Southbank Surprises

CONCRETE JUNGLE

We had such beautiful weather in London this weekend, so we walked around Southbank, sampling food from the many 'tastes of the world' food market. I love this part of London - the concrete architecture, galleries, BFI, bars and great things to do all year round. After having some beautiful snacks at the market, we took in an exhibition at the Hayward Gallery called History is Now: 7 Artists take on Britain. It was a massive display of British history and there was so much to take in, that we had to take a little cheeky snooze in one of the cinema rooms where a film was talking about the changes in community at a north London housing Estate. The exhibition covered some great topical events from the last 60+ years. Some of my favourites were of the un-PC advertising from the 70's and 80's mainly.

There was also a massive educational display focussing on the BSE and the Foot & Mouth epidemic that affected Britain (and eventually surfaced in Europe). I knew it was from mixing other animal remains, like sheep brains in cow's feed, but I hadn't realised this practice was know about for hundreds of years before - how could we have been so stupid? Anyway, I'd forgotten just how long this had run on for - no wonder the farmers were suicidal! I'm now lining up to watch Kuru: The Science and the Sorcery - which talks about similar symptoms tribesmen from Papua New Guinea had after eating human flesh.

The coolest bit for me was the Bloodhound surface-to-air missile positioned up on the roof, which is facing Russia - symbolic of the cold war. While we were at the Southbank, we also visited one of our favourite little hidden bars called Concrete - really great little venue - especially for this time of year and great for a bit of inspiration as it has a chilled vibe with rarely anyone in there to distract you from your thinking...We also spotted the Living Architecture hotel placed on top of the Purcell Room - A Room For London, a small hotel room inspired by Joseph Conrad's Heart of Darkness - which was also the inspiration for one of my most favourite films, Apocolypse Now. This installation was meant just for 2012 - but the ballot is open for a couple to stay 1 night up until the end of 2015.