London...

Phew, it is melt-in-a-little-puddle hot. I remember London in the heat – it can be humid and I suspect big cities trap heat and radiate it off the built surfaces. But so wonderful to see everyone out – on the streets, in the parks, just having a fantastic time. The city is looking great and it is buzzing. Everywhere there are quirky and inventive reminders of the Olympics.  Another surprise – the changes, even since I was here in 2010. There seem to me to be a lot of new buildings and a lot of building-in-progress. I can’t say I look at the central city and think – recession. But then, as in den Haag, it is the areas further out from the centre that will tell a different story.

I have to say my visions of filling up on a hearty English breakfast at Allen Hall were cruelly shattered. I am sure, previously, there was a continental and a hot selection. But this morning there was muesli that tasted like horse mash, doorstep bread for toasting and that was it. Oh, and little punnets of yoghurt which is what I think I’ll have tomorrow - don’t think I can face the nose-bag again! But that’s OK. Well, actually, no internet access, no washing facilities (clothes washing) and a bum breakfast – giving up quite a bit for character and setting!!

I did my stint at the library this morning, took the laptop back to Allen Hall then bus and tube to Blackfriars from where I walked over the Millenium Bridge to Tate Modern. It’s a must whenever I come to London, as much for the fabulous building as the art. Great views of the Shard crossing the bridge. It’s stunning. 

The embankment in front of Tate Modern was alive with people sitting in the sun, watching the activity in the Thames, listening to spine-tingling, choral singing that seemed to float in the air above the river – I am sure others were wondering, as I was, where the music was coming from. Revisited some galleries in the Tate and forked out £15 to see the Munch exhibition which certainly took me well beyond what I previously knew of Munch’s work and made me eager to read more about him as an artist and a man. I looked longingly at the books and posters but can’t carry such things so must pass by. Another highlight was a newly opened (new since 2010) gallery area called The Banks – a wonderful, cavernous series of spaces off the turbine hall. (Reminded me a bit of the caverns under Cashmere that were constructed during the war and are now used by the UC Physics Dept for what I think of as a small-scale Higgs-Bosun).

By which time it was late afternoon…

Walked along the embankment past the Globe Theatre and across Southwark Bridge. The tube back to Sloane Square was suffocatingly hot. But how I love watching people in the tube (or anywhere). Such variety, such ordinariness and extraordinariness and eccentricity. So many lives briefly intersecting. It’s now nearly 10.00pm and I’d love to go out again and walk a bit but my feet and knees have had it – so much walking in the past 2+ weeks. I am sitting on the bed in my room at Allen Hall with the window wide open and writing this in Word so that I can transfer it to the blog when I next access wi-fi. Overhead you can hear the constant stream of planes coming in to land at Heathrow. Just think – more and more bodies disgorging into this already packed city for the Games. Police are significantly in evidence. I’ve heard a lot of police car sirens – one started up just behind me yesterday evening and I really did jump out of my skin! But people are generally polite and, especially in galleries, reasonably thoughtful.