Rain. Sun on the French side of the channel but rain and cloud when the train came out in England. It has been raining since.
I am sitting in a pub, Chandos, near Leicester Square, waiting to meet with P- and B- and their children, whom I haven't seen in over ten years. There is a pub lounge upstairs, they may be up there but I want to finish my (incredibly cheap) beer before I go up to check. They are quite possibly up there but if not, I'll have to find another place to roost when I come back down, will probably have to buy another drink as well. Still have some beer to go.
The transition from Montreal to Paris to London: All the English men in suits in the Eurostar waiting lounge, shoes that click like high heels on the their feet. The sudden complexity of English accents throws me. I keep thinking that London is full of foreigners (which it is) but often when I listen more closely I realize most are speaking English.
Where J- lives is a predominantly Turkish and Ghanaian area. The grocery store with a wall of olives to choose from and another wall with teas so exotic I am not even tempted. The woman behind the bakery counter tries unsuccessfully to teach me 'thank you' in Turkish. Esh-dashesh?
London retains an aura of soot and grime that decades of rain have not been able to erase. I feel the weight of coal here.
Beer almost finished. I hope they're up there. I'll be drunk if I have to come back down and order another beer before they arrive. Maybe I'll order a Sprite or something.
I walked most of the way here from Bethnel Green. I'd gone to the Museum of Childhood to see a photo exhibit of dolls' faces. Turns out there were only half a dozen pictures so I spent the rest of the time looking at children's toys in the museum and listening to teachers and parents reprimand their charges.
Have gone for a look upstairs. No dice. Have come back down and gotten a juice. Luckily for me, no one has taken my table near the door. No watch. Not quite sure of the time. Two thirty, maybe? Perhaps closer to three? I have nowhere else I have to be. What a great feeling.
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