I stopped in at the Oxfam store on Kensington High Street and purchased a couple of free trade gifts. They are one of my favorite charities and I do like to support them in their work around the world too. (Coincidentally, tonight I received an email appeal to help the cyclone victims in Bangladesh.)

I then took the Circle Line to the Westminster stop and walked across the Westminster Bridge on my way to Dali Universe. Took yet more photos of Big Ben, and also took one of a bagpipe-playing, kilt-wearing gentleman.

At the Dali Universe, I first went in to view an exhibition of works by (Nasser) Azam. This is someone with no art school experience who painted in the early 1980s while quite young (he was born in 1963) and then gave it up for twenty years or so to pursue his career in business. The early works were much more interesting to me than his new stuff, which I found not very exciting.

I would recommend the main Dali Universe to anyone who likes Dali and can overlook the errors on the wall and label text. I'm not sure that I would recommend it to someone not into surrealism. One of the most enjoyable parts was in the beginning, walking down a long corridor with photos of Dali interspersed with some of his quotes. They were great. (I was hoping to find a book of his quotes in the book store but they didn't have one.) One was, "Modesty is not exactly my specialty." There were something like 500 works on display so it took the better part of an afternoon to get through it all. They had one of his lobster telephones, one of his Mae West Lips sofas, the backdrop for that famous scene in the Alfred Hitchcock movie Spellbound, and many other pieces, some more recognizable than others.

I walked back over the bridge and headed home.

The interesting thing about the Circle Line on the London Underground is that when they announce that there are severe delays I've noticed that there is usually a train arriving within a couple of minutes. And when they say that there is "good service" I find that I have to wait an inordinately long time, as today when trying to get home (I waited fifteen minutes or so). Go figure. Well, it beats walking or, even worse, driving.

Former students Jess and Kasha (one is living here as the RA for the current students and the other is visiting) came over for some wine and cheese, and then we all walked over to the Elephant & Castle for some fish and chips (strange combination, I know).

Rainy today, but not as cold as yesterday.