Sun and Splendour

Friday night at the Sun and Splendour on Portobello with Mark, Rupert and Lloyd and a very entertaining and convivial time.

Che Day

I finally, finally got to see Che: Part One last week at 'Che Day' at the Lexi. They were showing both parts, in a 6 hour back to back Che marathon but I only had time to stay for the first.

It's a film I've waited most of my adult life to see and after many false starts (Raul Julia was perfectly cast but died, Terence Malik and Antonio Banderas couldn't get past pre-production) there couldn't have been a more perfect combination to bring Che to the screen than the director/actor partnership of Stephen Soderbergh and Benicio Del Torro (there also can't be any other actor who was so born to play a role, than this).
Che Part One, methodically and tells the story of Che's 2 year involvement in the guerrilla war in Cuba, showing his transition from wheezing asthmatic doctor to charismatic revolutionary leader. The second part, which I have to see very soon, tells of his final years leading the failed insurgency in Bolivia.
I loved the film, it's a remarkable experience and exemplary film making.

Ruby's Weekend

Ruby had a pretty fun packed and enjoyable weekend too and had a very, very happy time.

The Cambria

Once we made it to Loughborough Junction, Alex and Robyn treated us to a wine tasting, belini canapes and then we all had lunch at their local, The Cambria.

Elephant and Castle

On Sunday we had to cross town to go to Alex's birthday celebrations in Loughborough Junction. Unfortunately, this always means catching a connecting train at the Hannibal Centre, Elephant and Castle. Still the most, truly,awful place in London.

Denis and Thomas

Here is Denis, his son Thomas and Spider Pig.

Fragonard

Denis came to stay with us this weekend and brought with him, this gift for Ruby from Beatrice's friend, David.

Saturday Barbecue

Patrick and Kate were round on Saturday lunchtime to drop off the LP cabinet and Maisey, Dan and Kate dropped in too. As it was such a beautiful day, we had a delicious barbecue lunch.

The Lexi

These are the lights in the ceiling at the Lexi. They change colour. Ruby loves looking up at them and so do I.

Southwalk

These are details from a hoarding, I liked, next to Southwalk tube station today.

St Olaf House

On the way to the Biscuit Factory, I popped by the fantastic St Olaf's House on Tooley Street. I'm a big fan of this deco beauty, designed by H S Goodhart-Rendel for the Hays Wharf Company in 1928-32 as offices and warehousing.
The building is named after the Viking chieftain Olaf Haraldsson (St. Olaf) who attacked London by river in 1009 and tore down London Bridge. The attack is believed to be the inspiration for the 'London Bridge is falling down' rhyme

Biscuit Factory

On Friday morning I had to visit the Biscuit Factory in Bermondsey for work. Up until a few years ago, this was Peak Freen's London factory and has now been beautifully renovated and converted into light industrial units and home to cool TV production, media and event management companies. I really enjoyed my walk round, on a very bright, sunny morning and seeing how this redundant part of our industrial heritage has been reinvigorated for the modern age. The cafe was great too.

Fridge

Some days can be so much better than others. It was a beautiful, sunny, warm, day today. Ibolya and I celebrated our 2nd year anniversary of moving into our house and I had a really good day at work, with a fantastic lunch with colleagues. I also had my bi-yearly appointment at my chiropodist and rounded the whole lovely day off with 2 great episodes of the Wire with Stephen, Mark and Mike.
Somebody also left this message for me on our fridge.

The Mummers

One of life's great pleasures is trying an album out and on first play, you know you love it.

Even better, that it improves and grows with every further listen.

We couldn't stop playing The Mummers: Tale to Tell album, all day, on Sunday. The first great album of the year and a great album for the summer.

Someone described it, quite nicely, on itunes as 'Bjork meets Julie Andrews meets Goldfrapp meets Karen Carpenter'.

Here they are (and their very attractive lead singer, Raissa) on Later with Jools Holland.

The Damned United

Ruby and I went to 'Scream Screen' at the Lexi to see 'The Damned United', my first trip to the cinema with my daughter. I loved David Peace's book and Brian Clough was a child hood hero and a big figure in my life so this was a perfect and special film to see with Ruby. I thought it was great film, a beautiful rendering of the period and a powerful (and sympathetic) performance by Michael Sheen. It was Ruby's second film and both have starred Michael Sheen.