One Rat's Opinion

There's a lot of effort in summertime London to bring country life into the city in various degrees, usually in the form of festivals in greenspaces around town. The Ribena Harvestival didn't take place in a park though; it occupied the decidedly urban Broadgate Circle near Liverpool Street station for a few days this week and we stopped by today to have a look. Ribena's big business here, with 95% of all British blackcurrants destined to become Ribena in one form or another. Some of the remaining 5% were used to make blackcurrant pies for this pie-eating contest:
When we walked past the booth, they were still signing up competitors, but I couldn't convince Bob to test his eating dexterity in this way. (The man in the middle won, by the way.) After sampling some of the various meats, cheeses, jams, and, of course, Ribena on offer at this version of a country fair, we headed west to Kensington Gardens,
and walked toward the Serpentine Gallery to see the Zaha Hadid outdoor installation that will disappear from the site in about a week (the Design Museum has a longer-running exhibition of her work that I'm also interested in seeing at some point.) Hadid was the first (and still only) woman to win the Pritzker, architecture's highest honour, given each year since 1979 to a living architect. The installation was striking in its park setting--it seems a shame that it'll only be around for a week, but I guess the Serpentine's summer pavilion will soon appear to fill that void.

As we walked around the installation, the wind began to pick up and it started to look like it might get really stormy. Attendants at the installation began to warn people away from the small sculptural groupings surrounding the central platform, and even turned the sculptures on their sides so that they wouldn't get blown over (we learned that they are surprisingly light).
As we continued our walk into Hyde Park, we came across some of the artist-designed deckchairs that are livening up the park this summer. £83 will get you your choice of chairs, except for the sold-out Damien Hirst chair (he of the recent £50 million skull).

The geese didn't seem to notice the change in deckchairs, and we wondered how long it would be before this gosling's distinctive orange bill would appear.
Another trip across town, and we arrived at the Barbican to hear a free performance, part of the Mostly Mozart series, taking place in the foyer prior to the ticketed event in the hall.
We also popped into the Curve gallery, which is indeed curve-shaped with the entrance at one end--Bob remarked that he likes the space because you never knew what you're going to find at the end of the curve. Right now the gallery is filled with the scent of trees and a consideration of globalisation.
After getting our fill of the Barbican's interior, we headed to the Waterside Café to enjoy some coffee on the breezy terrace since, as the cheeky website notes, "Outdoor seating on the Lakeside is also provided, the British weather permitting." On our way home to make dinner, I stopped and smiled at this Banksy rat's expression of a sentiment that Bob and I often talk about--depending on the particular day and what events have, um, made the day "interesting," we sometimes discuss it quite vehemently!