British Monsoon

Yes, we experienced some of the torrential rains here, but our life hasn't been affected by them, fortunately. Parts of midland England have been devastated, and one of the London tube lines has been closed since Friday due to flood damage. But the worst of it fell here on Friday morning, a morning that we decided to sleep in. By the time we were up and ready to go out, the rain had stopped and it was bright and sunny most of the afternoon. I went on a Thames cruise (James wasn't feeling well, and being on the water makes him seasick on a good day, so he opted out of the cruise and just rambled around Westminster while I cruised) and finally saw the Tower of London! When I lived here for 3 months in 1981, my roommate Karen and I tried 3 different times to go to the Tower, and each time some disaster struck so we couldn't go. After 3 strikes, we decided to stop trying since it only seemed to provoke trouble. And then when James and I were here for a few days 2 years ago, the Tower just never quite made it onto our sightseeing list. So to finally lay eyes on it was pretty momentous for me! I took several pictures of the Tower Bridge as we went under it, partly just to prove to myself later on that I was actually there--and no disaster struck! Of course, other parts of England were being drowned in a massive monsoon while I was gazing on the Tower, but nothing bad happened to me so I count that as Curse Removed.

Later that evening we had a yummy dinner at a restaurant I picked because I like the name: Wagamama. We had no idea what they served, but it turned out to be sort of trans-Asian, mostly Japanese. I had a bowl of chicken ramen soup that was light yet filling and kept my blood sugar happy for hours afterward. James had something equally good, with chicken and shrimp and fried noodles. Because of the shrimp (deadly to me), I couldn't try it but I take his word for it that it was excellent.

After dinner we watched an amazing outdoor dance performance at Southbank Centre, the newly revitalized area behind the Royal Festival Hall. The dancers used all the buildings around the square, climbing up them, rappelling down them, appearing on different levels at different times, once even doing a number inside the office building to the south of the square, 9 pairs of dancers appearing in 9 office windows that we all thought were just uninhabited for the weekend. The whole show is impossible to describe, but it was transcendent in a spectacular way. Lots of fun!

I'm trying hard to remember yesterday--I finally felt the full effects of jet lag yesterday, struck down by the afternoon with a pounding headache and total physical exhaustion. Oh yeah, we did one of the walks out of our Walking London book, around the Covent Garden area, stopping at Covent Garden to watch a string quartet with flute who were excellent musicians and great comedians, too, and then a street performer doing a long show involving juggling, slack-rope walking while eating a bag of "crisps" (potato chips for us Americans), and lots of hijinks and carrying-on. He was lots of fun as well! Then it started pouring rain and we found a pub where we had our first fish & chips of the trip, then headed home via the grocery store to pick up something for dinner. James got sick after dinner, so we were both ready for sleep by 8pm.

This morning we lazed around in bed, enjoying our Sabbath rest. Then we took a stroll down Bayswater Rd (our main drag, so not a long journey) looking at the street art on display. James bought a painting for his office in Pittsfield--a deeply layered abstract oil that gives the impression of Arabic calligraphy as well as a mandala and a cross and natural shapes like wings and birds. Very powerful. And a terrific price, too!

Then we went to the internet cafe we used last time only to find it in the midst of carpet repair. So we set out on a quest for another and found this wonderful place hidden in the back of what seems like an indoor Arab bazaar--all sorts of shops crammed into a tiny space with lots of activity everywhere--and a much nicer internet cafe than the other one, where I might even be able to upload pictures from my camera (I didn't bring my camera along, thinking we'd be at the other cafe where I know I can't upload anything). And it's less expensive than the other one, too! Thank you, Carpet Repairers!!!

We never ran across Naomi, though we encountered MANY other tour groups of young teens this weekend. I hope she enjoyed her time here as much as we're enjoying ours!