Weekly Roundup #2

I invade London! (That Space Invader mosaic has been on the bridge near Southwark Cathedral for over 10 years.)

By the end of Friday, I'd been pounding the pavements for 17 days -- thus now making this officially my longest stay (in 2019, I was here for 16 days) and I haven't reached the halfway point yet. I'm settling into a rhythm, often doing an online Pilates class in the morning and then heading out the door around 11 or so. I'm still packing a lot in, but not at such a crazy pace as in week 1. The spider's web of bus routes is making more and more sense. I'm beginning to know which grocery store or market to go to for particular products, depending on who has the best quality or price. I say hi to the neighbours in Lambolle Road and a few say hi to me.

Again, for those of you who want the potted version: I saw some exhibitions (Cezanne at Tate Modern, Kaffe Fassett at the Fashion & Textile Museum, Executions at the Museum of London Docklands) and a giant globe, rambled around Hampstead on a warm, sunny day and Golders Green on a dreary one, spent time with an old friend and a new one, went to an excellent play at the National, and heard a book talk about London clay and the things it offers up on the foreshore of the Thames. Read on if you want the details.

The week got off to a fine start on Monday morning, when I met Jen at Southwark Cathedral to see Gaia, a giant globe made of NASA satellite images taken of the earth. As you watch it slowly turning, it's supposed to make you feel in awe of the planet and aware of our responsibility to maintain it. 

We then mooched around Bermondsey a bit, looking at the old warehouses and Georgian shop fronts, got sandwiches from Tesco and ate a leisurely lunch in Red Cross Garden (established by Octavia Hill, a woman who was an social reformer and advocate for decent housing for the working poor in the 19th century). I decided to head to Canary Wharf afterwards to see the exhibition of Executions at the Museum of London Docklands. The exhibition is full of images, artifacts including clothing worn by Charles I, letters containing pleas for clemency, tokens left by the condemned for their loved ones, and grisly stuff like chains, locks and gibbets. Matt Brown gave the exhibition a glowing write-up on Londonist, saying you could spend an hour there. Well, I spent an hour and a half and had to rush to see the final bits as the museum was closing. 

Tuesday dawned sunny, bright and warm. I decided to take a break from exhibitions, opting to spend four or five hours roaming the streets of Hampstead. My legs got a real workout as I climbed hills and steps, wandered down narrow passageways, poked around in graveyards, peeked in people's windows, stopped into the local library next to Keats's House and generally enjoyed myself. Hampstead is really like no other place, full of red brick houses, lovely shops and pubs, cobbled streets, an old lockup, a Grade II listed boilerhouse chimney, tons of plaques on famous people's homes and lots of atmosphere. It's no wonder well-off people chose this spot in the 17th and 18th centuries when they looked to abandon the filth and disease of London for the curative waters and clean air of this elevated spot.

I also walked past the Snappy Snaps that George Michael crashed his Range Rover into one drunken night in 2010. Fans used to leave tributes at the damaged wall. The owners have since repaired it.  

On Wednesday, I was back to looking at art and going to theatre. In the morning, I went to Tate Modern to see the blockbuster Cezanne exhibition. I got in at half price with my Art Pass. They were very good about controlling entry and letting people in according to the time on their ticket, but it was absolutely rammed with people, making it a bit difficult to edge my small self up to the wall text and the paintings. It's a very good exhibition despite the throngs, well organized and full of workss I'd never seen before. (I later saw a small selection of his paintings at the Courtauld, and thought they would have been excellent inclusions in the Tate exhibition, but I suspect the Courtauld isn't keen on letting them out.) The exhibition is arranged chronologically, putting the paintings in context with what was going on in his personal life at the time he did them. 

While at Tate Modern, I also had a butcher's at the installation in the Turbine Hall -- Cecilia Vicuña's Brain Forest Quipu. 

After a lunch of sushi from Waitrose, ate while sat on a bench in Bernie Spain Gardens (named for a local woman activist), I went to the National for a matinee of Blues for an Alabama Sky. I had a cheap seat (20 quid) in the unraked first four rows of the Lyttleton Theatre. The seats are narrower in this section, but that's ok for a small person like me. Unfortunately, many of these level, narrow seats were occupied by LARGE men. My neck is still a bit sore from craning around these giants. So, the seat left something to be desired, but the production was excellent. As is expected from the National, the staging and costumes were fantastic and the acting was superb. The play was very moving -- with light comedy interspersed with some heavy themes. It may have been a tad too long, but that's not a major complaint. 

Since I had plans for Thursday evening, I got a late start on the day, doing an online Pilates class in the morning and just faffing about in my gaff. Then I got on the Northern line and headed to Battersea Power Station, for a short walk into Battersea Park to go to the Affordable Art Fair. I've never been to this semi-annual event before. I saw quite a few paintings and prints I liked, but I didn't buy. Instead, I collected cards from various galleries and made notes on what I liked for future reference. 

Bermondsey next, to go to the Fashion & Textile Museum to see the Kaffe Fassett exhibition. I knew about his line of yarns for knitting (and have a friend Janice who knit samples for him in the past), but didn't know so much about his textiles. This exhibition was all about fabric, specifically quilts made from his colourful and unique fabric designs. I enjoyed the exhibition (and my Janice enjoyed my snaps), but I wished for more. 

My last stop of the day was a talk by author Tom Chivers about his book London Clay. My friend Jen had tipped me off to this event -- it was originally scheduled to take place during the Totally Thames Festival in September but was rescheduled due to the queen's death. I met up with Jen and new friend Lesley at the event. Jen has read the book and highly recommends it. I'm going to order it as soon as I get home. The talk was utterly engaging. Tom told us about his long love of the south side of the Thames and the various smaller rivers that emptied into it long ago. He has both researched the geology of the river clay and explored the foreshore extensively, mudlarking for various relics that the river gives up at low tide. He read bits from the book -- historic, poetic and deeply personal -- and passed around some of the bits and bobs he has found. 

And now for Friday. I was too knackered to think about more exhibitions, talks, walks, etc., so I decided this would be a good day to go up to the post office in Golders Green to exchange the now-out-of-circulation paper 20 pound notes I came over with. The paper notes have been replaced with polymer ones and, as of September 30, are no longer good to spend. I arrived in the UK just a few days late to spend or exchange them at a variety of places. Now, they can only be exchanged at the Bank of England, which according to their website has queues of over an hour, or at six or eight post offices across the capital. The nearest one to me was Golders Green, and as I'd never walked around Hampstead Garden Suburb there, it seemed a good plan. The weather was iffy all day, alternately raining and overcast with occasional bits of sunshine. It took me all of five minutes to exchange my bills, and the rain was holding off (for a time), so I walked to St Jude's church in the heart of Hampstead Garden Suburb. The church has an amazing arts & crafts interior that I'd wanted to see, but alas it was locked up tighter than a drum. And so I mooched around a bit, looking at the charming cottages behind hedges and white picket fences. One of these days, I'll make it here during Open House Weekend and have a proper tour. 

As the plaque above the sundial says, "Let others tell of storm showers, I'll only count your sunny hours." 

Stats:

Monday, Oct 17

£1.40 sandwich from Tesco

£6.50 Museum of London Docklands (half price with Art Pass)

£10.41 groceries

19,191 steps

7.81 miles

Tuesday, Oct 18

£1 chocolate croissant

£1.40 package of Ginger Nuts

20,853 steps

8.50 miles

Wednesday, Oct 19

£10 Cezanne exhibition (half price with Art Pass)

£20 National Theatre ticket

£3.32 lunch

£9.50 wine and veg

19,313 steps

7.96 miles

Thursday, Oct 20

£6 Affordable Art Fair (early bird price, booked online)

£6.33 Fashion & Textile Museum (half price with Art Pass)

£2.15 cookie

17,157 steps

7.02 miles

Friday, Oct 21

£5.95 sandwich at a proper cafe

£1.65 ibuprofen

£2.50 banana bread

£2.96 yogurt and bananas

16,150 steps

6.59 miles