or rather, this is me, typing inaudibly on an imac from my brother’s house about a half an hour outside of london. i will post more about this whole trip when i get home, and i am writing down things as they happen so i can keep track, but some things merit mentioning.
london is windy, perhaps a bit chilly, but the weather here is just like the weather ought to be at home, like the weather at home would be if the meteorological psyche of atlanta wasn’t so incredibly bipolar. i am staying in hampstead and i love it. it feels a bit like morningside, but better. if i could afford to live here, i would move in a heartbeat. the sidewalks are littered with euro-model volkswagons, vespas, smart-cars and motorcycles, like the bmw motorbike parked in front of our hotel last night. yellow. gorgeous. but you would have to be beyond wealthy to reside in hampstead.
the tate modern is amazing. transformed in the past few years from a massive power station into a museum of modern art, it sits across the thames from st. paul’s cathedral like two opposing temples of faith. electricity – the god of the industrial age – replaced with culture and information – our modern demigods – looking across at the representation of faith on earth, one of the few structures that survived the blitzes during world war two. and linking them is the millenium bridge, with people streaming like pilgrims from one side to the other and back again.
london just feels right. not the least bit threatening. i felt no fear in 1992, and i feel none today. more later.
