Mid-week London Photo #23

Crossing to the other side of the planet: East London.

-- photo taken at the Greenwich Observatory --

Mid-week London Photo #22

... I was just stopping by on my yacht to refuel on coffee. Yeah, I wish!

-- photo taken at St. Katharine Docks --

Mid-week London Photo #21

Escaping to Brighton for a dose of lovely jubbly.

London Mela 2010 ... and acting so cool

The London Mela is an annual event celebrating South Asian culture that takes place in the vast green spaces of Gunnersbury Park. When the weather is good, like it was this past Sunday, it's a nice family day out, an opportunity for people pack their picnic gear, blankets, kids and grandmas and head out for a relaxed day of outdoor music and overeating. The food is all about kulfis, faloodas and seekh kebabs. The music is served up from several stages and tents, ranging from modern bhangra to classical Indian.

One of the performances I watched on the classical stage was a mix of singing, drumming, flute-playing and several Indian dance styles, with inspiration taken from Sufi philosophy. So what better time for me to slip a bit of Sufi poetry into this blog and pretend that it's relevant? :o)

And Acting So Cool

The whole world just got thick
Again with
God.

And everywhere I look
Makes me feel very proud

That all the objects and creatures
Can remain looking
So poised

And acting so cool
While keeping the Great Secret
So well,

And not blissfully shout
All day long the Reality

I Am --
I Am the Wine!

The whole universe just got stoned
Out of its mind again
On the Beauty
Of God.

(a poem by the Persian Sufi poet Hafiz, in modern translation by Daniel Ladinsky, taken from the collection "The Subject Tonight is Love")

London Murder Map

Sadly, our capital is not all sunshine and blooming flowers. Parts of it suck. Remember my Pocket Guide to Judging Areas of London? Well, now I have one additional source for you: a spooky Google Maps mashup that shows the locations of all murders which took place in London over the last couple of years. (And you can even find the murders by Jack the Ripper.) The location tags are conveniently colour-coded according to the weapon used: red for gun, dark blue for knife, pink for vehicle, turquoise for blunt object, light blue for bomb and so on. I love it, in a perverse kind of way. OK, not perverse, I mean, I'm not a pervert or anything but ... oh, never mind, just go on and explore at http://www.murdermap.co.uk/murder-map.asp

P.S. Who would have known it's so therapeutic to take photos with fake blood? Red food colouring + gravy = massive anger release (+ one smelly apartment afterwards)!

Growing up and up and up ... 1,085 metres high.

For a person with itchy feet like mine, there’s nothing better than seeing an adventurous guy who likes taking me on unplanned journeys out of the city. Ssshhhhh, don’t tell anyone, but I think I might have found one.

Him, me, the motorway ... weekends, freedom, breathing space. We have this real adult co-operation going on. I pull my weight and he pulls his. He drives. I navigate him to the wrong places and keep asking, “Are we there yet?” in the voice of a six-year-old kid. I nag him about the mess in his car. He nags me about my poor map-reading skills. We both know we don’t mean it. I’m so proud of us being all grown up, passing time arguing about the rules of punctuation and snacking on Haribo Golden Bears. And when the weekend is over and I get back to London, to my life all alone, he always texts me just to say it was great seeing you.

He doesn’t need me and I don’t need him, but we quite enjoy each other’s company anyway. No drama. No games. No labels. No butterflies in the stomach. Instead, I came to realize that the root of the word boyfriend really is just friend. Not being in love means there is no sense of entitlement. And when you expect nothing, then everything you get is a bonus.

... and in between all that, we climb mountains, inhale fresh air and discover that the grass is greener in Wales. (Because it rains all the time.)

-- photos taken in Snowdonia --

Mid-week London Photo #20

Bridal garb in Southall.