Aidan Williams - High Acuity

I had a funny experience when I caught the last tube home on Friday night – a group of people tried to adopt me into their merry throng.

We shared a few laughs along the journey and I disappeared when we arrived at our destination with the excuse that I had to see my girlfriend early the next morning. Very nice guys. That’s one of the few benefits to alcohol I guess; all inhibitions are thrown to the wind.

We went back to the Medici Gallery displaying Graeme Wilcox’s works again this weekend and I bought a booklet with his prints.

His current works all depict people looking distressed, pensive or exhausted in one form or another, and evoke deep emotions. And while I’m sure it would be easy to find all of his pieces slightly bleak – there’s something about them I find slightly propitious – maybe it’s just because I can relate though.

Even in this painting (my favourite of the current pieces displayed in the gallery) titled “Hitchhiker”, depicting an exhausted businessman holding his arm out with his thumb pointing down, his eyes closed and his head cocked wearily to one side, yet he’s still standing tall. Which reminds me all too clearly of the businessmen in Moorgate waiting for busses at the end of the day. There’s something extremely uplifting about it. I imagine a businessman who burnt out a long time ago, still managing to be fantastic at his job, just carrying on each day with nothing changing. Okay – that doesn’t exactly sound very uplifting, but there’s something there and it’s extremely beautiful.

Today I went to see The 300 at the Imax in Waterloo with my girlfriend, Oleg and his girlfriend. It was an incredible experience seeing this film on such a huge screen and I’d definitely recommend it. While the film won’t change your life, it is brilliant and extremely well made.

A gallery, a theatre, a restaurant – very civilised.

I haven’t seen my girlfriend in three weeks for many reasons and it definitely has been taking its toll on me and even started affecting my work – not very professional I know.

All I’ve ever needed is someone to love – it just so happens I was lucky enough to find someone absolutely incredible to fall in love with and take care of. She’s also one of the only people who can keep me in check.

Unfortunately she hates my work ethic with a passion – understandably – since it keeps us apart for most of the week and the fact that we don’t live together right now doesn’t help either.

We met early this Saturday afternoon and began walking around central London. We stopped at a gallery in New Bond Street exhibiting works by Graeme Wilcox – a Scottish Artist who paints incredible portraits. I wish I could find some pictures online that accurately represent his latest collection – it’s a lot more dark, intense and impressive than any of his previous works. Unfortunately I can’t personally afford the £2K – £7K price tag for one of his paintings just yet.

We had a quick lunch near Piccadilly Circus before going to the London Comedy Theatre where I booked tickets for my girlfriend and myself to see Boeing Boeing – A 1960s French Comedy originally by Marc Camoletti. I decided to pick something different that neither of us had heard of or knew anything about. It’s a brilliant play with a stunning cast and, well – I think TimeOut’s review says it best:

“… Matthew Warchus’s stylish revival of ‘Boeing-Boeing’, a creaky old French comedy recreated as something approaching sublime thanks to a crack cast on tip-top form.

The premise is deliciously reprehensible. Bernard is three-timing a trio of air hostesses, and meticulously plotting their comings, goings and near-misses with the help of the air-traffic timetable. Then one night his country bumpkin comes to stay, and Bernard’s scheme starts to veer off its flight path.”

It’s a fantastically enjoyable piece of light comedy that spans across a single day in the lives of the characters. It’s so fast-paced that it really does feel as though they’ve crammed a full day into two and a half (with intermission) and the storyline is a lot of fun.

After the play, my girlfriend and I went to Café Apogee in Leicester Square, where she had this week’s special: lamb with saffron rice, and I had the Apogee Special – lamb, chicken, beef, salmon and king prawns, also with saffron rice. The décor of the restaurant was interesting – interesting in the respect that we couldn’t quite place it, or fully decipher whether we were in a French restaurant or not – it seems a few of the online restaurant listings are a little confused as well. Never the less, the food was excellent and we will be going back there.

After a short evening walk around central’s back-streets close to St James’ Place, we headed home. It was a great day and just what we needed.

Last night was absolutely insane! I had a great, fun, relaxed night in the studio bar. We had shots of Jaegermeister, Absolute Blackcurrant, apple schnapps and tequila. And on top of that I had brandy and cokes, mojitos, Modellos and pints of Kirin. I left the studio bar at 12.30pm with Cat and Sanj and we just managed to catch the last tube, but after that, I have no idea how I got home, but I somehow managed to get into my pyjama bottoms and into bed.

On a Friday night a few weeks ago, my Dad took me out for a belated birthday meal at one of London’s oldest Gentlemen’s clubs, The Athenaeum. It’s members include Charles Dickins, Charles Darwin, John Farraday, various bishops, lords and Nobel prize-winners. I don’t get to spend enough time with my dad so it was really great to get some time to relax and chat. The Athenaeum is an incredible place and very beautiful inside. We had a couple of drinks in the bar, ate in the restaurant and relaxed in the study upstairs.

My niece was christened in Yorkshire a couple of weekends ago. My brother-in-law’s brother Will rented a car early on Friday evening and immediately had it towed when he parked illegally – haha – he managed to get it back though after paying the ridiculous fee and drove my girlfriend and myself up to Yorkshire. We picked up some Bob Marley at a petrol station and listened to it for the entire journey.

It’s the obligatory comment whenever I mention my niece, but she gets more beautiful by the day – she’s roughly six months old now. I got to hold and dance with her at the reception. Although when I say ‘dance’ I obviously mean bounce up and down and make stupid grinny faces at her. It’s so unbelievably rewarding when she smiles back at you – it warms my heart every time.

It was fantastic to spend some time in the country again and I love my brother-in-law’s family. As we were leaving, my brother-in-law’s father said “Aidan, It was fantastic to see you again – your girlfriend is absolutely marvellous – just incredible – you’re very lucky – look after her!”. Very nice man.

Man – I’m still a little drunk from last night right now. Time for a late lunch!