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December 20, 2003
Christmastime
Building in Bloomsbury gets a bit festive.
Since I have no reason to celebrate Christmas, not being a Christian, I always find this time of year slightly irritating. And it feels like Christmas is even longer here, as there is no holiday in November to hold back the flood of decorations and advertising. I won't get into all the reasons I dislike this holiday, mainly because it is uncool to do so, except for the big one which is that everyone just assumes that you're a Christian, which again feels even more so in here London, for it seems as if everyone here is Christian, at least all the white folk. Not that they are all that religious actually, these British Christians. But I haven't seen any other religious displays that somehow always creep into December holidays back home, no Jewish Menorahs, no weak references to Kwanza.
I do believe, however, that a holiday this time of year is desperately needed, as the natural surroundings are cold, dark, and rather gloomy. The winter solstice is upon us and everyone could use a dose of cheer. So I can't be a total scrooge, because I do love all the twinkley lights, the festive treats and fancy dress. Winter can be a beautiful time of year, and there is nothing wrong with just celebrating that, as well as having survived it.
crazed santa trying to reassure impatient shoppers,
yet I'm a bit scared as to what he means by "next".
On monday I went to Argos, which is this crazy store where you order stuff through a catalogue via the telephone or online, then wait in a line to pay and then wait in yet another line to pick up your merchandise. It is a complicated, stress filled way to buy anything, but they make up for it in price. Anyway, I went through all that so I could finally get a bedside lamp. Now I can actually enjoy reading in bed instead of squinting and trying to hold up the book at the right angle to capture enough light from the dim overhead fixture. Reading in bed is more important now, as the book I'm reading currently, Quicksilver, is too large to carry around with me. Someone went so far as to have the book rebound into smaller pieces, but I am content to get in a few chapters before bed each night. So far I am really enjoying it. The river itself is rather like quicksilver these days, it looks very slippery and thick in the pale light of winter.
Just by chance I had the opportunity to assist a photographer this week. His assignment was for one of the daily newspapers. It was for a profile of eligible bachelor's for Valentine's day, so we went aboard some guy's Dutch Barge that was moored in the middle of the river, where he lives, in order to capture the creature in his habitat. Although we found out he doesn’t as much live there, so much as have parties there, as he also has a place on dry land just like everyone else. We had to ride out in a tiny little dingy from the dock for about a half mile to get to the boat, and it was a long, cold, white knuckled journey as I had to sit on the front edge of the thing as it cut through the dark waves. One false move and I would have been in the water. It wasn’t much more comfortable aboard the boat, although it had a posh and comfortable interior, it still swayed back and forth violently at times, due to either the traffic on the river or just a rather gusty evening. The photographer did his work quickly and efficiently, considering the surroundings it would have taken me much longer to get everything right, and I was back home where it was warm, dry and unmoving under my feet before too long. I hope I get the opportunity to go on more jobs again.
Recently I have been trying to do more photo stuff. I have been working on getting back into some of the online photo communities and I have been contributing to an online project called
Wikipedia. It is a free online encyclopedia, and contributors also make photo requests for articles. I provided a photo of the Savoy Theatre, and also of some Egyptian hieroglyphs from the British Museum. They are not the most exciting photos ever, but its still fun to be able to contribute in some way.
Taking a break from Christmas Shopping to soak in some culture at the British Museum.
At the end of this week, a friend of William's was in town for a few days, so we went and saw a play, something I have shamefully never gotten around to doing since moving here. The play wasn't really that great, but I managed to be entertained despite being in the crappiest seats in the very last row and despite the street noise ruining the mood at regular intervals (nothing like a wailing siren to unsuspend your disbelief— you would think these aging buildings would have better soundproofing). The best line in the play was actually a meta comment: "people don't go to the cinema to be depressed, that’s what the theatre is for." The best part of it was the performances of the two actors, who played all of the characters themselves, although really it was just a kind of theatrical showing off, a sort of spectacle in and of itself. Maybe next time I'll go to a musical so I can indulge in a louder spectacle that drowns out the street traffic.
Posted by shannon at December 20, 2003 06:59 PM