All 8 entries tagged London

Stories from the City

My day of culture (best intentions) turned into a day of mooching, shopping, eating and drinking. Met Rhi and her friend Julia for lunch in Notting Hill, wandered around Portobello road, then met Thomas, Phil and Helen for a drink late afternoon. Got myself very lost through my premature confidence, dodgy sense of direction and belief that the time had come to cut the umbilical cord to my trusty A-Z. Have now realised the error of my ways, and understand that there is a long way to go until I can go out in the big bad city and trust to pure instinct alone.

Love being in the city at weekends – there's so much potential and possibility. It reminds me of those lazy, slightly hungover Sundays in Taipei having brunch in Grandma Nittis with the other EFL teachers, followed by a wander in the park or a spot of shopping in Shi-da or in the flower/jade market. I only have to listen to PJ Harvey's Stories from the City, Stories from the Sea and I feel myself transported back there – the curious soundtrack to my last few months living in Taiwan.

Now I have that Sunday night feeling, even though I'm quite looking forward to tomorrow's task (writing a 3000 word speech for a conference). It's funny the way that I got myself into a complete state over my essays at Warwick and fretted about them for weeks before they were due, but the thought of throwing together a ministerial speech in a day doesn't really daunt me. Well not till 9am tomorrow anyway. Rise and shine

: 29 Jan 2006 22:51 |  Tags: Diary London |  Comments (0) |  Close comments |  Report a problem

Rise and shine

Whatever happened to a pot of freshly brewed coffee, some warm buttered toast and leisurely perusal of the best of the morning papers before facing the day ahead…?

These days it appears to take pre-packaged sandwiches, the latest Daily Mail shock headline, a futile attempt at nutrition in the form of a pint of full-fat milk, and an 'energy' drink akin to battery acid to jolt our sleep-deprived brains into such a state that we can face another day of existence in the 21st century.

: 29 Jan 2006 22:11 |  Tags: London |  Comments (3) |  Close comments |  Report a problem

manky

: 29 Jan 2006 01:30 |  Tags: London Manky |  Comments (1) |  Close comments |  Report a problem

Quarter of a century

My birthday tomorrow – I will have been alive for quarter of a century and so, according to Andrew S, am about to enter my LATE twenties. This doesn’t please me but it doesn’t do to dwell on it – in my mind I am a perpetual teenager, certainly no older than 20. Haven’t blogged for ages, partly because I’ve been really busy but mostly because it took ages to sort out my WGA login post-Warwick.

Good news is that I got a distinction in my MA! Bad news is I didn’t particularly care (not being snotty about it, just had enough of academia for one lifetime)...

The novelty of being in London is definitely starting to wear off. I had a wonderful three months before xmas – it was exciting and busy and bustling – such a contrast to the monotony of my MA year! But now reality is seeping back in and I’ve been feeling strangely vulnerable, lonely, sad… Having said that, I took myself off to the Tate Modern this evening after work and enjoyed wandering round by myself for a couple of hours. It was nice to be alone but not lonely, and to not NEED other people in the desperate, anxious way I sometimes do.

I spent quite a lot of time roaming in and around the fantastic new sculpture in the main hall – “Embankment” by Rachel Whiteread. It consists of hundreds of plaster casts of boxes heaped up into a sprawling landscape that is both urban and organic, ordered and disordered, impersonal and intimate, not to mention strangely mystical and pure – the “ghosts of interior space” piled up into an immense monumental structure in the Turbine Hall. The scale of it is quite deceptive. From the bridge above, the sculpture appears solid and reassuring, self-contained, almost neat (if that’s not too trite a description), but once immersed within the labyrinthine passages and spaces of the structure itself the boxes start to loom precariously, threatening to smash down and engulf you at any moment.

I also went into a couple of the other galleries and spent a while revisiting some of my favourite pictures – most memorably Matisse’s Snail, Dali’s Persistance of Memory and a whole roomful of Rothko – and watched Un Chien Andalou as well as a couple of other Surrealist films. I then started feeling dizzy (possibly at the prospect of someone getting their eyeball sliced open with a razor), so my visit to the Tate Modern had an abrupt finish and I rushed home immediately to cook lemon prawns and mange tout.

Tomorrow I’m going bowling in Lewisham (ooh the glamour!) followed by dinner at Zizzis on the Strand – part two of my three-week-long series of birthday celebrations! I’m really looking forward to it, especially seeing my out-of-London friends. Martin is coming from Oxford, Naomi from Rugby, Rebecca and David from Birmingham. And then of course there’s all my friends who live in London – friends from school, Oxford and Warwick. Then it’s off to Warwick in the evening to see Adam. I feel so very lucky to know them all. I love weekends, especially birthday weekends!

Oh god. Quarter of a century. Happy birthday to me.

: 20 Jan 2006 23:12 |  Tags: Arts Diary London |  Comments (3) |  Close comments |  Report a problem

Life in London town

Tis all good, I think, though I've found the past few weeks quite tiring and stressful. New job, new people, the joys of commuting, training courses, and still not found anywhere to live.

I love working in London, though, especially the fact that my office is literally 2 minutes away from Covent Garden. Also love walking across Hungerford Bridge every morning and night, being surrounded by people and life, meeting up with friends on a regular basis, staying with Marion and Dave (my aunt and uncle) and their cats. Don't like the tube much, but I seem to be doing a good job of avoiding it thus far. I feel happier than I have in quite a while.

The accommodation thing is a bit of a stress, but I'm hoping to get that sorted in the next week or so (basically as soon as I get paid). I am also worried about my own ability/intelligence/general aptitude, especially compared to other Fast Streamers. I'm trying not to panic about learning and understanding everything immediately, asking lots of questions (mostly acronym-related) and trusting that it will all start to make sense at some point in the not-too-distant future.

Visiting Adam in Warwick this weekend. A bit strange to be back, but I like it better than I did when I actually lived here myself.

Hmmm fairly banal entry, but I thought it was about time I updated t'blog.

: 29 Oct 2005 13:21 |  Tags: Diary London |  Comments (0) |  Close comments |  Report a problem

Room needed in London

Can anyone point me in the direction of useful flat-share websites for London? I had about 4 urls recommended to me by friends but now I've lost the scrap of paper they were written on – duh.

Any advice would be much appreciated, as I don't know london that well and I'm about to move there for a couple of years at least. Am hoping to live around the Clapham area.

Cheers

: 21 Sep 2005 15:58 |  Tags: London |  Comments (6) |  Close comments |  Report a problem

more no

One minute all is marrrrrv, am soaking up the sun and shopping near Hammersmith, following lovely few days with A feeling reasonably relaxed (for me anyway).... next minute am feeling crazed and panic-stricken. arrrrrgh!

I hate my BLUDDY dissertation. And I think I may hate London, or at least I find it an immensely stressful placce to be; slightly problematic given I should be moving here in a few weeks. And I shouldn't drink coffee, it makes me loopy. Bollards. Back to it anyway.

Will write proper stuff soon/later when not in internet caff.

: 30 Aug 2005 14:30 |  Tags: Diary London |  Comments (0) |  Close comments |  Report a problem

Bonne fin de semaine

Meeting up with Kate and Rammie on Friday was lovely. We caught up with each others news, well to a certain extent anyway, as much as one can in a few hours snatched in a pub in Clapham Junction. Am looking forward to living in London and actually being able to see people again! I have been really bad about making the effort to stay in touch this year – in my mind I still live a good 18 hour flight away from most of my good friends with an 8 hour time difference between us that hinders regular communication (plus I am not a natural phone person) – but things have got to change in that respect. Or rather I have to make them change, otherwise I'm not going to have any friends left soon.

Going to t'theatre on Friday night was good; saw The UN Inspector which I really enjoyed. J'ai passé une très bonne fin de semaine (comme on dit au québec) avec le chum (une autre expression québecoise, ça veut dire petit-ami), mais nous étions à londres, pas québec. Why am I writing in French?? Not strictly, or indeed at all, necessary. but oh well…

Went to British Library on Sat, got article that I have been desperately trying to find for weeks now. Couldn't face tube so got bus back, which took bloody ages, but at least we discovered some Iranian fruit shops near Hammersmith (I think? …geographical knowledge of London terrible) with beautiful displays of fruit outside, and bought flat peaches and cherries. No Iranian caviar though, but it sounds intriguing.

On Sunday we went for a walk down by t'river and found a washed up canoe near Hammersmith Bridge; tried to pilfer, ahem, rescue it, but a particularly obstinate tree branch thwarted that mission. Ate a lot of cheerios. Yum.

Stayed in London and got some work done mon and tues. Not a lot, but still felt more motivated than I do when I sit and stagnate in my cell, I mean room, on campus. Came back to campus today and had excellent curry night with Anna, XL, and some of anna's friends from creative writing – mike, sarah etc.

Have got to get some work done tomorrow, as driving to Devon Friday for a long weekend for Thomas' belated birthday celebrations, v. much looking forward to it. Feeling sort of contented at the moment, it's nice…

Only problem is now I can't move as still feel stuffed to the gills with curry, and have temporarily lost bed under a sea of interview transcripts and academic textbooks.

Où est mon lit? Je veux dormir…

: 11 Aug 2005 00:22 |  Tags: Diary Friends London |  Comments (0) |  Close comments |  Report a problem