My Instagram Week

Monday: in the Susan Hiller exhibition at Tate Britain





Tuesday: Mad Men series 4 and a lovely dinner at Stephen's





Wednesday: My sleeping girls and Irish biscuits in the office



















Wednesday: a lunchtime run to Battersea park, ice cream and cycle home















Thursday Morning: a glorious cycle to work with a detour through North Kensington to Ibolya's office on Portobello Road



















Thursday Afternoon: On the TatetoTate boat to Tate Modern and Georgi and Andy over on Thursday evening































Friday: A day off to look after Ruby and Lucas. We went to Bouncy Castle in the morning, played in the garden and went to Roundwood Park in the afternoon.

It's been an absolutely gobsmackingly beautiful, summery, week in London and it's been very hard to resist my urge to Instagram all the time, which is why there are so many here - I'm afraid this app is still a big novelty which I'm sure will wear off soon and I'll be back to my trusty Nikon. Everything's just been looking too good and the great thing about taking pictures on your iPhone is that I have it with me, wherever I am and whatever I'm doing. So as obsessed as I am with recording my life, Instagram is the perfect instrument - even if the results look a bit shoddy when not viewed on an small iPhone screen.

Aside from it being the warmest and sunniest week of the year so far, my children have been extra-specially incredible this week. Ruby is being just the most affectionate and loving big sister to Lookie. I can't belive how protective she is and how many cuddles she needs from him. And in return he just loves every big, crushing, rough, cuddle from his big sister.
On Wednesday (April 6th 2001), Lookie started making noises that sound like his first attempt at rudimentary conversation. Lots of bababab and dadadadad type sounds but they are lovely to hear. And Ruby keeps making us laugh by saying 'Justin Bieber' a lot. I'm sure she's no idea who he is but she just likes how it sounds.
Ruby also made the very first financial transaction of her life. We packed her off to Mary's the other day with £1.00, of her own money and she used it to order a babychino in Roundwood Cafe. She said to the person behind the counter, 'a babychino please, I have money'. She handed over her £1.00 and collected her 75p change. I think that's a big moment in a little person's life.

Unfinished Sympathy

Primal Scream's 'Screamadelica' isn't the only landmark British album celebrating it's 20th birthday. Tomorrow, Massive Attack's 'Blue Lines' is 20. And in honour of that incredible album, here's it's greatest track. Still sounding and looking absolutely timeless, haunting and very beautiful, it's 'Unfinished Sympathy'.

Mother's Day Weekend

These are more Instagram pictures from the weekend. Ibolya was working most of Saturday so Ruby, Lucas and I had the day togther, with lots of play stuff, painting and a trip to Roundwood Park on Saturday for babychinos and lattes.
When Ibolya got back, we harvested our rhubarb and had a very nice Thai delivered for dinner.
On Sunday we had a big, family, Mother's Day lunch, with my Mum and Dad and my elder sister Jane and her family.

Instagram

I've had my Instagram app for a while now but last week I was compelled to start using it and now I can't leave it alone. I'm enjoying the immediacy of it, the ability to choose the look and feel of your snaps and post them to the rest of the world. It also gives my Nikkon a well needed rest.
If you have an iPhone, download the app (it's free) and follow me by looking up Readrw1.
These are a few snaps from last week, which involved a lot of cycling around London and a night out around Borough, on Friday night, with Adam, Jerry and Alex.

Loaded

It's April! And ever since Jarvis played this last Sunday, I've had to listen to it again each day. It's now 20 years old and I've very fond memories of the summer it came out, at the hight of Acid House, and flogging tones of the Screamadelica album while working at HMV Oxford Circus.
I love it that this one track seems to sum up all of recorded British popular music up until that point. It's like a monument to our pop heritage as well as being totally modern and innovative. You can hear 'All You Need is Love' horns, Ian Stewart style keyboards, Led Zep guitar licks against a shoegazing dance/dub groove. There's a drum loop taken from an Italian bootleg mix of Edie Brickell's 'What I Am' and samples of Peter Fonda in 'The Wild Angels'. It's mixed and produced by Acid House DJ, Andy Wheatherall, who created the track by remixing an earlier Primal Scream track called 'I'm Losing More Than I'll Ever Have' to create a new track, unrecognisable from it's original, all created on the mixing desk. Turn up your speakers and give it a blast.