October update

Anna and I have been very active this month, making the most of the wonderful opportunities that London has to offer. We've recently been to a couple of special screenings at the BFI. The first was a documentary about The Prisoner TV series, with some of the crew present. I'm a huge fan of this series, and it was great to glean some insights into how it all came about, plus it's always nice to get a few autographs.

The second was a 20th anniversary sceening of British cult classic Withnail & I. We've seen this before, but we enjoyed it a lot more this time around. I think partly because we're older, and also because one feeds off an enthusiastic crowd. There was a discussion afterwards with the director and two leads present. I'm proud to say I've now met two Doctor Whos - Paul McGann (canonical 8th Doctor) and Richard E Grant (non-canonical 9th Doctor)!

Anna and I in Southbank, near the BFI and National Film Theatre:

My lawyer friend Simon has just joined us in London, and I caught up with him and Mark for a nice Sunday lunch at Food for Thought, an extremely popular vegetarian restaurant in Covent Garden (it's in the Seven Dials area). We popped into the British Museum afterwards - of which I have barely scratched the surface - to explore the European/British section in depth. I particularly enjoyed the bog men (poor peaty bastards), checking out the Roman-era Mildenhall silver collection again, and the remains of the Sutton Hoo Anglo-Saxon ship burial. Here's Simon peeking through a Persian statue:

Had a night out to say goodbye to our friend Rachel, who's off home again soon. We started in the early afternoon, with a matinee performance of Swimming with Sharks with heart-throb Christian Slater. Popped by the stage door afterwards for autographs and photos. he was very obliging as you can see. FYI, I'm not really twice his size - I'm just always embarressed by perspective in these kinds of photos.

Popped into the Tate Britain for the first time (different to the Tate Modern). It's a little off the beaten track (Pimlico), but well worth the effort as it focuses on the history of British art, and therefore has a cracking collection of work by the Pre Raphaelite Brotherhood.

We saw a number of pivotal pieces, including "The Lady of Shallot" and "Saint Eulalia" by John William Waterhouse, "Beate Beatrix" and "Proserpine" by Dante Gabriel Rossetti, and "Our English Coasts" by William Holman Hunt. (If these don't mean much to you, I recommend getting out a book on the PRB with big colourplates!)

There's nothing quite like seeing great art in person, and nowhere is this more noticeable than with the magnificent Waterhouses. They're much larger than I expected, and contain a wealth of detail I've not seen replicated with any justice in prints and postcards. I'd be quite happy to look at these two paintings every day...

I'd also booked tickets to the Turner prize retrospective, Britain's leading award for modern art. Since its inception in 1984, it has courted controversy and debate - I think largely due to its
preference for conceptual work, which can fail to engage the public as easily as something concrete. On the whole we did find the exhibition rather disappointing, but it was - well, not nice as such - interesting to see Damien Hirst's "Mother and Child Divided", dissected cows preserved in glass tanks.

I was back to the BFI a week later for an interview with the lovely Naomi Watts, who seems to look more and more like Nicole Kidman every year.

I had hoped to get an autograph on my copy of Mulholland Drive afterwards, but discovered that she had already left. I did, however, see Steve Buscemi breeze past on the way to his car.

Anna and I both ended up having a big night, so Saturday was pretty low key. We did make an effort to watch the World Cup final, though at home, with Connor and Terry (just back from his EU trip). I drank an imported bottle of Monteiths to celebrate the SA victory. Terry got back We roused ourselves on Sunday, and took Terry to the National History Museum (saw the dinos again, and also the "Red Zone" dedicated to the mysteries of the earth) and the Victoria & Albert Museum. Terry was impressed with the shrapnel marks on the outside of the V&A, preserved as a testimony to steadfast nature of the British institution..

We also had a good time feeding the squirrels in Hyde Park afterwards...

But I sustained a bite on my thumb! Hopefully I won't turn into a were-squirrel next full moon...

Took Terry to see a theatre show last night. We met at Leicester Square, where there have been film premieres all week for the BFI Festival. We did see the red carpet for Elizabeth: The Golden Age, but there were barriers so visibility wasn't great. I believe the cast were already safely ensconced inside, but I did spot a lone celebrity or two signing things for the crowd.

Postscript - I later determined that the celebrities were the respectable Dame Kelly Holmes (gold medal olympist), and the less-so Samantha and Amanda Marchant (from Big Brother, ugh).

Anyway, the play was Avenue Q, an adult musical with a part-Muppet cast. It opened with an hilarious first half, but the remainder was unfortunately lacklustre. Still, the cast/puppeteers were terrific.