(no subject)
Let's face it I'm tired.
I'm back at my favorite internet cafe- a real cafe, near King's Cross--
Bread and Butter on Judd St, next you're in London. Couldn't find one
in York, so Albus didn't post from there as intended- too expensive
from the hostel to do more than email.
A few bullets I still have in my brain, while I'm still on this side.
*Googe St tube stop: designed by a modernist hobbit.
* Missed the verrrry long escalators I remembered from yesteryear till happened to get off at Picadilly Circus (which, btw, is prettier than I remembered). Sooo long. Cool.
* I have such horrible newspaper envy over The Guardian. I often check their stories on line, but so much better in the 'flesh'. I want my reality-based, funny, fun, thorough, independent national newspaper and I want it now. At least we've got Jon Stewart.
* Speaking of Googe St tube, off-center circles and arches are a key design feature in much of the nicest English architecture. Sometimes, as at York Minster, unintentionally.
*Apparently, according to the guide, it is incorrect to call York Cathedral a Minster. A Minster is only a church of a certain era that is not an episcopal seat. There aren't many.
*This was what I did, for my records:
Weds: British Library, nap, curry with the panel.
Thu: British Museum a bit, panels, reception.
Fri: Southwark Cathedral, Globe theater, Tate modern
Sat: our panel & other panels. Dinner with Eeyore.
Sun: Hampton Court. Gorgeous day. Dinner with coffeejunkii and transgeneric in Notting Hill.
Mon: National Gallery, churches and walking around Covent Garden area. Dinner with snowballjane.
Tues: Stupid morning. Camden Market & walked Regent canal- gorgeous day again. Train to York; walked on walls of old city.
Weds: Yorkminster and family. Treasurer's house and ragged old church with unreconstructed interior. Rainy.
Thurs: back to London and to Eeyore's huge, gorgeous flat in St John's Wood. British Museum again- early medieval and prehistoric stuff while thunder roared and rain hammered the skylights. Concert at St M's.
Fri: Lincoln's Inn and Temple; Imperial War museum; Borough Market (jam!). Theatre tonight.
*Imperial War museum was very crowded (all English) and very sad, till I got too tired and headachy to take anything in. 'Trench experience' pathetic- I guess I expected them to plunge me in a mix of icewater and gore up to my waist, bombard my ears with deafening noise, infect me with lice and typhus, and fill the air with the stench of rotting bodies, human waste, and chlorine gas. In honor of my grandad, who was there at age 17. Which is a testament to the misery of time in more ways than the obvious, since I'm sure he did it in part to get away from his incredibly strict and overbearing father. Cousin E told me he (her grandfather, my great grandfather) always walked ramrod straight with his left hand held at the middle of his back. Vivid if not damning image.
Did see the admit record for Seigfried Sassoon at Craiglockhart- no pretense of shellshock, just remarks on Betrand Russell's pacifist crowd etc. Very factual.
Also some films related to the current exhibit on WWII from children's perspective; boy scouts helping in the blitz, kids across England gardening and knitting for the war. Most poignant image to me- the delicacy with which the boys who grew mushrooms handled their crops. Otherwise fucking terrifying, and of course, for me, cast a bit of light on HP.
*Camden Mkt yuck. 20 years ago I found some good stuff there- hoped for used clothes, but just miles and miles of St Mark's Place. Except there was someone selling 'magic purple mushrooms' in plastic boxes, marked with prices and points of origin (Mexico, so I guess someone found them, and somewhere else.) They seemed to be in excellent condition, if they really had come from Latin America.
*Regent Canal not nearly as nice as I remembered. New buildings and, you know, things strike you differently. I was more city-hungry back then.
*the train to York really does only take 2 hours. High speed rail envy.
*Hampton Court- I had said, 'no more palaces, never again,' but glad I went. They did a very clever theatrical presentation, including the Tudor kitchens, which are in pristine shape. They had 'Georgian' characters and foods in there though- someone was roasting and grinding chocolate with a huge marble pin. Smelled incredible. I'd describe the rest but I'm toooo tired.
Off to the theatre. I think tomorrow a.m. I may just watch tv till it's time to leave. See you soon, luvvies.
*Googe St tube stop: designed by a modernist hobbit.
* Missed the verrrry long escalators I remembered from yesteryear till happened to get off at Picadilly Circus (which, btw, is prettier than I remembered). Sooo long. Cool.
* I have such horrible newspaper envy over The Guardian. I often check their stories on line, but so much better in the 'flesh'. I want my reality-based, funny, fun, thorough, independent national newspaper and I want it now. At least we've got Jon Stewart.
* Speaking of Googe St tube, off-center circles and arches are a key design feature in much of the nicest English architecture. Sometimes, as at York Minster, unintentionally.
*Apparently, according to the guide, it is incorrect to call York Cathedral a Minster. A Minster is only a church of a certain era that is not an episcopal seat. There aren't many.
*This was what I did, for my records:
Weds: British Library, nap, curry with the panel.
Thu: British Museum a bit, panels, reception.
Fri: Southwark Cathedral, Globe theater, Tate modern
Sat: our panel & other panels. Dinner with Eeyore.
Sun: Hampton Court. Gorgeous day. Dinner with coffeejunkii and transgeneric in Notting Hill.
Mon: National Gallery, churches and walking around Covent Garden area. Dinner with snowballjane.
Tues: Stupid morning. Camden Market & walked Regent canal- gorgeous day again. Train to York; walked on walls of old city.
Weds: Yorkminster and family. Treasurer's house and ragged old church with unreconstructed interior. Rainy.
Thurs: back to London and to Eeyore's huge, gorgeous flat in St John's Wood. British Museum again- early medieval and prehistoric stuff while thunder roared and rain hammered the skylights. Concert at St M's.
Fri: Lincoln's Inn and Temple; Imperial War museum; Borough Market (jam!). Theatre tonight.
*Imperial War museum was very crowded (all English) and very sad, till I got too tired and headachy to take anything in. 'Trench experience' pathetic- I guess I expected them to plunge me in a mix of icewater and gore up to my waist, bombard my ears with deafening noise, infect me with lice and typhus, and fill the air with the stench of rotting bodies, human waste, and chlorine gas. In honor of my grandad, who was there at age 17. Which is a testament to the misery of time in more ways than the obvious, since I'm sure he did it in part to get away from his incredibly strict and overbearing father. Cousin E told me he (her grandfather, my great grandfather) always walked ramrod straight with his left hand held at the middle of his back. Vivid if not damning image.
Did see the admit record for Seigfried Sassoon at Craiglockhart- no pretense of shellshock, just remarks on Betrand Russell's pacifist crowd etc. Very factual.
Also some films related to the current exhibit on WWII from children's perspective; boy scouts helping in the blitz, kids across England gardening and knitting for the war. Most poignant image to me- the delicacy with which the boys who grew mushrooms handled their crops. Otherwise fucking terrifying, and of course, for me, cast a bit of light on HP.
*Camden Mkt yuck. 20 years ago I found some good stuff there- hoped for used clothes, but just miles and miles of St Mark's Place. Except there was someone selling 'magic purple mushrooms' in plastic boxes, marked with prices and points of origin (Mexico, so I guess someone found them, and somewhere else.) They seemed to be in excellent condition, if they really had come from Latin America.
*Regent Canal not nearly as nice as I remembered. New buildings and, you know, things strike you differently. I was more city-hungry back then.
*the train to York really does only take 2 hours. High speed rail envy.
*Hampton Court- I had said, 'no more palaces, never again,' but glad I went. They did a very clever theatrical presentation, including the Tudor kitchens, which are in pristine shape. They had 'Georgian' characters and foods in there though- someone was roasting and grinding chocolate with a huge marble pin. Smelled incredible. I'd describe the rest but I'm toooo tired.
Off to the theatre. I think tomorrow a.m. I may just watch tv till it's time to leave. See you soon, luvvies.