And so August becomes September, summer turns to autumn, the kids go back to school and life returns to normal. Hurrah!

I was putting stuff in my diary this week and realised that, apart from one week in November, I have something cultural booked for every week between now and Christmas. This is a very good thing and makes me happy. And I'm promising myself that as long as I'm physically able I will go to all of them.

It started last night with Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, the musical version of the film of the same name. I had seen it before when it was on at the London Palladium, when Jason Donovan was in the cast, but we went to a matinee and he phoned in sick. Not that it mattered because the car outshone the cast and when it flew I nearly burst into tears!

This time it was in Norwich, only an hour away so it would have been stupid not to go, especially as we got £6 seats. Of course it was fab, how could it not be with a flying car, great songs, real dogs and a cast of thousands! There are some songs that weren't in the film that don't work quite as well as the original ones, but the good stuff is fantastic, particularly the Toot Sweet song which is a excellent! I amused myself by watching the camp boys in the chorus - it wouldn't be a music without a camp chorus!

The whole cast were great but I particularly enjoyed the spies - one tall and fat, one short and skinny with unexpectedly muscley arms, how did knockabout song and dance stuff like an old musical hall act. And the Baroness managed the right level of bosomy and suggestive. The Child Catcher looked great too but only had about three scenes - didn't he have a song in the film or did I imagine it? But really the car was the star!

Last night I went out with the 24 year old. The whole problem with him at the moment is trying to turn a sexual relationship into a friendship. I'm done having sex with him - he was fun, but no more fun than many other man I've met, so I guess I got bored of having sex with him. I think the penny may have dropped with him as he hasn't asked lately and he's starting seeing other people, which is a good thing.

But the tricky bit is finding whether we have enough in common to make a friendship. I think we have - we have enough overlap in tastes of films and music, and both enjoy going out to dinner - which sounds like nothing but it's a start.

But it's the way he behaves that puts me off - he's so incredibly selfish! It's quite literally all about him! At first I excused it with, "oh he's just young!" but actually that's not true at all, he's just really rather selfish.

Some examples:

It had been a couple of weeks since I last saw him, in which time I'd been to Wales and London, and did me ask me about either of those things? No! Instead he told me long stories about work and his grandmother's hip.

It's his birthday this month, which he reminded me about two months ago. He went to see his Mum last week specifically to tell her what he wanted for his birthday. He's posted ideas on Facebook and is counting down the days on MSN. "I've got an Amazon wishlist, I'll send it to you!" he said. "Ha ha ha", I replied, meaning, "don't bother!"

After we left the restaurant he said, "thanks for dinner", because I'd paid for it, then added, "but it was probably your turn". Which is true but was there any need to say so? Besides, it was probably his turn to drive, oh but wait - he can't!

He's going on holiday next month and he's been asking for a lift on Facebook - "willing to pay!" Except not really otherwise he'd get a train or a taxi to the airport, he just wants to give someone £20 and let them carry his suitcase and buy him coffee on the way.

I can't stand selfishness and laziness and getting other people to take care of you! It really is my pet hate! Everyone should learn to take care of themselves, so if you find yourself on your own you don't wither and die. It's basic survival.

So with all that in mind I've been quite reluctant to see him, but he persists. So last night we went for a meal at a Chinese restaurant that does a buffet. Lovely food, and this time I remembered to eat the sushi with the starter not with the pudding.

Then we went to a nearby pub but because he's a smoker we sat outside. Under an umbrella in the rain and cold. I sipped a small glass of wine - because I was driving! - whilst he finished the bottle and moaned about his boyfriend. What fun!

The madness in their relationship continues: he's having a BBQ for his birthday and has invited a bloke he's been chatting to on MSN for four months. The bloke is coming up from West London, which is ridiculous in itself! "Is he sleeping on the sofa?" I asked. No - it turns out the 24 years old's boyfriend has offered to sleep on the sofa so the 24 year old can shag the visitor. Is it me or are they insane?

And yet despite it all I had quite a fun evening, which I think might make me a little insane too!

I don't mind waking up early when I get to see something like that. Be careful out their shepherds! (Or sailors
if you're in North America!)

I normally hate Bank Holiday weekends but this one was great!

The sun shone and I decided to make the most of it by gardening - Sunday morning I went to the garden centre and came back with more plants. Then I spent the afternoon planting them, but before that I pruned the roses that grew through from next door's garden. But I got a bit carried away, possibly out of spite because the woman next door always seems to find fault with me when she's up for the weekend. So I was brutal, and only when it was too late did I discover that the rose was what was holding their trellis together. Oops.

On Monday I should have seen the 24 year old in the afternoon, but I had a conversation with Mum about getting the garden sorted for winter and I realised that I should be spending the day doing just that not having coffee and listening to him complain about his boyfriend. So I cancelled.

Then Mum came over and helped me put a bird bath in the garden.



I know it looks like a big blue mushroom! Mum bought it for me months ago when the garden was first done and I think I was just completely shocked by that - she's not a gifts kind of person, apart from Christmas and birthdays, so it was a bit of a surprise! I don't know if I'd have chosen it myself, I doubt I'd have even thought off having a bird bath, but now it's in I really like it. We banged some metalwork into the ground, then stood the base over it, filled it with concrete, then held the top on with NoMoreNails. If anyone can get away with it after all that they're welcome to it!

Then I pulled down a trellis near the house. Dad made it many years ago but it never really worked, I could never get anything to grow up it apart from the stuff that came through from next door. So I pulled it down, literally - I just grabbed the top and down it came. The hardest part was cutting it up to get it into the car, but I did without chopping any fingers off. By the end of the day I had a tidy garden and another car full of rubbish for the tip.

So I finished the day with battered hands, a slightly sore back and that pleasant feeling of tiredness. Great weekend!

London - two.

My next stop was the Serpentine Gallery in Kensington Gardens. The Gardens were absolutely beautiful - big lake, lots of tress, more 'country' than the actual country, so it was a nice bonus just to be there.

I went to see an exhibition by Jeff Koons, an American artist whose work I've admired ever since he made a huge puppy out of flowers. I've never seen his stuff for real before so this was something of a treat.

The show is a mixture of paintings - Popeye, inflatable pool toys, big-breasted women - which are very Pop Art, but also not that interesting, and sculpture. The sculptures look like inflatable pool toys but are apparently made of aluminium which has then been painted to look uncannily like the thing they're pretending to be. It's amazing how exactly like a blow-up toy they are, with all the ripples and folds of inflated plastic. It's one of those things you have to admire just because someone decided to do something so silly. But part of me wondered if actually they're just real pool toys and the whole thing is just a trick - they're very strict about not touching them, with gallery attendants position right next to the work ready to swoop in and stop you if you get too close. Jeff Koons is a bit of a joker, wouldn't it be fab if actually he'd just blown some things up and hung them from the ceiling?

As a little bonus there's a pavilion at the gallery - every summer they get an architect to design an outdoor space for them, which often seem more interesting than they actually are. This year's was fab - a shiny reflective roof, with a really nice curve going on, which when you stood under it did interesting things with reflections.



My plan after that was to walk through the park to the Albert Memorial, but my sense of direction deserted me and I ended up at Hyde Park Corner instead. So I had a picnic there then wandered through Mayfair back into the West End.

Next stop was the National Portrait Gallery for an exhibition of Gay Icons - ten gay people each pick six people who have inspired them, not necessarily gay but mostly. They also wrote a short piece to go with each picture, explaining why that person was so important to them. It was pretty interesting although to be honest it was the same old faces you'd expect to see at this kind of thing, but the writing was the most interesting bit: Sandi Toksvig, who I like but who is a bit too 'nice' to get excited about, picked Peter Tatchell, legendary gay rights campaigner, and the stuff she wrote sent a shiver down my spine and made me want to cry. Cumulatively it did make me feel unexpectedly proud, although I can't help thinking it was more a magazine article than an exhibition.

Then there was time to have a stroll up Charing Cross Road for some shopping and a sit on Trafalgar Square to watch the people on the Fourth Plinth before heading to Kensington to meet Thom from Wales. This was a little bonus treat - we happened to be in London at the same time and spontaneously decided to meet up.

We wandered round Kensington and Knightsbridge gossiping and searching for somewhere to eat, ending up in a cafe with sausage and mash, which was the perfect food after a long day of walking and Art. Lovely to see you Thom! xx

London was gorgeous, the ideal start to the Bank Holiday weekend! The inevitable pictures are here:

london august 2009

London - one.

At the start of the month I had a day in London seeing some Art exhibitions and there was enough stuff left to see to do another day. That day was scheduled to be yesterday. But as yesterday drew closer I could feel myself thinking, "perhaps I'll go next week instead", so I started telling people I was going so I'd pretty much have to. And I did.

First stop was Chalk Farm, which I thought would be heaving with people from Camden Market but actually it was deserted and sunny. I went to the Roundhouse, an old venue which has recently been given a new lease of life, to see an installation by David Byrne called Playing the Building.

I love David Byrne, he's one of the good guys, who always does something interesting which makes life better. Although he's a musician his work has always been very visual, which I find really exciting. The installation features an old organ which 'plays' the building - each key is connected to wire which is connected to a part of the building so when you strike the key the building makes a noise.



It's a mixture of hammering on hollow pipes, striking solid beams, and letting air out of tubes. It's a really interesting idea, because all buildings are full of sounds anyway, whether it is the creak of the floorboards, the rattling of the pipes or the way it moves slightly in the wind. And it's even more interesting to use a music venue to create this kind of sound.

The public can 'play' the organ, and there was a queue to do so, but I didn't. It wasn't cowardice, although I'm not sure I'd have known what I'd have done if I did, it was just that I wanted to experience the sounds not make them. I sat at the bottom of a pillar and let the sound wash over me. It was fascinating, strangely relaxing and not as jarring and discordant as you might expect. Some people we're clearly trying to play tunes but the sounds had been cleverly chosen so you couldn't get a tune out of it. The whole thing just made me grin.

I was also curious to see the building, firstly because it's really round, but also because loads of bands play there but I've never been, assuming - wrongly - that it is completely inaccessible. Well stupid me, it's right next to the Tube, three stops from King's Cross - it's possible the easiest venue for me to get to in London - what an idiot!