We do not remember days; we remember moments. ~ Cesare Pavese, The Burning Brand
When I travel, I don’t buy postcards. I photograph everything until I am sated or my fingers cramp up. I like souvenirs that will remind me of specific moments on the trip. I like to buy gifts I’ll use every day that way I have those memories with me all the time. The little red London buses are the best souvenirs. I remember riding the buses all around London. Watching myself on the creepy Big Brother style split screens that shows you what other passengers are doing in other corners of the bus. Portobello Market because that’s where I found them. I also love love that you can fit things inside. Storage space is important when you live in an apartment. And, I adore the craftsmanship - they are true to life in their details.
I remember thinking “Oh my God, I’m in London” when I got to Notting Hill because my London is not the Buckingham and the Royals. London is this atmosphere of liveliness on a light sun-dappled day with people in sarongs and other people wearing suits.
London is…
the lady in a niqab in the metro.
those cheese and veggie cups in Portobello whose names I don’t know.
walking in the rain and not even caring that my feet were freezing.
sitting on the sidewalk to eat my sandwich before going up London Tower Bridge.
the Starbucks who wore a suit.
the whirl of turquoise, saffron yellow and white in Hyde Park as the Sikhs gathered to commemorate the 1984 massacre of Indian Sikhs.
writing notes like a fiend in the National Museum as if I were about to write a publish a thesis.
thinking “I am so fucking lucky.”
not talking all morning until lunch because I was stunned with wonder.
thinking I should have packed lighter. I really didn’t need 5 pairs of shoes.
laughing nervously when I did not understand the Japanese waitress at the restaurant.
break dancers in Piccadilly Circus
the guard at 10 Downing Street who bit into his strap of his hat as he spoke and nearly strangled himself. Then he suppressed a laugh.
not checking my watch.
laughing all day long.
listening to a free concert in front of Covent Garden.
2 comments
April says:
Aug 5, 2011
Ugh. These posts are fueling my Anglophilia like no one’s business.
London to me is the row of men in business suits sitting on the curb eating their lunch in Covent Garden because they charge less for takeaway.
It was the old woman who I bumped into coming out of a charity shop who said “Pardon me” as though she were the one at fault, not me.
It was the quiet 500 year old church cemetery in the middle of a bustling business district in East Croydon.
oisercage says:
Aug 5, 2011
:) Good morning! I love your additions to the post!