magicbeans. nothing if not awkward.

Had to wake up early early early, to get to London City Airport and be on a flight to Liverpool at about 8:00am. Got to the airport and checked in (no one asked to see any sort of ID, for the first time in months I didn't set the metal detector off, I did have to open my bag and show that my tape measure was in fact a tape measure), and things were going fine until just about when the plane was going to begin boarding they ushered us away from the gate and back to the lounge, there was a delay due to poor weather in Liverpool.

I had checked the weather on TV before I had left the hotel, and while they had gotten quite a bit of snow in Scotland, it seemed like we'd be fine staying in the southern half of England. The delay was initially only half an hour, but after our new departure time came and went, they changed it to 'Wait for updates.'

Around 11:00 it looked like things were clearing up, and they were going to board us, but then the weather turned again. And by this point, it really didn't make any sense to go. The flight was an hour. Then thirty minutes by car to the former MBNA facility in Chester. That would put us on-site around 1:00. The return flight was scheduled for 4:00. Subtract half an hour back to Liverpool, and half an hour for check-in (which is cutting it awfully tight), and we're only in Chester for two hours. And this was assuming that our plan was off the ground in the next half hour, which was looking less and less likely.

So the Chester trip was scrapped (who knows, maybe they'll send me back in a month) and it was back into town on the DLR, and an unexpectedly free afternoon.

Seeing as how it's often all about architecture, that's the way that this afternoon started off as well. First with a trip to New London Architecture. The exhibition on modern, prefab housing in London was interesting, although didn't consist of much more than poster-sized prints of the catalogue, which I had already downloaded off the net and flipped through. Worth the visit though, was the larger than room-sized model of metropolitan London, with existing structures in grey and projects in the works in white. Facilities for the 2012 Olympics. More London. And Renzo Piano Building Workshop's Shard London Bridge which bears an almost uncanny resemblance to my undergraduate thesis.

Then a stop at the Architectural Association, the second school on my graduate shortlist. Where, not having made a planned trip, I did have the opportunity to talk with anyone in admissions, but I did look around, and poke my head into a crit.

And saw the show currently up in their gallery, on Zaha Hadid Architects' incredible Phæno Science Center. Unlike the building itself though, the exhibit fell a bit flat. The ceiling and one wall of the space had been sculpted in plaster to reproduce the feel of the building itself, which although neat, left the small space feeling a little claustrophobic and dark. The latter of which was only expanded on by the very dim lighting so that two projectors, showing drawings and construction photos, could be seen. All of which meant that the models, arguably the most interesting part of the exhibit, was woefully underlit.

I bought the first issue of MARK, a nice (and fat) new architecture magazine at the Triangle Bookshop downstairs. And then headed back down to the Tate Modern, which had been closed by the time I got to it last night.

The building itself is pretty nice, although it's a little confusing as to where the main entrance is, and which sets of staircases/escalators lead to where. I enjoyed the experience of Rachel Whiteread's installation Embankment, (the photos I had seen don't really do it justice,) but I'm not sure how strong it's conceptual underpinnings really are, which is a factor because so much of Whiteread's work is conceptually driven. And in wandering through the exhibits of work from the Tate's collection, I felt as I tend to museums, generally disinterested in most of the work, while occasionally being grabbed by something that demands more attention. The high point was probably the room of Mark Rothko's paintings. Of note, was my second experience with Joseph Beuys's Lightning with Stag in its Glare, a work that I don't particularly like, but because of it's scale is interesting to see in two very different spaces. (Previously, I had seen it installed at MASS MoCA in the summer of 1999.)

Then a walk along the Thames, with the intention of coming upon London Bridge, to see if I could find a rock for George. 'It's a piece of the bridge,' I'd say. 'They've told us since childhood that it's "falling down."' But, as it happens, I walked the wrong way. I did open my eyes, use my brain, and found a nice rock in the direction that I had been walking though.

And again, dinner at Mildred's. This time, my last night in London, I thought I'd have the vegetarian take on a traditional English meal: a [mushroom] and ale pie, with mushy peas and thick cut chips. Again, good. And again, the desert was amazing.