Into the second weekWell, hi again. It has been all go, in fact it has been frantic. We kicked off last week with a visit to The Royal Academy to take in a massive David Hockney exhibition, which is causing quite a stir. This show has been sold out months in advance and the only way to get through the front door is to wrap up well and line up half an hour before the doors opened, which we did. It was well worth the big freeze. His paintings were a riot of colour and imagination. He doesn’t mess about when painting these works as he is looking at the big picture. We finished the day with an evening in Soho at Ronnie Scott’s to witness Jack Bruce, ex Cream, a seventy year old genius with attitude, deliver a performance that proves that talent doesn’t expire as the years go past. Hope for us all! The man is a living legend. When he first hit the stage we looked at each and thought ‘ we are the presence of a train wreck’. By the second number his voice kicked in and the years rolled away, the crowd went berserk, Jack fed off the positive vibes and the joint rocked. Wonderful stuff. The following evening took a completely different turn, when we fronted up to see Romeo and Juliet at The Royal Opera House in Covent Garden. The ballet was sublime. However, what really left a lasting impression was the simply stunning building, in particular the bar and restaurant set-up, which is a work of art on a massive scale. The next few days were filled with galleries, museums, pubs and wine bars. All good educational stuff. Last Friday night we drifted down to the Barbican to see a play ‘Tis a Pity She’s a Whore’. This little number dates back to the time of Samuel Pepys who commented at the time that he thought it was a tasteless play performed by sub-standard actors. Well, this latest rendition would have blown his socks off. Full-on mayhem, incest, lust, power, greed, jealousy, you name it…we saw it. There was simply nothing left on the table after the final curtain call. The next day we called in to the Saatchi Gallery off Sloane Square in the vain hope that we might see something to spin our wheels. No such luck. This gallery is still art central disaster. As we strolled back along the Thames towards Pimlico we dived into the grandly named pub ‘The King William IV’. The pub itself was completely forgettable but the location was top draw. We just sat there on a crisp spring afternoon looking directly over the river in the general direction of that brilliant masterpiece of British architecture – The Battersea Power Station. There is no escaping this building; it totally dominates the Pimlico horizon. As an aside, this disused facility last operated in 1983, is currently on the block for the first time in its history with an asking price of UKP500 million. For your money you receive 39.1 acres of prime land, four chimneys and about a billion used bricks. Sunday was a Biggie! Front and centre early afternoon at the Royal Albert Hall to take in the epic opera ‘Aida’. We didn’t quite know what to expect and as novice opera goers we had steeled ourselves to be slightly bored. Wrong! This performance was mind blowing. It was larger than life and packed with action. It’s got us hooked for future operas. To celebrate such a great afternoon we took a diversion on the way home via ‘The Blue Bar’ at The Berkeley in Knightsbridge. What a place, what a bar, atmosphere, real class and prices to match. In fact the receipt for the four Merlots is still glowing 24 hours later as if it’s been dipped in uranium. Today we had a low-key day and toured the Olympic village on an organized walk. It has to be said that the British are very proud of this East London development, and so they should be. Our guide made the point that when people bemoan the 3.5 million pound price tag, they are forgetting that this figure equates to only 1.5 percent of the UK government recent bail out of it’s banking sector. Indications are that this will be a top-notch Olympics and with buildings erected that will be used for generations to come. That’s it. See ya.

Well, hi again.

It has been all go, in fact it has been frantic.

We kicked off last week with a visit to The Royal Academy to take in a massive David Hockney exhibition, which is causing quite a stir. This show has been sold out months in advance and the only way to get through the front door is to wrap up well and line up half an hour before the doors opened, which we did. It was well worth the big freeze. His paintings were a riot of colour and imagination. He doesn’t mess about when painting these works as he is looking at the big picture.

We finished the day with an evening in Soho at Ronnie Scott’s to witness Jack Bruce, ex Cream, a seventy year old genius with attitude, deliver a performance that proves that talent doesn’t expire as the years go past. Hope for us all!

The man is a living legend. When he first hit the stage we looked at each and thought ‘ we are the presence of a train wreck’. By the second number his voice kicked in and the years rolled away, the crowd went berserk, Jack fed off the positive vibes and the joint rocked. Wonderful stuff.

The following evening took a completely different turn, when we fronted up to see Romeo and Juliet at The Royal Opera House in Covent Garden. The ballet was sublime. However, what really left a lasting impression was the simply stunning building, in particular the bar and restaurant set-up, which is a work of art on a massive scale.

The next few days were filled with galleries, museums, pubs and wine bars. All good educational stuff.

Last Friday night we drifted down to the Barbican to see a play ‘Tis a Pity She’s a Whore’. This little number dates back to the time of Samuel Pepys who commented at the time that he thought it was a tasteless play performed by sub-standard actors. Well, this latest rendition would have blown his socks off.

Full-on mayhem, incest, lust, power, greed, jealousy, you name it…we saw it. There was simply nothing left on the table after the final curtain call.

The next day we called in to the Saatchi Gallery off Sloane Square in the vain hope that we might see something to spin our wheels. No such luck. This gallery is still art central disaster. As we strolled back along the Thames towards Pimlico we dived into the grandly named pub ‘The King William IV’. The pub itself was completely forgettable but the location was top draw. We just sat there on a crisp spring afternoon looking directly over the river in the general direction of that brilliant masterpiece of British architecture – The Battersea Power Station. There is no escaping this building; it totally dominates the Pimlico horizon. As an aside, this disused facility last operated in 1983, is currently on the block for the first time in its history with an asking price of UKP500 million. For your money you receive 39.1 acres of prime land, four chimneys and about a billion used bricks.

Sunday was a Biggie! Front and centre early afternoon at the Royal Albert Hall to take in the epic opera ‘Aida’. We didn’t quite know what to expect and as novice opera goers we had steeled ourselves to be slightly bored. Wrong! This performance was mind blowing. It was larger than life and packed with action. It’s got us hooked for future operas.

To celebrate such a great afternoon we took a diversion on the way home via ‘The Blue Bar’ at The Berkeley in Knightsbridge. What a place, what a bar, atmosphere, real class and prices to match. In fact the receipt for the four Merlots is still glowing 24 hours later as if it’s been dipped in uranium.

Today we had a low-key day and toured the Olympic village on an organized walk. It has to be said that the British are very proud of this East London development, and so they should be. Our guide made the point that when people bemoan the 3.5 million pound price tag, they are forgetting that this figure equates to only 1.5 percent of the UK government recent bail out of it’s banking sector. Indications are that this will be a top-notch Olympics and with buildings erected that will be used for generations to come.

That’s it. See ya.