The London Review
Today marks 11 months since we left Texas.
The sunrise on our last day in Austin. It was quite a send off - thanks, sky!
Several people have asked lately how I am enjoy living in London.
11 months is enough time to have formed an opinion, but barely enough time to have scratched the surface of this city.
I absolutely love it.
The four pictures above are from our first full day in the city, September, 29th, 2021. What beautiful skies!
For my own posterity, a quick recap of the past months here and my favourites about the city so far:
We spend the majority of our time in Zone 1. We live in the residential west side and I work on the more commercial/industrial conversion east side. We’ve visited many, but not all, of the “touristic” destinations (at least those of interest) in between. It’s a fairly straight shot from our flat to Trafalgar Square and then the National Gallery. I enjoy this walk, and depending on the route you can adjust percentage of street/park based on your liking.
The first time I ever went at Zocalo on 12th & West Lynn in Austin I sat outside on the patio shaded with green foliage facing the nursery on the opposite side of the intersection. I had a strange sense of not being where I physically was; either another country, time or being altogether. It was a strange sensation, something akin to Melquiades introducing ice to Macondo (100 Years of Solitude). Your own expected existence, enriched in a new, surprising way.
There are several streets in London which for some reason have this little bit of magic for me. They provide a certain comfort and joy. For lack of a way to describe how I experience these few little street of London - I think they represent a version of where I thought I might have been, sitting at Zocalo in the spring of 2010.
The four pictures above are all shot on 35mm film with a Kodak F9. Clockwise we have the Michelin House, the first UK HQ of Michelin Tyre company. The flower vendor at the Michelin house. Egg, a designer clothing store with cute unbrella’d table outside on Kinnerton Street, Belgravia. Finally, the view of a building on Wilton Row, Belgravia.
We have not explored outside central London, or even outside of the city extensively, save for a day trip to Oxford, Christmas in Edinburgh, and a trip I took to the Cotswolds with my parents when they visited in June. Definitely more to be seen outside of this bubble, but there is also much still to be seen within.
Above: Radcliffe Camera, Library at Oxford University, home to a few scenes in one of my favourite novels, The Historian, by Elizabeth Kosovo. Two scenes from village of Lower Slaughter in the Cotswolds. Me, dressed for Christmas dinner conspicuously matching the carpet at Carberry Tower Mansion House just outside of Edinburgh, Scotland.
I was bracing for a brutal winter, but it turns out, if you dress properly for cold weather, it’s enjoyable. I was not prepared for the heat of the summer, but once you find A/C or get used to the trickle of sweat down your side while working from home, it’s bearable.
British food is not well seasoned, but they’ll give you salt and pepper. That said, I’ve maybe had British food 4 times since arriving. The best, hands down, was the fish and chips at the Grenadier. It’s a hidden little pub. I hope enough people find it to sustain cash flow, but not so many that we can’t find a seat.
Otherwise, there are a ton of different selections for food, all price points, all origins. I think my favourite restaurant so far has been the Oysterman Seafood Bar where we had oysters and octopus served over polenta on a Friday at lunch. Come to think of it we also had Grenadier on a Friday at lunch. Maybe that’s an enjoyable time to relax and enjoy each other and eat great food. Maybe it’s coincidence.
I was really enchanted the first time we visited Richmond. What I liked most about Richmond was the dogs who were off leash on the trail near the river. I’d never seen so many well behaved dogs of leash who seemed to enjoy themselves on a walk as they did in Richmond. The dogs of Hyde Park seem equally well behaved but the walk along the river added to the Richmond magic.
There are many bakeries with the most beautiful desserts here. They are tiny pieces of art on display in their cases, waiting to be eaten.
Moving along - what do I actually like best about London?
Public Transportation
Galleries + Museums
Book Stores
Architecture + Views
Dogs + Parks
I’ll save the details for these in other post — until then!
xx
me, standing outside of our bedroom on the day we first moved into our flat
