academy

Monday July 14th

We're having a three day London Break.

Monday morning saw us up early and on our way. First into Peterborough using our free travel passes, then on to the Capital via the train, across London on the Underground and finally a 10 minute walk up a leafy tree lined London Street to our Hotel. We managed to keep our luggage simple, one wheeled suitcase and a rucksack. The journey took us almost three hours, not bad as it would have been just as long by car and far more stressful with the Motorway then London traffic.

Our Hotel is the 'Darlington Hyde Park' on Sussex Gardens. Our room was a very quite one on the ground floor. Just ordinary, reasonably spacious and adequate, no view but then you don't need a view when your asleep!

After a refreshing cup of tea we headed back into the Capital. The hotel staff has directed us to a nearer underground station at Paddington, just five minutes away.

The Royal Academy of Arts is to be found in Burlington House, Piccadilly in the heart of the City. It was founded by George III in 1768. Governed by artists to 'promote the arts of design'

I had been wanting to visit the Summer exhibitions for several years now but had never had a chance before. This year is the Academy's 240th exhibition. It gives established and new artists a chance to exhibit.

The Academy is an impressive mellow stone building reached through and impressive carved stone archway. The Courtyard is dominated by Sir Anthony Caro's sculpture 'Promenade' consisting of five free standing steel structured.
The carved stone courtyard entrance

After a light snack in the little cafe in the sunny courtyard we did the rounds of the galleries of the Summer Exhibition. The vast number of pieces on display are overwhelming an its difficult to take it all in. Several pieces remain in my memory but none really shouted out at me I'm afraid. A series of eight large water colour paintings of a nude dancer entitled Burlesque Dancer Turning ' by David Remfry R.A. I found very compelling . A pencil, ink and watercolour piece by Chis Orr entitled 'General Strike or a Good Day Out' was great fun. The Charles Wollaston Prize went to Jeff Koons sculpture called 'Cracked Egg (Blue)' it's a big shiny blue egg with the top off. You can walk around it and look in it and see it's shiny silver reflective inside.

Eventually after two circuits of the exhibition we headed back in to the warm London sunshine and came across the Burlington Arcade. It's over 40 years since we visited this very elegant arcade of shops dedicated to selling only the very exclusive goods. We wandered along the ancient passage of .You need a seriously healthy bank balance to be able to shop here! The Arcade is Britain's very first shopping Mall! opened in 1819 and was the longest covered shopping street in England.

Peterborough Artists Open Studios

Our 'Open Studios' session is now two thirds over and from our point of view has been quite successful. Just one weekend to go now. Last week we had a slow but steady trickle of visitors. Yesterday, despite the rain, there was another steady flow of dedicated art loving people through the door. We thought today was going to be an absolute wash out with two o'clock arriving with just two adults and two children appearing. Then, just as we were giving, up the doorbell rang and didn't stop ringing for the next two hours. All our visitors were were happy to chat about art and paintings and were genuinely interested in where, who and how we painted.

Much of Prue's paintings this year are life pieces she has completed over the last three to four months. After the successful piece entitled '...of woman' displayed in the Pall Mall Galleries in London at the end of last year and it selling for over £300 the proceeds going towards the Sue Rider Foundation she has been buoyed up to do more Life work. A session at Whittlesey followed by two series of classes at the Stamford Arts Centre gave her the opportunity to develop a style and complete more pieces.

My work (below)is shown in Prue's garden studio once more. The red textured canvases developed over the last few month since seeing a wonderful canvas at the Vancouver Open Studios in Canada has drawn many complementary comments. As I hadn't completed many new canvases this year I've bulked out the exhibition with some older pieces. I have several pencil life drawings from the Stamford classes but unlike Prue I didn't feel they were right or good enough to display

It's Cool to Swim

My morning swim over the last two or more weeks has been taken in the Lido. I eventually plucked up courage to brave the icy waters. I decided that if I didn't do it the summer would be over that is if it isn't already! Another factor in my decision was the ongoing repairs to the diving board in the Regional indoor pool that kept the diving pit, the only deep water part of the pool closed. This meant the rest of the pool was regularly clogged up with swimmers. When the pool was built some 35 years ago the City Council in it's usual short sighted wisdom built it far too small. It's length is only 25 meters which is far too short for any serious competition swimming and training. Another factor is the demolition of the Bretton Woods school and it's swimming pool which was used regularly by the U3A members. They now have to use the regional pool to swim.

The Lido was built in 1935 and is only one of 12 open air lido in the country that have survive. The City Council tried to shut and demolish the pool several years ago but there was such an outcry from the public that they had to keep it going. It's now a Grade 11 listed building so it has to be maintained in good repair. There's three pools set within a walled area The main 50 meter pool has changing cubicles surrounding Three sides with a sun deck above them Then there is two smaller pools surrounded by a well maintained grassy area. Great for family picnics on warm afternoons. The small cafe that operated some years ago has unfortunately been replaced with vending machines.

It's an unbelievable good feeling to swim in the fresh air instead of the stuffy atmosphere of the indoor pool. Even on mornings like today when the pool temperature was 20 degrees and the air temperature only 17 degrees with a cool south easterly wind whipping up the surface of the water. When the sun breaks through the rain filled stormy clouds it glints and shines on the waters surface making it a glowing blue.
There's a camaraderie amongst us early morning 'dippers' Our average age is around 60. There's Russ who's 79 and has been swimming in the Lido since 1936. Then there's Dot who's in her early 80's and arrives each morning racing in on her Mobility Scooter. Several of the other 'Seniors' arrive from all parts of the City on their mountain bikes.

We certainly do more exercise and calorie burning in the Lido as when your in the water you need to swim to keep the blood flowing or you'd soon start to feel cold! In the tepid 29 degree waters of the Indoor pool you feel more sluggish and exercise your jaw much more!!!

Rocky Horrorless

Saturday Night should have been the climax of the 2008 Peterborough 'Festival Week' with a live Rock Band and an open-air screening of the 'Rocky Horror Picture Show' on the embankment by the river Nene.
It started out OK. The weather was reasonable, patchy cloud, a bit on the cool side but mostly dry. Plenty of people turned up. Many in the cult costumes from the film. .............Mmmmm perhaps a tad on the chilly side for some of the costumes. Every one was having fun listening and dancing to the music.

The film showing was delayed to allow the light to fade. The show started when it was still a little too light for it to show properly on the huge inflatable screen.
Then disaster struck. The power was lost!............... The screen collapsed, the power came back the screen inflated, then promptly deflated once more.
After several attempts to restore the power the organisers gave up and quickly organised two consecutive screenings in the Key theatre on a first come first served basis. Four hundred seats for a considerably more people. We gave up and went home ...........a bit deflated too!

Peterborough Festival

The start of the 2008 Peterborough Festival was a two day 'Family Fun ' event in Central Park. The events on the outdoor stage were a draw. Different musical groups through the weekend and Acker Bilk and his Jazz Band on the Saturday evening and The London Philharmonic on the Sunday evening. I didn't manage to get to either event but apparently both were excellent. Through out the week there was a performances of Shakespeare'Twelfth Night'.

I went to the 'Meet the Artist' event in one of the marquees. The place was buzzing with visitors making the hotspot of the event. I must admit to not being overly impressed with the rest of the event. It seemed to be all City council and City organisations propaganda stalls. Very disappointing, not much to keep everyone amused or interested.




....................Unless you wanted to try being a hamster in a swimming pool! What a strange idea. It was a good job there wasn't queues of kids wanting to have a go They would be there for ever with just the one ball!

A Mini Yorkshire Adventure

Last Monday we drove up to Rastrick in Yorkshire to do some long overdue family visiting. The weather on the journey was good to us and the traffic on the A1 and M62 relatively light. Not a hold-up all the way so we had a hassle free drive up to foreign parts! Yorkshire in the sunshine is glorious but I often find it bleak when the skies are grey. This trip we had sun all the way.
On Monday evening, after a humongous dinner cooked by Sonia we drove out to see Dave's niece. I'm making her wedding cake for her upcoming wedding and I needed to discuss and clarify all the details of what she wanted. J. and her partner's new house has been revamped and remodelled by her Dad, Dave's brother, Derek. The house formerly a bungalow sits on the top of a cliff and has the most amazing views over the Calderdale Valley. Goodness I wish Derek lived closer to us . He's well over retiring age but has still plenty of work to hand. Our house could desperately do with a revamp although I'm hoping he will be able to find time to come down here for a few days to tackle my kitchen.

Tuesday Morning brought more sun and clear skies so we headed off to Halifax to visit Piece Hall. This impressive stone built building was opened in 1779 and was a Cloth Market where Merchants could sell their 'piece' of cloth. The last time we visited it was a bustling thriving place with hundreds of little shops, many craft shops, in the huge rectangular building that surround a grassy courtyard. This time we were so disappointed. Most of the shops were closed and derelict. There were a few shops selling goods that would mainly appeal to Goths and Hippies. The only shop that didn't disappoint was a Glass artist who worked and sold her pieces along with other artists work. The shop was packed with the most beautiful and unusual articles of glass items.

One area of the Hall is used by Halifax Visitors Center, Museum and Art gallery. Many of the painting were from the nineteenth century with just a few contemporary art works. Just one grabbed my attention and made me stop and gaze at it. It was a work by John Piper the artist who designed the huge stained glass window in the new Coventry Cathedral. The only other place worth a mention as the cafe it was excellent.

After a wander around the shops in Halifax town center with it's stark imposing 19th century buildings and the Victorian covered market place we headed for a park called Manor Heath Park.

We had a pleasant time meandering around the park walks in the sun and sweated in the tropical garden created in one of the large green houses.

BUT - This was one part of the green house where I definitely did NOT go!

Later when Derek and Jonny there grandson had returned from work we were taken out for an excellent meal before we headed back down the A1 home.

Thanks for a lovely couple of days break Derek and Sonia