We Are Family

It’s been too long a while since M and I had a few days away, so where better to visit this week than London? And who better to spend a convivial afternoon/evening with than my excellent brother, https://www.blipfoto.com/RockNerd, my wonderful sister-in-law, and my superb niece.

It was lovely to finally introduce M to some of my family members and she proved to be a big hit on the niece front! LOH cooked an absolutely delicious Indian meal and I was persuaded to try a snifter of Jack Daniel’s Tennessee Fire, which severely impeded my ability when we played a game of Dobble, but enhanced my capacity at Taco, Cat, Goat, Cheese, Pizza. Who’d have guessed?

It was a thoroughly delightful evening, and today’s song selection was alluded to over the dinner table; it’s ‘I Got You, Babe’ - sung here by Joey Ramone and Holly Beth Vincent (of Holly and The Italians fame) www.youtube.com/watch?v=kFZvXT4LBQw 

Earlier in the day, M and I paid a visit to Tate Britain to see Hew Locke’s amazing installation, ‘The Procession’ www.tate.org.uk/whats-on/tate-britain/hew-locke - a beautiful and powerful piece about the slavery, colonialism and commerce on which the Tate and so many of our national institutions were built (see Extras). In the piece, a parade of the people upon whose backs the gallery - and the British Empire - was built comes back to reclaim the space, in anger and in celebration. No longer invisible. 

Afterwards, we had a sunny walk across the Thames and past the National Covid Memorial Wall https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Covid_Memorial_Wall - another memorial to the named, and nameless, people whose lives and deaths have been swept under the carpet by the powerful and callous.