adriandale.co.uk

This is another “watching, not doing” blog entry. Can’t see myself doing this anytime soon:

I took this at the Thames Festival last week. It shows a member of the Free Running (aka Parkour) demonstration team performing a hand stand on the specially built stage. We were also treated to running, jumping and somersaulting from the rest of the team, all neatly dressed in their corporate sponsor’s logo. (Barclaycard - Who, incidentally, caused me a great deal of inconvenience this week, so I’m not feeling charitable enough to give them a free picture advert on my blog.)

Other highlights this week …

(more…)

This is Albert.

Yes, that Albert. Prince Albert of Prince Albert and Queen Victoria fame, now more famous for their museum than anything else.

OK, I admit they may be quite important but I had a useless history teacher at school and the museum’s what comes up top of the list if you type “Victoria and Albert” into Google. If you really want to see how times change, try typing “Prince Albert” into google and see what comes up first.

So, what’s Prince Albert doing on my blog?

(more…)

I’ve always wanted to play the drums but never really gave the idea any serious thought as they’re one of the least practical musical instruments ever. Large, noisy and require the use of all four limbs to play, so couldn’t possibly be easy to play, could they?

Not that I’d let the third fact put me off, but living in a flat in London, the first two factors are pretty significant.

The solution?

(more…)

I recently bought myself a drawing board so that I could do some pencil drawings from the comfort of my sofa. Here is how the most recent one came out:

I’ve altered the colours slightly so that the picture shows up better on the web. The original is in light pencil. The picture is sketched from the left shoe of my pair of Patrick Cox snake skin shoes.

Turns out I’ve owned them for quite a long time, although they’re still looking reasonably decent as I keep them for special occasions.

So, why shoes?

(more…)

Skate and Date is one of my friend Clare’s bright ideas for getting single people to meet up with each other. Predictably enough, it involves Skating (on ice) and Dating. It’s been a while since I last ice skated, so I thought I’d give it a go.

And after the break, there’s an “action shot” just to prove that I did actually take part in the Skating part of Skate and Date.

(more…)

It’s been a busy weekend. I’ve been out for each of the last four nights and each of those nights has involved loud music and staying out late.

This picture is from Friday’s Mobile Clubbing event which was held at Tate Modern.

Mobile Clubbing is a bizarre experience which involves turning up at a pre-arranged time and place (pre-arranged via the internet, of course!) and dancing to your personal stereo, along with a horde of strangers. The Turbine Hall of the Tate Modern was a perfect venue for this. Even the artwork currently on display conveniently allows plenty of room for people to dance around in the open space.

And speaking of the “artwork” … I guess it is pretty much obligatory for me to offer my comment. Being fair, the hall was very busy when I got there, so I couldn’t really take in the awesome wonder of a hole in the ground all at once. Being realistic, though, it is a hole in the ground. Neat idea with the name, though - Shibboleth. Only this time I think the Shibboleth is meant to flush out pretentious art critics and not the Ephraimites.

And that was just the start of the weekend clubbing experience …

(more…)

Seems strange that the Tour De France should come to England. I guess we’re neighbours, at least.

The picture below is from the Prologue stage around Central London.

As luck would have it …

(more…)

I took advantage of this bank holiday weekend’s miserable weather to do something indoors. I went to see Antony Gormley’s Blind Light exhibition at The Hayward Gallery.

If you’ve been out in central London recently you may have noticed a few of these fellows standing on roof tops along the banks of the Thames. What are they doing there?

(more…)

Recently, in passing, a friend of mine mentioned that he’d taken a date to Amora - The Academy of Sex and Relationships. I hadn’t heard of this before (turns out it only opened last month) but it sounded interesting, so I thought I’d give it a look.

(Apologies - I couldn’t really think of a decent picture to include. As in, not indecent!)

Amora (no, not Amoura, like you might expect) is located in The Trocadero, near Piccadilly Circus. Not the most promising start - The Troc is a weird shopping mall/amusement arcade, often populated by scruffy young children. I’m pretty sure the Amora site is the one that used to be occupied by Alien War.

The aliens are now gone. Read on to find out what’s there instead.

(more…)

April’s been a busy month - I’m back chained to a desk full time in The City, which although it hasn’t stopped me going out, it certainly hasn’t helped. Still, my loss is the world of finance’s gain, I guess. And some rich person is now just a little bit richer thanks to my efforts. I can’t begin to describe how happy (or otherwise) that makes me feel.

Anyway, work’s not what life’s about. Not for me, at least. So, what else have I been up to?

The picture shows the Art! part of the title. Or at least a part of the art. It is the Tate Modern, taken (unbelievably, looking at the pic) on a bright and sunny day. I visited the Tate Modern twice in April, once with a group from friend Clare’s Meet at Last website for their Sunday Serendipity outing, and once a week later on a date.

Any more art?

(more…)