Montse .....

at Magma.

Today I've had another arty day out in London. First stop was Magma books at Seven dials to say hello to Montse who I've known for the last fifteen years since she worked at Zwemmers bookshop. I turned up unannounced and Montse rushed out from behind the counter and gave me a hug ( Montse who is originally from Spain, gives the giggest hugs in the world ). It's been a while since we've seen each other and there was a lot to catch up on. Montse set up the chain of Magma design bookshops along with her buisiness partner back in 2000 when I still lived in London and I remember all the late nights getting the shop ready for the grand opening. There are now three shops in London and one in Manchester and things seem to be going well. Montse hates having her photo taken as much as me, but she kindly posed for this.

After another big hug I headed off to meet Aiden Who I used to work with, he now owns his own shop near Piccadilly selling imported Japanese toys and funky designer bits and pieces. We had a cuppa and a long chat and arranged to go out for a meal and a few beers next time I'm down in London.

I had a look around the west end unsuccesfully trying to find somewhere I fancied eating lunch so I headed east to Brick Lane for a walk about. My first stop was the Whitechapel gallery looking at various exhibitions. My favourite was a piece called Bidibidobidiboo by Maurizio Cattelan ( a taxidermy squirrel suicide scene ). Unfortunately photography wasn't allowed in the gallery.

I had a walk down Brick lane taking in all the sights and smells of the indian restaurants as well as all the vintage and brick a brack type shops and graffiti art that seemed to adorn most of the walls. After stopping off at the bagel shop for a salmon and cream cheese bagel followed by an apple turnover, I found myself wandering in to an exhibition of Arabian art in the Truman Brewery building. It was an interesting exhibition with video and light instalations as well as some very large sculptures, but it all went a bit over my head and didn't quite get what half of the work was trying to say.

After a couple of Arty days out in London I'm now looking forward to a few months back in Yorkshire ( there's only so much artyness I can take at once ) and spending some time running on the moors.

Thank you all once again for the comments starts and faves this week as my last three blips have all made the spotlight page. I'm off back up to Yorkshire tomorrow but will have to pop back down to London again for a few days before Christmas. As she braved being in front of my camera, today's blip is .....


..... Montse at Magma.