Bee aware

I spent a very pleasant weekend with Mum. We went to the Tate Modern to look at the crack. It seems to be a really popular piece of art. People walk along, lots photographing or filming it. Small children spill out of it – arranged by photo hungry parents in various poses. Despite the ‘fun fair’ element, it is an interesting piece. The artist is Doris Salcedo and the work is entitled Shibboleth and is worth £300 000. The crack starts small and grows wider and deeper as it runs the length of the Turbine Hall. It’s really quite impressive. Salcedo says it symbolises racism and the division between Europeans and the rest of the world. “It is the experience of immigrants, racial hatred and segregation”. The sculpture was made by casting concrete sections, digging a trench and lowering the castings in. It will be filled in with concrete and rather aptly leave a scar on the floor of the Turbine Hall when the exhibition ends.

Saturday was busy. We met up with Jon who was dressed as a pirate for an evening of fun and hilarity in Covent Garden. We nipped to his friend’s flat near Victoria for a spot of spag bol and a drop of red vino and came home in time to see some spectacular fireworks from the flat windows. The local residents clearly have too much money to spend because there have been fireworks going off all week. It’s very nice for their budget conscious neighbours but it does get a little wearing at one in the morning.

I started a new job on Monday and so far so good. Nice place. Nice people. I taught process writing today – which was fun! I’m working part-time which is great. I highly recommend it!

And last but not least! I just watched Bee Movie… it’s kind of sweet. Basically Antz but with a a bit more ‘environmental awareness’ thrown in. I would say ‘take the kids’ but as it’s made $31.9 million dollars so far – so maybe don’t. They might need all that cash however as Beeceuticals LLC – a cosmetics and skin care company is suing over the use of the slogan ‘give bees a chance’ – it’s theirs since they trademarked it last year. They use organic honey in one of their products. There must be some level of irony in that!

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