Knock me down with a Picasso

Far out. I went for a walk at lunctime, down to Fortnum & Mason's for some of their Tewkesbury mustard (yes, Tim) and some really strong cheddar. Today's free sample in the food hall was Gloucester Old Spot pork pie. No need to buy lunch today!

On the way back to work, I went past the Royal Academy (just opposite Fortnum's), where they've just put up the installation that's pictured in this post. After that I wandered down Cork Street, which is full of retail art galleries. I stopped at Flowers Central where there's a small exhibition by Patrick Hughes, whose three dimensional paintings really play with your visual perception.

Just down the road is Helly Nahmad Gallery. their current show is called "Picasso La Californie", where there about fifteen Picassos on the wall, all painted between about 1954 and 1959, and all for sale (or already sold). I was looking around, thinking they were pretty cool, and must be worth a couple of hundred thousand pounds each. Got to the desk and checked out the catalogue. The paintings ranged in price from £4,500,000 to £16,500,000.00, meaning there must have been over a hundred million quid's worth of canvas and oil in that one room. There's no security guards, by the way!

Walking back to the office through Soho, I ran into H, who was on the way to the Duke of Argyll for a quick snifter. Rude not to, I thought, so a couple of pints of Old Brewery it was.

London, it's a pretty mundane city........