squirmelia | What I did in March 2016

Construction Tunnel at Charing Cross Station

I visited Charing Cross Station and had to wear a hard hat and high vis, and went through secret doorways and not open to the public passageways, and visited non-operational platforms (used often in films and also for testing things out) and a construction tunnel and a ventilation shaft.

I bounced on a raspberry jelly scented bouncy castle outside City Hall, with

kekhmet and

augeas. Bouncing is so much fun!

One Sunday, I headed east and wandered by the River Lea, past rusty looking gas holders and a sculpture made of shopping trolleys in the form of a double helix, which was commissioned by a supermarket chain on the 50th anniversary of the discovery of DNA’s double helix structure and past a sculpture that was based on an anatomical 3mm section of human skin. It was sunny and the sky was blue. I then walked through Cody Dock and there was a sensory garden with dancing grasses and fairies in it. Then I headed to the city and wandered there, looking at sculptures, such as "Ghost" in the Leadenhall Market, which was actually a kayak. I then ate honey, rosemary and orange zest ice-cream, which was delicious.

One evening, I ate dinner with

doseybat at Joy King Lau and enjoyed catching up.

I saw paintings based on photos developed in coffee, in Mark Entwisle's The things we forget exhibition at the Long & Ryle gallery.

I celebrated

sbp's birthday at his excellent house party and drank Christmas cake liqueur and black forest gateau liqueur.

I wandered around the city with my mum and stared at photos of strange ceremonies in the city, taken by Martin Parr, and displayed in the Guildhall art gallery.

I felt sad after reading about and seeing pictures of sculptures that have long since been destroyed or gone missing, in the Out There: Our Post-War Public Art exhibition in Somerset House. My mum and I also concluded we would quite like to visit Harlow.

I celebrated

kiss_me_quick's birthday at the Star of Kings and danced that night.

One evening, I ate dinner with

deathboy at Ethos, and then we scribbled on cards with sharpies and planned the musical ball pit, which we hope to make for EMFCamp.

I went to an event on Experimental Writing at the Caroll/Fletcher Gallery.

I wandered around Streatham, holding hands with someone, past the ice-cream vans and the monkey puzzle tree.

I concluded that I shall always try to look butterflies in the eye, after hearing slightly frightening stories about pigs and chickens, told by Monika and Kat in the Windsor Castle.

I watched in awe as the pelicans in St James’s Park flapped their wings really close to where I stood.

I watched an odd, but rather depressing film which featured puppet sex at the cinema. (Anomalisa).

I saw the Information Superhighway exhibition with

obandsoller at the Whitechapel Gallery, and saw works by jodi.org and Douglas Coupland, and other artists.

I waved goodbye to a number of colleagues, who I will miss, and went to various leaving drinks and leaving lunches. I now have quite a few desks to myself and am concerned soon I will be the only person left.

I went to Pub Standards, and joined in with strange conversations about anti-popes and watched everyone marvelling over the book that

figg had bought.

I watched videos of people cycling up trees and across and inside abandoned buildings in the Design Museum, and thought it looked cool, and contemplated taking up cycling. I also saw the Designs of the Year exhibition.

I went to a GeekGirl Meetup on sex tech, which had talks on subjects such as using Tinder for campaigns, such as trying to get Millennials to sign up as organ donors; designing toys, and also apps to control lighting, aroma, etc, to get you in the mood; Her, a dating app for women wanting to meet women.

I used the Derive app on my phone to lead me around one lunch time, and I looked for a green vehicle, walked away from someone who looked sad, stared at a crack in the pavement and imagined it was caused by a giant snail, and ended up lying on the grass in the sunshine in St James's Park, looking up at the clouds through the trees.

One evening, I had dinner at Tibits and ate a mixture of things, including lavender cheesecake for dessert and then at a bar afterwards, I drank a cocktail with a piece of lavender floating in it.

I went to the Search Party event, and met a mermaid who sung clues, followed arrows, tasted different kinds of water but failed to identify which was which so had to sing Row, Row, Row Your Boat as a forfeit, attempted hula-hooping and dancing, did some star jumps, played on a swing, sniffed herbs, failed to find a bird so had to whistle, played hook a duck, and then eventually found the party, and ate cucumber sandwiches there.

I ate food at Pop Brixton, including a jerk veggie bean cake wrap, yam balls, crispy kale, and drank some palm wine.

I got on the first bus that came along and then got off after 9 stops, and then got on the next bus that came along, and got off after 9 stops, and so on, for a few more buses, and ended up somewhere in the Lea Valley.

I visited Hastings on a sunny day, and walked on the beach with my mum, and watched the waves. We also went for a ride on a funicular, the West Cliff Railway.

I stared at photographs of the UK by international photographers that were Strange and Familiar in the Barbican, in an exhibition curated by Martin Parr. I also visited the conservatory and explored the hidden tropical oasis.