Bell Jar

Perhaps today is the day I can comply with my new year resolution (Jan 1). A long day and a late night. A joyful visit to the city to engage in an extension of our delayed Xmas celebration - more food, more presents, more chocolate, more family. No, I'm not at all tired of it

We took a break to attend a screening of a 90-year old Hollywood film. It retained a sense of freshness and irreverence and fun that got some genuine laughs from the audience and made it an enjoyable experience. In part at least, this is because it was made just before US movie-making imposed upon itself - for a generation - the Hays code of self-censorship, severely restricting its ability to explore the darker, less wholesome aspects of the human experience, the very thing to which the medium is so well suited

An exhibition by local artists, curated by Grayson Perry, appeared alongside, and included this, fashioned from sheep's wool. It is skillful, exquisitely crafted, meticulously detailed - the head is somewhat smaller than a tennis ball. It was inspired by the theme of 'heroes', and depicts David Attenborough - a heroic figure as far as the artist in concerned. It's probably not the response the artist hoped for, but I found it macabre and disturbing, albeit quite compelling and well worth the time to view it. Dark recesses indeed