london adventure day 3 (thurs. 04.04.2002) part 1
Originally written 04.04.2002. This might show up in ‘zine form in the near future if I have a chance to put it together when I get back to Edinburgh.
i’m writing this in the middle of trafalger square which is a short walk from the soho square and the amazing vegan thai place where i just finished gorging myself. the square is stunning at night. the lighting makes the fountains sparkle and glow while the looming edifice of the national gallery overlooks the entire scene. the giant lions at the corner of the monument are quiet & majestic in a way that i don’t think that they would be in the daytime. beside me, two roller skaters, the proper 4-wheel kind and not the inline kind, do their thing, dancing a wheeled fandango to some unheard score. above me, couples sit on the monument, huddled close together, & i wish very much that erin was with me.
earlier in the day, i had the thought that a city like london is a nice place to visit, but that i could never live there. it just seems too crowded, too dirty, too hectic. but by night, as i walk through the cafe, club & theater lined streets of the west end, the crowds make the city feel vibrant and alive. the weather has been beautiful and unseasonably warm this week, and it’s even pleasant at night, so i just sit back against the cool stone & soak in the ebb & flow of the city.
earlier this evening, i made my way to brixton to do some skating. brixton is in south london and is perhaps one of the dodgier parts of town*. certainly, the number of tourists on the tube slowly disappeared the further south i went until i was pretty sure i was the only non-local on the train. the easiest way to get the the brixton park is to take the victoria line to the brixton stop. coming out of the tube station, go right (north) on brixton until you see stockwell road on your left. follow stockwell road until you see the park. it is surrounded by a low wall w/ lots of great grafitti. there should be a mob of skaters and bike riders so the place is hard to miss. the famed london rock show venue, brixton academy, is in the area as well on stockwell road.
if you asked me why some british skaters, like rowley, have such a hardcore, aggressive style, i’d hazard that it’s because they grew up skating spots like brixton. this place is the epitome of gnar. this place is a typical 70s era poured concrete park w/ all the hips, banks, and bowls one would expect from such a space. Of particular interest is the big bowl that you can do wall rides out of, and this cool tabletop that has stairs down one side that seem too short to grind, but were treated as a cool little gap by one of the skaters who did a fat f/s ollie over them. there’s also a small grind rail & the obligatory plywood junk, but they hardly seem relevant amidst all the concrete.
the place is frequented by mostly old-school skaters, and for the first time in a long while, i think i was the youngest person there. when was the last time you heard someone say “can you teach me how to do that b/s boneless?” yeah, that’s what i thought. a word of caution, there are some pretty monster cracks in the surface, so big wheels are the order of the day.
even earlier in the day, i checked out the tower of london, which i would argue is the definitive spot in london, and judging by the throngs of tourists the definitive tourist attraction as well. i bought my ticket at the tube stop & avoided the atrocious queue at the gate. to get to the tower, take the tube to the tower hill stop which drops you by the stop where the more common criminals were executed (the more illustrious ones were actually executed inside the tower walls).
when i thought tower of london, given my cultural naievity, i expected a single, phallic structure. to imagine the tower of london, instead think castle, w/ 2 surrounding walls & a mout encompassing a number of towers and other structures. initially, i was a bit put off by the high (#8.75 for student) ticket price to see the tower, but there is enough to see inside to fill most of a day and to justify the ticket cost. the free guided tour is definitely worth checking out. it is lead by a beefeater, an actual british military member in full traditional garb. my guide was charismatic & informative, although quite often more than a little mysogynistic. The frequency of his comments about women shopping and being imprisoned w/ one’s wife (as was sometimes the case w/ prisoners at the tower) being torture, was amusing, but also quite disturbing. still, the guide provided the low-down on the evolution of the tower of london as well as some stories of the many imprisoned, and executed, within the tower’s walls. there are also a number of other, less general, free tours that are available throughout the day, which I didn’t partake in, but are probably also worthwhile. also in the white tower, are some really cool displays of arms and armor, and in another building, the crown jewels. these are incredible. the royals rock so much ice it makes rap videos look pathetic. if you ever wanted a visual for oppulance, this would be it. i wouldn’t say that 1000s of diamonds and carets of gold is cool, but it is interesting. it is definitely, for better or for worse, a potent symbol of the british empire’s former power. finally, the tower has a bunch of smaller exhibits, living history performers, and offers, from the tower walls, some cool views of the thames & the pretty cool tower bridge.
after visiting the tower, i headed across the thames on the aforementioned bridge and back to see the less impressive london bridge. local lore has it that some dumb americans from arizona bought the original london bridge thinking that they were getting the tower bridge. suckas!