July 21, 2013

Down in a tube station at midnight.

Days have passed. Wednesday and Thursday, we spent walking through our nearby wood to tea, at the beach, and at an historic home in Parham. We even got to a fairly large car boot market outside of Climping.

Worlds away from all of that now, as we arrived in London late on Friday - earlier than originally planned due to a spontaneous trip to Oxfordshire for the Art in Action festival - which was in fact one of the coolest experiences here, an art festival with demonstrations, markets and practical classes - HUGE- with attendees from all over.

I (gratefully) dropped the car back at Heathrow Saturday morning and we spent the day walking around London - Leicester Square, Trafalgar Square. We took in the Portabello Market at Notting Hill Gate in the morning, and in the afternoon we took the Thames Clipper up to Greenwich for the Greenwich Market where there were lots of friendly people to talk to. I spoke with a Tibetan man who sold me Sushi, a t-shirt designer who was bringing West Africa to the West, and an older man named Keith, who smoked and sat on a bench next to the Thames and who explained to me the tidal patterns of the River as it went out - East to the North Sea - and the opportunities for mud-larking at low tide.

We went to the Tate - it was late - and the kids joked with me about the minimalist art.

And a walk back to the North side of the Thames, across the Millenium Bridge (best known for the scene in Harry Potter 7 when the dementors cause the bridge to spin and collapse) to St. Paul's Cathedral, to the Tube, and back to our 8 8 Old Compton Street apartment in the heart of Soho, where the streets are thronged with partygoers.

I want to tell you more, but I can't. There's a whole lotta London out there today. And Spitalfields Market opens at nine.

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