theotherlex

I have made it to Stow-on-the-Wold, which is in the Cotswolds, which is a place I have wanted to visit since it was mentioned in an episode of Buffy.

I was in Brighton, which was excellent and coastal and seemed, if not small, at least villagised (which London can seem at times, too). Also, there was the cute waitress in the cafe with the excellent carrot cake, and Simon Amstell, and some great coastal galleries.

Then I was in Portsmouth, which was pleasant. Foreshore, history, dreary weather. Lots of Top Gear on TV.

Then I was in Bath! The hostel in Bath was great. Halfway up Bathwick Hill (towards the University). An old, set back, manor house type place. Nice people in my room.

Bath is nice. All sandstone (or, at least, yellow). It has a Museum of East Asian Art. While most of the art is Chinese ceramics and funerary objects, there were some calligraphy instruments, some lacquer work, and an exhibition of modern works from Vietnam, which was brilliant. They were, all of them, great works and very different from each other. Seriously, the art in East and South East Asia (and, actually, the Middle East, too) is wonderful. Moreso than most of the Western Art, although the exhibition of art by the High Schools in the region around Bath was interesting, and there was a great piece in a gallery in Brighton that was like a water reflection of a cityscape. So maybe it's just that European and US galleries are only recently collecting Asian art.

There was a book in the shop of the gallery that at the kids' work called "Thirteen Artists Children Should Know." Two of the artists were women, only one artist wasn't while, and only two weren't European. Given that it's likely supposed to be a book to get kids interested in the history and practice of art, it shows a very narrow sliver of art. No minimalism, no surrealism, all paintings except for some of Matisse's stuff and some of Warhol's, no sculptors, no photographers. It's absurd to think that you can reduce the history of art to thirteen people, so why isn't it more broadly representative of the breadth of styles and artists and approaches? Something for anyone to recognise and be interested in.

Yesterday I walked along the canal from Bath to Bradford-on-Avon. Oh, I forgotten walking!

Bath is just too big. I'm in Stow-on-the-Wold now and had afternoon tea in Moreton-in-Marshes and was much happier. The canalside around Bath is actually quite different from the Birmingham to Stratford stretch of the canal. Also, there was a bit near the end where I could get off the towpath and through Bakers Farm Country Park. Very pretty. Excellently tiring.

Lots of walking to do tomorrow. After the hostel's cooked breakfast. I will definitely need it. It is an English fried breakfast.

Dinner time now. And then I will have to check on how well my clothes are drying.

I saw Simon Amstell (and his support act Arnad Chandra). Brilliant. Awesome funny.

Reminiscent of Daniel Kitson, although not so measured and not quite so extreme in the simplicity of the story and the diversionariness of the tangents. Well, there weren't exactly tangents, although the stories did turn back to other parts. Very clever, though, and aching self deprecation.

It was about how to be in the moment, between the past (which is just our perspective on things that we can't change) and the future (which is just imagined and doesn't exist). He started with "I'm lonely. Let's start with that." And finished with winning an imaginary bottle of champagne. In between there was a lot about how to live in the moment and the times he's failed to do so.

Like we're characters in someone else's dream. It was called "do nothing" because that was the advice that a Mini Cab driver gave him once, when it made sense.


There were two groups of fire twirlers in the park/median strip, packing up as I walked back to the hostel. And Ross Nobel's Australian Adventure is on tv here, and he went to Melbourne. I love my city.

I have made it to Brighton! It took a couple of days longer than I was originally planning. I was camping out at my Birmingham Internet friend S's, and it was very nice. Brighton, the little I've seen of it between the station and the hostel does look more interesting than the area of Birmingham around S's place, but the tv selection is far inferior. Friends rather than QI or Spicks and Specks or Castle.

[PS, S, how would like to be referred to on this blog? If you reply anonymously, it'll be screened.]

There's a toy and model museum here, which I hope to check out tomorrow.

Also going down to the seafront.

Saw P and L off at the Airport on Monday. Eee! On my own again. I think I'm back in the groove of travelling now. Had dinner out at a great pub with S last night, had liver and bacon and onions and mashed potatoes. I was going to take the left overs for dinner tonight, but I left it somewhere in Birmingham *headdesk*. Had pasta salad and fruit from Marks & Spencer. Quite tasty.

Not much of an update for this evening, but there will more to say tomorrow, after I've done some things, or later, because the Spaghetti Western Orchestra is playing tomorrow night. And Simon Amstell, who I only know from YouTube clips of Never Mind the Buzzcocks and internet friends' icons of him in a bunny suit, is performing on Monday.