RHYTHMS AND RIFFS

We're just back from London...Gary attended a Makeup Artist Convention and I negotiated the tube; happily self-sufficient (although, to be honest, I was a little scared at first!)   We saw four plays, delicious London theatre, and visited the National Gallery, British Museum, The Tate Modern, and The Charles Dickens Museum...I fed my soul with words and music and ideas and art and sculpture and paintings--saw a Vuillard that knocked my socks off and some Picasso pieces I hadn't seen before AND we saw THE CHILDREN'S HOUR, a 1930's Lillian Hellman piece with Keira Knightly, Elizabeth Moss, Carol Kane, and Ellen Burnstyn--can you believe??--ahhhh, I'm gorged!!

At the Tate Modern there was a photographic exhibit of the New York Subway system--I was deeply embarrassed.  The subway is filthy, full of graffiti, a refuge for the homeless, unsafe for the tourist or woman alone...it also showed the vitality of life in New York.  However, the London tube is pristine:  it is clean, no trash, no graffiti, lots of light, safe, and always working!  It was an interesting juxtaposition of something that scared me--going on the tube alone--, and something that represents my country.   Hmmmm....of what should I be afraid?

Also, it was interesting to compare the Italians in London to the Brits (is that considered a pejorative?  It is certainly not intended...so "if this writer has offended,/Think but this and all is mended./That you have but slumber'd here/While these ref'ences appear."  --deep apologies Mr. Shakespeare!

Anyway, the rhythm of London, and, I daresay, England, is noteably different from Italy...for example, on the street, the Brits walk quickly, with purpose, with long, definite strides.  On the street, in the Underground, in museums, in restaurants.  The Italians, whether in Italy or in England, saunter, always SAUNTER, even when they're in a hurry or in a group.  In the pubs and bars (we just passed by, never stopped...ha!) the Brits were more frenetic, focussed, driven, while the Italians have a quick drink, but are always laid back, and, dare I say it??  COOL.  Always very, very cool...and comfortable in their environment---lost on the tube?  You'll never see an Italian freaked out about it!  The Brits are efficient, to-the-point, more business-like, oftentimes using the after-work drink as a quick dinner, whereas the Italians don't ever confuse a drink with dinner. 

There were, of course, Americans in London also.  Americans are robust...with deep, vibrant laughs that fill a tube car and voices that carry a block away.  The Italians are vivace, vivacious, and cosmopolitan.  The Brits are intelligent and kind and CHARMING! 

So, for me, the days in London were filled with people-watching, art-gorging, theatre-going, tube-taking, Indian-Turkish-pub-food-eating, and living a different pace and rhythm...exhilarating!