Pygmy goats, black holes and the crystal house

I headed down to London on Friday to visit Jonathan and Jacqui in Stoke Newington. It was an altogether artistic outing, starting off in Jonathan's studio in a room upstairs from the Library - here he is with some of his recent paintings:


And working on a new sound-thing...


We also observed pygmy goats (which were oddly spherical)...

the almost-obliterated Banksy:


and a white-(ish) deer (clearly a sign that I should set off on a quest)...


So the next day, generously equipped with an A-Z and an Oystercard, I set off into London. Some of the shops were not as glamorous as I'd been led to believe:



But the Millenium Bridge was lovely:


I wandered over it to the Tate Modern:

to look at the black hole they currently have in captivity:


Looking into the abyss:

Looking out of the abyss:


Underneath:

I think it would have been more effective if I hadn't hung around taking photos outside it for ages, giving my eyes the chance to dark-adapt. Despite that, I did manage to walk into the side unexpectedly. It turns out that black holes are kind of velvety on the inside...

Anyway, having defied the laws of physics and escaped, it was off to meet up with Adrian and Heather to see a copper-sulphate encrusted flat that I'd been hankering after visiting for the past couple of months:




Adrian and Heather and the sparkly walls:


Looking very Mulder-and-Scully:


Isn't it fantastic? However, for some reason the folk in charge would not let me move in, so I ended up back at Jonathan's drinking from a spidery mug: