London Diary 1

I’m just back from 9 days in London where I gave a drawing class for the press to promote my book. It was great fun and amazing to see what people can do when they approach drawing with an open mind. But mostly I’m thrilled when I see the great, positive energy that’s created when we work together in a supportive way. But more on all that in the next post.

Traveling always makes me pay more attention to the world around me. I’m a little more open in strange places, more vulnerable and alert. I also learn a lot about myself.

For the first 5 days I stayed at the cheapo Travelodge on City Road in east central London. The exterior  looks like it was designed by Christopher Wren, the architect of St. Paul’s, and perhaps it was. But time has changed the interior! Ah, well. Still, it turned out to be a fine place to stay for a short despite no phone or Wifi in room.  I was a little disconcerted to see large posters in the window upon arrival which announced rooms for £19!  I’d paid £49. but there was no understanding how room rates work and £49. is still pretty reasonable for a room in a major city.  During the week, the place was filled mostly with solo business travelers who sat in the restaurant at night with a beer casting forlorn eyes towards the widescreen TV. Traveling for work can be lonely business but nobody was talking to anyone. I couldn’t help but think of all those Jane Austen movies where travelers gathered in noisy pubs at night and drank and caroused. Pre-TV days, of course.

My little room was quite Zen.

On my first day, I visited the small cemetery directly across the road and discovered William Blake!  I’d been so devoted to him in my late teenage years.  And there he was—an old friend. Some other visitor had laid fresh flowers at the foot of his stone. I found it quite moving.

Around the corner, on my way to purchase a pay-as-you-go mobile phone, I saw a long line of people, many of color, waiting to apply for unemployment benefits. I hadn’t seen such a line anywhere since I was in London in the early 70′s. As a Canadian, I could work there without a permit (that has now changed) and several times went for 6 months or so. I used to go to London Zoo early in the morning and join the queue for day jobs like selling ice cream that the zoo had on offer. In line with me was a rag-tag bunch of hard-ups, mostly men, and a few rock musicians. It was very George Orwell—Down and Out in London and Paris.  I was always chosen first—probably because I was young, female and not alcoholic. And maybe because I soon established myself as a reliable seller of ice cream. I was positioned in a little hut across from the pen in which the famous gorilla, Guy, sat for 70 years and observed the world with both great sorrow and kindness in his eyes, it seemed to me. Now I’m surprised and moved by how generous those folks in the queue were to me. We said hello to each other every morning, chatted and passed the time until the man came to choose us. Many of them doubtless needed money even more than I did, and faced a far more difficult future.  And so I was reminded of them and the incredible generosity that is in so many people’s hearts, even in hard times.

And I was very grateful for my little room at the “Lodge.”

More tomorrow.