Broken relationships

Another week is drawing to a close and I can feel the welcome, engulfing arms of the weekend almost around me. I'm glad to see the back of this week. I've not felt very connected with anything apart from the Boy, and work has been a struggle. We're not that busy at the moment, as there is always a bit of a lull in August, and I find the days drag by. I'm someone who much prefers to have too much to do than too little, so I find these days arduous and torturous.

But there are benefits of quieter times, one of which being that I can take a guilt-free lunch hour and enjoy some of the sights and sounds the London has to offer. With the Boy working just around the corner, we try to take a break together once a week and do something, from going to a gallery or having a nice lunch out, to going for a walk around somewhere new or sitting in the park in the sunshine. Today we went to the Museum of Broken Relationships on Earlham Street, which - across two venues - is a fascinating collection of trinkets given from one loved one to another when a relationship was going well. These relationships have since broken up or been ended by death, and the keepsakes are displayed in the exhibition along with an explanation of why the relationship has broken up.

I found the exhibition such an interesting commentary on one rich and shared aspect of the human condition, the broken heart. The tokens range from the sublime (a beautiful grand piano) to the ridiculous (a used breathalyser test!) but they were all equally touching. For a sentimental romantic like myself it was the perfect combination of intrigue and tragedy ,and I consumed it all greedily. I was reminded of times when my heart had been broken, and of relationships that I have lost or that have been taken from me. And of course my mind flickered back to baby Beans, and the box of memories we have for that lost child and that lost relationship. Not for the first time, I felt pleased that we have kept a collection of pictures and documents that belong to baby Beans, and I think perhaps it's time I take a deep breath, pour myself a glass of wine, and have another look through our special treasures.