UK days } part VI
waiting for 2 o’clock at hampstead heath
This part of my London trip starts October 3rd. On the advice of a friend, I visited Erno Goldfinger’s home on Willow Street in Hampstead. I didn’t take any photos there but I left the house with a sense of having been there before. It evoked feelings of life in Iran in the mid-70s, even though the home predates that era by four decades.
i enjoy watching the dogs refresh themselves in this icy lake. it’s saturday morning and i can hear the circus just a few hundred feet away
eve keeps me company. at goldfinger’s home i’m an odd person out; there are three couples who are on my tour. it kind of makes me sad, but i am keen to enjoy the house nonetheless
on my way back to the station i spot this through a window: what used to be a potter’s studio? i don’t know. the more i look at this photo the more confused i become. it doesn’t matter, i love it anyway
that night i meet nazira in soho for ‘the best cappucino in london’. this makes us giggle
{ October 4 }
sunday morning i head out to the ‘chemist’s’ to fetch some meds for yasmine, who has fallen ill again. you will notice in this post that i have caught the panorama bug. maybe *i* need to be medicated
{ October 5 }
monday afternoon i meet mai for lunch and a walk around
we selfie in front of barnaby barford’s ‘tower of babel’ at the v&a
eve enjoys it too
mai captures berries on sydney street
i take her to one of my mandatory london stops: green and stone’s. later on that night, yasmine and i move from anna’s flat to the maltings residence serviced apartments on tower bridge road
{ October 6 }
We settle into our Bermondsey apartment after the most awkward move on the previous night. it was pouring down hard, we had two large suitcases, my tapestry, a few shopping bags full of groceries and books, an umbrella each, a carry-on suitcase, my mary poppins bag and my laptop. oh, and a map to our flat, with a separate piece of paper for the code we needed to punch in at the main entrance to our building. all this, and then trying to find our building while trudging through the rather dickensian alleyways. it was nearing 10 pm, yasmine was recovering from her cold, we were drenched and tired, but we forgot it all once we opened our door to this
the view outside our living room. i can live here happily for the rest of my life
my tapestry is happy too
that night i’m terribly late to mai’s lecture at SOAS. i miss 15 minutes of it but soon catch up
ayesha waits for her book to be signed as amira behbehani chats with mai
mai, ayesha, ‘the hidden light of objects’ and a happy statue. later on i take off with sarah, matt and some friends for a yummy pizza dinner at icco’s
{ October 8 }
There is no photographic record of what I did on the 7th of October.
on thursday i meet with nadia el-sebai at the arab british centre. afterwards i’m supposed to go to the kew gardens for the handmade in britain expo, but i go here instead…
samuel johnson’s home, because i’m a great fan of the dictionary, and words in general. plus it’s just next door
so generous. thank you
phone call
dr. johnson’s strategic stained glass window allows him a great vantage point. he has two views: one onto gough square and the other into the alcove i’m standing in
have you seen my wig, martha?
on one of the landings is a brick from the great wall of china and these three chairs
a facsimile of johnson’s dictionary
after dr. johnson’s home i’m supposed to go to kew gardens but i meet up with mai for lunch instead. i decide to go the next day. i enjoy the rest of the afternoon with my dear friend. after lunch we visit the wellcome collection
that night i meet george at peckham. he takes me to a ‘secret’ bar a few stories above this, but it’s closed
instead, i change into my comfy shoes and enjoy this view
afterwards we have a drink at a bar/theatre inside this building
and crash an exhibition opening in two dilapidated houses
i arrive at our apartment as a train passes through. home, sweet, home
