Museums and Galleries and Openings

Well it seems I have saturated myself. After feeling like a ravenous art andculture hound for four weeks, I crashed on the weekend, fully gorged and satisfied as if I had just finished an enormous feast. I could not face another museum or gallery or crowded street, so on Saturday I stayed home most of the day reading, writing, thinking, reflecting...doing laundry! I walked to the Broadway Market down the canal, had a coffee and people-watched (I must say there is great people watching in London) and bought the Sat. Guardian newspaper, which I find a treat to read. I don't think my flatmates think it's particularly a fun thing to do on a Sat. night in London, but for me it was just grand. On Sunday I spent a good part of the day reading the novel, Brick Lane by Monica Ali, which was on Barton's bookshelf (excellent book by the way and so appropriate to read in London) and I went to the Cafe Gallery for the opening of the RCA 2nd year Printmaking Student's Show. Okay, okay, I couldn't totally escape crowds or culture...it is London after all.
I have seen and done so many things in the last five weeks it's hard for me to believe: The Science Museum, The Victoria and Albert Museum, The Museum of Natural History, The Tate Modern, The Tate Britain, The National Gallery, The National Portrait Gallery, The British Museum, Sir John Soane's Museum, The Photographer's Gallery, Kew Gardens, a tour of about a dozen small galleries in the East End, The Hayward Gallery, The White Cube Gallery, The Whitechapel Gallery, The William Morris Gallery. I have seen Buckingham Palace, Westminster Abbey, The Parliament Buildings, The Tower of London all from the outside, but haven't gone on any tours. I went to an opening for a show Elizabeth is in at the Deutschbank last week and one of her friends took me along to another gallery opening after that in the East End. I also went to see La Boheme in the Royal Albert Hall. And sometimes I get off at a tube stop just to see what's there, as there is always something interesting and each area of the city has a different flavour.I have of course just barely scraped the surface of the London art scene, but from what I've seen of student work and gallery work we are not doing too badly in our little cowtown considering our population. I figure there is much more to see here, but you have to wade through a lot of stuff to find the interesting art. Most people who live here don't even go out and see it. I would mention something I've seen that I thought was interesting and nobody else had seen it. Everyone is too busy with their school work or their jobs and just barely make it there and back every day. There are a lot of busy and tired people in London.
It is also quite a big deal to get anywhere and although London is compact and dense, compared to Calgary, it does seem to take a good chunk of time to get around and if you don't have a travel card for the public transportation it is costly as well. Public transportation is also not very accessible for handicapped or seniors, too many stairs in the stations and gaps and unevenness between the trains and the platforms. Even people with strollers have to make quite an effort to get around. You have to be quick getting on and off and the bus drivers love to drive like they're driving a racing car down the bus lanes and seem to delight in throwing people around in the back of the bus, or as you are going up or down the stairs to the upper deck. I guess the whole city kind of keeps you off balance in a way.
This morning I gave a presentation to some of the students in Printmaking about my own work. I will have lots of material to sort through when I get home to make more work with.
Thanks to everyone who sends e-mails and comments to the blog, it helps me cope with being so far away for so long.