I wonder if it ever gets cold enough for people not to stand outside of pubs drinking their beer. On a Friday evening in particular, the crowds can be quite enormous and even difficult to get by if the pub is in an alley. Since you can’t smoke in pubs and some of them aren’t all that big on the inside, I’d guess that it will continue.
Perhaps it is just the pub scene, but it seems to me that there are lot more people going out and drinking, especially after work, than you’d ever see in the States. And there are a lot more people smoking, certainly that in NYC. It my just be a hipster/Shoreditch thing, but a lot of the smokers around here seem to roll their own. And they roll them with filters!
When I went to the Guildhall Art Gallery, one section was
roped off because they were bringing out the Lord Mayors glass mace for display in anticipation of the Lord Mayor’s Show. This is the 800th year of this event, which I mentioned in an early post, and will happen on November 14th. In 1215, King John gave the City of London the right to have its own Lord Mayor, with the caveat that once a year, the Mayor had to leave the safety of the City and travel to Westminster to swear allegiance to the Crown. (At some point the ceremony change and coincides with the swearing-in of the new Lord Mayor, which is done at the Law Courts rather than Westminster.) So the day starts with the Lord Mayor taking an elaborate ornate barge from the City to Westminster. He then returns and takes a coach from Mansion House to the Royal Courts and back. This ceremony became increasingly elaborate as time went on and it is now an over-the-top exercise in pomp in circumstance (at which the British are particularly great) that is televised nationally and punctuated by a fireworks.
Speaking of pomp and circumstance, we are planning to attend Royal Ascot in June. Yes, it is the same horse race from “My Fair Lady” and apparently the Queen loves it and attends every day. She comes in on a coach which goes around the track before dropping her off at the Royal Box. It is quite amusing to read their website, especially the dress code.
Daylight savings time just ended here. Since London is so far North, this means it will be getting dark pretty early. The plus is that, for the next week, the time difference between here and the US is one hour less, which will make watching the World Series (at least the first four games) less painful!
One of the weird things about doing this blog is that I feel like I am blithering away to any number of people (and I get e-mails and responses that let me know that somebody is out there), but I have no real idea how many people are following this. I’m not really complaining or asking anyone to write me about this whole exercise and I’m not really certain that it matters whether anyone is reading it. I’m writing this stuff as much for me as for anyone else…….
I’ve been thinking of doing a whole post about Banksy, who is such an important sensation here, in a way that he certainly is not in the US.
Once of the nice things about our flat that I’ve come to appreciate is the kitchen. It is pretty big, especially for a London kitchen, with relatively large appliances and I will eventually buy enough cooking tools to do what I need to do. I end up spend a lot of time in there since I don’t really want to paint anywhere else in the flat, as I am afraid of spilling paint on the wall-to-wall carpeting. Maybe next spring, I’ll set myself up on the porch.
nickinshoreditch 
Dearest Nick: Keep writing. I read every word. I’m learning more about London than I ever thought I would know, from what kind of UUs are over there to whacky stuff like Rugby — I hear that they are having a CRICKET tournament in the U.S. this year. I was exposed to cricket in one of the world’s hotbeds, Zimbabwe (their team has deteriorated under Mugabe), and enjoyed it, I think, somewhat, a little, sometimes. It was fun to share the excitement about the games. And a friend I used to ride into the city with, a Vietnam veteran who said that he was sent home early because he became a “killing machine” and who always sat in the back of the bus because he didn’t like having people behind him, was the editor of a rugby magazine in New York. He played into his forties, but reached his fiftieth birthday during the period when we rode into the city together, and was thinking of packing it in.
As a writer, I can tell you that it is a little strange putting yourself out there and not knowing who is reading your work or what they think, but then somebody comes up to you, or drops you and email, and you realize that you have a tiny (compared to the whole world) sphere of influence. You are influencing the heck out of me.
Love to you both.
Ann
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Dear Ann– Thanks. If I were just writing for you, it would be enough. Nick
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I’d love to see a photo of your painting set up in the kitchen! And yes, I read all of your posts and feel guilty that I haven’t been doing reply’s. Will try with this one! Linda
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Hi Linda– Don’t worry about replying. I figured you were probably reading the posts. Only write if you are inspired to do so. I don’t really have much of a painting set up in the kitchen. There is a glass 4 x 4 table that is now covered with paints and a small easel and also two leather chairs that I sit in. I wish the light was better. Nick
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