Feeling my age

Trafalgar Square has hosted A Place Called Home

during the London Design Festival.

I am discomfited by the installations.

Two flickering screens in Ilse Crawford's house,

What Does Home Mean To You? were as difficult to focus on

as those banks of television sets in a department store.

You were invited to Tweet your impressions

which were added to a further scrolling display.

140 characters didn't seem to offer enough scope for my feelings.

Also I don't have a Twitter account.

Also I had a headache brought on by Swivel Eye Syndrome.

It smelt nice though. She had commissioned Azzi Glasser to develop

a scent to waft around the space because,

'every home has its own distinctive smell.' 

My home smells of Sunday lunch at present

and faintly of drying oil paint.

A pigeon themed house from Jasper Morrison.

Witty at least.

Sadly the actual pigeons have been banishéd from Trafalgar Square.

I say sadly, but actually I was terrified as a child

when they landed on my head.

This was a popular photo opportunity

for those with a Box Brownie.

I'd intended to walk to The Design Museum near Tower Bridge.

The River Bus was an entertaining and more direct alternative.

It was also a chance for a sit down.

My Freedom Pass was accepted,

but she wanted to see it first.

Which was nice.

A sobering sight. So many poppies.

So many deaths.

The Design Museum had this pop-up exhibition.

I was not impressed by the £12.40 entrance fee.

'No age-related concessions,' said the girl at the desk

a tad presumptuously.

(I hadn't asked for one.)

One of the displays was a tray of Lego with some half-made models on a table.

A guard had been positioned near it to bark at people who believed

they had been invited to play with it.

Elsewhere the exhibitions were interactive 

so they were naturally confused.

I looked for an i-phone cover in the shop.

Not finding one, I interrupted a conversation behind the till

to ask if they stocked any.

It was as though I had asked for a Union Jack place mat with

'I heart London' on it.

I walked back to London Bridge feeling thoroughly deflated by it all.

Rather longing for more of this:

No entrance fee.

All ages welcome.