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| Royal Academy |
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| First room ready to explore |
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| One of the whimsical parts of The Garden of Earthly Delights, this had funny and rude sections |
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| Apart from us, these are the only people in London not watching the Wimbledon tennis final or cricket world cup final on today |
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| Loved this piece, the tiger pattern is actually chocolate tea cake wrappers. I had one of these last night with my cuppa! |
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| Lots of shops all decked out for Wimbeldon |
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| Regent Street closed to traffic, bliss |
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| Reviving with an elderflower drink after book shopping |
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| One of the fan bases for Wimbledon, everyone gasped after each point |
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| Celebrating a great day out with a Pimms |
Its time to get moving but first I have to laugh at the squirrels running along the back fence. Out into the world, we venture without jackets, getting much more daring in my old age.
Today we had planned to go to Brighton for the day however some of the train lines are under maintenance so we have swapped to my favourite thing to do in the summer in London, the Royal Academy Summer Exhibition. It’s the world’s oldest open-submission art exhibition with emerging and established artists. Each year it has serious works, crazy sculptures and political statements. Jane and I have this exhibition stuff down pat nowadays, we do the first room together then set off independently at our own pace to discover and wonder. I head onwards always on the lookout for Tracey Emin and Banksy.
Some of my favourites this year include:
- An oil painting with all kinds of people and animals including a polar bear and an owl, Waiting and Wondering by Micky Rooney RA
- A tiger made from M&S chocolate tea cake wrappers (I have had a few of those on my trips to London)
- A strong and timely political statement from our favourite, Banksy on Brexit being about keeping people out of the UK
- A transparency displayed on a lightbox that was a pile of buildings in the style of Verhaechat called Babel Britain
I must say a lot of dogs this year, Rosco would approve. Being a Sunday I am amazed how empty the rooms are, but that’s the brilliance of big sporting days in London. Who’s that spunky girl over there in the orange shirt? It's Jane. She has the guide book in hand and has picked out a piece for 90,000 pounds, This girl has expensive taste. Now its time to redo the rooms each sharing our favourite bits, you like that? Really? And finally, we find Tracey Emin another pathetic attempt to contribute to the art world. But I do love her.
Time to move on, there are shops to see, bits of London to explore and photos to take. Louis Vuitton for an important mission for an important person failed. Liberty, be still my beating heart. Regent Street is closed to cars and there is a party atmosphere with music and pop-ups shops. Very nice of the local council to time these events for when we are walking by. Jane says we need to just turn left here, hmm I sense we are in for another Jane Smith font of all knowledge London treat. Yes, a little quiet lane off the main drag where the famous photo of David Bowie was taken for Ziggy Stardust album cover.
Heading for the train now past anxious tennis fans watching a big screen and gasping as every point is won and lost. Now onto Trafalgar Square, it is heaving with cricket fans an almighty cheer goes up and it looks like someone one, who? Oh, England, really? Well done pommies!
Back home to catch up on the day of high tension and drama in sport that has gripped the country and figure out what actually happened:
- Cricket world cup going into a super over (I had to google what that was)
- Eventually, England winning the cricket on the last ball
- The Wimbledon men's single battle that was the longest match in history
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