What I did in September 2017

[squirmelia]

I visited Folkestone one weekend, and saw art in the Folkestone Triennial, and in the Fringe. I walked through the tunnels and stared at the Gormley, appreciated the colourful houses that had appeared in strange places, listened to gravestones,

I also enjoyed some of the Fringe work, particularly walking on the harbour arm, in the dark along the top, listening to atmospheric sounds, with the sea next to me, and the lighthouse beaming every so often, and feeling like I was in a game then, or maybe a movie.

The weather was so good that weekend that I initially paddled in the sea, amongst the fish, and then later, went for a swim in the sea.

I went on a zipwire. “The biggest, fastest city zipwire in the world!” For the first few seconds, particularly the stepping off the ledge part, it was scary, but then I quickly realised that I was flying across the trees and felt happy.

I survived the zipwire, only to be stung by a wasp on a train on the way home. So painful!

I did a taster class in Sonic Arts: Hidden Sounds at CityLit, which involved trying out putting contact mics on things. I ended up stroking a cactus with a feather and listening to it creaking. That was fun.

I went to the premiere of Mr Biffo’s Found Footage. Mr Biffo used to write for Digitiser on Teletext, and this was sort of the same kind of surreal humour. GamesMaster pastiches, Goujon John, wasp bells, fried hair, the Tea Prancer, etc. Violet Berlin (from Bad Influence!), Nam Rood, and Chris Coltrane also starred in the Found Footage. Selfies with a person with an arse for a face were taken! Watching people playing Jenga made us fearful that it might contain spores!

I visited the Robot Zoo at the Horniman and stared into the eyes of a robot giraffe. I then did an Ingress banner and wandered around the gardens for a while. Later, I ate tahini ice cream with lashings of date honey, toasted pistachios, and a rose petal kadaif, from Gelupo.

I visited the Riverside Gallery in Richmond and looked at pictures of River: The Life of the Arcadian Thames.

I visited the Museum of London one lunchtime, visited the colourful inflatable Villa Walala at Exchange Square another, and saw the new Banksy art by the Barbican.

One lunchtime, I listened to mythophones, hearing sounds of what London used to be like, and at one point, while I was listening, I became surrounded with bubbles.

I caught up with friends at Pub Standards one evening and met some new people.

I wandered around Walala's colourful mirror maze at the Now Gallery.

I played boardgames at the Library Pot with friends one evening. I remember we played Cottage Garden and had to plant flowers and flower pots and cats. We also played Codenames and pretended to be spies.

During London Open House weekend, I visited:
Whitechapel Crossrail – Quite a lot of scaffolding.
Wilton's Music Hall – Pretty! Papier-mache balconies and barley sugar iron columns.
Sweetdram – I tasted some escubac.
Bunhill Heat and Power – Provides heat and energy for over 850 homes and two leisure centres.
Institution of Structural Engineers – Had some good meccano models of bridges.
Bevin Court – An interesting Modernist building with a great staircase and a 3D printed bust of Bevin (and not Lenin).
Southwark Integrated Waste Management Facility – I went on the standard waste tour, and then the recycling tour, which was fascinating.
Kaymet – They make very fancy trays.
One Blackfriars – Great views!
Peckham Rye Old Waiting Room – Also had an exhibition of old photos of Peckham.

One Friday, I went to the Ingress Enlightened monthly social and wore a strand of green in my hair.

I visited St Albans and met up with family and played in the park. I went on a see-saw, slid down a slide, rode a wooden horse, and felt a bit dizzy after a few seconds on a roundabout.

I played Thimbleweed Park, a point and click adventure game, and looked through the phonebook in the game, and noticed the name of a friend in there! I phoned the number, in the game, and listened to an answerphone message that she and her husband had recorded.

I met a fellow Russell Hoban fan in Richmond for drinks one evening, and we listened to other people's conversations about surprises and jellyfish.

I listened to poetry by Alan Moore, saw comedy by various comedians, such as Stewart Lee, Robin Ince, Simon Munnery, and also listened to some beatboxing and folk music at the Wake for Blake.

Comments

[miss_newham]

I'm glad you made it to the Southwark Integrated Waste Management Facility! Definitely one of the better Open House places I've been to in recent years. This year we just saw a few of the livery company halls, and some places in Croydon.

[squirmelia]

It was probably my favourite this year! I still haven't been to the South East London Combined Heat and Power though! Maybe next year!

What was the best place you visited?

[miss_newham]

Kevan liked the Guildhall best. I think my favourite was Bec's workplace! There was a very good view of Croydon and beyond from the roof.

[mrs_leroy_brown]

What a fun month :) I continue to envy your adventures in amazeballs ice cream :)