the dreams that you dare to dream

Private views used to excite me. The prospect of a free glass of wine and the possibility that one might meet someone really interesting, really arty, really rich who might offer to give you a one-woman show in Central London with all expenses paid: they were worth getting all dressed up for. It quickly became apparent that this is not the case. Private views are strange events where your friend the artist is too busy to talk to anyone for longer than 5 minutes because they are trying to sell their work. You hope that some of your other friends might turn up, but they've all gone to the pub/are still in the studio/wanted to watch something on TV. So you stand and look at the work you've mostly seen already and nurse your cheap white wine whilst trying to strike a balance between drinking it and leaving so quickly that it seems impolite; and holding it until it gets warm. If you are very lucky, you can stand next to the crisps and eat most of them. You begin to rate private views by the crisps on offer. Really good ones have dips.

So the prospect of a private view this evening was little more than a diversion from the terrible telly and the terrible temptation to play Ukulele until my ears bleed. It was only a short journey away, and I was flattered that the artist still sends me invitations, it's been so long since I actually went to one of her shows. There were plenty of people there when I arrived (none rich enough to offer an expenses paid show in Central London as far as I could ascertain), but I still managed to have a proper conversation with Carole, and as the evening ticked on it turned out that every person who arrived after me was someone I knew, someone I hadn't seen for at least a year, and even more gloriously; someone I liked. I spent a very happy hour and a half talking the kind of shop I haven't talked for quite some time. I was terribly pleased that I'd worn a nice necklace.

If you're in the Greenwich area, go and see the show. Unfortunately for you, I've eaten all the crisps.