Culture Vultures

Firstly I'd like to thank everyone who has commented on blogs over the last little while and apologise for not replying. I've been having terrible problems with my email; can't receive, can't send. Plus we've been away for a week on holiday.

We took our camper van to a site near where we used to live, south of London, and took taxis to the station nearly every day and then got a train to London. We tramped about quite a lot, just doing some sightseeing, although we both know London pretty well. We visited three exhibitions and saw three plays. We went to the Watteau drawings exhibition at the Royal Academy of Art; exquisite chalk drawings. I felt that I'd have known any of the people he drew immediately, he was able to put such life and expression into them. We also visited the Afghanistan: Crossroads of the East exhibition at the British Museum, very interesting and some stunning artefacts on show. And finally we went to the Design Museum, where we saw the future coming towards us. They had a display of designs that had won awards in the Brit Design competition and some of them will doubtless become everyday designs in the near future.

We saw three plays; 'Clybourne Park', an American play about race relationships in the 1950s and the present time, a satirical comedy which was very entertaining. 'The Wizard of Oz' at the London Palladium was good fun. 'Flarepath' by Terence Rattigan was excellent, beautifully written and excellently acted.

We only ate in the van once, as we had lunch and supper out most days. We saw various friends and finished up with a lunch organised by our two sons in a restaurant for Mothering Sunday. I've come home exhausted but having had a very enjoyable week.

The slideshow shows a random selection of photographs that I took. One of the things I love about London is that you can stand almost anywhere and see architecture that dates from way back alongside the very modern. I stood outside Tower Green tube station and could see parts of the Roman wall that used to surround London; the Tower of London (started in 1080); a monument to people executed there in Tudor times; monuments to the dead sailors of two world wars; buildings built after the Great Fire of London in 1666; Victorian buildings; 20th century buildings; and The Shard, which is in the process of being built now. Brilliant.