Vlad .....

..... the childrens entertainer.

I had no plans for today so decided to have a trip to the coast. The weather was forecast wet for Brighton, but I thought I'd risk it. An hour on the train from central London and I was there by 11am and walking on the pebble beach. Although there was no rain ( apart from a few spits of rain in Dorset on Saturday the weather has been lovely on this visit down south ) it was a bit misty.

I spent half an hour walking on the pier and £1 worth of 2p's in the slot machines in the arcade on there. Brighton always seems to be busy whatever the weather or day of the week. After the pier I had a wander around The Laines looking in all the interesting shops. I bought a couple of books and a new mug for my tea.

On the way back to the station I popped in to a gallery with lot's of gothic sculptures and whilst there, Vlad ( who I've blipped ) called in asking the owners if they'd be interested in him doing one of his puppetry performances in the gallery to attract a younger crowd at the weekend.

I arrived back in London with time to visit the National Portrait Gallery and the BP Portrait award. There are some amazing paintings this year. Quiet a few of them were photo realist, I don't see the point of having paintings that look like photos ( no matter how skilfull it is ). My personal favourite from this years show is a large scale self portrait by Iain Cumberland.

I took ages trying to decide what photo to blip this evening and narrowed it down to this photo of Vlad or a seagull in a fountain in Brighton. I have put the gull along with a few other photos from today in a set here, but as I blipped birds yesterday, today's blip is .....


..... Vlad the childrens entertainer.