The week in review

The Saturday morning walk to the grocery store led me down some unknown streets and revealed these jolly garages somewhere to the west of Crouch End -

beach huts gone awol?

Later a visit, in its final week, to the British Watercolour Landscapes exhibition at the British Museum - here are two works by John Craxton -

using frottage

pollarded trees, very surreal

 "Vintage Sunday" drew me out to see a film (love those Busby Berkeley sequences - what amazing staging, breathtaking geometry!), and on the way to Screen 5, this bit of make-do-and-mend -

 Another in-its-final-week exhibition was at the Society of Antiquaries, portraits and objects from Tudor times. This portrait of Mary Tudor (1516-1558) shows her soon after her coronation in 1553. Behind her is a velvet hanging - one of the Cloths of Estate that were carried in the monarch's entourage and hung up, behind the throne and elsewhere, as a potent symbol of majesty. The creases in the velvet come from being folded for travel.

 The the foyer of the Society of Antiquaries is a sofa that had belonged to William Morris -

 Building site in Fitzrovia - all that sky will disappear -

"Our sale," announces this charity shop, offers "even greater prices" - hmm yes, they were already quite steep! -

The Police Museum has a number of curious objects - along with truncheons and rattles, and uniforms, is the gold medal won by the team in the tug-of-war in the 1920 Olympics - after which tug-of-war was dropped as a sport -

Dangerous weapons - the definition depends largely on intended use

It's in the same building as Guildhall Library, which specialises in the history of London -

"London's Burning" - old print of the Great Fire

Ironwork outside Royal Courts of Justice

 Exhibition at Somerset House of Extraordinary Objects (ends 3 Sept, free) includes an ingenious solution for straightening plants that have grown at an angle -

...and the story of a silly man who gambled his mansion away on the turn of a card ... but kept the cards ...

 Talk of the week was at Daunt Books, Hampstead - allegedly it was Sam Kean talking about his "Caesar's Last Breath" a book about the air around us, but turned out to be an "in conversation" with tv presenter and physicist Helen Czerski, who seemed to do most of the talking! - and very interesting they both were, but I resisted buying any of their books at this point in time -

 At the CQ London meeting, we did that uncomfortable (to me) exercise of arranging snippets of fabric according to tonal value; thank goodness for group decisions -

and other fun things relating to colour. Walking home, I serendipitously found a colourful street in Kentish Town - Kelly Street (much photographed) -

 Unusual items in a charity shop included dozens of dummy books, the spines stating title and weight of paper -

 Aladdin's Cave, a "vintage" furniture shop near me, had some unusual items too -

 Years ago - last century, in fact - I'd bought a solid wardrobe there, for storage in the studio; since then, the shop has acquired a rather nice coffee shop.

Yesterday, in Islington (Angel), bales, or at least bundles, of hay were on the move ... rus in urbes? -

 and in the courtyard of Candid Cafe, the Cafe Sketchers were drawing ...

 I couldn't cope with all the leaves and shadows and other scenic bits, but my snack was an easy target, sitting on a splendid bit of tablecloth -

This morning, the downstairs neighbour's landscapers are removing the trimmings from his overgrown trees

The dead bit of privet hedge is mine, though - it's currently supporting some weedy periwinkle, while new hedge plants either side try to fill in the gap.