Even More Sonic

"You find no man, at all intellectual, who is willing to leave London. No, Sir, when a man is tired of London, he is tired of life; for there is in London all that life can afford" ~Samuel Johnson

Have I mentioned recently, that I love this place. Here are the favorites of the moment:

St. George's Day
April 23rd is, among other things, St. George's Day, which commemorates St. George who slayed a dragon and saved England/London/The World from the dragon/pagans/evil. Those of us who went to Wales missed St. George's day proper (The Welsh couldn't care less, St. David is their man), but fortunately for us, the 23rd being a Friday, there have been festivities all weekend. On Saturday, the mayor of London (and his music festival planning cronies) held a music festival in Trafalgar square. The whole atmosphere was very festive--a la the Defeat of Jesse James Day minus the pistol fire. There was however a re-enactment of the dragon-slaying:The music was great, and included some of the winners of last years London Transport Busking competition. Busking, which is essentially playing music in public places like the Tube, is taken very seriously. You have to be a licensed busker, and one way to get such a liscence is to participate in a busking competition. Many of the performers were students, one at a university in London, another pair working on their A-levels between producing cds and, apparently, playing in Tube stations. (note: it was not actually raining--that's spray from a fountain.)

The was, our course, festival food. All of which was a variation on food=meat+bread. We decided to forgo the "authentic wood-smoked" bacon sandwiches for burgers sold by a stand called Northfield Farms featuring a very contented looking cow it's sign. We felt sure this guaranteed that it was the right choice.

The only other highlight was K and my bold moment of street dancing. We both do social dance but I can lead, dependably, only two dances, Cha and (on good days) American Rhumba. Fortunately there was a song that started as a Rumba, but just as we started took a dramatic turn towards very fast Cha. Very fast. While wearing clunky tennis shoes. In the middle of a very crowded Trafalgar square. But we got complimented by on it by an man standing behind us with a southern (probably American, possibly English) accent.

Speaker's Corner
My other bold move into quasi-socialization with non-Carls was today's excursion to the Speaker's Corner of Hyde Park. I went straight from church and then met up with D to take in the crazies. Some highlights include this guy:
He was pontificating about the ways in which the meaning of life centered on carrots and bananas. He seemed to just be there for the fun of it, and not taking himself too seriously. That was not the case for most people. This guy (belowed) called me out for being a miserable sinner and kept going on about how I needed to find my purpose in life, without ever going so far as telling me what that was (I probably could have guessed.) By now I can say I've taken on the nutty Evangelicals of Speaker's corner.
The best part, among all the crazy, angry, divisiveness, was how engaged everyone was. Speaker's expected you to participate (which I was NOT prepared for until being addressed in front of twenty people by Blue-Shirted-Evangelical-Who-Looked-Like-My-Highschool-TOK-Teacher). Live and learn I guess, because these guys (right) seemed to come prepared to stand in tight circles in the middle of sidewalks and engage each other in debate.


I may go radio silent for a while. I am going to Scotland to hike with SmallShacat on Friday, but you can assume I'm still alive.

Love,
The Mouse