For the record, I want it known that, despite it's small size, the shower at our temporary flat has an abundant amount of hot water. (There, I found something positive to say about the place!)

Sunday--Gord is in Oxford with the students until Monday evening. I went up to the Camden Arts Centre to see the exhibition Kenneth Martin & Mary Martin: Constructed Works. The Martins were local artists who were considered "two of British abstract art's foremost figures" and who were among those who "'rediscovered' abstraction during the 1940s," according to the booklet. The exhibition concentrated on their work in the 1950s and 1960s. Both artists were very mathematical in their constructions. Kenneth primarily made these wonderful mobiles out of found bits of metal and some wood, but the exhibition also included some of his paintings which were also quite nice. Mary constructed reliefs out of plaster, wood, mirrors that were based on mathematical principles such as the Fibonacci series. They were interesting but I was drawn more to Kenneth's work. There was another exhibition at the centre, Daniel Silver: Heads, that I liked very much. I got permission to take photos only to discover that my batteries were dead. He sculpted these heads out of soapstone and something called springstone while he was in Zimbabwe. There must have been fifty heads in the room, with very little space to maneuver your way around. I was worried that I would bump into one of the pedestals and knock one of the busts over but I was also thinking how nice it would be to own one of them.

From the arts centre, which was not far from Swiss Cottage where we lived in 1996, I stopped in at my old grocery store, bought some batteries, then walked down and took a photo of our old house on Buckland Crescent. From there I walked along Primrose Hill Road to Regents Park Road, nice neighborhoods, took a wrong turn, but finally ended up in Camden Town at the Jewish Museum. (The Camden Arts Centre is actually in West Hampstead, not Camden Town.) The Jewish Museum is about to undergo a major expansion that will close its doors until 2009. The museum was exactly as it is billed, "London's Museum of Jewish Life," taking the visitor through Jewish History in Britain, with a wide range of artifacts, then through Jewish Religious Life, Festivals and Holy Days, and the Jewish Life Cycle. It was very well done with a couple of videos in addition to the displays. There was also a special exhibition on minority boxers in Britain.

It is a good thing that I have a monthly bus/tube pass (Oyster card they call it now) because I took a bus in the wrong direction and ended up in the Parliament Hill part of Hampstead Heath--quite lovely but not where I needed to be. I realized it immediately but was chatting with a woman on the bus who convinced me I should see it and that I should have a "cuppa" tea up there before heading back. Well I passed on the tea, took a bus back, and finally made it as close to Oxford Circus as the bus was allowed, there being the annual Regent Street Festival that closed Regent Street from north of Oxford Street to Picadilly Circus. This was my destination because the theme was India. I wandered through the crowds (and I do mean crowds) trying to get a look at the music, the market, the food, and the entertainment, but it was difficult to see anything up close. There were a couple of Indian rappers on the main stage with huge projection screens at either end of the street that you could see. From there I headed up Picadilly Street, past Fortnum and Mason, and--this is for you Peggy B. and you too Molly--Laduree Paris(!), and the Royal Academy of Arts to the Marks and Spencer store to buy some take away food for dinner. To quote my friend Helen, this store is "FABULOUS." You have never seen so many options for prepared foods before and, as those of you who have ever had lunch or dinner out with me will know, I had to see what all of the options were before making my selections. I then took the tube home and settled in for a nice quiet evening with my feet up and finally had that cuppa tea. It was a good decision to save the big museums for the weekdays. The two museums I visited were not crowded.

When we were in London in 1996 I started making a list of the various street signs that are so different from ours. Yesterday I saw one that reminded me of the list: CHILDREN DEAD SLOW. I was trying to think of our equivalent but couldn't get it quite right, something like CHILD ZONE, or PLAY AREA, or is it just an icon?