The weather has been wonderful. The skies are particularly beautiful.

The other day I was in our neighbourhood Tesco store, which is like a mini-grocery store, and I noticed these two blokes next to me in an aisle. One said to the other, "That's the security alarm, we have to get out now." And I see him take a bunch of vacuum-packed lunch meat out from under his jacket and throw it back into the case. He ran out; the other guy hesitated for a second and then he did the same. It looked like he was considering running out with his stash of meat but changed his mind. Shortly thereafter an employee came over and put the stuff away and we exchanged a few words. I thought later that I could have tripped one of them, but it was probably better not to get involved. (Good decision)

Then last night Gord and I stopped in another Tesco store on our way back from dinner and there was an incident there. These two young women, quite intoxicated, were screaming at one of the store employees. Apparently one of the women thought she had been shortchanged and wasn't going to leave the store until she got her money. Every other word out of her mouth was a four letter word (well sometimes she added "ing" at the end, or "in"). The clerk was sure he had not made a mistake. The other girl was yelling at her friend to shut up, also using the same swear word repeatedly, and telling her to get out of the store so that she could handle it. The first girl stood at the doorway with her glass of wine in her hand and was screaming back to her friend and to the clerk and to every person in the store. One man making a purchase said something to the other girl about being rude and she came back at him, screaming that he was the one who was rude and that he should mind his own (expletive) business and called him a female body part. It was just a regular night at the Tesco! We made our purchases and left, with the screaming still going on.

I have noticed that that word is used a lot here by many people. The other day I was walking along and two middle-aged men in very nice suits were also walking and talking and using that word freely. Maybe it's not such a bad word here! I haven't heard anyone say "bloody" though--either it's worse than the other word or it's passe.

I visited the Tate Modern yesterday. It was fabulous. Most memorable sculptures: four David Smiths (they own ten, plus a drawing and a painting); Brancusi's Fish; and a sculptor to add to my list of favorites--(Dame) Barbara Hepworth. The Tate owns 128 of her works, but there were only a couple on display. I also saw one Henry Moore, Three Points, although they own 635 (including some works on paper). I also liked the Sol Lewitt room--a wall drawing that covered all four walls, Six Geometric Figures (+ Two), and the Mark Rothko room with these paintings he originally did for the Four Seasons Restaurant in New York but then decided they would not be fitting for a restaurant and gave them to the Tate instead. I enjoyed the Dali and Film exhibition that included some of his films which I had never seen before. One of the most interesting things was watching the installation in progress of an exhibition that will open next month. It's an annual art commission sponsored by Unilever, this time it's the Colombian sculptor Doris Salcedo. You would not believe the installation--you could watch from the upper levels down into the space which covers the entire first level--many, many workers and huge machines. It was a construction zone that will last for weeks.

Gord and I ate at a nice little Moroccan restaurant where I had the best meal I've had all week. We ended it with a pot of mint tea, surprisingly delicious.