My weekend in London

There were a lot of events happening the weekend I spent in London:
• National Walking Day (the pictures tell the story best)
• The buildings were open (not sure what this was about exactly, but it was also true in Paris)
• Thames Festival (again, the pictures tell the story best)
• Some kind of Underground (Metro) celebration that I missed
I also had friends to see and compulsory activities like the theatre ;-).

I took the Eurostar after French class on Friday afternoon and arrived without incident (although the train was late). K and I went to see Pride and Prejudice (the movie), which had just been released and we were both wrapped up in the romanticism of it all. But by the next day, we had decided that Kera Knightly wasn’t very good. I thought the rest of the movie was lovely and particularly appreciated that they used the real, historic homes as the set. (There were materials available at the theatre, including a small movie poster, with this information.)

London did some really cute things with National Walking Day, like characters in costumes entertaining people in the square, free walking tours all around the city, and loads of free stuff if you signed a document promising to walk and bike more. Several local NPOs were there pushing their activities, and people seemed really excited about it (or was that just the free stuff?).

The Thames Festival was huge. I went over there in the evening after consuming some of the City’s magnificent art museums with a loose plan to meet my friends, but while I had K’s cel phone number, I am such a retard I didn’t feel like calling. Partly, this was bc despite there being literally a million people there, I was sure we would bump into each other. And I was right.

The festival had a few cool things like a professional sand castles and music and dancing. But most of it was people selling their stuff (“think of Christmas,” one sign read) and I am pretty turned off by street fairs that are all about consumerism. For dinner, I had some pretty terrible chicken tikka, and then noticed much better looking chicken at the next stand over. Alas. And yet then as I was watching, the woman chopping up huge quantities of chicken with plastic gloves on turned and, without removing her gloves, accepted a huge quantity of money from her colleague. She put the money down, now covered in chicken grease, and then returned to chopping the chicken (fingers dirty now from money), still without and change in her gloved status. I think it was God’s way of telling me I am doing OK (that I didn’t eat from that stand, and etc.). Later, I ate some much better Indian snackies which was a small compensation.

[There’s something there about separation of uses. Chicken grease is dirty. Money is dirty. You are always supposed to wash your hands after you use the bathroom even if you didn’t “get any on you”. And at the same time, you don’t want to touch money or chicken or anything after you have used the bathroom at the same time – dirty things need to be separated from each other....]

The stated goal of the visit was to check up on London’s transport system under congestion charging, and, from this perspective, it was relatively successful. I also wanted to see some art and freshen my knowledge of Michelangelo’s work given that I just finished his biography. And of course I enjoyed seeing my friends there. The following letters and journal entries describe the visit more.

Date: Sep 18, 2005 12:14 AM
Subject: art, rivers, tea, and whatnot
London is lovely. It used to be that when I came here, I'd stay but mostly do stuff on my own. Now it seems they have started to like me, and I'm almost overwhelmed with social events. This is a minor problem bc right at the moment K and her mother aren't speaking. Families are so funny. H and his sister weren't speaking when I first arrived, but he apologised, and she forgave him. It does appear that he still expects an apology, but maybe that will blow over. And all of these little spats are bc someone said or did something insensitive and the other person reacted strongly to it. The reaction, in all cases, caused the break, not the initial insensitivity. My family has its drama's, but they are different.

Speaking of family dramas, sort of, I just saw the Frida Kalho exhibit at the Tate Modern, compliments of L’s membership card. Kalho was quite an amazing woman. But I can't help but think that perhaps she, and definitely her audience (including her husband), encouraged/exploited/cultivated the "folk art" aspect of her work in a sort of colonial type of way. I am not sure exactly how to articulate this, but she was far from "folk". Her education (in art and everything else) was extensive, and she was wealthy.

But here's the point. L and W's mother, R, lived with Diego Rivera and Leo Trotsky for a while (she's a Marxist astrologer), and she had an affair with Trotsky. So, L wondered, "Mom, we're heard so many stories about that time in your life, why have you never mentioned Frida?" Well, apparently Frida wasn't there, and I think that would have been necessary since Frida also had an affair with Trotsky. He must have really gotten around.

I had a lovely cup of tea with L and D, and covered topics from Slovenia, R’s life, Frida, how much D loves his bus pass (I think I am going to use him as a case study for one of my presentations -- he used to always drive), to the various family feuds. Now, I am having breakfast with them tomorrow too.

[“The Oyster Card is the greatest invention since the zip lock bag.” –David Queen, Londoner. It works as a debit card but with a discount.]

Anyway, after that I went with K and the boys to see Journey's End about WWI, and it was completely emotionally devastating. I thought it incredibly well-acted and directed altho there were a few awkward parts (the boys pointed out) where people jumbled their lines, accidentally blew out candles or knocked over chairs. If they were really comfortable with the script they would have made that seem more natural. Despite that, I thought it some of the best acting I've seen, and the play and set are pretty good too.

We'd driven into the city center (crazy) and parked at a lot where they'd parked in the car (cars on all 4 sides) and didn't have the keys to a critical car in order to liberate ours. K and the boys waited, but I took off for the Tate Modern (and Frida). I found myself in Covent Garden and enjoyed a bacon and cheese pasty and did a little shopping (I need to buy a bag to put the panniers, they are impossible to carry on their own, and I have lost my body and foot scrubbies, and also, it appears, my jacket, but I didn't do anything about that today -- I just got the bath stuff. I am thinking I should steal a shopping bag from IKEA to carry my panniers.) It's the Thames Festival this weekend, so I walked along the river with about 1M other people. Lots of stuff going on, but nothing very interesting to me. Then the museum, which I already talked about.
...
….When most good storytellers tell a story, they start at the beginning and then move towards the moral or punchline while building some suspense perhaps with a few well-timed pauses. I don't do that -- or at least not naturally. My natural way of telling a story is to start with the punchline or moral and then explain it. I have worked hard to correct this, bc it doesn't actually work very effectively.

From my journal, Sep 18, 2005
I’m sitting here at the National Gallery, looking at paintings of 16th Century artists from Florence and Rome. I don’t know if this room is any representation, but while Michelangelo worked his ass off, Rafael (according to the book) partied equally hard; yes, this room has 2 *unfinished* Michelangelos and about 8 Rafaels. For example. But of course M was mostly a sculptor. However, it makes me conscious of how short life is to do our work. I had better get busy. (Alternate theory: M had trouble finishing things.

Maybe M was just one of those people for whom life was a struggle, while Rafael was not.)

Sept 19, 2005 (journal from the Tate Britain)
I am interested in stories – stories as told thru images, brushstrokes, words, stories that are told thru glances and calluses.

Date: Sep 19, 2005 9:41 PM (letter excerpt)
Today, I ended up puttering around until almost 1, when R was coming over. So, I stayed for lunch bc I like her. Then I went to the Royal Academy, except it's closed on Mondays. Then to the Tate Britain and saw lots of cool stuff, except I also remembered it all pretty well from last year. After that I walked to the Saatchi Gallery, which was closed for a private event (as it was when I tried to go yesterday). I took the bus back bc I wanted to ride on the top of a double decker bus, and I got the best seat in the house, on the top front right. Yay! (I guess that's 2.5 for 5, which not bad given the odds.)

PS, [I picked up a step counter a National Walking Day, and it read] 12,000 steps yesterday from 4 PM. Today it's 14,600 steps so far. I know you are the edge of your seat to hear how many steps I take tomorrow. (The goal is 10,000.)