Train services between Bath and London are appaulingly bad this bank holiday weekend. Because of work being done on the tracks, the trip takes three hours and requires three changes. So yesterday I took the coach to London for the first time ever. I worked on the PhD on my iBook for about half an hour before I felt that barfing was imminent. So I put the iBook away, streamed some Antonio Carlos Jobim from my iPod to my ear drums, and looked out the tinted windows at the kodachrome landscape. This put me in a state of euphoria that increased as multi-culti details on the other side of the window became more frequent, signifying that we were nearing London.

After dim sum with a bunch of Chinese people (Fiona, Nigel, Elfie, Russ, Jennifer, and her colleague Helen) we went out shopping. I handed some money to Magma to pass on to Büro Destruct and Versace on my behalf, and then Jennifer and I left the group to go watch a musical, which satisfied expectations by being rather poor. But the company was great and London was rich as ever, and as I slept on the coach back to Bath with the six year-old boy next to me trying to get comfortable by head-butting my shoulder I was content.

By the way, BD have an exhibition in London soon and it’s on my calendar.