Wednesday 29 September 2010

Out and about

Statue of a ballerina, outside the Royal Opera House in Covent Garden
Central London on a damp September morning:
  • Functional sports raincoats on the tube - Altura, Berghaus and Peter Storm.  Just one, rather dashing, belted trench coat.
  • An exchange of travel stories in the Primrose Bakery - "darling, there was a spider THIS big and she didn't even blink!"
  • A large, tofu-coloured van, delivering tofu to the Royal Opera House.
  • Europe's largest bookshop getting ready for an important book signing on Friday. The staff were fretting about whether there were enough sofas on the first floor.
  • A policeman on a Piccadilly Line train, standing feet apart, arms folded, staring down the length of the carriage.  I thought to myself, what a great way to people watch.
  • Enticing smells coming from the bistros and cafes in Covent Garden.
  • Small children from schools all over London visiting the British Museum to look at the Egyptian mummies - "It's GROSS!  They have jars full of BRAINS!".

I'd got cabin fever from sitting in the house sewing for the best part of two weeks, so I treated myself to a morning out today. 

I went to the British Museum (via a mysteriously circuitous route that also incorporated Waterstones in Piccadilly and the Primrose Bakery in Covent Garden) with my iPod, so that I could listen to some of the podcasts of A History of the World in 100 Objects, whilst looking at the objects themselves.



I have been meaning to do this since the podcasts began back in January.  But every time I go to the museum, I seem to have C or O with me, and gazing at a miniature Incan gold llama for fifteen minutes while I listen to a podcast on my headphones is not very interesting for them.  This had to be a solitary pleasure.

I went, I listened, I saw and I had a lovely time.  Sometimes the solitary pleasures really are the best ones.

6 comments:

  1. It's probably not quite polite to comment 35 seconds after the post goes live, but it's a quiet night in the library tonight! I love History of the World, and you can just pop in and have a look. Oh I really feel a trip to London coming up! I'm afraid I've been in my functional Wolfskin raincoat this week, Avoca not quite cutting the grade!

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  2. the husband has just commented on your cleverness as he too has been listening to the radio 4 podcasts...me? i think you should both do some work!!
    glad you had a lovely time though,sometimes a few hours to yourself can be hugely healing I think!x

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  3. I'd much rather Bill Granger than Cheryl Cole.

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  4. Sounds like a wonderful thing to do. But feeling very uncultured now in comparison!

    Though I too would pick Bill Granger over Cheryl Cole--this is surely a sign of a cultured mind :)

    K x

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  5. Yes, yes, absolutely re. Bill Granger over Cheryl Cole. I thought from the sofa comment that it was the Great Nigella visiting on Friday - I would have gone back if it had been.

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  6. What a fabulous idea. I have been really enjoying the series and shall be quite sad when it's over.

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