377 days, blog #140 December 18th and a London flashback

Earlier in the month, I kept thinking how December 18^th was a date I needed to remember.  Something significant… beyond the fact that it is exactly a week before Christmas.  I do remember that on that date in 1999 - when it fell on a Saturday – I had a pretty spectacular Christmas party.  That’s when I was living in a creepy Victorian house all by myself (well sort of) in Newton.  It was a gathering of my theater and Higgins friends.  The house was really cool.  Ballroom skirts were popular and I had one that I loved and remember wearing that night.  Stevey had a little too much to drink ... but there is a lot I will remember for a long time.

It turns out the date sticks in my mind because last year it was the last day of my job (the which I shall leave for tomorrow).  But it was also my last day in London.  I recently found my journal from that brief residency.  I was pretty meticulous in recording the details of my adventures.  But… it turns out I was sick that last week (funny how I forgot that) and didn’t write anything after December 13^th.  But I thought for a lark, I would transcribe the last detailed post of a weekend adventure.  I’ve never been a tourist – much less an American type of tourist (although I still notice some of my youthful, more classist ignorance here).  My favorite thing to do that summer and fall was to open A to Z and find a destination.  In the case of this post, it was to go back to a gift shop I visited weeks before and buy a bottle of mead.  Why I had to buy the mead at a gift shop… well… it was the Tower of London. I was kind of obsessed with taking pictures there. And I was in my 20s.

Anyway, dear reader, here you go.

2 December 2001

I have to write a conclusion on my internship to hand in my portfolio tomorrow.  It seems odd, when I have another two weeks to go.  I am aware of the end that is fast approaching.  So I went out and about all weekend – a lot of walking and enjoying the air of London.

Yesterday was very mild, seeming too much like October instead of the first day of December.  I slept in, even though I was awake at nine.  I got up, had breakfast here (as opposed to Starbucks).  My aim for the day was to walk along the Thames, to the Tower Bridge so I could cross it and get a bottle of mead at The Tower of London bookshop.  Wanting a somewhat different route, I veered off of Brompton Rd.  I passed the other side of Harrod’s, through Belgrave Sq., into Victoria Place.  I went passed Buckingham Palace, seeing it from another perspective.  I also stopped into the gift shop, not really looking for anything in particular – but figuring I might be inspired to get something.  I wasn’t so I went on along St. James Park into Westminster.  I crossed the Thames at the Westminster Bridge and began to make my way along the South Bank.  I stopped at the Waterloo Bridge to text Rachel and peruse the book sale.  I took a photo of the National Theatre and continued on.  I got lunch at EAT on the ground floor of the OXO Tower where I took to a bench just before the Tate Gallery, which has a stark, severe architecture.  I decided to take the tour at The Globe Theatre.  I really wasn’t in the mood to linger and really look at everything.  There was a couple on the tour who asked me if my sweatshirt was Lesley College in Cambridge.  I said yes.  They explained they lived there. .. I got some souvenirs at the gift shop and headed on my way again.  I felt the need to maximize daylight.  Just the same, I stopped at a bench by the HMS Belfast to call my parents.  Then I walked again, forced to walk away from the river for a bit.  I stumbled upon The Clink Museum, the re-creation of Francis Drake’s ship, and the London Dungeon.  As I made my way back to the river, I saw a sign for the Britain at War Museum.  I was much intrigued, but it was too late in the day.  I climbed the Tower Bridge and crossed back to head to the gift shop for my mead.  Then I got the train home…

It did take a while to get myself out of bed this morning.  I had decided to go to East London today.  I wanted to visit The Sutton House, which is only open on Wednesdays and Sundays.  I took the train to Bethnal Green and found myself wandering searchingly in my normal fashion.  Hackney and East London are certainly different than other parts of London I’ve seen and visited.  At first I was a little disenchanted.  But eventually, I did see the charm despite the clutter and litter and seedy shops.

Along my way, I stopped in Victoria Park.  It was pretty, with the fallen leaves.  There was a gated English Garden that I walked around once because I wasn’t sure if the gates were closed on purpose.  I walked by a deer pen, where I paused to stare back at their gaze and just watch their movement.  Then I went into the garden, passing a lone black cat seated on a bench – like something out of Harry Potter.  The garden looked a bit neglected – it is December, but had that element of the Secret Garden.  I stopped in a corner to consult A to Z.  Then I set out again, passing a ‘bird lady.’ She was throwing nuts to the squirrels, but yelling at the pigeons – whom I originally thought she was feeding.  I saw the cat again.  Otherworldly.

I walked on, pretty cluelessly.  I did eventually come to a main street and haphazardly a sign for the Sutton House.  I followed it through a kind of park/cemetery, with a number of mossy tombs.  I found the house, but didn’t stay long.  There was a craft fair that filled the historic rooms of the oldest house in London.  It had some nice Tudor and Georgian interiors.  I briefly read through the exhibit on the house’s history.  Some Sir Ralph owned it… it was privately owned.  I really don’t know.  I just skimmed.  I did pick up on the fact that it was abandoned and lived in by squatters who left graffiti and stole fireplaces (???)  I left the house and walked back through the burial ground.  Glancing at a book in the gift shop, I found out Mary Wollstonecraft died in Hackney.  I wonder if she had a grave there… but I didn’t look too hard.

I made my way back to the tube, hoping my instincts would lead me on the right path.  I did a bit of shopping at Primark, getting a sweater and socks.  I also went to Woolworth’s to get some more Cadbury’s for Christmas gifts.  

It’s been a good weekend.  I feel like I make good use of my days off, not sitting about all the day long.  But I suppose I should cut the speculation short and go write about my internship.