Back in Oxford! What a feeling. She arrived from East London and realized she hadn’t bothered to make a note of Lucy’s house number (She did know the street) because she thought she’d recognize the house at first sight. She ended up walking back and forth, back and forth, for half an hour. Conveniently, her Android told her “There is no wi-fi connection.” This is why she pays Verizon $239/month for the International Plan. So she can be stuck with luggage on a street in Oxford, with no wi-fi connection. Her laptop was completely out of battery, so no help there.
Tugging her luggage behind her, she started asking the neighbors: “Do you know Lucy?” She figured, Oxford is a small town, this is a small street. Everyone must know Lucy. Guess what: NO ONE KNEW LUCY.
Finally, she heard her name being called, and there was Lucy! Lucy had seen self pass in front of her house, trundling luggage. Probably wondered why self didn’t stop, since the front door was wide open.
Anyhoo, she’s arrived! Same room and everything! There was even the sweetest little arrangement of wildflowers on her writing desk!
Self undertook this walk last Sunday. It was a gorgeous day, lots of people were out and about, maybe because of the Columbia St. Flower Market? She had every intention of scoping out this world-famous Flower Market in East London, but was distracted by all the wee little boutiques and alleys and coffee shops along the way. So dear blog readers will have to settle for these:
The year is just zipping by! As Xingfu Mama reminds us, we’re already in Week 19 of the 2022 Pull Up a Seat Challenge.
Self has found a sweet little coffee and croissant place, around the corner from Hackney City Farm. It’s in a row of other little coffee shops and restaurants, facing the former Queen Elizabeth Children’s Hospital (which is now condos, but still has the sign that says Queen Elizabeth Children’s Hospital). To get there, she walks through beautiful Haggerston Park. Did she ever luck out with her Airbnb or what. She looked at the host’s listing for the rest of the year: Oops, she raised the daily rate by 120 GBP. Hope it’s just temporary, or she’ll never be able to stay here again.
Anyhoo, next to the coffee and croissant place is a bench where patrons can cool their heels while waiting for their orders. They also make delicious panini sandwiches.
For the past week, self has been exploring East London. Well, maybe ‘exploring’ isn’t the right word: she’s been mostly reading and writing and sending stuff out and trying to get home sooner so she can vote in the California primary — it may seem funny to cut a trip short just to vote in a primary, but she takes nothing for granted these days.
Here are the positions up for vote: California U.S. Senate, Governor, Lieutenant Governor, Secretary of State, Controller, Treasurer, Attorney General, Insurance Commissioner, Member of State Board of Equalization, State Superintendent of Public Instruction, U.S. Representative in Congress, State Senator, State Assembly Member, as well as other local candidates. She is, of course, voting Democrat all the way down the ballot. And if there’s one thing she’s proud about, it’s about raising a son who’ll vote Democrat all the way down the ballot, too!
These past six years have been exhausting: she’s cut off ties with friends she’s known for decades, because all of a sudden they’re calling Hillary “ugly” and say women should not be wearing pantsuits. Think it’s ridiculous? So does self.
Anyhoo, while knocking about East London (which is as far from tourist-y as you can get in London), she stumbled onto a working farm. You can smell the manure from a long way off, it is a little disconcerting, but at least all self had to do was follow her nose.
What a place, though! It sells cheese, grains, veggies — the usual stuff sold by an organic farm. And the minders look exactly like the people in California. In fact, they may even look slightly more hippie-ish than organic farmers do back home. East London hippies — self never knew such a type existed!
Haggerston Park is right across the street from self’s Airbnb, but she only worked up the energy to explore it today. She wouldn’t have taken so long if there weren’t, at the entrance nearest to her Airbnb, a very popular liquor store with all sorts of shaven-headed, tattooed men hanging about. Anyhoo, this morning self skipped past that particular entrance and entered the park via a popular bike path, further down.
Unlike the typical city park, this one is wild. The part she walked through was woodland (in East London!) She came upon a swamp. A swamp ringed by large clumps of daffodils. Self was transported with delight!
Seeing daffodils in the middle of this wild-seeming landscape is a magical experience. Self thought the daffodils were random plantings, but on closer inspection, there is an unobtrusive wire fence holding the daffodils back from the swamp.
Still traveling! For Cee Neuner’s Flower of the Day Challenge, has self got a special treat for dear blog readers!
Today she dropped by Hackney City Farm (an honest-to-goodness working farm, with goats and cows and sheep, right in the heart of East London) and photographed the wisteria hanging over the entrance. Gorgeous, right?
There is an Italian restaurant on the premises, but it wasn’t open yet at the time of self’s visit. She will return.
This week, we’re exploring the interplay of light and shadow–at different times of the day, in different seasons, under natural light, in artificial light. Choose whatever conditions you like. It’s totally up to you. You may also want to process your images in black and white to highlight the light and shadows.
Self is traveling. Her “light and shadow” photos were all taken in Bloomsbury, where she stayed last week:
Kanlaon 