Day 2: London

Day 2: London

QOTD:

Is it in the 30s?

Weather: Very cool (40s)

THB sleeps in. Well, maybe more accurate to say THB got 9 hours of sleep with 2 awake hours in the middle. DB talked to 1FS and they resolved a lot of the issues that became apparent after check-in.

Pic from the Cadogan hood

 

During the day

At night

Breakfast around the corner at Ottolenghi, a small offshoot of the series of places opened up by the guys that brought you Jerusalem. Shakshula (poached eggs on a tomato/onion stew) with toast for THB and scrambled eggs on toast for DB, starter of a huge cake-like doughnut with sugar and flat whites for both of us, $42.

More shopping at Waitrose (right across street from Ottolenghi) for soap and Kleenex. Then a stroll through the posh hood in (with windchill) what seemed like downhill skiing weather. Stops at Conrans and then Baker and Spice for to-go stuff for lunch and dinner: five different salads and a boule (that round bread in French); $50, a great tip from BB and FB!

A short stop at a coffee spot to pick up ground decaf espresso and a couple of ice teas, $20.

Salads: aubergine, edamame, shrimp, beets, rice with lentils, 

Lunch and dinner

Lunch and dinner

Just dinner

Rest up after lunch, mostly spent wrassling with the camera and netbook. We’ll see how that goes.

Collect, a gathering of crafts galleries and country councils from around the world, is the main event for DB and THB this week, and this afternoon was the grand opening (the grand grand opening was actually at 9pm tonight, no way we ever considered going to that party given the likelihood of jet lag). DB and THB had been to Collect many years ago when the show was in the back of the V&A and very crowded. Now it is at the Saatchi Gallery (a ½ mile away from 18 Cadogan), a very large and well laid out space. Not too crowded (we're at the VIP Preview), and easy to see the work and talk to gallery owners and artists. Nothing jumped out at us as “buy me now, buy me now”…we’re going back with MB and DB after they get to town.

Niki, a Greek artist at the Barcelona Joya exhibit

We liked her work a lot, she knows SB and SC 

Joya exhibit is on felt, very imaginative display

Silver jewelry boxes at Katie Jones gallery; Katie was the one who gave us VIP passes. She reps only Japanese artists (the British Joan Mirviss); we met her on a van coming back from Oyado The Earth a few years ago

 

Alison's work is  very powerful,  "remembrance" glass dresses of the Irish girls pushed into hard labor in laundries (Alison knew the artist we recalled seeing at Bullseye Portland a few years back, Silvia Levenson; Silvia also has work at Collect)  

We had a rug made by Chris, years ago

A cold stroll back to the apartment and more Baker and Spice salads, a bit of wine and imported chocolate for dessert, and an attempt to stay up late enough to fight off more jet lag.

A very common name

Someone arranged by 1FS came to fix the bathtub plug while we were out: left a message that we just needed to pull it out. Both DB and THB felt the amount of strength required might cause serious harm to the plug and didn't feel like picking up another big plumbing appliance bill ($630 for a loose screw seemed like more than enough this last month). And, now the plastic cover of the drain on the bathtub ledge makes a lot of sense...maybe the cleaning people used the metal one by mistake?

In meantime: water is still really hot, the thermostat is controlling the radiators/heat just fine, the toaster is working after unplugging and plugging it back in, THB can post if he loads pics one at a time, THB's internet still going down for a minute or so at a time while DB has smooth sailing all the time, and we're making it up until at least 9pm tonight.