Banksys, Bao, and Burning Pub with Mega
Today Mega, Bill, and I caught the District Line to the Elizabeth Line (so fancy!) to get to Waterloo Station for our ISL Walking Club tour on the first day of spring and a gorgeous day befitting it. This was my first time organizing it since it was handed off to me, so I was a little nervous about things going smoothly but fortunately Bill and Mega stopped at a nearby Gail's to grab me a mental health scone. By the time they came back our whole crew of 20+ people was gathered and ready to go.
I noticed that the one person I couldn't find was the tour guide, which was the result of not having clear communication about where to meet, or each other's phone numbers. Luckily I check email often so it all worked out! Hazel is the woman who's been leading our club tours for years, and she's high-energy and a wealth of knowledge, so she had us on the move quickly into the Shoreditch neighborhood.
The theme of this tour was Street Art, and wow there was way more of it than any of us expected! Hazel took us through so many boulevards and alleyways and hidden corners, and gave us all kinds of context and history. She's also very cheeky, and had us laughing at her bawdy references and her proclamations of which art was better than others. "Why did they just say, 'let's add some feathers here?! To fill up space?!"
We covered a lot of ground in an hour and a half, seeing everything from rogue solo art to city-sponsored partnerships to two original Banksys. When we wrapped up we benefited from Erin's advance planning on making a large group lunch reservation at a renowned dim sum restaurant nearby. So about ten of us feasted on dumplings and bao, and throwing around ideas for a group trip to the Royal Ascot in May for those of us willing to wear statement hats.
After lunch we decided to see if we could get walk-in tickets to Horizon 22 since it was such a gorgeously clear day, and we did, easily, which honestly at this point makes me wonder if it’s ever difficult to just walk in? It was a quick ride up 58 stories in the high-speed lift and then a total pleasure to see Mega’s face as she got a phenomenal panorama of London. She suggested handstand/headstand pics and we caused such a stir that strangers were asking to take photos of us too, which was fun for me because a headstand alone doesn’t look impressive but next to Mega’s handstands and backbends it all looks like a “show.”
We headed back down and then across London Bridge to Borough Market and through there (with a few brownies and savory pies obtained) then a walk along the picturesque riverside path. We crossed the Millennium Bridge and caught the tube back to Chiswick, with Bill getting off at Stamford Brook while Mega and I continued on to Turnham Green so that I could show her some of the charity shops and boutiques. I showed her my favorite clothing shop, Fara, and ended up finding some colorful items that I couldn’t resist due to the feeling of springtime bursting into life. Then I left Mega to her continued shopping and stopped at M&S on my way home.
Bill cooked up the Borough Market Pieminister pies for all of us for dinner, and then we left the dudes to a quiet evening while Mega and I trekked all the way back across town to London Bridge (again) for the monthly Burning Pub night at The Miller that conveniently fell during her visit. We both went big on outfits: me in my new colorful top with green eye shadow, and her in a pink leopard print bodysuit and eye glitter – my whole family cracked up during dinner when she had asked, “Rebecca, do you happen to have any glitter?
It was a phenomenal Burning Pub thanks to the weather that brought out a huge crowd. We were back to our outdoor picnic tables and there must have been about 60 people in all. I introduced Mega to Andy, who immediately told us a story and then insisted “Rebecca, you cannot put that in your blog!” so I’m not sure if this counts or not. They swapped some great Burning Man stories and then we caught up with Unicorn and Adrian and then Vida arrived.
Andy stood up on a picnic table and did his usual speech about upcoming events, with all the usual good-spirited heckling. When he yelled “who's going to Burning Man this year?!” someone replied “waste of time!” Since there were so many of us it was also impossible for the pub staff to find who ordered food, so at one point someone came out carrying a hamburger for Harry and dozens of people started chanting his name until we found him, at which point I realized it was my friend Harry. Vida and I, who adore Harry’s dry sense of humor, were doubled over in laughter at his unperturbed response to the attention. It was all the perfect fun of a Burner meet up: stories about tattoos, tales of parties, memories of Decom, and plans for Burning Nest in May.
When the pub closed at 11pm they had to yell at us multiple times to leave, which is an obvious sign of a successful night. A small group of my favorites walked from the pub to London Bridge tube station together, enjoying the quiet of the night and the glow of the Shard in the dark. Mega and I caught our train back to Chiswick and swapped favorite stories of the event as we traversed the city, exiting into the still-warm-ish night air and then saying goodnight after hanging her batch of laundry on the electric drying rack that she’s already learning to love.