Pimlico: On Friday, I got off at this stop to check out some thrift shops -- or as they call it here -- charity shops. Pimlico has a triangle of eight different stores, however, the fund of the day was definitely a book of "More Rude Food" for £2, a weird food photography book of nude women and various pastries and high-end dishes.
"Is that book for sale? The one with the naked women?" I asked the shopkeeper of McCad's photography.
"Young lady, everything's for sale," he responded.
And so, I became the proud owner of More Rude Food by David Thorpe. Mike asked when the book came out and coincidentally, it was Nov. 15, 1984 – the day after my purchase would be the book's 30th anniversary.
Victoria: Later, with a heavy cloth bag full of ingredients to make chili, and two bouquets of violet irises, I decided to take a walk to Buckingham Palace. I thought there would be more going on, but it looks like any other regal English building with traditional guards outside.
Morden: At home, I was excited to make us a batch of Canadian chili. The slow cooker from Argos (the U.K.'s Consumers Distributing) arrived that day and we tossed in leftover pulled pork, browned organic ground beef and bacon strips from the local butcher shop. Apple juice, Dr. Pepper, tomato chunks, kidney beans, beef soup stock. Lots of jkspices -- paprika, cayenne, steak spice, salt, pepper, hint of lime.
About 15 hours later, it reduced into a nice, smoky chili.
Have to say it was a lot of fun cooking and having Thomas sit on a chair in the kitchen, hanging out and reading the Argos catalogue.
Saturday, we learned several Tube lines were down for maintenance, including the red Central line, which affected where we needed to get to.
Clapham North > Clamham Junction (overground) > Kensington (Olympia): We arrived at Olympia after a call to Green Tomatoes, a cheap and reliable car service that provides WiFi in its fleet, for Hyper Japan -- an epileptic episode of all things super cute.
There were a few Cosplay people, but a lot of the focus was on food and sweets.
And oddly, a booth that sold a copy of Big Tits Zombie. When in Japan...
Oxford Circus: Thomas went to meet up with friends to see Arnold Schwarzenegger speak at a hotel near Notting Hill while I met up with my friend Kevin at Oxford Circus for a coffee.
There was a PETA protest outside United Colors of Benetton over fur -- I think the demonstrators just enjoyed using megaphones and shouting at employees.
Notting Hill Gate: Met some of Thomas' friends – hip, swinging Londoners at a local Italian restaurant Zizzi. There was a French bulldog in a pub for some reason. And also, a sign outside that said "Low Trees," which confused me.
"It's not for you," said one of Thomas' friends.
"You never know!" I responded.
(They were for buses, probably.)
Waterloo: Sunday, we went to South Bank to see the World Press Photo exhibit.
There were a bloody photo taken by a Boston Globe photographer, moments after the Boston bombing that struck me. Nearby, was the Tate Modern, however our search for a sliced Damien Hirst shark or cow came up fruitless. I did see an original Francis Bacon, though. And lots of other pieces of weird art, including molten lava in a corner.
Hammersmith: We then hopped on the Tube to Hammersmith and found the memorial devoted to Rik Mayall, the British comedian who died in the summer from heart failure at the age of 51.
I grew up watching Mayall in The Young Ones, an off-beat British comedy YTV used to show late at night about four mismatched college roommates – a people's poet, a womanizer, a punk and a hippie.
But it was much quirkier than that. I loved it.
Drop Dead Fred was a campy movie of mine (and underrated in my opinion, with small roles by Carrie Fisher and Bridget Fonda).
YTV would also show episodes of Bottom, a more mature comedy starring two Young Ones stars – Mayall and Ade Edmondson – significantly older.
The famous bench in the intro credits of Bottom where Mayall punches Edmondson in the balls is now the memorial in the medium near Hammersmith Tube.
Occupied by posters and gifts from fans, a small golden plaque is screwed near the top of the bench. "In memory of the man, the myth, the legend."
We got to see Edmondson perform in the play Neville's Island a few weeks ago, so it all comes full circle. Things I have been waiting to see in real life since I was 14.
South Kensington: Shortly after our stop there, we headed to Royal Albert Hall, near the Natural History Museum, to see Damon Albarn, the ex-frontman of Blur.
The show was incredible.
I have been to hundreds of concerts since I was a teenager and tonight's Damon Albarn show was among the best shows I've ever seen. If you look carefully, there are some 25 people on stage that performed with him throughout the night. Among them: De La Soul, Brian Eno, Graham Coxon, the gospel choir near Albarn's home in Leytonstone (NE London).
They played Gorillaz and Blur songs, thought I'd never hear "Tender" sung live. Abbey Road also allowed concert goers to buy a CD recording of tonight's show immediately available after the final song. Amazing! What a treat and such a special night in a historic and beautiful venue.
Camden Town: It's now Tuesday and we're returning home from a Deltron 3030 show at Electric Ballroom in Camden.
Dan the Automator, Del the Funky Homosapien and co. always put on a great show. We've been really lucky to see the puzzle pieces of Gorillaz this week with Albarn and Deltron.
We heard two versions of "Clint Eastwood" in London just two days apart -- the song we never hear for years live. We are lucky.
Other things:
Old Street: Shoreditch is a hipster haven. I saw they are holding a movie festival where it's BYOP (bring your own pillow) to watch a movie in a warehouse floor, perhaps in a puppy pile. The Hoxton, the area's Drake Hotel equivalent, has a lovely fireplace, though. And you can rent out one of the hotel's main floor flats.
Angel: Full of realtors selling flats way the fuck out of my price range. Nice little coffee shops and antique alleyway. We saw a guy from the HBO series Rome having a smoke outside one of these posh coffee shops. I never watched the show, but I'm sure he was probably a big deal.
King's Cross: The British Library has an event on now about Gothic. It's worth your £10 to see the revisions in red marker to Stephen King's Shining by Stanley Kubrick. There's also some annotations by Clive Barker of his Hellraiser movie.
Euston: Down the street, the Wellcome Collection has an "Institute of Sexology" exhibit that opens up on Nov. 20, which looks pretty interesting. They have another exhibit on the human body now. Lots of roots in psychology in this museum, which gets me giddy.
Russell Square: Passed by the Royal National Hotel Javiss and I stayed in during our London jaunt in 2010. Brought back memories of the bedroom lights that made a clunking noise when they started up. Also down the street from Bloomsbury Lanes, a hip bowling alley.
The 3 Mobile phone store I had to go to because my 3G offhandedly decided to stop working. They gave me a replacement SIM card and told me it would work in 24 hours, maybe. I really like London, but there are so many inefficiencies. Things are just broken and people shrug their shoulders because "that's how things are." It's bizarre. Instead of finding solutions or anticipating problems, it's just a shrug. I saw it the other night on the Tube when it broke down at Kennington Station after the Damon Albarn show.
Kennington: Speaking of which...
Travelled on a steamy and packed all-night bus to Mordor. The Tube broke down at Kennington station and passengers sat there for 45 mins. with barely any updates. Some angry passengers exited on to the platform after that time and shouted to the driver, "What's going on?" The driver nonchalantly shrugged his shoulders.
Irate commuters, including us, left the station and waited for the next bus.
One guy offered people at the stop Twix chocolate bars.
"The system fucked us tonight. We're all in this together," he said.
Everyone laughed.
That's the unique love that can evolve from broken-down transit -- a bonding via lynch mob mentality.
Tottenham Court Road: Ippudo London, a great ramen restaurant I ate at in New York City, has opened up a branch across the pond. Still wonderful with its pork belly buns and perfect and reasonably-prices ramen. Black sesame ice cream, oh my.
Also nearby is the Smoking Goat, a new 20-seat nook serving Thai barbecue. Order the pork and oysters. Perfect. Beware the accompanying side saucy. She's a spicy meatball.
Camden Town: London Zoo. Winter hours mean the final admission is at 3 p.m. and the zoo closes at 4. We made it with five minutes to spare and powered through it.
Penguins swimming, New Zealand pigs in heat fighting? Check. Gorilla eating a stem of broccoli? Yep.
Toronto's zoo is much more widespread, but the London Zoo is definitely worth a few hours of your time. Plus, it's another filming location of An American Werewolf in London.
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