Richard Scott Blog 8th September 2024

I think I will do this week’s blog in pictures, as Joanne and I are 31 000 feet above Africa somewhere and it’s Sunday morning 8am South African time and I haven’t started the blog yet. It’s 3 hours to go before we land and, if you fly often, you will know how I feel right now.

Actually, if I think about it, it will probably be better if I type the blog as I will not have time when I land in Cape Town. So here goes.

Monday Joanne and I woke up and decided to head to London and sleep over as I had my show on Tuesday at the Supercar Club, Auto Vivendi and James needed my help to set up.

So, Uncle Stuart dropped us off at Pangbourne station. Jane helped us get our tickets and we were off on the train. I normally get off at Reading and get the fast train to Paddington, but we decided to stay on the slow train as we were not in a hurry.

 

And we are off to London from Pangbourne.

Got the Underground photo.

Quick Early morning coffee.

You have to love England and the public transport. I know I go on about it, but it really works so well.

We got off at Paddington and took the underground to St Johns Wood where Auto Vivendi is. It was nice to see the owner Craig and also Kas who looked after me all those years I was a member.

Popped into Auto Vivendi.

James and myself taking pictures of each other.

It was a weird feeling not seeing Richard Thomas there. His presence is missed.

After we set up the artworks on the wall, we headed out to explore London a little. We decided on SOHO and Oxford Street. Joanne wanted to do some shopping, and I wanted to taste the food.

 

Spotted a BANKSY pop up shop. Counted over 100+ items for sale from pens to caps to cards. hmmmmmmmm

The one I ordered is in stock and I am living it. LOL.

After Oxford Street we wondered into SOHO, and I spotted a Brew Dog restaurant. Brew Dog is a beer brand from Scotland that makes delicious craft beer. They sold out to one of the big corporates before Covid, but the beer is still the same.

Not often you see a Brew Dog Pub.

Whoaaaa, Andre Viljoen from WoodstockBrewery would be in his element here.

Cheers.

Walkabout.

Then we decided to check in at the Air Bnb, which was in a pokey area near St Johns Wood. The place was nice and neat, which is all we wanted.

Nice little church  in Kilburn where we stayed for the night.

We dropped off our bags and were off again back to SOHO as we spotted a Chine Town earlier and Joanne was in the mood for Chinese. We wondered about looking for the restaurant with the most Chinese people eating and there were a few. A lovely Chinese lady ushered us into her restaurant, and I asked if we could sit outside by the street like the locals.

London China Town.

Living the life. Ticking boxes.

Nom Nom.

I ordered 2 Tsingtao beers and told the waiter to bring us what she eats every day. Joanne was in the mood for noodles, so we ended up with beef with broth and noodle. It really was authentic Chinese food.

After Chinese we walked around a little in Chine Town. In and out of the shops to get a feel of real China. It’s quite scary after been to China a few times, how real it feels.

Our restaurant for the evening. Well for starters anyway.

China Town Supermarkets. You godda love the stuff in here.

Then we decided to go to a small Japanese restaurant we spotted earlier. There was a queue outside which tells a story. We only waited 20 minutes and then we were in. The menu was so extensive and printed in colour in a plastic sleeve folder with 100+ pages of Japanese food. Wow. We were so confused as to what to order. I took a step back and watched what others were eating, and it seemed like the bento box was the way to go. A mixture of Sushi and rice and salad.

Got the twilight pic.

Off for some Japanese.

Table for 2 please.

Try it. Delicious.

Nom Nom.

Then we were off back to the Air Bnb for an early night as Tuesday was a big day.

Tuesday, we woke up early and packed up and headed to Auto Vivendi. Kas was there cleaning up and I climbed in sweeping the leaves out as it was autumn in London and the leaves were everywhere.

 

The day was long, but we made sales and lots of contacts. James was on form selling the art. I even got interviewed by a local magazine.

Up early and were off to do a days work in London.

My dear friend Craig from Auto Vivendi. What a nice man.

Spot the Scots. LOL.

Such an honor. Thank you Craig.

James choosing a car for the week.

Pick a car.

SOLD.

Meet Daniel. Daniel Hughes is a friend from London and he likes to cycle and is a British Airways Pilot. How cool is that. Was nice to catch up after so many years.

Meet Grant. We go back 30 years when we worked together at Intekom. Grant was the tech guru and i was the design guru. Were still friends today.

Joanne taking a pic of me taking a pic with Grant.

Wow, what an honor.

Car or Painting?

Meet Simon. A new collector.

A beautiful piece from 2002.

Been interviewed.

After we packed up Joanne and I headed back to Paddington to catch a train back to Pangbourne.

Without Phil we would not of got the show done.

Joanne doing what Paul McCartney did back in the day outside Abbey Road Studios.

Got the pic. Making memories for Joanne. Even the London Bus driver did his part to complete the photo.

No one home underground.

We stopped at Paddington to get a bite to eat as the next train was in 20 minutes.

Joanne chose a nice chicken wrap for us, and I opted for a packet of crisps to go.

We got home and crashed out after a long day.

Wednesday, we woke up at 7am and headed out to Wentworth Golf Club where the show continued. We met James at 8am and started to hang the paintings.

Joanne messing about.

Wentworth.

SOLD.

Chris was there from Total Task Consultancy. He heads up a security firm at Wentworth and managed to arrange the Ryder Cup room for us to exhibit in.

Meet James and Chris.

Tony and Alison popped in, as did Stuart and Jane. There were many new faces and contacts. I even got to see my old friend Dorian and his wife Janaki.

My good friend Tony Mellon. So nice to have such nice friends as people.

Joanne and Alison strutting their stuff.

Janaki and Dorian popped in.

Great to catch up with Dorian. Such a lovely man. I miss you mate.

 

We shut up shop around 6pm and headed to Tony and Alison’s house in Farnham for the evening.

Alison made us a delicious Lasagne.

The girls looking good.

Tony using us as models.

Spotted the Scott in Tony and Alison's house.

Saying goodbye. Joanne, Alison, Stuart, Jane and Tony.

The boys from up north.

Thursday, we had a nice big breakfast and headed back to Pangbourne. Not before we walked the streets of Farnham. A beautiful little village where Joanne got herself four nice pairs of shoes from a CLOSING DOWN sale in an Italian shoe shop.

Great little bakery in Farnham. Stuart and Jane said it was a great loaf.

Nom Nom.

Another pub that we have added to our WiFi passwords.

Joanne got herself an nice few pair of shoes in a closing down sale.

We arrived in Pangbourne quite late after popping in to see Peggy at her gallery in Whichchurch. Peggy has been representing me for many years. Her husband Brodie is a famous race car driver.

Friday was a catch-up day. Admin, email, posting and packing. Joanne and I popped out to see Peggy again and walked back up the hill via Paul at Greens butcher where we got some biltong for Joanne’s sister and for my dad for his birthday on Saturday.

Uncle Stuart helping out with sending a package to a collector.

Best butcher in the world.

Sending dad his birthday present. Paul's Biltong.

The Modern Artist Gallery in Whitchurch Pangbourne.

Another pub WiFi ticked off.

Always working.

Back home over the river Thames.

Jane made us a nice chicken and prune stew for supper and we both fell asleep on the couch after a long hard week’s work.

Saturday we only woke up at 9am. It’s been a while since I had a good 10 hours sleep. We did our final packing and headed off to Reading to catch the bus to Heathrow. Once again, the public transport was great, but it was expensive, R1 100 for the two of us to catch a bus for 45 minutes.

Joanne suggested Uber, but it was to late. The uber was only R300 for the both of us. Nonetheless, we got to catch up with Sally who is Stuart and Jane’s neighbour who we have got to know well over the years.

We got to the airport on time and managed to do a bit of Duty-Free shopping.

We flew on an A380 from London to Dubai which was very empty. Been a while since we have flown on such an empty aircraft.

The flight was good as it was a day flight, but we landed at 2am in Dubai. Straight to the plane and straight to sleep.

It was a very successful trip. Nice to see all the family and nice to do some business at the same time.

The aeroplane lands in about 2 hours where Richie is gonna pick us up.

So, until next week, thanks for reading.

 r  i  c  h  a  r  d