Perplexed in Public

My Mum came to stay on Thursday evening, stopping through after going to a function in-town.
For some reason, her immanent arrival (and knowing Ibs had never tried it) made me want to buy Soreen Malt Loaf. We used to eat this all the time when we were children, served with a large dollop of butter. Sadly, the intervening years haven't been kind to this fruity English delicacy and the memory far better than the reality. Ibs wasn't impressed either.

Feeling nostalgic for childhood foods and thinking ahead to my sister Jane coming for breakfast on Saturday, I fancied some Heinz Baked Beans. Like many great English food superbrands (HP sauce, Marmite, ketchup, Coleman's mustard etc) there's something incredibly reassuring about their timeless design and packaging.

As I left work on Friday evening, my bike had developed a flat back tyre and without a spare, I had to change back into my work clothes and head for the tube home. On the new parade ground outside Chelsea School of Art I came across this, a caravan, suspended high in the air by a crane, with 'roll out the barrel' playing from within. It was a really surprising and enjoyable sight, I found out on Saturday that the piece is called 'The Poor Are Mad' by Lara Favaretto and being shown as part of the Lisson Gallery's 'Perplexed in Public' programme.

My right eye has developed a nasty infection and by Friday I was already thinking that it was probably best not to go out in public this weekend.

On Friday evening, Ibs and I went to Stephen and Christophe's for curry and to have a long overdue catch up with Stephen about his book. He's recently been writing with renewed vigor and developing new ways of structuring the narrative and how key characters are used.
I'm really excited by the new direction Stephen is planning and can't wait to read the first completed drafts of this latest version.
Poor Christophe has been suffering from a very painful back and has been off work most of the week.

Our post curry debris.

Saturday morning's Guardian had a feature in The Guide about one of my all time favourite film directors, Nicholas Roeg. I loved this collage of stills from his movies on the cover. Although he's well past his prime now, I'm still really intrigued to see his new movie 'Puffball'.