I've not really had time to put together a proper entry this week, as I've been working on a big commission, which seems to be expanding to fill all available time. So I thought I'd show an old school photo, taken at St James's Middle School, when I was about twelve, as a kind of filler until my next entry. I left that school many years ago, but about five years ago I met a young man in London who'd also been to the same school, and I was interested to learn that the same headmaster was still in place, and still laboured under the same nickname, poor man!

This is an image from a set of Ronald Searle lithographs I acquired called Bouquets garni: Le langage des fleurs. The title of this print is 'Chouchou'. The lithographs were published by Michel Cassé in Paris in 1975, and I bought them from a Scottish dealer a couple of year ago. I'd discovered Ronald Searle's work as an eleven year old in Lancashire on a summer holiday: looking through a stand of books outside Boots whilst waiting for my parents I came across Back in the Jug Agane and was so entranced I spent the whole month's pocket money on this book. My pleasure in Searle's work has not diminished. I'm still impressed by the quality of his line and the economic use of tone, and the way he infuses these with his humour. I enjoy the way Searle's world is such a complete and satisfying one, though not always a comfortable one.

I've been playing around with some old negatives I've had for a while. I tried scanning them the other day to see what results I'd get. I was quite taken with this one, though I've no idea where it was taken or who took it. I quite like these anonymous photos, and have a smallish collection. I like the fact that these images have a power other than that of a record of people or places known to the photographer. I wonder whether any of the photos I've taken over the years will take on a life of their own eventually, unmoored from the people and places I've known.

This is the City of London, made of cake. I found it on a stall at a street fair — it had been created by RIBA students, and I hope they ate it when the event was over. They'd also made a map of the upcoming Olympic site in east London with vegetables. I like this idea of edible constructions. There was a car advertisement on TV a while ago, where smiling bakers made a copy of the company's latest car out of cake, including the engine. No shots of them then sitting in the car or eating it though. I like the idea of something that's edible, but which also functions. Edible furniture perhaps — when you've eaten your dinner and are still hungry, you could eat your way through the plate and into the table.