July 2014 in the Life of Ben (Blog)

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  12. December

Rascal Shadows at Waddesdon Manor (27th July 2014)

One of Fiona’s friends made a series of minature scenes and a large camera obscura, together called Rascal Shadows.

They form artistic ‘interventions’ in the stately home which looked after evacuee children from the 2nd World War.

We made a day of it. Saw all the rooms, then had a lovely picnic outside in the grounds. It was a big group of us, around 20 people in total.

(Photos to follow.)

Cleaning the Bathroom (26th July 2014)

Our approach is as follows.

  1. Take everything out and put in living room.
  2. Dustpan and brush the floor, or mop. (Vacuum cleaner.)
  3. Wipe sink top
  4. Bleach toilet, pink bottle
  5. Method Bathroom cleaner turquoise by loo. Use with gloves and sponge in kitchen cupboard. Scrub sink and surrounding top surface.
  6. Wipe taps with some water.
  7. Ecover limescale remover around both sets of taps. Bases, handles and plugs.
  8. Method bathroom cleaner around bath, water line, shallow end, bath taps and shower taps.
  9. Scrub bath, shallow end, water line, bath taps, shower taps. Add water and scrub again.
  10. Rinse with shower and final wipe of these areas.
  11. Joining piece between bath and unit.
  12. Toilet lid with sponge.
  13. Wet wipes in cupboard under sink:
    1. 1 for top surface of toilet base.
    2. 1 for underside of seat.
    3. 1 for rim.
    4. 1 for top of seat.
  14. Clean sponge at this point.
  15. Scrub off limescale remover from taps. Rinse off.
  16. Wipe towel rail, little shelf by toilet and other minor surfaces if needed.
  17. Mirror. Mr Muscle with duster. Short squirt from far away then work around continuously until gone.

Digital Revolution at Barbican (7th July 2014)

After seeing it featured on BBC Click, we attended Digital Revolution in the Barbican Centre for £13.50 each.

Highlight for me was Umbrellium, a hard-to-find an long to queue interactive laser experience. I enjoyed drawing lines after decoding the poetic instructions.

Seeing the installation which described the creation of special effects in Gravity.

(Photos to follow.)

Tour de France in London (7th July 2014)

We spent the afternoon in the sublime and cycle-friendly Queen Elizabeth II Olympic Park tp watch Stage 3 racing through. Magic city, to have such things in it.

After the riders whizzed through we rolled back to the Spectator Hub to watch the excellent ITV4 coverage for the finish.

Then we rolled around the park some more, taking in the sights. And a coffee, which was mediocre but hot. That’s all we needed it to be. The very British weather was cycling through at a frenetic pace. One minute blazing sunshine, the next chilly winds or drizzle. The complete set.