annanotbob's diary

annanotbob's Diaryland Diary

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Y Viva Espana

Yikes - I've booked us a holiday in Minorca (one of the Spanish Balearic Islands, in the Mediterranean), leaving on Tuesday! Feel a bit sick now. We've even checked in for our flights, but it suddenly occurs to me that I don't know how we get from airport to apartment. Ah well - que sera, etc. [Later - all sorted now, but at outrageous cost, likewise luggage - bastards for not including these in the price quoted - what do they think, that we'll wear one set of clothes and walk miles across rocky terrain in the heat of the sun???]
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This is much later and I've recovered from the frustration that comes from actually trying to BUY something online, rather than just look something up. It was like the camper van in America all over again. No matter how you define your search in google, all the results have those words in blue but when you open a site you have to fill in all your details every time and we don't really care where in Spain we go, so long as it's not one of those places that's full of vile British boozed-up youth. I can get that here, if I go to the seafront at night in the summer, but it took hours to find anything else. Where we are going might be quieter than my own fantasy ideal, but that's cool, we've booked it, it's not Benidorm and we've already moved into 'go with the flow' mode. Plan A is mostly to maintain a state of mild intoxication and to have a laugh and I think we can do that, whatever happens.

I'm particularly looking forward to going abroad in Europe after my trip to America - when I was there I felt truly European for the first time ever, so it'll be good to see how it feels to be in Spain.

We had a great day yesterday in London. I was all set to write about it last night and couldn't get on diaryland at all, for hours. Now it's one in the morning again, so here's a brief account and some pics:

We went to Tate Britain first, where I bought Sara's birthday present of a year's membership, giving her and a guest free entry to all the exhibitions for a year. All the Tate galleries have big permanent collections which are free, but you have to pay for the specific shows. We saw the Richard Long exhibition, which didn't do much for me, to be honest. Sara was making notes, so I wandered off and had a look around, specifically to the Turner Gallery which we visited en famille a lifetime ago. The kids were just awful, all three of them, demanding food, squabbling, asking when could we go home, as soon as we arrived after a long and fucking arduous journey. I tried to be patient and jolly, but finally lost the plot in the Turner Gallery, swearing at them and shouting and making them all cry, until I cried too and we sat sobbing, cuddled up together on a bench in front of some misty sea-scape while Sam wandered off and pretended not to know us. You'd think there'd be a plaque or something. We all cheered up after that and went round the gallery asking each other if particular items were art or just there, like the bin in the corner.

Anyway, they don't let you take photos inside the Tates, apart from in the cafe:

and outside, on a fag break:

We caught a boat down the river to the Tate Modern, eating our lunch (as planned - go us!):

passing all kinds of landmarks, like Shakespeare's Globe:

and other stuff:

You can't take pics in the Tate Modern, either, but I got this of Sara in the Turbine Hall, which is a fantastic space:

By the time we'd looked at Per someone or other's stuff we were hot and knackered:

so went to a pub and got pissed on Pimms and shots of vodka:

before heading off for the opening of something to do with abstract and American, but frankly, I was pretty drunk by then and I can't remember. I liked some of it though: