No more Oliver! (do you see what I've done there?)

A great day - I do seem to consistently have really good Fridays. I met a fellow-student at Tate Modern for the David Smith exhibition. While I was waiting for her to arrive, I queued for a ticket for the slide, and managed to get two tickets for the 5th floor slide for 11.30am - result.
The David Smith exhibition was good, especially the smaller sculptures. I began to lose interest in the really big, overblown stuff towards the end, but maybe it just need an outside setting. Anyway, for a sculpture philistine such as myself, this was a really exciting show and I would definitely re-visit it. 7/10.

So, what about the slide! If you haven't already seen it, this is a picture of the slide from the 5th floor. You just put your feet inside a canvas sack which you sit on, cross your arms over your chest and keep you head raised and off you go. Wow - what a rush. You bomb down this tube like a rat in a drainpipe, whizzing round the corners with such speed and force you can't think what's happening. It is total loss of control. When you pop out of the end, you can't help yourself from grinning and laughing - and this happens to everybody - I know, I've watched! Then the adrenaline kicks in and your heartbeat soars and your hands start to shake. But you feel great - really happy - ecstatic even. I want another go now! Everybody should do this. But is it art? Who gives a fuck - it's absolutely brilliant.

I took the tube up to Goodge Street and spent the afternoon running over my presentation in my head. Six o'clock came around all too quickly, and there I stood before the class, slides ready, handouts distributed, and just me presenting my paper on the film adaptations of Dickens and how they have shaped our collective view of the Victorians. My heart was going for the second time in one day, but it all went off really well. Everybody said nice things about it and so I felt very satisfied and most deserving of a pint afterwards.