Sometimes I have driven down to my destination in London in three hours. Everything goes smoothly and there are no hold-ups. However, this time, getting there took four and half hours and getting back took the same. Going down, there was heavy rain and motorway spray followed by a sluggish crawl on The North Circular Road. Coming back, it was just the sheer volume of traffic heading north. Mysterious but brief stops then back up to 40mph. Congestion. Clint had to keep his wits about him.
Down there at Ian and Sarah's house in the west London district of Fulham, I didn't have access to a computer and of course I am not in possession of nor possessed by a mobile phone. The way that Ian and Sarah view television is different from ours. They rarely look at terrestrial channels and they have little appetite for the daily news.
Consequently, some of my established habits were effectively blocked. It was cold turkey time in a vegan household. No blogging. No photo checking. No visits to news channels or football updates. No BBC teletext service. Yes I was out of it and you know what? I enjoyed that. Being off grid in England's sprawling metropolis. Five days of heavenly peace.
It was a lovely time with Ian and Sarah, Shirley, Frances, Stew and Little Phoebe. Together we watched Disney's "Moana". What a beautiful film - visually, musically and narratively. On the big sofa, Little Phoebe curled up in my warm embrace. Ian worked hard to make a wonderful Christmas Day vegan feast and on Boxing Day we all went on a family walk in the sunshine.
Down to The River Thames then up to Hammersmith Bridge and down the other side to Putney Bridge before heading back to the Christmas house. At one point I asked the others to gather for a riverside family photo. Phoebe had fallen asleep in her pushchair. I considered the fact that many thousands of such images are missing a key character - the photographer. He or she will forever remain invisible - the hidden one who pressed the button. And time will move on and things will change but the photo will remain as the evidence of a lovely day, frozen forever. Something to look back upon and remember.
Welcome back, Neil!
ReplyDeleteIt sounds like you had a good time, and the long and exhausting drive was worth it, I guess. How about trains? I know there have been strikes but I still have pleasant memories of the train ride up from London to Harrogate and back this past summer.
You are so right about the family photo. The one of Christmas Eve 2021 at my parents' still shows both my Dad and friend R. This year, we did not take a picture as there would have just been my Mum, my sister and I.
But at O.K.'s sister's on Boxing Day, we took the customary family portrait with everyone still in. We use a smartphone on a three-legged stand, and the camera is activated from O.K.'s watch, so no-one is missing. Hopefully, everybody in that photo will there next Christmas, too.
Wow! The way OK took that picture is impressive. At the time that the Christmas Eve 2021 photo was taken, I suspect that you never anticipated the forthcoming absences and the sorrow to come.
DeleteA proper family Christmas...and the sun shone!
ReplyDeleteOnly on Boxing Day when you need the sun for a walk. Thank you God!
DeleteGreat River Thames photos YP. I believe Anne Boleyn lived in Fulham. Did you see any mud larks or metal detectorists?
ReplyDeleteYes, I did see a metal detectorist and a few others searching the exposed riverside - looking for the meaning of life.
DeleteWhat a lovely Christmas you had and it's so nice to be away from all of the social media stuff for a while isn't it ? You have a lovely looking family .....we live 20 minutes from London and, Christmas Day was grey and bleak but Boxing Day was beautiful wasn't it ? Clear blue skies .... just perfect for a walk along the Thames. XXXX
ReplyDeleteA lot of other people had the same idea Jacqueline but not too crowded for us.
DeleteI always enjoy being away from the distractions of the modern world with no ability to check in. But I generally have to go the other way, i.e. out away from major cities, to achieve such a peace.
ReplyDeleteSounds like a relaxing vacation.
It is ironic that I was effectively "off grid" in a huge city!
DeleteSometimes being off the grid is a great thing BUT. this:
ReplyDelete"It was cold turkey time in a vegan household. "
...is the best line I've read in a long while.
Glad you had a nice time.
Ha-ha! I am glad you spotted that line Bob! It didn't fall on deaf ears after all!
DeleteWelcome back, we missed you. Holiday drives are often slow. My grandmother lived near the Hammersmith Bridge 110 years ago, I stayed in a hotel a couple of blocks from there on my first adventure back in 1990.
ReplyDeleteHammersmith and Fulham is a nice part of London... mind you it needs to be given the house prices!
DeleteIt sounds like you had a lovely Christmas and visit. Did you run into Steve while you wandering around London? That's a very nice family portrait but you're right, somebody is missing.
ReplyDeleteIt would be nice to meet Steve and I thought about travelling up to West Hampstead but neither of us have been well and in the end it was good to just stick with my family.
DeleteSo glad to hear that all is well. And of course you wouldn't be posting while you were at Ian's. I just remembered that you were not feeling your best and so I worried which is what I do.
ReplyDeleteGlad you had a wonderful time with your family. I am sure that Phoebe felt like the star of the show, beloved by all.
Yes she was the Christmas star just as another babe was long ago in Bethlehem - if you believe the legend.
DeleteGlad you had such a lovely Christmas, Neil! We did too!
ReplyDeleteI have forgotten exactly where you are in North America Ellen. I hope the snow bomb did not get you!
DeleteNaperville, Illinois - we had some snow - not too much but very, very cold for a couple of days. Now sun is shining and snow is melting!
DeleteYou told me before. My memory can be rather like a sieve.
DeleteSuch a different walk and scenery from your usual ones YP. Lovely to see a photo of all the family together - except that you are missing. Sad that there wasn't anyone near to ask to take the photo of you all.
ReplyDeleteI wouldn't trust them. They might have run off with my camera. Besides, I am as ugly as the troll that hid under the bridge.
DeleteIt does feel wonderful to be off the grid for a while but I do like my connections too. (and my iPhone) We took a family shot with the timer on the phone and it worked OK. My son-in-law looks like he just threw himself into the picture though. He did since my older grandson snagged his spot on the couch. Beautiful family photo!
ReplyDeleteOld Chris might have written a poem about the scene.
DeleteIt looks like a lovely Christmas was had by all. I imagine that Phoebe is getting old enough to get quite excited about the whole process. I was talking to my oldest grandaughter about the day, and I asked her if it was exciting. She threw her 4 year old hands high in the sky to tell me that there were a hundred presents under the tree.
ReplyDeleteI have a video of the morning, of her leading her family down stairs, chattering excitedly. "I hope I got my bike!" she said. And once down the stairs, she rushed right past the brand new assembled bike to flop down in front of the tree and study the pile of presents for a box large enough to hold her coveted bike. It wasn't until someone directed her attention that she noticed the hot pink desire of her heart.
PS. I would be remiss if I didn't point out that iit has a bell. That way if people don't hear her when she tell sthem to get out of the way, she can just ring the bell, and everyone will jump back. The added bonus is that she has to stop peddling to ring the bell, so it provides protection on many levels.
All bicycles should have bells. Many is the time I have had to jump off a path when a cyclist has ridden up silently behind me. Phoebe isn't yet two years old. I think it will mean much more to her next Christmas. Belated seasonal greetings Debby!
DeleteIn spite of my belief in science and reason, London makes me believe in the possibility of reincarnation.
ReplyDeleteOn my first visit in 1966 I knew this place, especially around Euston, Bloomsbury & Victoria. The London Tube was more familiar than the Glasgow Underground.
On my second visit in 1969 I knew my way round Camden, Wapping, Shoreditch, Whitechapel, Spitalfields, and all the way along Father Thames to Greenwich.
This familiarity would come upon me strolling down Fleet Street past the Aldwych Theatre, or standing before the grave of Benedict Arnold in Battersea.
Not once have I felt this in Glasgow, my native city, where I am a stranger.
*The Ordeal of Mark Rutherford* described the monotony of pre-1914 Sundays in London when the only street life was that of people waiting to go into church or chapel.
I felt I knew this too.
Charles Chaplin hated London parks as a child because he and his mother had to sit there all day, vacating the cheap boarding houses where they spent nights.
*Pimlico, London. Rare 1950s Film of Thomas Cubitt's Stucco Streets.*
*Changing Face of Camberwell 1963. London Screen Archive.*
YouTube.
Correction.
ReplyDelete*The Autobiography of Mark Rutherford* (1881).
*Mark Rutherford's Deliverance* (1885) both by William Hale White.
The first is an Oxford University paperback.
I have them in a dual edition in hardback with an introduction by Don Cupitt, the theologian who does not believe in God.
A theologian who does not believe in God... that's like an astrophysicist who does not believe in space travel. Each time I visit London, I understand a little more about how the city fits together - both geographically and historically. I thought there might be a Haggerty Road in London but there isn't. However, there is one in Detroit, Michigan.
DeleteNeurocognitive science explains deja vu without our losing mystery and delight.
DeleteThe same with this illusion that we have lived before as with me in London.
I am with Freud who begged Jung not to get sucked down into the black mud of occultism.
As a child I watched British black & white films on our Murphy television.
You can see them now on YouTube.
Royal Cavalcade. 1935.
The Passing of the Third Floor Back. 1935.
The Green Cockatoo. 1937.
The Suspect. 1944.
Waterloo Road. 1945.
The October Man. 1947.
So Well Remembered. 1947.
The Blind Goddess. 1948. (The great Eric Portman.)
The Secret Place. 1957. (The radiant Brenda Lee).
London streets & voices were planted in my little brain.
The sense of discovery in London, with its river and parks and green squares and theatres, explains the rest.
There is nothing more enchanting than the secret little streets that lie off Westminster Abbey where TE Lawrence lived - there's a plaque to him.
And then there is the music my mother liked on our Bakelite radio.
Sing As You Go (Gracie Fields) Time On My Hands & Midnight (Al Bowlly) and the band at the London Palladium playing London Pride & The Lambeth Walk. Music acts powerfully in our brains.
As for theologians without a deity that can be explained too.
Many of the brighter ones don't believe and it is the secret they take to the grave.
Waugh believed and loved the Roman ritual and in the end he wanted to die.
Midnight and the Stars and You.
DeleteRay Noble & Al Bowlly.
Bratislava Hot Serenaders - Time My Hands.
YouTube.
Midnight was the closing song in Kubrick's The Shining.
Bowlly was the only famous performer killed in the Blitz.
Time On My Hands was the closing song on the biopic on Francis Bacon, Love is the Devil.
The train wasn't a practical alternative to your terrible road experience? It is a very nice family photo but it must be time for Mrs Pudding to press the shutter button so the world can view your fine visage. Off the grid in Fulham, haha.
ReplyDeleteWe were carrying a lot of gifts and besides we have train strikes here now because of The Tories. And yes - I was off grid in Fulham though the idea seems ridiculous.
DeleteGood that you got to spend Christmas with your family.
ReplyDeleteAnd I am sorry that you and Jean didn't.
DeleteWith all the photo manipulation programs now on line, you could easily have put a photo of yourself into that group picture. I think.
ReplyDeleteor just taken a selfie!
DeleteIt's a beautiful photo and I'm glad you had a wonderful time with your family.
ReplyDeleteGoing cold turkey from all of your normal habits must have been a bit challenging!
ReplyDeleteIt sounds like a lovely Christmas but next time, get in the photo! people like Phoebe will appreciate it
Good to see a photo of Shirley....I don't think I have seen her before.
ReplyDeleteA lovely family photo. You are right, the photographer never gets a look-in. Greg used to love taking photos and filming too, but rarely appeared in them.
ReplyDeleteI'm thinking the traffic was probably heavier than usual because of the strikes, though from what I understand traffic around London is never very light! (Since I don't drive I have no idea first-hand.) It's funny to think you were right on the same stretch of the Thames I walked not too long ago on the Thames Path! I had to navigate my way around the Fulham FC stands! Everyone looks great in the picture (well, except the missing photographer) and I'm sure it did feel like a relief to get a break from the digital world.
ReplyDelete