Big mud

Every Easter there's a duck race in town. We've not managed to make it in the four years we've lived here so I was quite looking forward to it this year. I think the idea is you sponsor a rubber duck, they chuck them in the Tiffey and first one to the Becketswell Bridge wins. We arrived, hung around for a bit and discovered it the race was cancelled. The river was looking a bit wild though.

Anyway, the second part of our outing involved the grand unveiling of a new sculpture over looking the Abbey. We squelched through the huge amount of mud and pond-like puddles with the usual warnings about not messing about, watching your step etc. You can see what's coming, really.

We saw the unveiling, the work is a living willow construction by local artist Kate Munro. There's an observation tower that I've mentioned before on the other side of town pretending to be art, but this is different. It is actually real art. A swift google and her work is rather wonderful. This is no exception.

It's very simple and frames the Abbey in the distance, echoing the windows in willow. The real beauty is that it's alive and will grow and change over the years. Not sure if her fee involves maintenance though.

Anyway, just as we were leaving, our friends Simon and Louise arrive. Turns out the artist is pals with Louise. Of course. They went to school together. I take my eyes off Luke for about five seconds when Louise introduces to me to Kate, "I like the arch," I say, "thank you," she says, as I glance back in Luke's direction to see him walking towards me covered, absolutely covered, in mud and crying his eyes out.

So that was us. Off home, washing machine on. Culture on the back burner.

Fish and Chips

Good Friday and we headed out to the coast. The plan was to visit a windmill... which we did, this one, scared the bejesus out of me. How many floors do windmills have? Five. And how windy was it exactly? Veeeeeeeery. Shame it wasn't working, but it'd have probably taken off if it was. Still, we got a sticker for making it to the top.

On the way though, we stopped off at Wells-next-the-sea for fish and chips. We ate in for a change. The fish was amazing, the surroundings less so. I find it odd how a place can look like a fast food joint - the illuminated price list above the counter, the horrid wipe-clean plastic tables and metal chairs - and yet they serve the most sublime food. What ever happened to big wooden tables and a bit of seaside charm?

Or perhaps they need to look this garish to attract the customers these days. Which reminds me, we must visit Mrs T's in Southwold again soon. Fish and chips served from a wooden hut by the quay. Proper.

The wife is going to kill me

When I was at NME, we did some work with a label called Wall Of Sound. Fine upstanding people who we all liked enormously. One day they turned up at the office with a pressie for me. It was a piece by a graffiti artist they were mates with sprayed on the back of fly poster. He did their record sleeves too. I never got round to taking it home.

Anyway, when I left NME it was still on my desk so I bequeathed it to our web designer. I mailed him recently to see what became of it because it's been bugging me a bit recently. Here's what he said...

"I held onto the Banksy until late 2004 at which point I decided that it really needed framing to do it justice but at the quoted £200, I couldn't quite afford it. After much debate and a desire to invest in some desperately needed equipment, I made the decision to cash in on what I perceived to be the peak in Banksy's popularity by auctioning the artwork on eBay. The auction fetched a pretty reasonable £450."

I'll pause for effect at this point.

He went on to say, "Obviously in hindsight it ranks up there as one of the dumbest things I've done, since the value today doesn't even bear thinking about."

It doesn't. To discover the ballpark value of something I gave away, click here. Bear in mind this version is on canvas, of an edition of five, signed. Mine was from the same stencil, but unsigned and on paper.

Doh.

Chicken, chips and peas

We had one of our favourite teas tonight, cold chicken from yesterday's roast with chips, peas and all manner of bottles and jars from the fridge. Luke's favourite is beetroot, which tonight he smeared all over his face and declared he was wearing lipstick and was it too much, before deciding he was a clown and proceeding to tell us 'I'm clown' about 50 times.

He is changing is luke, he's becoming very cheeky. I guess he's discovering what being a boy is about. He not only insists on running absolutely everywhere (and falling over a lot, you should see the bruises), but he really makes us laugh, I guess this must be what it's like having a monkey in your house.