hello...

rivington place by david adjaye. for some reason i was surprised to find it on rivington st the other day. it snuck up on me, and then delighted me. haven't been inside yet as it's closed (along with almost everything else in the area) for the holidays.

breaking news

the snowman is ellie. she hides it well.

premature nostalgia

on boxing day (well, boxing night, we stayed inside and in our pyjamas as long as possible), ellie and i walked down to the barbican to see 'australia'. it. was. amazing! it was soppy and silly and romantic and long, but isn't that what it was always going to be? nicole's eyes were too white and shiney all the time so my one wish is that ben mendelson played lady ashleigh instead of nicole (he was the english captain and australia's most under-rated actor). oh well.

the barbican is pretty amazing too. they're having a bit of a corbusier love-fest in the new year. i think they heard i was coming.

and josh, that is the a.p.c. coat. glad you approve.

waifs and strays

a sensible start to the day (filled with love).

tula is confounded by racing pigeons.

evolution from dinosaur to bird, as told in christmas presents.

we decided a festive jaunt through london fields was in order.

and i am incredibly jealous of this girl and her red velvet dress.

a necessary expense.

two sophies, duncan, me and katya. (taken by ellie)

me, katya and kat. (taken by duncan. he's a photographer and he didn't let us forget it.)

ellie, ready to play sensible scrabble after team sophie was able to get away with 'yioweee' as the sound of burning yourself on the christmas roast. they got 45 points.

pud!

a blackrock christmas

mum and dad are home alone at blackrock for christmas.

snowy has been taken down as a 'margaret river town car'. she loves the open road so i'm very happy for her.

photos courtesy of mum and dad, presumably on the leica or panasonic.

christmas eve

a very fresh ice-skating rink.

for some reason the british seem to associate christmas with germany, more specifically bavaria, more specifically cologne. this is the christmas fair in hyde park but there's another couple (that i've seen) german-themed markets at the natural history museum and at southwark.

 

the most upsetting christmas gingerbread. try as we might, we couldn't think of a good context for that particular message. there was another that said 'please marry me' so send out the word that ellie only wants to be proposed to via gingerbread.

we then made our way down to mark and debbie's just to spread some christmas cheer and say hello. but when we got there, they were all heading out to the children's service at church (it's the much less religious service) and there was a bit of resistance, but debbie got her way in the end! we've set a date for debbie to cook us a feast and catch us up on gossip. should be very interesting. was great to see all my cousins though, however briefly.

i tried to jump into this chalk drawing. don't let mary poppins fool you, london pavement isn't as magical as she lets on.

ce soir

i made red beans and rice and listened to tom waits ('rain dogs', not 'small change' - it would have been too much). it was surprisingly tasty considering i only found the fresh chilli in the fridge when it was completely cooked. it kind of turned out as a poor man's risotto (with much less stirring) and could have been a lot worse. needed salt though.

tea, kings and leica talk

this is ellie and king edward at 'time for tea' where everything is second-hand and for sale.

that brown box/case to the left of ellie, to the right of the clock is a leather leica box, for storing leicas in of course. we got talking to the owner man about leicas and he has a 1933 nazi naval leica which he managed to pick up for an almost unbelievable 300 pounds or so. 

ellie thinks he is lying.

oh dear.

more markets

columbia flower market.

and surrounds (filled with babies - why on earth you would bother with a pram in such a situation is miles beyond me.)

broadway market

i've inquired about another small flat on broadway market. though i am yet to see it, i imagine it to be beautiful and perfect simply because it's a great street that transforms into a great market on the weekend. ellie, kat and i went down to do the christmas food shop on saturday morning.

this is a stall that sells exactly the way i want to dress (very british).

tweed! none of them as good as mine though.

i had flourless chocolate cake for breakfast. it was fantastic. many people had mentioned how great the 'violet' cupcakes are, so this is my alternative.

park life

the house hunt begins. i walked down to see an 'arty house' near victoria park. lovely location but the house was not quite right (smallest room ever.)

this is not house i looked at, though i wish it was.

met up with soph and we made our way to lamb's conduit street. there is the most beautiful bookshop called 'persephone books' that resurrects out-of-print books and recreates them with uniform grey covers but unique patterns inside (as you can see here). it made me very, very excited to reconstruct my library. i figure there will have to be a few books i'll have to buy again, ones i can read many times over and ones i can't live without - alice (of course), winne the pooh, a moveable feast... i'm sure i'll think of more!

me and rothko : friends forever

apparently there's something wrong with the chimney, they're not very descriptive about it.

last time i saw this beast was in bilbao 2004.

didn't take any photos of the rothko retrospective (why would you even waste your time). the murals from the chapel are simply exquisite though i would like to see them in their original context without all the idiots - "no i don't think much of these, he's become a bit sloppy" - i kid you not. the seagram murals are breathtaking too but i'm looking forward to them being back in the main collection. if you come looking for me in london, that's where i'll be.

i love that no matter how much it pretends not to be, london will always be completely dickensian. god only knows what he was looking for down there.

soundtrack for today : 'for emma, forever ago' by bon iver