Sending postcards to museums

Last year, when I went to Norwich, I bought some snapshot sets at a second-hand market. I had never seen such things before: little envelopes in which were several snapshot photocards. "How novel," thought I, "I'll buy them!"

I bought sets with pictures of: Shetland, Amsterdam, Niagara Falls, San Remo, Norway and Vienna.

A year later, I have looked at and admired these sets quite enough - but what to do with them? I don't want to just throw them away (that would never do), and charity shops don't seem worthy enough - so I hit on the idea of sending them to relevant museums.

This is a bit foolhardy: museums generally have lots of things in their collections, more than enough, and possibly don't need items they have not solicited. On the other hand, I'm intrigued to see which museums might like the sets. And, so...

I'm sending the Shetland set to the Shetland Museum.

The Amsterdam set go to the Amsterdam Historical Museum.

The Norwegian Maritime Museum receive the 19 images of Norway's coast.

20 photographs of San Remo go to San Remo's Museo Civico

Beautiful photographs of Vienna go to the Wien Museum

And finally, the twelve photographs of Niagara Falls go to the Niagara Historical Museum

I'll let you know what happens.

The French Vogue for bumbags

How I love the French fashion for wearing bum bags! They're a very useful accessory, of course, and spare the shoulders the ache of a rucksack. And, apparently, they're the height of fashion, with this full page spread I spied in French Elle. It's delightfully endearing that something that went out of fashion in the UK and Ireland remains so in France and other European countries.

And fact fans, in South Africa, the bum bag is called a moon bag. How interesting!

Small Spaces @ V&A Museum

I went to the V&A Museum last week to see Small Spaces, an exhibition of seven small structures built by architects in the V&A's galleries.

It was fascinating. I love small, cosy, cute spaces so the whole idea appealed to me.

The structure I had most wanted to see was a tea-house by Terunobu Fujimori. Raised up on four spindly, tree-branch like legs, you climb a little ladder to enter the teahouse. Inside, the ceiling is covered with tiny pieces of charred wood arranged in a parallel pattern with a simple tea-set. It was utterly charming.

Architects from Mumbai built a structure based on in-between spaces in Mumbai which become home to people in the city. They live in the cracks of the city, between, say, a warehouse and a factory, covering above with a the ceiling of sheet metal and making a home.

Norwegian architects built a four-storey walk-in bookcase, made of smooth Scandinavian wood with two in-built seats covered in animal furs. I wanted to stay there all day reading. Another staircase structure had lots of nooks hidden behind curtains. Climbing it was like my own mini-drama: what would be behind each drape?

In addition to the structures, models and drawings of structures that were not made were on display. I loved an Austrian architect's structure which would have had people walking on grains, with small pools of water around them and gently swaying stalks of wheat and barely suspended from the ceiling.

I also loved a structure in which you lie face down on the floor in a dug out groove, with a small screen under your eyes which shows someone else's viewpoint as they walk around the museum. It was a real shame this was not built, I really hope it will be.

The exhibition showed how architecture affects us all, making us smile, making us unhappy, and inspiring our curiosity.

Caroline Irby's A Child from Everywhere

I went last weekend to see Caroline Irby's A Child from Everywhere at the V&A Museum of Childhood.

Juan from Chile, by Caroline Irby

In her project, photographer Caroline Irby found children from 185 of the world's countries who are now living in the UK.

Nadine from Egypt, by Caroline Irby

I'm always a fan of 'someone from every country' style projects, so I admire Caroline Irby's spirit. The resulting photographs are wonderfully expressive, capturing some of the personality of each child and their fascinating life stories.

14 of these photographs are on display at the V&A until the end of August, accompanied with films and short interviews with some of the children.

Happily, the films, made for Channel 4 can be seen online here, and all the photographs, taken for The Guardian, can be seen here. Additionally, these articles on the project from The Times and Junior magazine make interesting reading.

Chinese art at the Ashmolean Museum

On Friday, I went to Oxford for the first time, spending some time at the Ashmolean Museum. The Museum's vast collection of objects is shown off wonderfully by the new extension to the building which brings light, brightness and freshness into the Museum's space. It also has some lovely undulating staircases.

Museums are usually vast: vast spaces - so many objects, so much to see, explore, learn. I'm always drawn to small, discrete spaces. At the Ashmolean, my favourite gallery was the Khoan and Michael Sullivan Gallery of Chinese Paintings, a lovely wood-lined, split level gallery showing Chinese painting and art through time and artefacts relating to painting, calligraphy and illustration.

The first 'painting' I saw wasn't actually a painting, but a papercut by Bovey Lee. I love the delicacy, intricacy and sheer attention to detail in these papercuts.

The calligraphy and implements on display were equally beautiful, fascinating and ornate. Imagine all the images made by these tools through time. All the images below come from the Ashmolean's online collections website Eastern Art Online.

Porcelain brush rest

This Chinese porcelain brush rest (something I never knew existed, but a very handy invention) dates from either the 2nd half of the 16th century or the first half of the 17th century.

Brass seal

This seal stamps calligraphy design, and dates from 1749.

Calligraphy

And this calligraphy, while pretty recent (dating from 1990), tells the story of artisan Wang Xianzhi's response to his new-found fame.

Look at all the Ashmolean's calligraphy objects.

Map pictograms: Ireland unwound

Two tourism ads with maps showing Ireland and Britain in cord-form. The latter suggests that Britain's all tangled up (nice unwitting Girls Aloud reference) while Ireland's all relaxed.

Flag it up @ Hide & Seek Weekender

On Sunday, I went to something called the Hide & Seek Weekender at the National Theatre. It was basically a whole weekend full of games. How ace.

The games were many: treasure hunts, chasing games, word games - all kinds of fun stuff that makes us think creatively about words, cities, places and geography. Very exciting stuff.

Sadly, I didn't have very long to spare so I had to choose the games I played carefully - the first of which was called Flag It Up. In it, I was given an envelope containing the name of a country and some facts about that country. My task: re-design its flag.

I set to my task with gusto.

I got Thailand, so started to think about Thailand as a land of beaches and temples. At the end of the day, all the entries were displayed without country names with the winner being that which most people correctly identified.

I don't think I won (I don't know which / who did) but all in all: amazing flag fun.

World Cup in London: Netherlands & Spain

Or: Voetbal! Football with London's Dutch fans & Futbol! Football with London's Spanish fans

To watch the World Cup Final last night, I had planned to be with Dutch fans singing Hup Holland Hup! But with queues outside Dutch bar De Hems from 10am, it didn't look like I'd be getting in there.

In fact, nearly all of Soho was awash with red and orange yesterday - jolly fans all singing and dancing, wearing fun costumes and having a very good time.

In the end, me and two friends settled in Devonshire Arms, a bar where on one side there were mainly Dutch fans and on the other side mainly Spanish fans. The best of both worlds!

We placed ourselves firmly in the middle - I was rooting for both sides: Netherlands winning would have made me super-happy, Spain winning would have made me £135. Win-win all round.

The game was really not the most exciting, but the fans made up for it: chanting Ho-lland and Es-pan-a, sometimes breaking out into song.

As the game dragged on, their enthusiasm did not wane, but everyone was on tenterhooks until near the very end when Spain scored. Joy to the left of me, dejection to the right.

Once the match ended, the Spanish fans poured out onto the streets. A group of women went running past cheering and waving flags. Piccadilly Circus was awash was red and yellow, people climbing all the way up the Eros to celebrate, sing and dance. One man even dropped his trousers giving us all quite an eyeful.

And with the sights and sounds of Spain celebrates, I slipped away.

So that's the World Cup. From brilliant Brazilians to gallant Ghanians to surprised Slovenians and unhappy Uruguayans, it's been quite a show.

World Cup in London: Germany

Or: Fußball! Football with London's German fans

I hoped to watch tonight's Germany -v- Spain World Cup semi-final with German fans. Vauxhall bar The Jolly Gardeners was super-full, however, with people reportedly queuing since 3pm.

So I joined other fans in another nearby over-spill bar. That bar too was packed to capacity, so I stood outside for most of the first half. One man emerged from within saying "Oh my days". It must have been quite exciting inside.

During half-time, I snuck in. What an atmosphere! The temperature was practically sauna-like, clammy with sweat and alcohol.

This didn't deter the German fans who were singing and chanting a whole variety of tunes. Sadly no blast of their recent Eurovision winner. Forshame.

One man carried around a replica of the Jules Rimet trophy into which he placed his beer. Nice. Another blew on his vuvuzuela.

But midway through the half, the bar fell silent when Spain scored. "Scheise", one man whispered.

Germany never regained momentum, though the fans did, cheering all the way, particularly "Auf Gehts Deutschland Schieß ein Tor" (Let's go Germany, score a goal).

But as the final whistle blew, and Germany lost, a man outside changed the chant to "la la la you're going home".

Oh dear.

Next: On Sunday, I'm going Dutch for the World Cup Final.

World Cup in London: Chile

Or: Futbol! Football with London's Chilean fans

A Chilean flag was being merrily waved as I arrived at El Vergel to watch Brazil -v- Chile with Chilean fans.

The flag was soon tucked away, never to be seen again. The restaurant had long tables, all surrounded by folk eating empanadas and other Latin American fare.

It felt like a family occasion, almost like an episode of Brothers & Sisters. Hermanos y Hermanas, probably.

And just like Brothers & Sisters, the room had a matriarch, a game old lady who led the crowd in a chant of Viva Chile! Chile! Chile! She was banging on the table minutes later, and then the rabble rouser had everyone singing something that sounded like Pablo Chile-o!

But also like Brothers & Sisters, there was drama, with Chile attempting and failing to score, and ultimately, tragedy as Chile conceded three goals and crashed out of World Cup 2010.

Next: Football fatigue has kicked in, so it'll probably be a week until my next match for whoever it is in a semi-final.

World Cup in London: Ghana

Or: Football with London's Ghanaian fans



A vuvuzeula greeted me on my way to watch Ghana -v- Germany with Ghanaian fans in Gold Coast, in Brixton.

When I arrived there, the vuvuzuela was joined by whistles, singing, chanting and cheeering from the fans of Ghana - accompanied by a very long queue to get in.

Sadly, the queue didn't shorten, so I, along with lots of others, decamped to another bar three doors down.

The carnival atmosphere continued with cheering, chanting and lots of shouting at the screen. In the last half an hour, practically every pass Ghana made got a cheer.

Not everyone shared in the fun: one woman sat reading a copy of Reveal. Another applied her blusher when Germany scored. I admire her committment to glamour.

When it was revealed that, in the other match, Australia had scored, you'd think Ghana had actually won the whole World Cup such was the excitement. And with the final whistle, Ghana, despite losing, were going through ,to the cheers of their London fans.

Next: Taking a little break from football, I'm returning next Monday with a match featuring either Brazil, Portugal, Spain, Chile or Switzerland.

Scissor Sisters @ Brixton Academy

I went to see Scissor Sisters play the first of two gigs at Brixton Academy last night. I have been a fan of them since they first came to Ireland 7 years ago. It was so ace to see a band that were multisexual, fun, amazing live, and mixed up pop, dance, disco, rockabilly with all sorts of emotions and feelings.

I have to admit, I have reservations about their second album and some of the tracks from their new album. I feel I want to like them much more than I actually do. So I approached the gig with some trepidation.

Happily, I loved it. Jake and Ana's energy on stage is so infectious, so electric and so powerful that it is hard not to go along for the ride. Ana's wonderful asides and quips had me laughing and loving her as much as I ever did.

The highlight for me was new song Invisible Light which turned the venue into a pulsing, thumping disco full of dance, joy and elation. And that's the Scissor Sisters.

World Cup in London: Slovakia

Or: Futbal! Football with London's Slovakian fans

Yesterday, I, along with Geoff, went to the Czech & Slovak club in West Hampstead to cheer along Slovakia.

Slovak fans had gathered there to watch the match, and tuck in to platefuls of home-cooked food. Schnitzels, stews, goulashes and big slabs of cheese covered in breadcrumbs were all being served up to the hungry and appreciative Slovaks. For our part, we nibbled on Pepe Chrumky, peanut flavoured corn puffs. Intriguingly yummy!

To be honest, I think the Slovaks were there for food not football. There was very little cheering or chanting - admittedly, their team were losing badly.

I met Peter, a Slovakian guy from my German language class, and he didn't seem hopeful of a Slovakia victory. Sadly, he was proved correct, but the assembled fans didn't seem all that bothered -  dessert was being served.

Next: Honduras, if I can find any Hondurans. If not, Ghana.

World Cup in London: Denmark

Or: Fodbold! Football with London's Danish fans!

I went to London's Danish Church near Regents Park yesterday to watch Denmark -v- Cameroon.

Small Danish flags dotted the building, with the fans gathered in the church's adjoining hall donning t-shirts, flags, and hats.

10 minutes in, though, Cameroon scored. "Oh Jesus Christ!", one woman exclaimed. Well, it was a church, after all.

Feeling the need to defend his nation, a Danish man said to his Italian friends, "We came fourth in Eurovision this year! Where were you?" Good point. He also tried to get them to chant "We are red, we are white, we are Danish dynamite", but they weren't playing ball.

Happily, the Danish team were and soon equalised to the roars and cheers of all present. One man donned a Viking helmet. Hurrah!

Half time coincided with the Dane's celebration of midsummer, which meant hotdogs, a bonfire, a man giving a speech and a sing-song. Sadly no sign of Tommy Seebach or Birthe Kjær, but the speech did seem to link X Factor and radical politics. Impressive.

More cheers and merriment followed when the Dane's took the lead, with the remaining half of the match a tense and exciting affair. I'm sure they were all saying their prayers after the final whistle, thankful for a very good result for Denmark. I was too, especially for a much more interesting time than my last foray with the Danes.

World Cup in London: Japan

Or: サッカー! Football with London's Japanese fans

Yesterday, I watched Japan -v- Holland in the company of Japanese fans.

It was a game of two halves for me: firstly, I went to the Chutney & Lager to watch with people from the Japan Society. But, to be honest, they were all very quiet and didn't have a flag in sight.

So at half time, I moved on to Bincho Yakitori  in Soho where a downstairs room was full of Japanese fans, their friends, and even some Dutch fans.

The Japanese fans weren't taking the game very seriously - every shot against them received a nice applause and a little ripple of laughter. The laughter became chants when Japan pushed forward. One man got the whole room going, chanting Nippon! Nippon! Nippon! Well done that man. More singing and chanting broke out when Nakamura came on.

But, in the end, Japan ended the game in defeat. Not that the mild-mannered fans seemed to mind, they were smiling and laughing just as much as they had been during the game.

Robyn @ Heaven

Ace Swedish popstar Robyn played a wonderful gig last night in Heaven.

Robyn is very much the hipster's popstar of choice. She slipped out on stage with her hair all sticking up, wearing tights, a corset belt, a white bra and an old shirt. It looked a bit like she'd walked through a wardrobe and clothes fell on her. Somehow, it all worked wonderfully.

She played an ace set of tunes from her new album Body Talk and previous album Robyn. "I'm giving it my all," she sings in her new song Dancing on my Own. It's definitely true. She dances like a demon: hands flying, fists flailing, shoulder shimmying, head bouncing, hearts beating. There's not much panache, just unabashed joy and enjoyment. Halfway through, her hair had fallen down, such was the intensity of her dancing.

And then there's the brilliant bits where she drums and bangs on cymbals.

"She is tearing it up!" exclaimed the friend I was with. She certainly was, with her own ace dancepop and collaborations The Girl & The Robot and With Every Heartbeat, she had the audience reaching dance euphoria.

O'Spada at St Pancras Station

Last night, I saw newcomer Swedish band O'Spada play The Station Sessions at St Pancras Station. It is a giddy thrill to hear the St Pancras announcements in English and French - O'Spada continued the thrills with a short set of 80s funky-synthy tunes.

I liked O'Spada, despite their not-so-likeable name. The seven members of the band were in a true triangular schlager formation, with the 3 on the left wearing navy jackets and the 3 on the right wearing wine jackets. The lead singer, perfectly centred, wore gold.

I like these little touches.

O'Spada have played a series of gigs in London this week, so maybe they'll be taking off here. Check out O'Spada on myspace or O'Spada on twitter.

World Cup in London: Brazil

Or: Futebol! Football with London's Brazilian fans

I went to watch Brazil -v- North Korea with Brazilian fans. My first choice of venue - Guanabara - was super-busy with long queues. Covent Garden was thronged with Brazilian fans so, like many others, I decamped to another bar - the Shakespeare's Head in Holborn.

Everyone was Brazilian tonight, even those who were not actually Brazilian. Brazil's very flattering yellow and blue jerseys were adopted with aplomb. One woman even applied fabulously fetching gaudy yellow, blue and green eye shadow.

The first half passed by without real incidence - the Brazilians were just chatting each other up: "You look like Lewis Hamilton," a pretty girl thrilled. "You have lovely hair," the man replied. "Can you say 'they are jealous' or 'they feel jealous'?", she asked, pointing at her male friends.

By the second half, with Brazil yet to score, the Brazilians fans were fretting frantically. One man shouted at the players to "shoota with the foota!", filled his glass with an energy drink, crushed the can and started gesticulating wildly.

His cheers worked, and the bar erupted in laughter, whistles and cheers as Brazil scored minutes later. The cheers and whistles continued with Brazil's second goal.

The Brazil fans started drinking and dancing, and barely even noticed North Korea's goal as they celebrated their first World Cup 2010 victory.

Next: A weekend of football with fans of Japan, Denmark and Slovakia. 

World Cup in London: Serbia

Or: фудбал! Football with London's Serbian fans

After leaving 'Slovenia', Eseld and I hotfooted it to Battersea to see Serbia play Ghana.

Paya and Horse - London's first Serbian pub - was decked out in flags and  slightly odd artwork showing horses. The bar held a happy mix of actual Serbian fans and others there to watch the match. The fans here expected to win, predicting a score of 3-0, which they'd written on a blackboard near the dartboard.

The match, it has to be said, was pretty boring. We distracted ourselves by ordering food - Serbian cuisine is meat-tastic and comes in large portions. We ate ćevapčići - basically, burgers in a sausage form. Yum.

My favourite overheard quote of the day came from an English woman watching the match: "Are these Serbians tourists or are they real proper people?," she asked. I think she meant 'residents'. Meanwhile, the woman behind the bar explained that their portions needed to be large as Serbian men are very tall.

The several Serbians there were disappointed to have a man sent off and later to concede a goal. One man slammed his fist on the table with some force. It was the most dramatic thing to happen in the whole 90 minutes.

With the final whistle, the Serbians slopped home, defeated but at least suitably stuffed with Serbian sustenance.

Next: Brazil -v- North Korea. I'll be supporting Brazil.

World Cup in London: Slovenia

Or: Nogomet! Football with London's Slovenian fans

Day three of World Cup in London took me (and my friend Eseld) to a bar called The Colonies near Victoria station.

Slovenia are making the most of their World Cup debut by advertising tourism in Slovenia, so the bar was decorated with flags and banners with the oh-so-slightly-camp Donna-Summer-referencing slogan: I FEEL SLOVENIA.

Initially, however, all was quiet with only a few people present. I hoped it wouldn't be a repeat of my last time watching with Slovenia. Some were wearing the trendy Slovenian football jersey but most were not adhering to the green dress code. One man wore a white shirt adorned with Slovenian flags. So far, so good.

As the game went on, the bar filled up with a jovial, fun atmosphere. I suspect the Slovenians didn't expect to win, as they chatted and joked with the match in the background.

That was until near the very end, when Algeria had a man sent off. Suddenly, it mattered. When Slovenia scored soon afterwards, the bar erupted in cheers and chants with everyone jumping and punching the air.

Ten minutes later, Slovenia had won. Valiant Slovenia had arrived. The fans began singing and chanting and poured out onto the street, cheering and jumping and posing with flags for photographs.

Today's matches were quite popular with a whole bunch of bloggers and photographs watching the matches with foreign fans - say hello to Simon & Angela.