I woke up feeling crap this morning, with a blocked nose, sore throat, and red, itchy eyes. It’s happened before when I’ve been in London, especially when travelling on the tubes that are deep underground, as I did yesterday when I went to the V&A. Either that or I have cold, though the itchy eyes leads me to assume it is the former. Hedging my bets, I traipsed to the 24hr supermarket at the crack of dawn and bought supplies, more for comfort than remedy.
Our in-person classes were cancelled today, on account of the tube and teacher strikes. Instead, we had an artist’s talk via zoom, though, unfortunately, the internet isn’t very good in my hotel room, so I could only listen to part of it, and couldn’t participate in the discussion. So, I took the opportunity to finish wrapping my painting, ready for the courier to collect tomorrow. Jonathan, our kind-hearted teacher, had a go wrapping it when he collected it from the exhibition, but let’s just say, we all have our strengths.
Because I didn’t have any classes for the rest of the day, I thought I better do something arty, so I went to a beautiful bookshop around the corner, and looked for books relevant to my research project about water. It’s been a while since I’ve spent time browsing in a bookshop (I mostly buy books on Amazon); what an absolute pleasure.
Next, I went in search of somewhere nice to have lunch and peruse my new books, stopping at a chemist on the way to buy some antihistamines. I came across a nice looking pub called the Norfolk Arms. Having just completed an application for an art residency in Norfolk, I thought it was a fortuitous sign. As I was peeping in the window, to see what it was like, a friendly old fella passing-by informed me that the food was lovely, so in I went. I’m so glad I did. I had a sublime afternoon, hocked-up on antihistamines, eating delicious food, and reading the introductions of my wonderful new books.
I faded by the time I got back to my hotel this afternoon, so I took a nap but didn’t sleep. For my evening activities, I took my parcel down to reception, went to the shop for more tissues, watched the Ramsey Town Commission meeting (that my fella was chairing), and wrote this post. Now I’m going to have a pot-noodle for tea, and sit in my bed and watch The Repair Shop. London, baby!
bexODESSA 