Joining the swimming pool at Charing Cross Sports Club seems a bargain; £31 a month for off-peak, over 60 membership. Only £1 a day.
But I hadn’t been for a month, so £31 a swim. I must get back into the routine of going at least once a week. The south side of the pool has glass windows shaded by a row of lime trees in summer and letting in abundant light in the winter; a clever, practical and visually pleasing design.
Light and colour are things we take for granted but a new exhibition at the Design Museum challenges us to be more observant. Breathing Colour by Dutch designer, Hella Jongerius, opens today and runs until 24th September. The Times reviewer has given it five stars so at last I have a good excuse to visit the Design Mueum in its new home on Kensington High Street. Afterwards I can appreciate the colours of a Negroni and black squid ink pasta at Il Portico, across the road.
I expect you know what nduja is but I didn’t. It’s a spicy pork salumi made in Calabria. As a pedant I must point out that salumi are Italian meats including bresaola, made from beef, and cooked meats such as mortadella, made from donkey, and prosciutto cotto. Salami is a specific type of salumi, popular in Italy as it can be kept for up to forty days at room temperature after it is first cut. So there you go.