I wander through each chartered street

Saturday saw me ambling over to Smithfield to peer at John Squire's most recent batch of artworks. He seems to have left his splattery, Pollocky period behind and entered a blobby, organic, bacteria and jellybean period. Actually, experts tell me that there was at least one other period in between, but I missed it completely. I don't go a bundle on non-representational art as a rule, but one room containing around 25 canvasses is small enough that even I can sustain interest. There was even one which - had I a spare £13,000 and a huge expanse of bare wall - I might have considered living with. And one which so resembled a wallfull of squirming maggots that I found it difficult to look at.

The Louvres and National Galleries of this world should really consider that most people can't keep up with their vast collections. Half an hour with a roomful of works is the sort of handy, bite-sized amount of art appreciation that you can slide neatly into your day without skimping your lunch or missing out on your afternoon tea.

Opposite the Smithfield gallery is a surprising Tudor gatehouse which leads into St Bartholomew's churchyard. The church was closed, but it set us off on a long ramble.

( An afternoon in London, with pictures )