All By Myself

Ellen left on Wednesday very early and since then I have been very lazy.  Yesterday I took two naps!  But I did manage to go to the supermarket and take in a lecture on medieval architecture from Gresham College.  Gresham is an interesting organization.  Founded with the donations of one man, Thomas Gresham, financier and founder of the Royal Exchange in the 16th Century, it offers free lectures on various topics from eight rotating professors.  Last night's talk was given at the Museum of London, not too far from here.  I have to admit a lot of it went over my head, but it was interesting seeing the changes that took place from the 13th to the 14th Century in building.

On the way home, at about 7PM, I came upon a very strange sight.  On the corner of City Rd and the London Wall, which is partly just a green patch, there were maybe 30 people standing, beers in hand, outside this pub called the Globe.  I think they might have been waiting for a train--they were all very well-dressed--or belonged to a beer tasting club, or who knows what.  Maybe the pub has half-priced beer night on Wednesdays.

I have just come back from a walk around my neighborhood that included a visit to the Spitalfields Market.  Lots of china, prints and furniture, along with the usual flea market junk.

Also lots of restaurants and cafes.  The people here have a sense of humor (or humour, I should say).  Case in point, this statue outside the market.

It says nothing on those boxes, so I have no idea why it's there.  From there, I went to find the Barbican Centre, where  my friend Sue and I stayed years before.  While we were there, my purse was stolen.  The policeman who helped us, Hamish, was so embarrassed about the theft that he gave us tickets for the Royal Shakespeare Company's The Alchemist, which was at the Barbican theater.  My purse was recovered in the ladies room of a pub across the street.  And while we were at the play, we heard a loud bang from what seemed to be behind the stage.  Later we learned that an IRA bomb had gone off in the local tube station.

I could not find the pub, the entrance to the station as I remember it, or anything, really that looked familiar.  It was years ago and so much has changed all throughout London.  But here's some pictures of the Barbican.

It's really just a high-end apartment complex with offices, a theater and even a lake between the buildings.

On my way there, I passed a concrete park, I guess you would call it, right by Liverpool Train Station.   Named Broadgate, this area includes a large statue called Broadgate Venus, for reasons that are not obvious...

a fountain and many cafes.  Another place I would like to hang out some day.

Returning from the Barbican to my flat, I went through the Bunhill Cemetery that I have mentioned before, and stopped to see the graves of William Blake and Daniel Defoe.  I can't tell you why, but Blake's stone had lots of trinkets and pence coins on top.

At least they weren't beer and alcohol bottles like you see at Jim Morrison's grave in Paris.  Tonight, I'm thinking about a pub walk--or maybe an early bedtime!