Day 353. Perfect combinations.

The Matilda installation in Liberty is a wonderful amalgamation of two London treasures.

Love the show. Love the store. Both eclectic. A myriad of colour, style and formats.

Managed to embarrass myself beautifully by throwing a big smile to Rhod Gilbert after thinking I knew him. Thankfully Tim Minchin wasn't shopping here too. If he had been the Rhod situation would have been reduced to a minor blush rather than the full flushed face, mottled neck and burning ears. As you might have guessed I'm a big fan of Tim.

Matilda in Liberty. A perfect combination.


Quiet: From Matilda the musical


Have you ever wondered, well I have,
About how when I say, say, red, for example,
There's no way of knowing if red
Means the same thing in your head
As red means in my head
When someone says red?



And how if we are travelling
At almost the speed of light,
And we're holding a light,
That light would still travel away from us
At the full speed of light?

Which seems right in a way,
But I'm trying to say... I'm not sure...
But I'm wondering inside my head,
I'm not just a bit different from some of my friends...
These answers that come into my mind unbidden...
These stories delivered to me fully written...

And when everyone shouts - they seem to like shouting -
The noise in my head is incredibly loud,
And I just wish they'd stop, my dad and my mum,
And the telly and stories would stop just for once.

I'm sorry - I'm not quite explaining it right,
But this noise becomes anger, and the anger is light,
And its burning inside me would usually fade,
But it isn't today, and the heat and the shouting,
And my heart is pounding, and my eyes are burning,
And suddenly everything, everything is...

Quiet...
Like silence, but not really silent...
Just that still sort of quiet
Like the sound of a page being turned in a book,
Or a pause in a walk in the woods.

Quiet...
Like silence, but not really silent...
Just that nice kind of quiet,
Like the sound when you lie upside down in your bed.
Just the sound of your heart in your head...

And though the people around me,
Their mouths are still moving,
The words they are forming
Cannot reach me anymore.

And it is quiet...
And I am warm...
Like I've sailed
Into the eye of the storm...

Day 43. Liberty.

I've cheated today because I actually think the side views and back of this London icon are more interesting than the main entrance hence the three photos rather than one. I work a few minutes walk from Liberty and if I have half an hour spare I quite often end up here.

One of the things I love about it isn't the obvious, the mock Tudor frontage, but the fact that the brand is housed in a collection of buildings reflecting how it has grown. Since 1875 it's been the home of eclectic design, mixing the traditional with more contemporary products. Arthur Liberty started the business with a loan of £2000 and a lease on half of 218a Regent Street. Eighteen months later he'd repaid the loan and taken over the rest of the building. As the business grew, adjoining properties were purchased and merged  - look at the bridge in the bottom right picture. The Great Marlborough Street part of today's store, the main frontage, was built in 1924 when there was a fashion for Tudor revival and using the timber from two ships: HMS Impregnable and HMS Hindustan.

Historically fascinating. Fashionably eclectic. Beautifully London.