Hating the idea of wasting any of precious summer that remains, I was searching for something to do this weekend. I was going to take a ride out to one of the islands in Casco bay that remain unexplored (well by my feet at least) but then Barbara told me about the Space Gallery Block Party that was happening in Portland. Her company was a sponsor so she was going along to set up a table on the street to drum up interest and I invited myself along...I did help a little, accosting strangers and asking them if they were interested at all in affordable housing. I also got to explore the street which was shut off to traffic but open to artistic types, hangers-on and passers-by. Several installations set themselves along the stretch for people to watch and interact with. One of which involved a giant printing press. Members of the printing press had hand made lots of individual letter stamps and were asking people to submit analogue tweets to be printed onto giant sheets and raised up for all to read...
Another of the arty events going on was the creation of a stop-go animation of Godzilla in Portland. Very amusing to watch the process. Saw the woman climbing in to the Godzilla suit, then watched as they filmed a bit of it (it was an epic undertaking). There were loads of camera crew plus kids doing the moving bit by bit of the cars and buses. Lots of instructions were shouted as objects were moved too far or not quickly enough.
There were various other street performances and installations going on too including a guy dressed up in a kilt and reciting in a good, but not authentic, Scottish accent, McGonagall's poem about the River Tay Bridge Disaster. Brought back memories of mum's hysterical (and better!) version over the breakfast table!
A highlight was a performance by the 'What cheer? Brigade'. A 19 piece marching band which had the whole street jumpin'. See what you think...
Watch this clip (sadly it wouldn't let me upload my video but you'll get the picture!)
To top off a great afternoon, Nick and Barbara took me out for dinner. A very nice little bistro in Portland where we had a delicious vegetable curry to warm us up and some incredibly yummy deserts. Portland is a foodie city as well as an arty one. Every time I go out with someone, they point me in the direction of another 10 good places to eat...size of a house, here I come!
Or not...I went for a great cycle ride this morning in the sunshine. Beautiful, beautiful, beautiful!
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