Soho and stuff

I spent my day off in London this week, meeting cousin Sue for a large glass of wine and some food at a very nice pub in the City, then a haircut, a look at the annual Portrait Awards at the Portrait Gallery and some shopping at Primark in Oxford Street (too busy) then Hammersmith, where I stocked up on some Daisy dresses. Three weeks to go. The excitement. I walked through Hyde Park, where they are set up for concerts and piles of people were queuing for The White Stripes (I think Crowded House are going to be there next week). I was making for Hyde Park corner, where a fabulous NZ sculpture by Paul Dibble was erected last year, opening the day I left. It is in the most stunning setting, on an island bounded by Knightsbridge, Hyde Park and Piccadilly and beside a huge imposing arch commemorating old battles and the Duke of Wellington. I’ve seen it from the bus often and thought it looked really good, but up close it is even better. It’s made of lots of iron girders looking like a regiment of leaning soldiers. Each ‘soldier’ has some NZ text (Mansfield, the Treaty etc) on it, or NZ iconic images (koru, tapa patterns). It is on a sloped piece of grass and at the top of the slope you look straight down Piccadilly. It will be a great drawcard for kiwis and made me very homesick. It was very moving. The pictures were from my phone and I couldn’t get much detail, but I’ll replace them with better ones when I get back there with my proper camera.

Shopping at Primark - taken from the escalator without realising there was a mirror in front of me, but showing the new haircut anyway. That's what happens when I get it done after drinking wine at lunchtime.

I get my hair done in Soho. I had a coffee while waiting for my hairdresser (she's another story) and watched the world pass by. It could have been the 60's with the sex shop and the BT Tower but other parts of Soho have changed more.