Last night’s Liverpool St freeze on ABC news – I’m the guy pushing my bike

Last night we stepped out of St Thomas’ Hospital into one of those perfectly beautiful summer evenings you sometimes get in London. The sort of evening where you have to slow down to an idle, almost continental, pace to soak it all up. This wasn’t particularly difficult given Claire’s current condition and so we slowly meandered alongside the River Thames towards the new Southbank Centre. We were there at the weekend to checkout Anthony Gormley’s “Blind Light” exhibition at the Hayward Gallery but didn’t stop to fully appreciate the amazing new developments to the Southbank Centre. At the time we were so taken by another of Gormley’s work – “Event Horizon” – that we took the locale for granted. Now, after last night’s stroll, I realise the surrounding buildings are integral to this work. The silhouetted figures, looking down on the Southbank scene, took on a serene and sentry-like quality as dusk descended – watching over the swarms below. The whole area has been opened up to encourage people to explore and enjoy the space. I love it.

hole in the wall.

The Serpentine Gallery are putting on an exhibition of Chinese art inside Battersea Power Station this month and we went along this afternoon to have a look. I’ll pass giving any judgement on the art for now – we (and, at a guess, the majority of the other few hundred visitors) were there for the chance to see this great building up close. I see the power station daily yet it remains distant and enigmatic, flanked by hordings on three sides and moated on the fourth by the Thames. We were guided through the dark, damp and derelict floors of the old turbine hall, looking beyond the bizarre art installations, and tried to understand the building’s past (and future). It’s an interesting place – with old signs warning of high voltage jostling for attention alongside newer signs warning of falling masonry.

Unfortunately photos inside the building were not allowed; the cynic in me wondered whether the developers were worried that people’s photos could affect the forthcoming coffee table book.

EDIT: A quick peruse through Flickr reveals some excellent covert shots of the sort that might well make it to said glossy coffee table book. And it looks like some discreet snapping was occuring during the art tours.