People who Live in Glasshouses Should Draw the Curtains Before Removing their Trousers

 Hehehe I have to credit my good old dad with that little ditty from my childhood!

I've been away. Been to stay in Edinburgh for a few days. It is a fantastic city, vibrant, embracing creativity and creative people. I felt easily at home, could live there (it's now second only to York on my 'I would like to live there list', and that's only because York is closer to my family). The sun shone, and people smiled, were nice to each other... I visited the Royal Botanical Gardens... crazily decided to walk there from the other side of the city (I really do question my own judgement sometimes)... thighs still aching... It was utterly fantastic. For me, a perfect day out. The glasshouses were stunning... packed full of shades of green...plants literally filling every bit of space, brushing me as I crept past. The smell was musty, damp, perfect... taking me back to childhood a little bit... tapping into my long hidden sense of adventure...

 And then there was the glass. The windows, perfectly dilapadated, peeling and flaking in all the right ways... trapping the humidity... the plants slowly twining up the frames, making the panes their own...

 I've long, long harboured fascinations with greenhouses... the mustiness... the growing...

 And to top it all off there was an exhibition of work by Robert Rauschenberg. The first major collective of some of his later works in over 30 years. I wasn't expecting this at all... I got a little over excited and did a little jig to myself... after all Rauschenberg is one of my heroes of the art world... I find any excuse to teach my students about him... probably a little more reguarly than they really need! Then I had to walk all the way back again...