Fave Friday

Five favourite things I saw in London

We broke up on Wednesday, so I made myself some nice plans in London for Thursday and Friday. When it came to it, I was somewhat overwhelmed by how many nice plans I made, but in the end I found the trip invigorating rather than exhausting - so much so that I wrote this post on my phone on the coach home, after almost a month of not being able to muster the energy to update. 

The lights were, of course, beautiful. London seems to have a thing about doing big decorated doorways that I haven't noticed before and I appreciated that a lot too. I stayed near Kensington Palace and I'm pretty sure I saw the king driving past me - at least, if it wasn't him, it was somebody important enough to warrant 8 police motorcyclists blowing whistles and an accompanying 4x4. And yet these didn't even make it into my top 5, so crammed was my 30 hour stay!

1. The Medieval Women exhibition at the British Library

This one is called 'Medieval women in their own words' and focuses specifically on works that were created by or about women, on the basis that much of this is lost or ignored. It was a very interesting walk around and, even though it is not very large, I still spent the best part of two hours reading through everything. It never ceases to amaze me how long the middle ages went on for - this exhibition covered all the way up to Margaret of Anjou. I was also pleased that there seemed to have been an effort made to include women from Wales and Scotland, as well as England.

Illustrated women's herbal. There was a lot about medicine. 

2. The Mughals exhibition at the V&A

This exhibition covered the golden age of the Mughals, from around the mid-16th century until the early 18th century, which coincides nicely with what I teach at A-level, coincidentally. There were some beautiful examples of calligraphy, jewels and jewellery, glassware and textiles, such as this huge cotton drugget that would have been laid on the floors of the palaces in the summer. 

A lot of this was simply marvellous to behold and I particularly liked the many examples of flower motifs and tiny birds included in a lot of the calligraphy. However, it did make me feel liberal unease. Many of the exhibits, such as highly illustrated texts from the early 17th century, had notes on them such as, 'Donated by Miss Constance Smith, 1921' (I made that name up) or similar. How did a Miss Smith end up with such a priceless artefact, I wondered. Granted, I did not read every word of the exhibit, but there didn't seem to be any effort from the V&A to explain how any of these objects had come to be in their collection. Maybe that would be too much to expect, but it did nibble at my conscience, a bit. 

3. Burhan and Stewart Lee

I met Burhan in 1999 when we were both working the same miserable summer job for the exam board. I see him too rarely (the last time being in 2019) for somebody that I get on with so well. We went for Korean food (excellent restaurant, plus, when I told the waitress in somewhat panicked tones that my phone was about to die, she took it from me without any further questions and charged it, thus saving me from an hour's sad walk back to my hotel later in the evening) and then to see Stewart Lee at Leicester Square. Lee was extremely funny, as I had expected. I booked those tickets when the clips of him ragging on Russell Brand resurfaced over the summer, something he referenced in the show. 

4. My hairdresser

I think I must be approaching 15 years with the same hairdresser, who now occupies a chair at a salon on Park Lane. This makes me feel extra fancy, though tbf I don't really rate the salon. His cuts are second to none, though, and somehow he manages to blow dry my hair so that the grey falls evenly, as opposed to in two semi-transparent stripes. A true artiste and worth every penny. 

5. Two dog owners with their golden retriever in Hyde Park. Said golden retriever was the proudest doggo ever, having caught (or hopefully picked up already dead) a bird. He was studiously ignoring his owners' every exhortation to drop the bird. They had all the treats out, but he was staring into the middle distance with an inscrutable expression that anybody who has interacted with teenagers would recognise instantly as a clear sign that a change of tack is required to move the situation forward. I commiserated with them. 'He had a parakeet last month,' said the man, ruefully. 

I also observed a tourist (I assume) trying to get a couple of well-fed squirrels, spread eagled upside down on a tree trunk, to eat out of his palm while his girlfriend filmed him. I wanted to stick around until he got bitten, but I had to get to my hair appointment.