Paddington in Oxford Street

After yesterday's poignant experience, it was good to move on to something a great deal more fun and frivolous: Paddington Bear. With the release of the movie later this month, a fair number of Selfridges' seasonal window displays (always very attractive and creative) featured Paddington.

We also visited the National Portrait Gallery and enjoyed Grayson Perry's series of portraits investigating identity (in conjunction with the Channel 4 TV series on his portraits). They offered great variety of style and form with his usual tongue-in-cheek wit. But as they were tucked in amongst older works across several rooms, it provided an eclectic experience of old and modern portraits. It's an art gallery that I can return to again and again and always find something new even in paintings I think I 'know'.

So, one more blip to go as we leave London, and I shall have caught up with myself. Thanks for looking at my backblips.