John Byrne and Contemporary Artists

I was very lucky on Sunday to be child/hubby free so that I could meet a friend in town who wanted to see some art exhibitions. He was a very old colleague who contacted me out of the blue which was a nice surprise and having the art was a nice way to avoid any awkward pauses while we caught up. He cracked me up as he kept stopping on stairs mid conversation - it was bizarre and contraire to my always-moving self.

We met at the Scottish National Portrait Gallery in Queen Street, Edinburgh. This is about 5 minutes from where I work but I've never managed to get there - my loss as the building is a neo-gothic wonder. The exterior lobby area is breath taking- with stunning stained glass windows and a painted ceiling. Like a dolt, I didn't take any photos.
I had been meaning to go for ages to see the John Byrne Sitting Ducks exhibition - and luckily managed to catch it on the last day. My favourite artworks were one of Billy Connolly and another Tilda Swinton. There were also many self portraits and family portraits - fascinating to see how he portrayed himself, his mrs and children. I wish I had had time to look at each in detail.

Other fascinating areas of the gallery were the library with it's phrenology exhibition and the Remembering the Great War exhibition. I need to look into Field Marshall Douglas Haig who's strategies led to so many deaths and the poppy appeal which began life at the Haig Fund to help ex-servicemen. 

After a wander around the gift shop, we went in search of lunch. Ending up in Rose Lane North for a non-spectacular lunch. But it filled our bellies and we were energised enough to make our way to the 

Scottish National Gallery where I wanted to see the Generation - an exhibition of contemporary artists. This is a great museum to visit as the two buildings house a wide variety of art so there is bound to be something for everyone in there. And it's accessible being just 5 mins walk from Edinburgh Waverly Station, in the pretty Princes Street Gardens. They had a bit of a shift around so some paintings that were housed in the lower gallery are now in the main one. I like seeing them in new settings. However, I did struggle with the paintings that are hung up high as the lights hit them so you need to move around to actually view them - not easy when it's busy. There is also a very loud hum in the main gallery which was off-putting. The gallery is pretty bonkers as it's actually two buildings connecting by an underground passage. So without realising it, you are in the other building. Luckily there are some red and blue dots to follow. I have to admit that I didn't really warm to the Generation exhibition - nothing interested me but there are so many paintings in the museum that I love and always am astonished they own Rembrandts that it was fine. I recommend checking out the North of the Border paintings especially the one by Peter Graham and the Gainsborough - the Honorable Mrs Graham who was a beauty and had the most fabulous dress on. I'm really looking forward to the fashion exhibition due to start mid November. 

So there we go - my soul is somewhat replenished after what has been an awful few weeks. And if you read my foodie blog, you'll know that I finished the day with a lovely haul of sweets. All in all lovely ...though I was a tad guilty when I got home as Mr Plummy has caught yet another cold :(. 

Comedy on the Common

Me and the old man went along to the Comedy on the Common show for the first time on Saturday. As we walked up to the Pavilion on a rather misty and cold evening, I watched fireworks being let off on and around the Common (obviously some people did not remember, remember the 5th Nov and so had to do it the following day (and again on Sunday sheeesh enough already)).
With some trepidation, we walked up to the club and went in past a bunch of "youfs".
The Pavilion is a Rugby club hut and it looks like one. Nothing fancy, no niceties and very few beers on tap or in bottle but the room is a nice size, and I can see that an intimate atmosphere could easily be attained.
For some reason, despite the copious amount of moaning I hear about the lack of things to do around here, the place was quite empty. The show was delayed as the organisers waited for more people to turn up. As we had already paid, we stayed.
In the end the show began around 8.30pm and the MC came on stage. I did not get his name which was a shame as he was very good and came all the way from Bristol for the gig. He didn't know much about London but it didn't seem to matter as he was able to connect with some of the audience and kept coming back to them at each handover...including the youfs who turned out to be a nice enough bunch. It turns out being a pipe cutter is a prime source of ad-lib comic material but being a stay-at-home mum isn't ... the MC wasn't able to create any humour about the SAHM who was brave enough to speak up.
In all it was a good night. The people in the club were friendly and good natured.  I didn't really enjoy the act one Steve Allen as he was mostly going about being single (something I haven't been for some time HURRAH!) but his gimmick was his radio voice which was funny. The second act was Tony Dunn who was a cardigan wearing Scotsman joking about genital mutilation of Postman pat dolls and his dad's thriftiness. The third act, Tony Law, took some time to arrive (it was a long wait and many trips to the loo) but the wait was worth it as he was brilliant and had me laughing so hard I couldn't breathe - I would have loved to have seen the faces of people passing hearing the strange noises he made.
So yes, it's not a glamorous venue but when the quality of the entertainment is good, you forget and just enjoy the evening. I hope to go to more in the future and hope more Plumsteadians will join in the fun too.

Astroturfing

A new word for me "Astroturfing"!
While looking at fireplaces online, I noticed that the reviews on both the Argos and Homebase sites were the same, word for word.
Mr Plummy Mummy who is a techie, explained this is called Astroturfing. It's where an organisation is created specifically to represent something and make it more popular. In California, they are are trying to outlaw this.
Now don't get me wrong, I'm not naiive, I knew this happened.I've come across rather enthusiastic reviews on Argos before that smack of a corporate drone sitting there ensuring the common customer doesn't besmirch the good name of their company's products. And in China, internet spin doctors are used to shape bad news into good.
Leaves me with a bit of a dilemma as I like online shopping but don't know how to ensure reviews are genuine. Does astroturfing happen on Amazon? Or Play?
If you come across something suspicious, email the companies (i.e. Argos/Homebase) to inform them. Also the law is on your side in the form of the The EU's Directive on Unfair Business-to-Consumer Commercial Practices.
Or just take the reviews with a pinch of salt.

Indian Timing and the Mela

It's kind of an in-joke...if you invite Indian people somewhere say at 2pm, they will turn up at 3pm or later. I don't know why - maybe it's cool to be late, maybe Indians are laid back about timed activities. In other words, they aren't well known for punctuality.
I should have remembered this before venturing out to the Woolwich Mela this morning. I wanted to go for the "Childrens and Women's activities" listed as being from 10.30 to 12.00pm in the programme on the unofficial Mela site (I call it unofficial as it's not the Mela site listed in the Greenwich days out mag but another site).
Like a demented loon, I ignored the heat and chose to walk up Plumstead Common Road and Nightingale Place.
For some reason I thought the Mela was going to be in front of the historical building but walking there showed an empty ground. There was absolutely no mess from the previous day's Armed Forces day (did anyone go??? How was it?)
Of course, the Mela was on Ha-ha road. So there I trudged, alongside the ha - ha wishing it was full of a nice cooling stream of water that I could dangle my heat swollen feet into.
And this is the site that greeted me. It was EMPTY. There were hardly any people, no food stalls, and definitely no "Children's activities" assuming you don't count the fair which was very similar to the one at the recent Make Merry. From what I could make out, they were still testing the sound system on the stage.
The ice-cream van man (yes yes, I broke my rule and bought some lollies for me and tot....it was 27 degrees by then) said it would get busy from 2pm onwards. No chance I was going to sit around until then. I walked around the rather lame stalls, bought a indian suit for tot and a children's story book then jumped on the 291 back to the Plumstead Common Road.
I'm sure the Mela will be full later, and I did spot a caterers van so food will be available but alas I'm not going to see that as I'd rather sit in the cool of our house in nothing but t-shirts ready to watch the big game later on today.

White Swan and the Royal Standard

Mr Plummy Mummy and I got a rare night out last night courtesy of my Mother in Law who watched the tot for us.
We decided to go for a drink and the plan was to take the bus to Greenwich. Of course, this means changing. The route options from Plumstead Common Road being:
Bus to Woolwich, change to another bus.
Stay on 53 to Deptford and take the DLR to Greenwich (2 mins)
Stay on 53 and walk through the park or down South Street.
In the end, we didn't make it to Greenwich. We did a mini pub crawl assuming 2 pubs counts as a crawl.
The first stop was the White Swan in Charlton. I've been meaning to go here since reading about it on the 853 blog. The barlady was friendly and the locals seemed fine. However, the place was more run down than I expected. However, this is a pub trying hard in modern times where pubs are closing on a daily basis. There is a sandpit in the garden for kids perfect for the Monday morning parents club, there is food and teas/coffees. They put on a lot of different nights to attract customers. We had inadvertently turned up on Quiz Night which wasn't really our thing so made a hasty exit after a half. If this was in Plumstead, I'd probably frequent it regularly but for myself, it is not somewhere I'd take a bus to. Having said that, well done them for all they do and good luck for the future.
The next stop on our Route 53 ride was the Royal Standard. My goodness what a difference. A larger pub well laid out with distinct zones, comfy couches to sit on, a garden and food/teas/coffee. The barman was again very friendly and introduced me to the THIRD. Yes, not a half, not a pint but a third. Fabulous for me as I often buy a half or pint of something then halfway through it's gone flat, or tasteless. The first third I went for was Columb-o ABV 4.0% from the Otley Brewery in Pontypridd which was a very fruity pale ale. It was nice, not at all fizzy and just went down well. The second third was Blond Witch from the Moorhouses brewery which didn't taste of much ... a problem as I could see myself easily drinking pint after pint of this without any effort and would fall down drunk before I knew it. Like the White Swan, the Royal wasn't full. Must be due to the footy, which was on TV in both pubs but luckily with the sound turned down so we could have a conversation without the background swarm of bees buzz of vuvuzelas.
Out of the two we preferred the Royal Standard, it is a great place to go mid-week and only a bus ride away. We might even venture one Sunday for a roast.

Beer in the evening reviews:
White Swan
Blackheath Royal Standard

Facebook pages:
White Swan
Blackheath Royal Standard

Hall Place

We went along to Hall Place today for the first time. The place is well laid out and we had a nice walk around some model gardens, the greenhouses and some other garden areas. It was interesting to see some of the plants there such as the ginger plant.
For lunch we went into the Jacobean Barn restaurant which is on site. Luckily, even though we didn't have reservations, we were seated easily. Although my vegetarian lunch was very average, my meat eating companions enjoyed their meals. The desserts were again a bit disappointing - my Eton Mess didn't have enough fruit so give those a miss.
The plan had been to walk around the 65 acres and the medieval house but wine with lunch laid me out (I'm such a cheap date!) and we drove back home. Luckily, it only takes about half an hour to drive from Plumstead so I will be returning to finish my visit, preferably on a day with a lower pollen count....achoooooo!
There is plenty of free parking but note that the Hall & gardens are not open on Mondays or Tuesdays.

Hall Place:
Hall Place and Gardens, Bourne Road, Bexley Kent. DA5 1PQ.

Horniman Museum

Taking advantage of the relatively reduced levels of traffic, we drove to the Horniman Museum today. We couldn't find parking at the museum but a few streets away, there is unrestricted parking. Alternatively, you can use the pay carpark behind Sainsbury.
I was impressed with the Museum even though some exhibits were hard to see as the lighting had gone. There are hands on areas that enable kids to play...the best one was in the amazing Musical Instruments gallery. This gallery had hundreds of interesting instruments and was worth the visit alone. The lower ground floor also houses a small aquarium with some beautiful jellyfish and tropical fish.
The natural history section included an enormous walrus. It was a real one that was stuffed! Puts into perspective our relative small size. In addition, there was a case showing extinct animals including a dodo - I must be getting soppy in my old age as I nearly cried on reading that this animal was neither good for food or clothing but was hunted anyway. B*****d hunters.
We started our visit with lunch in the cafe. My dish was fresh though my families sandwiches weren't quite so. However, it wasn't an expensive lunch and the staff were very friendly.
After walking around the Museum we strolled around the surrounding park area which has quite a panoramic view of London. The flower garden was cordoned off but we could see it was very pretty. A great park to take along a picnic to. It's very parent friendly with ramps down to floor, or lifts. Plenty of space to park buggies including a dedicated buggy room with lockers for storing bags etc and a baby changing room. The cafe had a huge supply of child chairs and a special kids menu.
This is also a great place to get married. While we were there a civil partnership ceremony was taking place in the pretty Conservatory so there were plenty of well dressed folks milling about. :)

Horniman Museum 100 London Road, Forest Hill, London SE23 3PQ
Tel: 020 8699 1872
www.horniman.ac.uk

Bookstart at the National Maritime Museum

I think the whole Bookstart initiative is brilliant as it manages to introduces books to toddlers in a fun way.
Today we went along to the Bookstart session at the National Maritime Museum. Greenwich was completely empty so there was none of the aggro of white van man trying to run us down or tourists standing like lemons (lemmings?) at inconvenient spots.
The session had a seaside theme. With the heavy rain, tot was more dressed as a Perfect Storm fisherman than a beach babe. The event included craft tables to make pictures of boats, ice creams and lollipops (with sharp scissors, tut tut), books strewn about a make believe sea, a stall selling seaside related stuff and a stall run by Lewisham and Greenwich librarians. I did give the latter a hard time about the lack of toddler things to do in Plumstead in the afternoons and suggested it would be jolly nice if they thought of opening some sessions in the children centres for us. I totally ignore the Slade Tuesday afternoons ;)
The librarian leading the singing was trying very hard, had lots of energy and did manage to get some parents to join in but lost out in terms of popularity, esp with our tot, when there was a special appearance from the giant blue Bookstart bear. I think tot wanted to bring the bear home and I felt very sorry for him as he was mobbed by the tiny tots.
The only down side were the photographers who were really intent on herding the tots into a good photo and that was a bit annoying when all the little ones wanted to do was be with the bear.
The museum runs craft sessions every Tuesday during term time if you are interested. They are free and I think it's marvellous to go along to such a wonderful museum. If it's not your thing, you could consider plonking your tot down and going to buy a nice pastry from Pauls :)


P.s. took more pictures but not sure what the etiquette is for putting up photos of children without parental permissions. So selected photos where kids' faces are not that clear. There were lots of kids I promise.