Blood Swept Lands and Seas of Red

A day out in London with Roland where our first stop was to see the Blood Swept Lands and Seas of Red installation of ceramic poppies in the moat of the Tower of London. On 11th November the last of 888,246 poppies will be 'planted' in memory of the 888,246 British and Colonial military fatalities in WW1. This is one of the volunteer 'planters' having a sit down.

Then on to the V&A to see the Disobedient Objects exhibition. Lots to think about, to learn about from protest actions over many years and around the world.

I'd never heard of 'book blocs' before - how to make shields which include the title of a book of one's choice, to send out a message; I learned how to make a mask to protect the wearer from a tear gas attack; the video about 'locking on' scared the hell out of me and I wept when I watched the video telling the story behind the Tiki Love Truck - beautiful artwork dedicated to the memory of John Joe Amador who was executed by lethal injection for shooting a cab driver.

I also got a bit snappy with Roland because we found the V&A to be cavernous with useless signposting when we wanted to find an exhibition of protest posters and seemed to be going round in circles. When he asked me what that was about I realised that I was having one of my rare 'what's the point of protest' moments. The UK Government are continuing to wage war both overseas and on the poorest people in the country, mad buggers are beheading aid workers and there just doesn't seem to be any good news at the moment.

He listened, as he always does, and reminded me that the alternative to protesting would be to do nothing and asked me which was worse. No contest. He is a wise and lovely man.

Our final exhibition of the day was the Gothic exhibition in the British Library. To be honest I found it a bit of a laugh.