Fantastic research today! It is amazing, after spending so long in the 17th century to be writing about the 20th. It feels a bit disloyal somehow and I miss the lost in the mists of time fogginess about the Restoration. The First World War is compelling in its own strange, fantastic hat sort of way but I do miss the bizarre health remedies, superstitions and the sheer, raucous libertarianism of the Restoration. It is funny but the morals of the Restoration were far looser than the Edwardian period.
It is a heavenly treat to wander over to the square where the people I am writing about actually lived. Same trees are growing in the same square, same glass in the same windows, same numbers on the same doors. Marvelous. And the sun nearly came out for a minute today. My mother asked me if I have direct morning light in the flat and I honestly couldn't answer her. I miss blue.
I am walking everywhere. Even in New York I do not walk this much. I love it. But then, there is a tube strike on and so everyone is walking. I am really odd in that I love the pulled togetherness of national inconvenience. It is like when the bridge closes for rain in Hawaii and you are stuck in Hanalei. Inconvenient but communal. I like that.
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Oh my. That tube strike is still on? Are the buses running? Thank goodness that didn't happen when I was there, though there was talk of it. At least I was located only a block away from Trafalgar Square, so a lot of major sites were within walking distance.
ReplyDeleteLondon really is a walkers paradise. It feels more intimate than New York. I know that feeling of which you speak: kind of a "we're all in this together" thing. I look forward to going back to the UK again.
You're sounding well and chipper Priya. Glad to hear! Cheers.
I have always loved walking - I gain such a sense of peace from it, and often my best writing ideas. Something I miss terribly having a young child - we can't walk around constantly, at an even pace, in silence. Oh when will this great joy come back to me?! Enjoy it; I am jealous!!
ReplyDeleteYou're in London! Welcome!
ReplyDeleteSorry I haven't been round here for some time, we moved house, then no internet for two weeks, then too much to do...the usual, not enough hours in the day...
I feel like I should apologise for the rubbish weather here - how silly is that - but I do have to admit that I do like the different seasons and the weather that goes with it here...warm rain from May to September, cold rain the rest of the year ;-)
Anyway, I'm not currently at the market, but please please contact me via my email and maybe we can just meet for a tea or coffee somewhere, that'd be great.
Enjoy your walks and the research, I can only imagine how fascinating it must be to dig deep into history like that...
Love from South of the River (London), Carole xo
It must be such a culture shock to be back in London after the summer you have had.
ReplyDeleteAs a mad walker myself, I could not agree more. And London never ceases to be magical, for all its grey dampness, exactly for the reasons you say. History one can run one's fingertips across - it takes some beating.
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