My adventures have been less frenetic this week, owing to several factors. Just before I arrived, I learned that there were to be tube strikes on 4 and 6 October as well as a rail strike on 4 October. I quickly changed my rail ticket to Eastbourne originally for 4 October to 19 October. And, after being caught in the tube strike last year when it took me nearly three hours to get home from Blackfriars, I cleared everything from my calendar for the 4th and 6th, figuring I'd stick to NW1 and NW3 on those days. In addition, many of the galleries were changing over exhibitions this past week so there was less to see. And finally, my sinuses/allergies have been acting up something fierce or, if it's worse than that, I've got a cold or a sinus infection. But it is NOT covid -- I've done two tests, 48 hours apart, both decidedly negative. My head has felt like a pumpkin the past few days, so I haven't taken on any far-flung adventures. I'm starting to feel a bit better, however, and I'll be off to uncharted areas in the coming two weeks.
In my last post I wrote about how I plan and organize my time. In this one, I thought I'd write a bit about food -- where I procure it, what I eat and how I prepare it. I've never been big on eating out in London as it's so bloody expensive. Food purchased at green grocers, supermarkets and farmers' markets is reasonably priced -- often cheaper than in the US and otherwise comparable, but rarely more expensive. Also, there seem to be more ready-made options in the supermarkets, e.g. soups, pasta meals, savory pies, etc. When I book an AirBnB, I always choose one with cooking facilities (often called "self catering" in the listing), at a minimum a fridge and microwave. My current gaff has the best kitchen yet -- small but fully equipped, with four gas burners, a small fridge, and a microwave/fan oven (though I haven't figured out how to use the fan oven yet).
As you can see from my expense reports, I'm often spending 5-10 quid on groceries on any given day. Where I'm staying, I have a variety of options for food purchases. Tesco Metro is a five minute walk away, Nisa Local and a green grocer called Pomona are 8 minutes away, Budgens a few yards further on, and Waitrose a 20 minute walk in a different direction. Two great farmers' markets are within walking distance. Every Saturday, I walk 30 minutes up to Parliament Hill Fields to the farmers' market (and usually catch the C11 bus back home) and I sometimes hit the Wednesday market at Swiss Cottage, a 12 minute walk. There's an international/American market in Swiss Cottage, close to the Jubilee line if I'm going that way. There are certain items that I like to purchase at each of these locations. In particular, I've gotten really fond of the olive bread sticks, vegetable tarts and corn fritters that I buy at the Saturday market. And whenever I'm passing St John's Wood, I go to Panzer's Deli for a loaf of the fabulous rye, walnut and raisin bread.
Breakfast is always fruit, yoghurt and/or kefir before I head out for the day. I often pack a lunch, which is always hummus in a pita with some carrot sticks. If I know that my day's adventures will find me near a Waitrose that has a sushi counter, I get my lunch there -- a Forgotten Ends cup of sushi bits that they cut off from the ends of the rolls and sell for only 2 quid. Or I might get a packaged sandwich from Tesco Metro or Sainsbury's Local. Occasionally, I'll buy lunch from a street food vendor. I then look for a nice green spot, usually a park, square or churchyard, where I can sit on a bench and eat my lunch. I usually treat myself to a cookie, pastel de nata or a piece of cake when I'm out and about for the day. Dinner is always back at my gaff where I make fairly simple meals. Last week I cooked up a veg curry soup and I've currently got a pot of minestrone going, made with odds and ends of veg that I had in the fridge. One of these days I'm going to get fish & chips from the chippy that's about a 10 minute walk away.
Now for the recap of what I did this past week, starting with history:
- Northern Ireland: Living with the Troubles at the Imperial War Museum (free) in Lambeth on Monday. As many of my mates know, I've been keen to learn as much as I can about this time in Irish history ever since (actually before) my trip to Belfast in 2015. This exhibition was the perfect balance of wall text, objects, photos, sound and video. The aim is to show a balanced view of events in the conflict, allowing voices from both sides to tell their version in their own words. My sympathies are republican/nationalist, so I reckon it was good for me to be open to hearing the experience of unionist/loyalists.
- While I was at the IWM, I tried to take in the exhibition Spies, Lies and Deception but it was an exercise in utter frustration. Too many exhibits, way too much wall text, no clear path through, and -- perhaps the worst of all -- tons of 9-10 year old school kiddies darting about randomly and generally being ill-behaved. I read a couple of interesting spy stories but didn't last long.
- That afternoon, I took the Waterloo and City line (a first for me!) to Bank, where I exchanged one last paper 20 pound note at the Bank of England (a maddening example of British bureaucracy and administrative excess) before going to the Guildhall Art Museum to see Treasures of Gold and Silver Wire. I debated putting this exhibition in the art section of this post (below), but really it was craft, rather than art, with a historical look at the output of the Worshipful Company of Gold and Silver Wyre Drawers on the occasion of their 400 anniversary. There were all sorts of military uniforms, ecclesiastical garb, royal regalia and theatrical costumes to see, all of which is decorated with silver or gold braiding and embroidery. When I've watched royal events on telly and seen the guards of the Household Division in their finery, I never realized that all that gold stuff that adorns their uniforms is actually made of precious metal that has been painstakingly coiled, crafted and applied. And then there was the gold costume that Helen Mirren wore when she played Cleopatra -- wow!
- Tuesday found me at the British Museum, where I had scored a hot ticket (free, but you have to book ahead and do it fast) to see the Round Reading Room. It's a short tour (35-40 minutes) where your group is lead into the Reading Room to stand, gawp and hear the history of this amazing space and the names of some of the hundreds of famous scholars and authors who have used it. I thoroughly enjoyed it. I then proceeded to try to see a small number of the galleries filled with antiquities, mostly looted from other countries, but again was horrified at the crowds and the loud, sprawling, darting school children. I did look at some of the ancient Britain stuff, including the Sutton Hoo room, where the crowds were much thinner and I got a better look than at my last visit.
- On Wednesday, I went with a small group of people from the Primrose Hill Community Association's U3A (University of the Third Age) group to the People's Museum of Somers Town. A group of Somers Town locals had been exploring local history and doing occasional events for years before deciding about 18 months ago to open this storefront museum, housing photos, posters, printed materials and artifacts related to this working class area wedged between Euston and St Pancras stations. One of their current projects is to try to preserve/reclaim the ceramic finials and other decorations, designed by sculptor Gilbert Bayes, on the Sidney Estate (social housing). One of the directors gave us an informal one-hour talk about the area's history and the group's efforts. Our visit to the museum was interesting and enjoyable.
- Friday was an absolutely gorgeous autumn day, so I decided to make the most of it by mooching around Hampstead and across the Heath. My first stop was Burgh House, which I'd visited before. The house itself, though old, is not a house museum per se, but a building owned by the local council and used for events, exhibitions, talks, music performances, etc. They keep it going on income from the busy cafe, ticketed events and from renting it out as a popular wedding venue. Art exhibitions, usually featuring artists with ties to the NW3 area, are free. I went to see Finding Joy in a Landscape, the paintings of Lancelot Ribiero, a man originally from Goa who settled in Belsize Park and had his studio just one street over from where I'm staying. His colourful paintings filled me with joy and made me eager to explore Hampstead Heath, despite my sore throat and running nose.
- The higher I got in altitude as I walked up the Heath, the clearer my sinuses felt. Maybe it was the sunshine and warm air, or maybe I was escaping the pollution of downhill London, just as people have been doing for hundreds of years since they first fled the city's filth to take in the clean water and atmosphere of Hampstead. My next stop was Kenwood House (another free venue) at the top of the Heath, which I reached up the western pathways with the aid of Google maps. Along the way, I occasionally passed other walkers, many with dogs, but often had the paths to myself. I thought I would be able to hear nothing but the rustle of leaves, birdsong and scampering squirrels, and there were brief moments when this was the case, but most of the time I could hear the sounds of civilization encroaching on the wildness -- jets roaring overhead and sirens wailing (probably ambulances headed to the Royal Free Hospital below in Pond Street). Kenwood has tons of old masters paintings hung on the walls all the time, but at the moment they've hung 17 paintings by Joshua Reynolds, some having undergone recent conservation, in an exhibition to mark 300 years since his birth. What a difference it makes to visit Kenwood on a weekday! My previous two visits had been on a Saturday and a Sunday, both on warm, sunny days when people were out in droves. While this day the outdoor patio of the cafe was full of people -- and many babies in pushchairs -- the rooms indoor were not at all crowded and there wasn't a school kid in sight.
- My final Friday destination was Keats House in the southern part of Hampstead (South End Green, near the Hampstead Heath overground station). Wanting to get there from Kenwood House by the quickest way possible, and not trusting my navigation skills in wild and wooded terrain, I pulled up CityMapper on my phone and asked it to give me the fastest route. Phone in hand, and keeping a steady eye on my blue dot as I moved down the Heath, the app took me along legitimate paths and desire lines, across open fields and through woods, getting me to Keats Grove without getting lost. Whew! This was my first visit to this small home where Keats lived prior to going to Italy where he subsequently died of TB. I don't know anything about Keats or about poetry in general, so the reverence people feel for him and this house were lost on me. And, about 15 seconds after entering one of the rooms, I had a terrible allergy attack and dashed out, with watering eyes and coughing like crazy. My entry was free with my ArtPass, so I didn't mind cutting my visit short.
- On Sunday, I trekked back up the hills of Hampstead to visit Fenton House and its garden, another first for me. It's a National Trust property, and there's an entry fee unless you are a NT member, but I had managed to score a limited, free pass to NT properties. The house was built in the 17th century, with the gardens laid out much later. Inside the house, though there isn't much furniture, there's a lot to look at -- art on every wall, Chinese and Japanese ceramics filling cabinets in many rooms, embroidery works and a collection of old musical instruments including spinets and harpsichords. In the early 21st century, an actor named Peter Barkworth, who lived locally, donated his art collection -- primarily post-impressionist works of the Camden Town Group -- to the house. I hadn't known about the CTG paintings at Fenton House prior to my visit; if I had, I surely would have come to see them sooner as CTG has long been a favourite of mine. Similar to the Ashcan School in American, the paintings depict everyday life in London and beyond. I really enjoyed both the style and the subject of the works. While the house is lovely, the real showpiece is the walled garden with its vast lawn, holly topiary trees, fruit trees, vegetable patch and flowering beds with autumn blooms. The weather couldn't have been better for this visit.
- Ed Ruscha: roads and insects prints at the British Museum. I wouldn't hang the ants and cockroaches on my wall, but I did admire these skillful prints, especially the swarming insects casting shadows across the paper.
- Paula Rego: Letting Loose, paintings from the 1980s at Victoria Miro. Humans and beasts cavort around these large canvasses in what looked like fever dreams to me. It's my first exposure to her work and I can't say I liked these paintings, but I'll be on the lookout for more recent works from her to see how her style has evolved.
- Fifteen: An Anniversary Exhibition at the Pangolin Gallery at King's Place. An interesting array of sculpture in the gallery. I then tried to follow the Pangolin Sculpture Trail inside other parts of King's Place and outside the building along the canal. The map was very confusing and I didn't find all of the pieces, but I enjoyed what I saw.
- Two artists at the Camden Art Centre: Tamara Henderson’s Green in the Grooves and Public Domain by Marina Xenofontos. I liked the former (about our relationship with the earth -- first two photos) far more than the later, which was too conceptual for me (e.g. the chairs).
- Rooftop garden at the Post Building in Holborn. Just a few minutes south of the British Museum, this new nine-storey building has a roof terrace that the public can visit for free. It offers great views of Bloomsbury to the north (you can pick out the individual squares with their tree canopies), including St George's Bloomsbury, the BM, Senate House, and further north to Hampstead in the distance, as well as south to the London Eye, the City, and Canary Wharf. In addition to the views, which I enjoyed far more than those from the much higher Sky Garden in the City, the terrace is serene and provides a lovely respite from the hustle of the streets below and the bedlam within the British Museum.
- Two "taster" walks as part of London Local Guiding Day. Six of the local guiding associations team up annually to provide free one-hour walks in different parts of town. I did the walks in Islington and King's Cross.
- The Primrose Hill Community Association walk was down to Regent's Park to look at the Frieze Sculpture 2023 outdoor exhibition this past week. Since I neglected to take photos on my phone the first time I saw the sculptures, this time I took some snaps for you all to see.
- I saw the play Anthropology at the Hampstead Theatre. Excellent acting and staging, engrossing plot about artificial intelligence and family dynamics.
