On Saturday we travelled to Cardiff to meet up with my university friend Rhodri WINOLJ. Having checked the train times, we needed to make an early start. Due to engineering works the train diverted from Reading to Westbury, then up to Chippenham, back to Swindon, before on to Bristol, Newport and Cardiff - essentially doubling the travel time. In ( Read more... )

On Saturday we met up with Frances to visit Dulwich Picture Gallery's exhibition Nikolai Astrup: Painting Norway. It wasn't especially busy, which was a relief after failing to see the apparently similarly obscure Group of Seven exhibition a few years ago. This is the first "major" (however that is defined) exhibition of Astrup's work outside ( Read more... )

rosamicula had a discount offer for ENO's production of Verdi's Otello, so yesterday we ventured into London, briefly encountering the Japan Matsuri in Trafalgar Square and passing an hour or so at the National Gallery before meeting up for a meal at the Spaghetti House near the Coliseum. I think it's been a few years since I last met up with her - more ( Read more... )

We met up with strange_complex on Friday evening as she was attending a conference in Reading. I'd searched Teh Interweb for places to eat in the hope of coming up with something different, and discovered Tutu's Ethiopian Table. I was aware of the cafe in which it's based, but had never been there before ( Read more... )