On friday, Jacobie, Kate and I had a cup of tea on the top floor of the Tate Modern Gallery. We didn't view any art, just the View., which was not as spectacular as I had hoped. A city is still a city. Afterwards, we wandered past a random pirate ship by London Bridge and through cobblestone alleyways to the Borough Markets - a bustling, vibrant collection of delicious aromas and general buying and feeding frenzy. This market is held on fridays and saturdays and sells baguettes, cheeses, berries and nuts and freshly baked cakes. These are the things I particularly noted but there is much more on offer. We sampled vegetable wraps followed by chocolate brownie and truffle for dessert, and unanimously agreed that we'd be back sometime for more. Soon. At a shortage for time, we only had a sneak preview of the Globe Theatre. Which was very special of course. It is quite clean and new in appearance so not entirely authentic, however, that bothers me little. I'm just holding out for warmer weather so I can view shows from the unsheltered standing area, pint in hand, just as the masses did in the Elizbethan era.
In the late afternoon, I escorted Jacobie to a job interview in New Bond Street which is somewhere in the 'city'. While I waited for her, I had a glass of wine and chatted with some locals having post-work drinks. Generally, I have found Londoners to be very genial and helpful. But I've not yet experienced the tube at peak hour...
I spent the night at Jac's place, sipping vintage wines left over from a Christie's tasting - a girl's night. Slept the night in her true London matchbox room. Then hallelujah! We woke to SUNSHINE!! Too early to rise for work though, we watched helplessly as the clouds sped in to settle as another gloomy London day.
Not so gloomy is my new job at Christie's!! It is a dream job for my purposes. As a viewing assistant I earn 9 pounds an hour, which is a big plus on the 6 or so I would earn slaving as bar or wait staff. And my duties involve answering the occasional question about a location of something and babysitting numerous fabulous, beautiful, quirky and odd works of art, furniture, jewellery, silverware, ceramics and glass, and various random item of antiques and collectables (a jar with human foetus, old dental sets, early Russian spacesuits, dolls etc). For the weekend, I was on the 'view' entitled "Sporting Art, Wildlife and Dogs", especially selected for me by Jacobie so I could be surrounded by animals. While the game-hunting images were a tad disturbing (why would you want a painting of a bird corpse on your wall? WHY?), there were some great pieces in the collection. My favourite 'lots' were a couple of slumbering leopard paintings: A Comfy Branch, and my pet-favourite (hee hee): Tree-top Siesta. Other gems included elephants, cheetahs and a beautiful lanky giraffe at a waterhole (sense an African theme here?). I had the privilege on this first day of assisting the specialist in the area to do his round of condition-reports. As he had injured his writing-hand at jujitsu, I was enlisted to make notes on the craqueler, stretcher-marks, discolouration, signs of restoration and other blips that would affect the auction price of the item. I even assisted with shining a UV light over paintings to look for these faults. Fascinating.
Last night, I went to a housewarming/engagement party of friends of Lawrence and Felicity. A huge feast and lots of boisterous, friendly Aussies and Kiwis, the night would have been very enjoyable if I could've stayed longer. But... work in the morning.
Today, I interacted more with some of the other staff, who are mainly arts students and practitioners, including a struggling opera singer from New Zealand. All in all a very interesting and fun bunch. As are the customers. One I spent some time chatting to was a carpet dealer who was scoping the rugs displayed throughout all the viewing rooms. I commented on an Eastern European rug with birds on it that I have grown fond of in my section. The dealer informed me that whilst it was colourful and attractive, the carpet would not be a good investment because items with bird designs did not sell well. This is due to a superstition originating when miners took birds down the shafts with them to warn them of falling ground, earthquakes and other hazards as they sensed them and alerted the miners with their squawking. Thus it became considered bad luck to have birds in the house, even if only an image on a rug. I wonder how my father, a geologist, feels about the mexican bird rugs around Mason Manor? Dad?? As is usually my opinion, aesthetics overrides all, including superstition. The rug was quite beautiful. And if I had a spare 3000 quid...
Some of the clients come in to peruse Christie's riches with their dogs in tow. The owners are generally fashionable women or gay men and their dogs are equally gorgeous and well manicured. At five minutes to closing time today, a glamorous lady entered the Coleridge Room where I was stationed, with her cute accessory King Charles spaniel, named Dolly (I did not make that up, I asked her). Just as security were doing their rounds to kick stragglers out, I caught out of the corner of my eye, a tiny trickle of doggy-pee escaping Dolly, and narrowly missing an extravagant persion carpet. That it was only a little bit of widdle, and it had missed the precious rug, AND it was time to go home after 6 long hours on my feet, I decided that I didn't see it. Sorry Jac. The sporting art, wild life and dogs...I love my job.