London
Some of my favourite things and places
Last week I was in London, and I thought it’d be fun sharing some of the things that happened and some lovely places that I discovered. I am a big rambler, I love taking little diversions that take me to unexpected places. This city is a second home to me and after living there for most of my twenties, I still go as often as I can. My original idea for this post was to share with you some favourite places and things to do in London, but because the week turned out to have a mind of its own (don’t they all?), mixed with lots of memories, and some freaky weather, I’m sharing many great places but I’m also leaving lots of beloved places in the sack, I’ll save them for future posts. Here is a little slice of my London:
FRIDAY
Not seeing the forest for the bricks
The day started a bit randomly, the Tube’s Jubilee Line reminded me of a leaky and badly lit version of Kubrick's Space Odyssey spacecraft corridors. Initially I was thinking of going to the Barbican to visit the library, but the day was so bright and lovely that I went for a walk around London Bridge instead, and ended up in The White Cube. This gallery now has locations all over the world but years ago used to be exactly that, a white cube of a building in Hoxton Square, where in 2004 I saw one of those exhibitions that remained forever ingrained in my mind, it featured a series of portraits of well known actors by Sam Taylor-Johnson (then Taylor-Wood) called Crying Men. Today, the White Cube has two sites in London, one in Green Park and the one in Bermondsey where I went and saw Antony Gromley’s Body Politic. The main area had a series of minimal sculpture pieces made with rusty metal or bricks, which I have to admit were doing nothing for me. I then entered a room full of brick formations that resembled an ancient site, it took a while but then I suddenly saw a lounging figure, then another and another, each in different positions. What had resembled a sea of bricks became human (or robotic if we consider the shape) loungers and yoguis here and there. It was quite magical seeing the transformation. I guess it’s a bit like life, you see nothing and then: boom!
A bit further down, in Morocco St. I stumbled on a little bookshop cafe and went in. It was my kind of place, with a nice selection of books on art, fashion and independent novels. From some of the books hung labels with personal notes of recommendation. I thought it was such a great idea! Great for the writers, but also for the buyers, who might not feel like chatting to the bookseller, but still appreciate their input.
Later, I crossed Borough Market for my London ritual walk around the southbank, my favouriter of the favourites, the thing I never fail to do when in London. I love the old dock buildings with their long windows and cranes, painted in beautiful blue and grey, the Thames with its view of st. Paul’s Cathedral, the Tate Modern (where I bought a fantastic little book by Michaela Coel: Misfits. A Personal Manifesto, it felt so fitting that I couldn't resist buying it), and the BFI, which was showing John Waters’ Pink Flamingos that evening. Right in front of the BFI and under the Waterloo Bridge there is a second hand book market, where I love to go to find jewel-books, but that day only a couple of stalls were open, so no more interesting findings for the day. I had a silent strategy battle with a pink haired, pink bow on hairdo, pink tulle-oversize-gown lady (maybe there for Pink Flamingos?) for the only available table by the window at the BFI café overlooking the river, and won, so I sat there and wrote for a while, finishing my out of love letter to Helmut Newton and noticing, for the first time in months, that writing came easy.
SATURDAY
Lost travelcard then and now
On my way home the day before I realised I’d lost my weekly travelcard. What a nightmare! Whenever I go to London I stay with one of my oldest and dearest friends, and spending time together is one of the main joys of each trip. The next morning, there was a tornado looming in the area so the plans for the day got downgraded to chilling out at home and enjoying each other's company. I walked to Richmond station to try and get a refund, but of course, I got none. On my way back I stopped at the bridge, underneath there is a little café that has a few chairs overlooking the river’s promenade. On sunny days, (unlike today, which was looking grey and gloomy) it is a gorgeous place to sit down and relax with a coffee or tea, and if you’re with kids, a fun thing to do is hire a boat right there and row up and down the river. When I was at uni I had an evening and weekend job close by, it was on the opposite side of the city to where I lived, and everyday I travelled back and forth. I used to love that part of the river and getting a coffee at the cafe for my lunch break, when I could afford it, felt like the biggest luxury. Today as I sat on one of the plastic chairs with a cup of tea, I thought about how broke I was then, and how devastating it would have been losing the travelcard at the time. Now it wasn’t great, but I could go on with my life and adapt to the situation without a fuss. I was grateful.
SUNDAY
Eel Pie Island and Scottish Cats
On Sunday my friends wanted to show me Twickenham, which I didn’t know, as they have recently moved into the area, after many years living in East London, where I also lived. One cool thing about London is that it is so massive that there’s a thousand worlds contained in it. Every time I go I find interesting places I didn't know previously. We visited Eel Pie Island, a private community island with a glorious name that felt tiny and idyllic. Later we walked around York House Gardens, which had a fountain, now in restoration, that made me think of a modern Bernini but with fighting nymphs. A bench had the inscription “Ed Jones. If love could have saved you, you would have lived forever”. Ed was very fortunate.
And the Scottish Cats? They were obviously a packet of oats in my friend’s kitchen with a rubber band across. I kept reading SCOTTISH CATS.
MONDAY
I only wanted to come to London because of the freedom (Roksanda)
If there is a people that are good at self promotion, it’s the brits. One of the highlights for this trip to London was visiting REBEL, an exhibition held at the Design Museum and curated by Sarah Mower celebrating British young designer talent. It follows some of the best known names in British fashion since the 90s who were awarded the NEWGen prize. There are some heavy weight people here, from McQueen, to JW Anderson to Nensy Dojaka, Priya Alhuwalia or Craig Green. It also depicts a very particular time in London life, where a boom of creativity was starting, boosted by high quality creative education at affordable prices. Which meant that fashion creatives from all social backgrounds and places, including Europe, could come to the city to study, mingle and party together to create great design. I don’t know if it is still so today, but maybe things have changed with things like Brexit and the now astronomical university fees. Today only a selected few are fortunate enough to study there.
I was reflecting on how lucky I was to study there at that particular time. I received a grant that covered my student fees and I arrived with perfect timing. So while the exhibition was telling the story of many of these designers during the early 2000s, for me, it was also telling mine. It felt really emotional, I wasn’t expecting to have such strong memories and so many links to many of these designers. Reading their motivations and hopes I found they echoed mine, why they came to London, what kind of impact they wanted to make, and most importantly, I understood where the roots of my creative work and motivations lay and why I tend to do and see things in a certain way. I took so many pictures that the exhibition can effectively and easily seen from my phone, but don’t worry, I'll just leave you with a few hits.
TUESDAY
City Portal
Last day in London and I had a packed schedule, there were so many things I wanted to do and hadn’t yet done! First I went to the National Portrait Gallery, I hadn’t gone in over 20 years and I wanted to go because it had been such a long time and I was curious about how I'd see it now. It is interesting how unexpected a portrait can be, I found it quite inspiring. I was happy to see how much the representation of Britain’s true diversity has opened up in this gallery since I last went. There is so much work to do collectively if we want to become a society in which true plurality and diversity can be represented without it having to be an event.
After that I went for Dim Sum, which are my little heavens on Earth. Last time I was in London I discovered this restaurant which makes them delicious, so off I went. And in my book, no visit to central London is complete without a drink at The French House and a coffee in Bar Italia, both in Soho (if you know London I’m not discovering anything, I know, but a classic is a classic). When I was living here I used to love coming to these two places because they reminded me of home in their very french and italian way, but in all truth represent the best and most authentic Soho.
The day finished with a walk to Angel, another of my favourite areas, in Islington. It is full of bars and cool shops. A jewel in the area is Camden Passage, which on Wednesdays and Saturdays has an antique flea market and has some really special places, here are my top ones: if you walk from the station, the first thing you’ll find is one of the most authentic Japanese tea rooms in London, Katsute 100, the place is beautiful, but don’t expect a tatami, it is more like an old fashioned pharmacy, with dark wood, gorgeous wallpaper, and little tables, the tea selection is superb and the cakes… wow. A little further down there’s Camden Head, a pub dating from late 18h century, the place is intimate and beautiful with its reserved areas and sunny beer garden for the warm days. I went there for a drink with Marta Royo, she was one of the contributors to my podcast, and it was incredible to finally spend some time in person with her, after many years collaborating in different ways but hardly ever face to face. The food there is not great, so don’t bother, but the drinks are the same everywhere and this pub is gorgeous. Finally, at the end of this little street there’s a tiny vintage homeware shop, where they have the most beautiful tea and coffee sets and glassware.
And that was that! Some London things, Patty’s way. If you made it this far, all I can say is: Thank you, now save those links and go! What are your favourite things to do in London? Do you have a ritual that you always follow, like me? I read you in the comments.
Have a lovely Sunday, misfits!