2006-06-06
Things I remember most distinctly about my visit to the U.K. just a short time ago:
1. Listening to Simon & Garfunkel on record in a hipster clothing/bookstore. (Observe the ridiculousness of the clothing available at what I guess were vintage prices which can be found in American thrift stores for a song.) But really what got me about this was the S&G, because there was a frame of time when I listened to that album all the time on vinyl, and it was slightly rainy out, and simon & garfunkel seemed just right, even in London. Then they put on the new strokes album, and we left.
2. I guess they are very common there, but I was loving all the dastardly looking magpies. They look like trouble, and sound like it too.
3. Of course, the Royal Courts of Justice were great and British.
4. Still can't get over the tonsil guillotine we saw at the Hunterian Museum. There was also this very lovely and appalling dissecting table which might be right at home in a house full of antiques, but for the deep patina of blood stains and the drain in the center. Both appeal to my sense of love and simultaneous fear of dissection and the medical. What amused me as well were these very ancient preparations of the nerves and veins done my a young man who travelled to Padua (during his voyage about Europe) to learn about dissection. He wasn't interested in medicine, he just wanted to learn for fun. These were mounted on wood, and might also look nice in a home full of antique and brass. How delightfully British.
5. Oh that leek, chive and potato soup! Oh that apple juice made from native apples!
6. The sauna with the changing LEDs keeps haunting me, as strange as that is.
7. How much everyone in England reads! It was rather good for my bookish spirit.
To be continued...
