Weekend in London. November 16, 2014

Greetings from Coventry, England (just arrived by train after spending the weekend in London).

So this will not be my usual exotic travelogue since it’s not a very exotic trip.

Arrived in London on Friday afternoon after a somewhat complicated week and flight. I was in LA on Tuesday (to press check the annual card for the office Open House) and in Seattle on Wednesday — arrived in Oakland after midnight and after spending most of Thursday at the office, headed directly to SFO. Had hoped for an upgrade but as the day went on, my chances became dimmer and dimmer, even though I was first on the list for an upgrade into first class. When I got to the airport, both business and first class were booked solid, and completely checked in full. So I settled in my economy seat (took out everything I’d need during the flight from my bag).. Then just after they closed the plane doors they moved me to business class… Turns out someone in first class was a no-show, so a global person was put into first class, opening a business class seat for me! At least I would be able to get work done and also (hopefully) sleep.

Arrived in London at about 2 pm Friday… and after settling in met up with Lara (god-daughter who now lives in London) for dinner at Lima Floral (Actually, we first went to Lima only to find that our reservation was for Lima Floral — a 5-minute taxi ride away). As the name implies — Peruvian food, but definitely with a contemporary twist.. We started with classic Pisco Sours (naturally!) and several starters including ceviche, crudo mar (sea bream) which comes with a sauce made of tiger milk; escabeche salad, followed by a lamb dish and a monkfish stew… topped off with a dessert of chocolate (sort of mousse) with Peruvian cacao and wood sorrels and then a bit of sambucca to cap it off. We just about closed the place down. Food was fantastic, with all sorts of South American spices and marinades.

I warn you this travelogue is heavy into food.. since I’ve been to London too many times to have to do much sightseeing.

Stayed in the Marylebone neighborhood.. hotel lobby complete with huge print of the Queen with her eyes closed. It is a classic image— done by ‘accident’ by the artist, Chris Levine. Looks like she’s meditating. The story is that he was commissioned to do a portrait of the Queen in relation to 800 years of the Isle of Jersey’s “allegiance to the crown.” He was doing it as a holographic portrait, a process, a high resolution digital image using a camera that moved along a track taking hundreds of images every few seconds. At times the Queen could rest for a few seconds. I guess she closed her eyes at some point during the rest and he snapped the image. In recent years, the Queen has been fair game and many different artists portrayed her in less than royal ways…. as a commoner, as a Black woman, etc.

On Saturday, I explored more of Marylebone and Covent Garden as well as Soho and some other neighborhoods (managed to do a little shopping as well) and had very leisurely lunch at Balthazar in Covent Garden. In the past few years I’ve mostly stayed in East London so it was a change to be on the west side and definitely very different. And then at dinner, was joined by a colleague from UWT and also by Lara’s husband. The four of us shared about 9 different small and larger plates — each better than the next. After practically closing the place down (last ones to leave at about 1 am), headed back to the hotel to pack up.

On Sunday morning I took the tube to meet up with Lara in Brixton (an area in South London where I had never been). Brixton is a multiethnic community, with a large percentage of people of African and Caribbean descent… or at least before recent gentrification. brixton has a rich history, including as a wealthy “suburb” at the end of the nineteenth century. The main street of Brixton is called Electric Avenue because it was the first street in London to be lit by electricity. By the start of the twentieth century those big houses were converted to flats and the middle class was replaced by a large influx of working class people. The area grew quickly and soon the largest shopping center in South London opened, along with a large market, a cinema, and a theater. It is said that Brixton was the shopping capital of South London in the 1920s complete with large department stores and the earliest branch of Bon Marche. The area was bombed during WWII which contributed to a housing crisis and also urban decay. Later Brixton was the focus of slum clearance and the building of a good many “council houses” (affordable public housing).. and then large populations of immigrants started to settle in Brixton in the 50s… mostly West Indians, and more recently Portuguese and other Europeans and Africans. Apparently there is also home to a lot of seniors, although you wouldn’t know it from those populating the cafes in the Brixton Market.

Today, Brixton Road is home to a new middle class — young people who cannot afford central London.. and the market (actually a series of three separate buildings) has been transformed into scores of little cafes and shops but the exterior streets are lined with ethnic food stalls and shops. We ate in a tiny little place that served buckwheat savory crepes of every description.

And then I headed to the hotel to check out and hopped in a taxi to the Euston Station to catch the train to Coventry.

Arrived in Coventry on Sunday night… More in next email where I’ll explain why I’m in Coventry and what it’s like.. very different from London.

Fern