Travels 2022

London - Saturday March 5

Sue and I arrived after a not so tiring nine hour flight from home. No sleep on the plane and whiled away the time with two good films - King Richard - love a good sports yarn - and a documentary on The Band. Long ride on the tube in to our Airbnb located a stones throw from St. Pauls Cathedral. As usual our adrenalin that came from actually getting away from home (Finley gave us a flinty gaze as we headed for the door) wore off and we had three hours to kill till we the chance to lie down at our place. Lunch at a great pub, killed more time at a coffee shop where Sue nodded off and I almost passed out, then walked up and down nearby Fleet Street. Finally we got into our pad that has the most worn out love seat on the planet but overall is very clean, modern and quiet. Except for the pealing of St. Pauls bells which are charming but insistent. Great dinner at a French bistro across the street with warm but harried servers. In our earlier walk about I am struck by the number of vacant shops and For Lease signs. Is it the neighbourhood, post Brexit, covid? It is a bit unnerving and gives me a faint whiff of that particular British dystopian vibe you get from shows like Years and Years or Children of Men.

Sunday March 6

I began my day by joining about 15 other worshipers seated in the Choir in St. Pauls for an 8:00 am Holy Communion service. How odd to sip from a chalice just wiped by a cloth in these covid times. Incredible to sit in that vast space and enjoy the very familiar Anglican liturgy.

Yay Hannah arrived from Montreal! The impetus for this trip is her grad ceremony from UC London that was postponed for a year. So happy to see her and after coffee and sausage rolls from a take out place around the corner - the benefit of her local knowledge - we headed out to see the flower sale in Hackney on Columbia Road. Fantastic, crowded, vibrant scene. Hannah showed us around her old 'hood of great street markets - we had a fun negotiation with a bemused fellow selling hot CBD cider - and walked along Regent Canal. Hackney is a neighbourhood of parks with farm animals, great bookstores, wonderful street food vendors, tarot readers on live aboard barges...a real community.

I thoroughly enjoyed the view from the top level of the bus as we made our way to and from our neighbourhood. I am impressed by the variety, urbanity and quality of the new and old buildings. So cool to see Richard Roger's Lloyds HQ, Foster's Gherkin and to see a James Stirling building from the mid 80's that I admired so much back then. It's very dated but is beautifully constructed and detailed like all buildings here.

Our day ended with a meal at an amazing Asian restaurant called Ivy Asian. Over the top, club like atmosphere with super hip patrons, vibrant decor and fabulous food. We were relegated to sitting at the counter at the edge of the open kitchen where there must have been twenty kitchen staff working non stop. A very professional but friendly young fellow was plating in front of us, conveying orders to the guy on the open grill who must have had at least twenty pieces of meat and fish on the grill at any time. Fabulous food.