London is a seething mass of humanity and I wonder if I could live here again – because compared to when I lived here 30 years it seems to be more intense – but it’s interesting how I slip back into it, as if I never left.
Why do Londoners close their eyes when on the Tube, here’s Leo and Saul in local’s mode on the way to Green Park. We walked from there along Hyde Park to the Serpentine Gallery to see the works of Yinka Shonibare CBE, a Nigerian/Englishman who wraps statues in colourful African fabrics in a challenge to colonialism. He has created a whole library of books covering every war that humankind has ever been engaged, again with the theme of colonialism. On the way we saw a fox chasing a squirrel – cool.
Last night I went to see a band at The Camden Club, The Kendall Connection, and today I went to Portobello Market, my old stomping ground. It as changed in many ways but it’s still the same at least, for me familiar feelings from 30 years ago come back – and Rough Trade records is still there.
It’s the evenings that I find strange, especially in Brixton and Camden – they’re seething with people, so many more people than I remember, or perhaps it’s me coming from France and Italy where there are crowds of locals and obviously all the tourists. Here in London it seems to be all locals and there seem to be so many more drunks; people with mental health issues shouting out, others talking to gibberish to themselves, some passed out on the ground, and groups of young guys busily mooching about. All the bars are full, the shops are busy trading, the restaurants have tables with plenty of customers, and everyone is out on the streets.
I think London is the most vibrant city I have been in on this trip so far – and to be honest, it’s all a bit exhausting.
Yup, as a guitar nerd I had to get a shot of the pedalboard – it’s a research trip after all!
