Meet up with Jenny at the National Theatre, an excellent spot for meeting as its lobby is large and quiet and comfortable and you can get coffee - or for that matter something stronger. So we have a good chat and then head down the South Bank to the Tate Modern, which none of us have been to for a while.
Enter via the Turbine Hall, where there is usually a large, often multi-storey installation. And need there is one now - a huge brightly striped carpet (the colours of British bank notes the sign informs us helpfully) with a large reflective pendulum swinging overhead. Children playing happily on the carpet and beyond it on triple swings. The thought being vaguely philosophical, re grounding through gravity and commerce. Jenny takes the same view of galleries as we do - view a small number of exhibits and leave before over saturation.
And then there's a huge canvas by French Communist artist André Fougeron, caricaturing Americanisation as well as French colonialism. Plenty of hits here, from exploitation of the underprivileged to the electric chair, as used in the execution of Julius and Ethel Rosenberg.
Then we're back to the National Theatre. On the other side of the river we spot what we quickly identify as the Lord Mayor's annual procession, bands, Cinderella style golden coach and all. Pretty chilly for outdoor picnicking but we have a nice sandwich lunch inside, and more chat. Pretty quiet lounge except when theatre goers are arriving or leaving.
Realise quite late in the day that we met up just before the Armistice two minutes of silence. And weren't silent.
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