Burning the house down....

Apart from my free cupcakes, another good reason to go to New York now would be to see David Bryne's Playing the Building.

Using a revamped antique pedal organ, Byrne has transformed the empty Battery Maritime Building into a musical instrument that visitors can play.

The "Playing the Building" art installation centers on the organ, which sprouts colorful tubes that lead to metal beams, columns, pipes, electrical conduits and other elements of the building. Pressing a key triggers different sounds throughout, such as clanking hammers on pipes or a motor vibrating against ceiling beams.

I have been listening to the sound clips continually, threatening my old house that I might go around banging on its walls with hammers soon too, not least because I waannnttt to be in New York and hey, I'm Princess Sarah. I stomp my foot and hit ceiling beams if I don't get what I want...

In his journal, David Bryne says that one of his pleasures in this exhibit is that the building, The Battery Maritime Building, isn't normally open. I think there's always a pleasure in snooping where we're not allowed. It's one of the reasons I'm so much looking forward to my day tomorrow in London going round all the squares and gardens not usually open to the oiks like me. On the moonwalk we saw so many green spaces - it's one of the things you forget about London - and now I'm going with the same team to try to find some of the places we thought we would have liked to have stopped and sat in. And this time we're going to take it a bit easier - not least because we'll be fully dressed!