£100 challenge – day nineteen

For free entertainment in a city I’d always look to museums first. In touristy places most of the museums seem to charge, but Leicester is pretty good for a wide variety of free-entry museums to go when you’re short on your dough (is that a misquote from somewhere? EDIT: hehe, it was Y.M.C.A., of course!). Today I was at New Walk Museum and Art Gallery; where they’ve just launched two new exhibitions.

The Leicester Society of Artists are holding their Annual Exhibition which had some really lovely stuff in it. There were some very pretty landscapes, some great surreal stuff, some well executed snow-theme pictures, and an amazing canvas of a couple of guys leaning against a wall. I don’t know how the artist had put so much life into them, it was almost uncanny!

Off the side of the Picasso ceramics gallery they’ve also just opened what I think is going to be a permanent exhibition dedicated to Ernest Gimson and the Arts and Crafts movement. I didn’t get to have a close look because there were quite a few people in there, but I saw some drawers which people were pulling out that appeared to have interesting bits and bobs inside, and they had some screens showing furniture making processes.

Then I came home and failed to make myself a nutritious lunch. Instead I ate Mornflake chocolatey squares (which I’d bought about 3 boxes of when they were on special offer for 99p), however I’m now  over at my boyfriend’s writing this on his laptop (the relief of being actually able to type, rather than having to peck it out on a temperamental touch screen is immense) while he is preparing brussels sprouts and “I’m not going to tell you” surprise for our tea. Luxury! Mystery! Suspense! It’s a good weekend so far. 🙂