This week is “Art Fair”. There are actually 4, or maybe even 5, separately organized fairs going on around town simultaneously. It’s most clear it’s this week because the weather is so ‘bad’; as in, this is the week the heat and the humidity both peak, at the same time, every year. And this year it seems worse than ever.

For all that, I like to wander round and see what is going on, what is on show, as ever. I guess I particularly look at the visual arts, painting and, every year there is more, photography, but there can be some curious fiber artists as well as ceramics. The one stand-out for me this year was a gentleman from Japan, Takashi Yamashita – I just thought what he was trying, where he was taking his photography, was just fascinating.

But it seemed to me that there weren’t quite as many booths as other years. One fair didn’t use as many city blocks as usual, and another had gaps in its lines of booths. Perhaps they’ve been shrinking for years (I know there was a fair amount of despondency in 2010), but this year it got obvious. And then to hit them when they’re down, the weather ensures there are far less shoppers than usual.