Friday 13th

A few days off, with clippers

Cutty Sark 1 The distant Shard from the deck of the Cutty Sark Rigging Hullscape 1 Hullscape 2 Emily Young 1 Emily Young 2 Emily Young 3 Church of St John, Clerkenwell St John’s: floorscape St John’s Gate Museum: galley St John’s Gate Museum: helmets St John’s Gate Museum: the other side

Took a few days off this week to recuperate. Went to Greenwich for the first time, on a Thames clipperwith Elaine, to see the Cutty Sark, and various other delights–including the National Maritime Museum and the extraordinarily beautiful exhibition, Visions of the Universe. Not sure which is my favourite nebula, but a number of them features. Dropped into Waterstones to buy some books, and among other things came away with Hilary Mantel’s Wolf Hall, which I had been meaning to read for ages. Dived in and haven’t surfaced since. Overwhelming.

Among other things, we went to the exhibition of work by one of my favourite sculptors, Emily Young, at the Fine Art Society. We had a wonderful lunch at The Modern Pantry in St John’s Square, Clerkenwell, and then dropped into the Church of St John across the way, where I loved the 12th century Crypt. Fascinated to see physical evidence of the history of the Knights Hospitaller, aka the Knights of St John. We also visited the Museum of the Order of St John, at inside nearby St John’s Gate, which brought back an extraordinary era that still sends out its repercussions today.