Brilliant!

What a difference a year makes. This year's arrival day was a complete 180 from last year's -- the key worked in the lock on the first try, not a drop of rain, and I had a pal to meet up with so I didn't have to wander around in a disoriented and jetlagged state all by myself. After a nap and a shower, I met one of my Flickr mates in St Pancras Churchyard, then we went to the British Library and the Wellcome Collection. No trouble figuring out the bus, didn't get lost, had a good time -- couldn't be better. Saturday and Sunday were equally brilliant days. Spooner and I went to Kew Gardens on Saturday to see the Henry Moore sculptures. They looked fab in the natural setting, but after walking around and looking at over 20 of them, I had to say "No more Moore. Let's get snacks." We had tea at a very old-timey English tea room, where Spooner and I argued about how to use silverware (he's trying to learn how to eat like a Brit, i.e. use his knife to shovel food onto the back of his fork.) I tried to tell him that his ancestors left the persecution and damp of this isle so that he could grow up in freedom and eat like an American. We covered large sections of the East End on Sunday -- Bunhill Fields, Shoreditch, Brick Lane area, and eventually the Isle of Dogs. We saw a ton of street art, walked through Columbia Road Flower Market, looked at the old Huguenot houses in Princelet and Fournier Streets, found El Chivo and Banksy graffiti in dark alleys, bought stuff at UpMarket, took the DLR to West India Quay, went to the Museum in the Docklands, and came home exhausted. All along the way, I saw things that I'd seen in pictures in Guess Where London -- it was really freaky to see things I knew, but had never seen in real life, and I even often remembered who took the photo. Now it's Monday morning and Spooner has gone off to work, leaving me on my own for the whole day. It's cloudy and damp for the first time since I got here -- much more like what I expect of London weather. I'm heading to Kensington today to go to the V&A and to walk through Holland Park. Tonight is the meet up at a pub in Waterloo with the rest of my Flickr mates. I'm really psyched to be meeting them. Hope they like the gifties from America.

Planning London

I think I've done just about all the planning I can do. This year, I know to have an indoor alternative in every area I plan to explore, because it's inevitable that rain will fall. I've got lots of cool stuff planned:

• Kew Gardens (big exhibit of Henry Moore sculpture there)
• Columbia Road Flower Market, an exploration of Shoreditch street art, possibly the Dennis Severs house, and on down to the Docklands with Spooner
• Kensington, the V&A, perhaps a visit to Harrod's to see the Di and Dodi shrine
• Various galleries in Central London
• A very long walk through the City
• Southbank, the Hayward Gallery and the Tate Modern
• Day trip to Winchester or Dover

On some of these days, I'm hoping various Flickr mates will be joining me. I've planned a mini meetup for a small group of them at a pub in Waterloo one evening. Spooner and I may go to theatre one night, or to see the movie "When Did You Last See Your Father?" that we saw being filmed in Brighton last year (it's just opened in the UK).

Tales of the adventures will follow.

The Fall

There was a small incident on Sunday involving some broken pavement, my toe, and the sun, which was shining straight into my eyes. This unfortunate combo resulted in two very bruised knees, some scrapes on the heels of my hands, and a wee dent on one corner of my camera just at the bottom of the cover to the memory card. After my knees collided with the ground, my right hand must have then taken the rest of the impact or the camera would have been toast. So yesterday on my lunch hour I took the camera out for a short walk around campus. All seems well, which is really, really good because I'm not too keen on the thought of buying a new camera at the moment, having just ordered a new pair of glasses that cost a bundle but will be well worth it if they help me to see where I'm walking. It would also help if I'd pick up my feet.

Making plans for London

I've been a really bad blogger lately. When I haven't been lounging around the pool or roasting tomatoes, I've been planning for the upcoming trip to London. Last year, I had 4 days of doing things with Spooner and 3 on my own. This year, Spooner and I will have only Saturday and Sunday to explore together, leaving me to make my own way around town for 6 days. One of those days will be a day trip to either Winchester (a cathedral city) or to Dover to see the castle and the white cliffs. I've gotten in touch with some of my London Flickr friends, and am hoping to meet several of them to take in some museum exhibits or have a few pints. Spooner still doesn't quite believe me when I say that I know people who I can hang out with, but he's slowly admitting that I may actually know more Brits than he does. Oh, and I've been busily crafting presents for the Brits (more on that later).

Photo credits!

Two of my photos have just been chosen to be on websites in the UK. I won't get paid for either one (professional photographers probably look on this as scabbing by amateurs who give their stuff away), but I will get photo credit -- with my meatspace name on one and my nom de Flickr on the other.



The sculpture above, called You (a.k.a. Red Man) is by Antony Gormley and it sits atop the extension on the Roundhouse in Chalk Farm. Spooner and I were coming home from a long day of many adventures, starting with the Pearly Harvest Festival (below), including the Charles Dickens Museum, the Inns of Court (but not the Temple Church because it was closed), St Bride's, St Paul's, etc., etc. We took the tube back and got off at Chalk Farm, one stop before Belsize Park where Spooner lives, to look for Banksy's French maid. I happened to look up and see this sculpture and then had to get Mr. Fast Walker to stop and wait while I took a pic of it. I only got one shot, and it was a good one. Right now, there's a massive exhibit of Gormley sculptures, with 31 of them placed on the tops of buildings in central London and Southbank, and there are exhibits of his work at the Hayward Gallery and the Wellcome Trust. The 24 Hour Museum website has an article about Gormleys on public display in the UK -- the author asked me for permission to include this photo and I said yes. It's a dot org, and a website that I use as reference often, so I feel fine about the lack of compensation.



This photo of the Pearly Society's Harvest Festival is going to be included on a website called Schmap. They do guides of different cities, and this will be on the Soho and West End events page of the London guide. I recognized names of some other London Flickrers among the photo credits, so I figured it's probably ok to let them use my photo without compensation. This one is credited with my Flickr name (Trailerfullofpix). Anyway, as the Brits would say, I'm chuffed.