London XV

Kylie and Anthony's housewarming drew me Londonward once again and, never one to pass up an opportunity, I got out and about. First stop photographers gallery,

moseyed past concert on at Trafalgar Square,

strolled along the Victoria Embankment

then to Hermitage Rooms to see exhibition of Byzantine art, thesis being that the Byzantines carried the classical tradition through the otherwise dark ages while the rest of Europe descended into pagansim, looting and chaos. Went to Tate Modern to see Albers and Moholy-Nagy exhibition.

It was fascinating - they both had such a huge influence on modernism, and everything that that has entailed and affected, especially design and layout of things like ads, posters, furniture, appliances, logos etc.

Headed to KnAs for their "H is for Housewarming" party. I went as Hermes

It was a good theme that managed to lure out a harpy, horny housewife, Hugh Hefner, the Hulk, hula girl, a ho, some hippies and Hannah (Daryl, from Kill Bill 2 - cryptic...) - good work team!

Even the dude at the convenience store got into it, offering his Hand.

Woke feeling undeservedly OK, brekky w MJ then walked through Battersea and along Thames. Went to Gothic nightmares exhibition again at Tate Britain twice (already given my two cents worth on that one...). Stopped at Audley End house on the way home. Situated on the Cam, upriver from the bridge, it used to be a royal palace and has been an ancestral home of the Audleys, Suffolks, Braybrookes since it was first built in the 1600s.

The gardens were designed by Lancelot 'Capability' Brown, so nicknamed due to his habit of telling clients that their gardens had "great capabilities" - an inspiration to gardeners, real-estate agents and advertising copywrighters the world over. His approach involved "the utmost care to give the impression of a romantic natural scene. Everything was meticulously contrived to give a sense of informality, of natural beauty, though of course nothing in the garden was natural at all." One could cynical but it does look good.

All very bucolic and historic. Interestingly, the Temple of Concord, on the hill overlooking the house and gardens was built to celebrate George III's recovery from his first attack of insanity. It was recently discovered that his madness stemmed from porphyria, triggered late in his life by high arsenic concentrations in his blood. Of further interest is the fact that he started the Royal Academy which I visited in the last installment of my blog. What fascinating turns my life takes...