Some Interesting Things I've Seen Lately

Morris dancers at the Regent Street Festival. Almost all English people consider Morris dancing unbelievably naff i.e. ridiculous, lame, silly-looking, uncool in the worst way. It was pretty impressive, though. Essentially, it was a group of older gentlemen (in their 50s and 60s), heavily be-jingle belled and jumping around waving handkerchiefs and hitting big sticks together. Their flyers invited people to join, saying Morris dancing "is healthful. It's social. It's English." Matthew is not interested. I predict that in the next 10 or 15 years we will see punk rock Morris dancing, as a certain generation ages and looks for ways to enjoy more traditional pursuits but with the punk attitude they seem so determined to preserve. It will be ironic, see?

A burning motorbike! We were on a walk last night around dusk and noticed a fire and huge plume of oily, black smoke in the distance. It's not Bonfire Night (5th of November, Guy Fawkes Day), so we went to check it out. It turned out to be a motorbike burning very robustly on the edge of a football pitch in the park. Neither of us had a phone, so we couldn't call it in, but after a few minutes a fire engine showed up, along with a gaggle of kids on bikes, the two 14-year-old girls who did call it in, and a woman and her daughter who were just walking by and, like us, were attracted by the spectacle. The firemen hosed it down, which sent up a massive cloud of smoke and steam (very bad smelling). The police man who came along shoo-ed the kids away, then summed up the situation by saying, "Moped. Kids." We continued our walk, then went home and ate pork chops. Exciting stuff all around.

A peregrine falcon at the art museum. Apparently, they also hang around the BT Tower, which is very close to my work (I can see it from the windows in the upstairs ladies room), though I have yet to see one there.

The Lady Vanishes. I think this is supposed to be suspenseful and intriguing, but I've never laughed so hard at a Hitchcock movie. It features very funny depictions of English people abroad, which say a lot about how they see themselves and their relationship with the rest of the world. From what I see every day, not much that has changed.

Fire!

As you may or may not be aware, there was a huge fire Saturday night in Camden, north London. It was apparently pretty massive but did not result in, as a headline I saw yesterday suggested, “extensive damage in the capital.” I mean, there is extensive damage, but it was pretty much confined to the Camden Canal Market area and one pub.

We were in Camden Saturday night for a birthday party and noticed that several streets were blocked off and there seemed to be a huge plume of smoke hanging in the sky, but we just joked that maybe the TV studio where Matthew works was on fire. When we got home, we checked the internet and found that the fire was directly across the canal from their building and the place was evacuated for almost 12 hours!

There are currently proposals afoot to redevelop part of the Camden Markets (the Stables), which have provoked quite a lot of discussion about what people want Camden to be like. It is a huge shopping and tourist destination – 300,000 people go there every weekend – so developers are keen to take advantage of that, clean it up, put in more and better shops (read: high street chains), and generally make loads of money. The other side of the argument that while Camden could use a little cleaning up (or a lot), that’s part of its charm and redevelopment would only contribute to the homogenization of London. I’m against it because 1) the stalls in the Stables specialize in vintage/second hand clothes and every couple of months I like to spend a day digging through the racks looking for treasure, and 2) I think it’s nice that there are still some places that aren’t exactly like every other place. My friend Florian pointed out what a coincidence it would be if an area being considered for redevelopment should be hit by a fire that wiped out the existing businesses; I found this idea intriguing (ooh, conspiracy theory!) but it turns out that an entirely different part of the market was damaged, leaving the Stables unscathed. However, the Hawley Arms pub was severely damaged (and may have even been where the fire started in the first place). This is Amy Winehouse’s favorite pub, so I don’t know what she’ll do when she gets out of rehab…

Sunday evening we were back in that neck of the woods for the Nitty Gritty, a monthly club hosted by a friend of my friend Virginia. The music was great and there was a good mix of people (different ages and styles) all dancing and having a fantastic time. It turns out I can totally dance to soul music. Well, I have the right rhythm, if not the moves, but that's a start. Ideally, I'd like to just do the twist (as my "signature" move), but I'm not good enough at it yet. Must practice in front of the mirror more! Anyway, we really liked the Nitty Gritty and have determined to go back every month. The pub was cool, too, and I'm considering dragging Matthew back for the folk music they have every second Thursday.

We also got a flier for another event next weekend. Matthew will be working, but I might go if I can get a cool enough outfit together. I might have to make a dress - or fall back on my 60's go-to piece, the houndstooth pencil skirt. It looks very mod with a black jumper, black tight, and my new going-out shoes, which are Hushpuppy pumps that I got as hand-me-downs from my grandma. Some might consider giving this much thought to clothes as focussing on the superficial (some people like Matthew, for instance), but the patterned tights on the flier make me think this is one of those nights where dressing up is half the fun.