Thames Festival & Brick Lane
I think I’m dehydrated. And I think I may be a bit mal nourished. The food is a bit weird here. It’s generally quite greasy, and it seems like the grease most used is lard. I bought a loaf of brown grain bread at an outdoor market, and the bread is fairly gross. Claire says that it smells like French fries. Imagine eating bread that smells like French fries!
This week-end there’s the Thames Festival along the South bank. We went there this afternoon and joined up with some of Claire’s friends at a pub. The area was extremely busy, but there didn’t seem to be much going on apart for the kiosques with fried Creole fish patties and New Zealand jewellery. I must say, a sad thing about globalisation is that there are no more specificities for jewellery: everything I saw today I could very well buy in Montreal or at the By market in Ottawa. Seems like such styles have become international… or at least homogenous in the “Western” world. I was surprised that one of Claire’s friends, Guy, a British who worked for several years in France, was aware of the numerous festivals in Montreal during the summer months. I didn’t know that was part of the city’s reputation outside of Canada.
It’s almost 2 AM now. After the Thames festival, we went out in the East end, in the Brick Lane area. It’s considered the dodgier part of London, hence the “alternative” part. Again, there are people everywhere. And everywhere, they spill out from the bars onto the streets. Claire says it’s like that even in winter time. Strangely enough, the bars continue to serve drinks in glass glasses, so by the end of the evening the street was littered with a mix of used plastic glasses and shattered glass. After it all, bus-boys sweep it all up, and I guess the following night, or the following week, everything starts over again.
In Brick Lane I met a Mexican girl who works in the design industry. Seeing that I am visiting, she invited me to accompany her any evening this week to one of the numerous events taking place for the International Design Week (or something along that name…). I would love to take her up on it. But all in all, I may be quite busy this week what with visiting Camden Town with Pinakin, the design stuff with Valentina, a visit with Matthew (if possible), a viewing at the Globe, and the several museums I would still like to see. Indeed, London has quite a lot to offer! People keep asking me whether I’ll be staying the whole of my vacation in London. What with all there is to do, I think I’ll forget about the day trip to Oxford or Bath that I had been thinking of doing. Which reminds me, I also did a bit of window shopping on Oxford Street today. If the jewellery here is much of the same, that is not the case for the clothing. London is different. On that front, London is rather hard to resist… But I have been resisting! Though I do think I absolutely must get myself this really cool coat I saw at New Look because it is quite I bit chillier than I had packed for…
This week-end there’s the Thames Festival along the South bank. We went there this afternoon and joined up with some of Claire’s friends at a pub. The area was extremely busy, but there didn’t seem to be much going on apart for the kiosques with fried Creole fish patties and New Zealand jewellery. I must say, a sad thing about globalisation is that there are no more specificities for jewellery: everything I saw today I could very well buy in Montreal or at the By market in Ottawa. Seems like such styles have become international… or at least homogenous in the “Western” world. I was surprised that one of Claire’s friends, Guy, a British who worked for several years in France, was aware of the numerous festivals in Montreal during the summer months. I didn’t know that was part of the city’s reputation outside of Canada.
It’s almost 2 AM now. After the Thames festival, we went out in the East end, in the Brick Lane area. It’s considered the dodgier part of London, hence the “alternative” part. Again, there are people everywhere. And everywhere, they spill out from the bars onto the streets. Claire says it’s like that even in winter time. Strangely enough, the bars continue to serve drinks in glass glasses, so by the end of the evening the street was littered with a mix of used plastic glasses and shattered glass. After it all, bus-boys sweep it all up, and I guess the following night, or the following week, everything starts over again.
In Brick Lane I met a Mexican girl who works in the design industry. Seeing that I am visiting, she invited me to accompany her any evening this week to one of the numerous events taking place for the International Design Week (or something along that name…). I would love to take her up on it. But all in all, I may be quite busy this week what with visiting Camden Town with Pinakin, the design stuff with Valentina, a visit with Matthew (if possible), a viewing at the Globe, and the several museums I would still like to see. Indeed, London has quite a lot to offer! People keep asking me whether I’ll be staying the whole of my vacation in London. What with all there is to do, I think I’ll forget about the day trip to Oxford or Bath that I had been thinking of doing. Which reminds me, I also did a bit of window shopping on Oxford Street today. If the jewellery here is much of the same, that is not the case for the clothing. London is different. On that front, London is rather hard to resist… But I have been resisting! Though I do think I absolutely must get myself this really cool coat I saw at New Look because it is quite I bit chillier than I had packed for…
posted by julie at
8:07 p.m.
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