Don't Trust the Weather

I should know that by now, shouldn't I? I've always had such great weather in London in Septembers past, but it's let me down yesterday and today. Both days started out clear, bright and sunny, and both ended grey, wet and cold. Personally, l'd rather have the opposite and that's my hope for tomorrow. Whinge over.

During the bright and sunny part of today, I walked through Queen's Park (the actual park) before going to the farmers' market at the Salusbury Road Primary School. The park is a little green gem, with places for walking, running, doing some kind of fitness training, learning about trees, playing football, etc. There's a caff and a bandstand as well. I so envy the people who live close by. (There's also a Victorian cemetery near by, which makes this a prime location in my estimation.) My only complaint is that the squirrels and the kiddies got all the good conkers before I arrived.

At the market, I stocked up on all my favourites: goat cheese and veg pie, walnut and raisin bread, olive bread sticks. Also picked up a small roast veg quiche, tomatoes and a cucumber. I'm set for the next few days.

Then the adventures commenced. I got to tick off two places that had been on my list for yonks: Dulwich Picture Gallery and Eltham Palace. Thanks to Janie and David, and with mutual friend Judy, we got to see both (which probably wouldn't have been doable on public transport) AND we had a scrumptious lunch at an Italian family restaurant in leafy, lovely Dulwich.

The Picture Gallery is the first purpose-built public art gallery in the world. The building, designed by Sir John Soane, contains the tombs of its two founders in a small mausoleum smack in the middle. A bit creepy, but a good way to ensure they aren't forgotten. We did a quick look round the permanent collection of masterpieces by old masters.

Eltham Palace, once owned or visited by kings and queens since the middle ages, was a bit of a wreck when acquired by the Courtaulds in the 1920s. They restored the Tudor great hall, where Henry VIII had wined and dined, and they built their own home adjoining the hall. I'm not sure what to call the style of the exterior, as it's neither faux Tudor nor contemporary. Where they really expressed their style was with the Art Deco interiors, full of fantastic woodwork and all the mod cons of the 1930s. Built at a time when most Brits lacked indoor toilets, this was truly a Palace of Plumbing. During the Courtaulds' occupancy, they frequently held swanky parties with celebs and jazz bands. The gardens are supposed to be lovely as well, but the weather was not conducive to strolling through them on our visit. We did get to see the wall of the Tudor moat that surrounded the palace and that was pretty impressive.

Stats:
Spent about 12 quid at the farmers' market
Dulwich Picture Gallery FREE with my 10 pound Art Pass
Treated to lunch -- thank you, David and Janie!!
Eltham Palace FREE with Art Pass

17516 steps
7.23 miles

The Aer Lingus Experiment​

I'm declaring it a success for the following reasons:
1) Fare to London from Hartford is really not much more than from Boston
2) Bradley Airport (Hartford) is significantly closer than Logan (Boston) to my house
3) Convinced an OAP to give me rides to/from Bradley, saving cost of parking in the MassPort Framingham lot and Logan Express bus fare
4) Here's where it really gets good: Going through immigration/passport control in Dublin at 4:30 in the morning was quick and easy. No landing card to fill out and no queue to speak of. Landed at Heathrow as an EU flight into Terminal 2. No passport check whatsoever. Just got my luggage at baggage reclaim and went on my way.

The only downside was that I only got two hours of sleep on the flight before waking up to the announcement that we would soon be landing in Dublin. Consequently, I've been even more dazed and confused on arrival day than usual, but I managed it by sticking close to familiar territory.

I arrived at my AirB&B (which is lovely and comfortable) by 11 am, unpacked, took a shower and was out the door by 12:30. I'm staying 3 short blocks from Roger's old flat. I headed up the Harrow Road to Ha'Penny Steps, crossed the canal and cut through Meanwhile Gardens (the site of my yarnbombing a few years back), then down through Golborne Road and Portobello Road markets. A bus ride took me to Bayswater where I got my UK sim card at the EE store. From there, I walked through Kensington Gardens under sunny, blue skies (though it had rained when I was eyeing the street food at Acklam Road) to the Serpentine Gallery. Friends David and Janie got there seconds after me and we queued for Grayson Perry's Most Popular Art Exhibition Ever! Lots of great recent stuff to see -- ceramics, tapestries, gigantic wood cut prints, sculptures made of assorted bits and bobs, a bicycle and a motorcycle -- all witty, satirical, biting and astute social commentary. Judging from the number of people and the enjoyment they exuded, I'd say the exhibition lives up to its name.

After, I took a quick look in the Serpentine Sackler, but I was really too knackered to take it in, so I walked north (in real rain at that point) out of Hyde Park, back to Bayswater, onto two buses that took forever to arrive, and to the Coop in the Harrow Road to buy something for me evening meal. I'm going to force myself to stay awake until 10 pm so I can get a good night sleep and awake fully on GMT, or BST, or whatever time it is here.

Stats:
20 pounds to top up Oyster
15 pounds for sim card and 30 day package
2 pounds for Portuguese custard tart
65p for water
1 pound 50 for Grayson Perry postcards
20p to use the loo in Kensington Gardens
12 pounds 50 for various groceries

18489 steps
7.61 miles

Deja vu

Here I am again today with another post. And there I was today, pretty much replaying Sunday of last year.
Sundays always start with a walk up to the farmers' market in the playground of the Salusbury Road Primary School in Queen's Park. I'd been thinking that I would leave from this trip without a veg pie from Pieminister, as I hadn't been near a market or shop where I could buy one. But I found a pie vendor at the farmers' market today who had a sweet potato, goat's cheese and red onion pie -- same as the Pieminister's Heidi pie without the spinach. So, that will be my dinner tonight.

Roger needed to go to school to work on something or other, so I went on my own to the White Cube in Bermondsey, walking down many of the same streets we walked last year when I was without a camera. This time, I was able to take lots of snaps of the interesting old warehouses, the leather exchange, and some wicked old houses. The exhibition at the White Cube was pretty good (I'll add links later) and I had fun taking photos of people taking photos of themselves and their mates with the art.

Last year, we zigzaged east and north to the river. This year, I went west and north, stopping in at St George the Martyr, which was open today, unlike years ago when I did my Dickens in Southwark walk. St George's is next to the site of the Marshalsea Prison, which Dickens' father did time for his debts, and is where Little Dorritt was married. I walked again past the garden and social housing in Redcross Way that was established by Octavia Hill, the social reformer, and past Crossbones Graveyard, where many prostitutes and outcasts were buried without the rites of the church. The community is building a little garden next to Crossbones Graveyard, but I could only get a glimpse through the locked gate.

I followed Bankside from Southwark Bridge west to Tate Modern, where I used the loo and took a look at the latest installation in the Turbine Hall, due to officially open on Tuesday. It's called "Empty Lot" and it looks like an allotment with triangular-shaped raised beds filled with dirt. Nothing growing but the occasional weed. Maybe they've planted seeds and the installation will grow during the time its there.

My next mission was to walk up and down Theed and Roupell streets, both of which contain small Georgian terrace houses, with unchanged exteriors, that date from the 1830s. Roupell Street shows up in scads of tv programmes and movies, and Theed Street is used for exterior shots of Chummy and Constable Noakes' house in "Call the Midwife." So, just like last year, my final photos (when I ever get around to posting them) will be related to the midwives.
I was really knackered at that point, so I headed back to the flat to eat my pie and pack.

Expenses:
£3 for veg pie
£1.35 for an olive bread stick
£1 for some falafel
65 p for Lockets (like Hall's throat lozenges) for my slightly sore throat
23,117 steps, 9.59 miles

Graves, buses and street art

I'm starting to wind down and my stamina is waning. But I'm pushing on, albeit at a slower pace. Saturday morning, while Roger went to the gym and did errands, I opted to skip mat class in favor of doing a bunch of stretching exercises before taking a long, leisurely walk up to Paddington Cemetery in Queen's Park. I actually passed the Pilates Studio on the way and felt a bit guilty about not being inside for class, but the cemetery was calling to me. I do love me a good graveyard. Although this one isn't counted among the Magnificent Seven, it dates from about the same time and, though small, has all the elements that I think make for an excellent cemetery ramble -- a central avenue leading to a derelict funeral chapel, wooded side paths, overgrown spots and broken headstones, interesting Victorian monuments, angels (at least one of them weeping), and -- something I hadn't seen in the grander graveyards -- iron bootscrapers and toilets. I made use of both.

The cemetery looks close to the Queen's Park station (about a 12 minute walk from the flat) on the map, but the only way into it is on the furthest corner. So, by the time I got back to the flat I'd already logged over 3 miles on my Fitbit. Roger and I had some lunch and then headed out to the East End via Westbourne Park station. Across from the station is the Westbourne Park bus garage, where TfL houses, washes and repairs hundreds of buses. One of their occasional vintage bus days was going on in the yard, where they had on display an omnibus that had been repurposed during World War I as a troop carrier or something (painted a khaki color), a late 1930s prototype double decker that didn't go into production until after World War II, and a 1950s era double decker. I'm sure that the bus enthusiasts among my followers will have more info to add once I post the pix.

From Liverpool Street station, we wandered along Brick Lane, taking various side streets to check out new street art. Along the way, we ran into FIVE street art walking tours, something I'd never encountered before. I hadn't roamed  around this area for two years, and at every turn I saw some new, horrid development that was complete or in process, including the old fruit and wool exchange building in Brushfield Street that's currently being demolished to make way for another abomination. Lots and lots of trendy clothing stores and cafes catering to the Hoxton hipster types have opened up. I don't have so much of a problem with that, as the shops are occupying existing storefronts, but there are now very few shops of any kind that meet the needs of the long-time residents of the area. Tons of expensive flats are being built for yuppies and wealthy international students. Unless the pace of development is slowed by the new mayor, whoever that turns out to be, I won't recognize the area at all in another two year's time.

We stopped into the Howard Griffin Gallery to see Pablo Delgado's exhibition, and then had a drink at the Old Blue Last, a pub that still appears as gritty as it would have 50 years ago, but was full of hipsters.

We ended the day up in Belsize Park, where we met up with Greg and Esther and then walked up to Hampstead to that great little French bistro where we've eaten before. I had the trout, and it was lovely.

Today (Sunday) we'll go up to the farmers' market at the Salusbury Road Primary School and then I'm off on my own while Roger does some school work. I'm thinking I'll go down to the White Cube in Bermondsey and then mooch along Bankside as I haven't seen enough of the Thames this week. This evening I'll be packing and then out the door early Monday for my flight. Not sure if I'll get another dispatch written until I'm home.

Expenses:
£1.25 donation to St John's Ambulance at the vintage bus event
£1 for cookie at the Town House gallery and cafe in Fournier Street
£22 for dinner
25,228 steps, 10.42 miles

Two friends, another walk and more art

My faithful readers will remember the second Friday of my 2014 visit, the day my camera died as I was taking a long walk through Poplar to Trinity Buoy Wharf. This year, a fortuitous opportunity to return to Trinity Buoy wharf fell into my lap. I'd found out several months ago that Wilton's Music Hall sponsors a free, weekly Friday walk to somewhere in the Tower Hill/Tower Hamlets area. I'd wanted to join the walk during this visit, and I signed up without knowing where they'd be going on 9 Oct. My Flickr and Facebook friend Kathy saw my post that I was planning to do this, and since she'd never seen Wilton's, she was keen to go along. We then found out the destination would be Trinity Buoy Wharf (via DLR, not walking the entire way), which Kathy had also never seen and I was robbed of my chance to photograph last year.

So, out the door I went at 8:10 am, arriving right at 9:20 when we were told to assemble. The group walked to Shadwell station and boarded the DLR for Canning Town. Our guide for the walk was Alan, an artist who knows the area well. It's not easy to reach Trinity Buoy Wharf, as it's always been an isolated spit of land between the River Lea and the Thames. Alan told us that part of the area had been called Bog Island in the 19th century, and of the 140 kids who attended the local school, 100 shared the same surname.

When we got to the wharf, we were met by David, who works for TBW and was there to give us a tour of the lighthouse, normally only open at the weekend, where there's a sound installation of Indian bowl music that's on a loop that will not repeat for 1000 years. The narrow steps up to the top of the lighthouse were a bit scary, but worth the anxiety as the views were great -- the O2, Canary Wharf, and parts of Poplar.  Instead of the usual free tea and cake back at Wilton's at the end of the walk, we were encouraged to make a donation to the lighthouse and to purchase something at the little caff (the one where Jen, Jane, Malcolm and I had lunch last year). Kathy and I got food and tea, and we were joined by an older gent who was on the walk. Quite a talker he was, and we ended up getting a late start back to Canning Town. The walk was a good fun, and Kathy and I will do it again next year.

The Jubilee line took me from Canning Town to Green Park. A short walk from there, I met my friend Judy at the Royal Academy to see the Ai Weiwei exhibition. It's popular exhibition, and a bit crowded, but no school kiddies. Photos were allowed (Judy said that Ai Weiwei encourages people to photograph his work and post it on social media) and happily I didn't see one single selfie stick. I'm not sure if the sticks were expressly banned or if the RA just draws a crowd that isn't obsessed with selfies.

We then took the 14 bus to the Victoria and Albert, got some lunch nearby, and walked up to the Serpentine Gallery and this year's Serpentine Pavilion. We both agreed that this year's pavilion is a good one. I liked it better than last year's pod, but not as much as the cloud pavilion in 2013. We had a good time taking photos before checking out the exhibitions in both of the galleries.

Next, we strolled back down Exhibition Road to the V&A to see the Tower of Babel. (I'll add a link when I get home, or you can Google it in the meantime.) The artist spent two years on his bicycle, photographing shops -- from chicken shops to nail salons to hardware stores to fancy places like Harrod's -- and then worked with ceramicists to transfer the photos onto 3-dimensional ceramic blocks. The shops, some 3000 of them, were then stacked in a hierarchical tower, with the lowly ones at the bottom and the chic boutiques at the top. The individual shops are for sale on his website, starting at 95 pounds and going up to several hundred pounds each. Judy saw a man who was choosing several of them to purchase. I'd love to have one, but I think cost and logistics are prohibitive.

After a sit-down, Judy needed to head back home. Since Roger was going to be out at Sadler's Wells, I figured I'd do some of the Friday Lates (many of the museums stay open late on some or all Friday evenings). The Natural History Museum's lates is the last Friday of the month, but I had just enough time before closing to walk around inside for a bit (I'd never been in, but had seen it in photos and movies, most recently in Paddington Bear). Then I went to the Science Museum next door -- the Media Space, which is generally of interest only to adults, stays open till 10 on Fridays. I saw two photography exhibitions. The first was a large exhibition of the work of Alec Soth, an American documentary photographer. He takes large-format photos of American people and landscapes. In style, his landscapes were portrait-like, and his portraits all told something of the time and place that the people inhabited. Somewhat distressing and depressing, all beautifully done. I also saw an exhibition of the photos of Julia Margaret Cameron, who did portrait photography in the mid-nineteenth century. These were also moody and evocative.

My energy was fading, so I nixed my plan to go back to the V&A for the Fabric of India exhibition and/or back to the Serpentine Pavilion for some night photos. Instead, I got the tube and the a bus back to the Harrow Road, picked up some soup and rolls at the Coop, and went back to the flat for dinner, another episode of Outnumbered, and sleep.

Expenses:
£1.25 donation to the Trinity Buoy Wharf lighthouse (all the change I had at the time)
£3 bagel with hummus at the caff
£6.30 for the Alec Soth exhibition
£4 for my dinner food plus Hobnobs and Gingernuts to take home with me
27,223 steps, 11.67 miles