London

I've discovered a cafe that I really like. There are so many around to try though, so I can't settle on one just yet! Cafe Coho is in a nice location; just a minute from the beach in an area called 'the lanes' which is basically a series of narrow lanes/alleyways amidst the buildings where there are lots of shops and restaurants. Architecturally lovely! 

They have a room upstairs with more seating. There's always a radio playing nice music, it's generally less busy and it has a nice view.

I like to get a small treat to go with my flat white. The first time I went to Cafe Coho, I got a cheese scone with ale chutney and it was probably the best scone/tea biscuit/bun of the sort I've ever eaten. Pictured below is what they call an Ozzy Eglette. It's an egg wrapped in "bacon" with pesto, cheese, sun-dried tomato and peppercorn. A perfect bite!

Yesterday I took a day trip to London which turned out to be a bit of a hassle. It started with waking up to day two of a perpetual headache, which is a huge bummer as I don't really function quite right when this happens. I still wanted to go to London as it was kind of a class trip (the printmaking students were meeting at a gallery for the opening of an exhibition) so I headed to the station and caught a train fairly early with the intention of doing some research at a couple museums beforehand. The ride in was about an hour and a half. It's a nice time and place to read a book.

My first stop was the Turner wing of the Tate Britain. There's a nice historical print section there which is where I needed to to research but it was temporarily closed. I usually check these things online beforehand but failing to do so resulted in showing up and being disappointed. Oops! Instead, I had a look around at Turner's paintings and some of the other works on display in the rest of the Tate. I do like Turner's work. The compositions are really great, and the paintings kind of glow.

I still had time to use before meeting up with my classmates so I headed to the British Museum where they have a prints and drawings section that would have been useful. I was hardly inside for five minutes and the fire alarm went off and eventually me and the MASSES of people there yesterday had to leave the building. It was a false alarm (here's a little BBC snippet) and they were probably going to let everyone in again however after that was all said and done I didn't have as much time left before I had to meet up with the others so I ventured onward.

It was nice to go to a small, independent gallery and spend a bit of time with the people I'm getting to know here. This was a nice part of the day following what was an unfortunate morning!

Despite everything, it's always fascinating to navigate throughout London and take in the sights, sounds, scents, and tastes. My favorite thing yesterday was a man sitting in a corner of the mosaic-walled Tottenham Court Road tube corridor (a few feet from a 'no busking' sign) playing Dancing Queen by Abba on an accordion. He was wearing a red and green hat, and a plaid shirt. I briefly heard a couple commuters singing along to the music that was being carried through the tunnel, too. 

A lot of the tube stations offer a feeling of being both indoors and outdoors. The line between the two is often blurred, and bits of both worlds encroach upon each other. There's a roof overhead and walls around you, but there's a fresh breeze, two pigeons and a rat. The architecture of the London underground is complex and mega-asymmetrical and disorderly but it allows the entire, massive system to function as a well-oiled machine without a hitch most of the time (though that is an exaggeration, things do break fairly often, but when you consider how intricate the whole thing is, the failures are relatively insignificant). Anyway, the architecture is weird and you end up being confused about your general location and whether or not you're up or down or inside or out. 

I think this is my favorite unpleasantly-pleasant London thing: when you're in the fully enclosed underground stations you often get a strong wind but it's made of up stale tube air being pushed towards you as the train forces it out of the tunnel along the platform and your hair blows in the smelly breeze as the train pulls up next to you.