Sunday, October 3, 2010

Anniversary

Today I have been living in London for a whole year. To celebrate I have flipped my mattress.

The other thing I did today was go on a Wellcome Collection walk, 'Conspicuous Consumption', about the link between medicine and money in the 18th and 19th centuries. It started at Great Portland Street and ended at the Wellcome Collection on Euston Road and was pretty interesting, despite it starting pissing down about halfway through and devotedly wetting the streets and us for a good hour. (A number of people didn't have umbrellas, but stiff-upper-lipped their way through the inevitable dampness; one can only assume they had never been to England in October before, or heard anything about it.) We criss-crossed Harley Street and the surrounding area (gorgeous majestic buildings) and then trundled through Fitzrovia, stopping at various blue-plaqued buildings to hear from the guide about their stories. His name was Richard somehting and he was excellent, highly engaging and very knowledgeable. A poignant moment was at the building site that used to be the Middlesex Hospital, where the guide had trained as a doctor starting in 1998; they've left the building's facade and apparently a grade 1 listed chapel on the site. For a city with a long and storied history not much of London's historical fabric seems to be left, before perhaps the 19th century, so it's a shame to lose buildings steeped in history and development.

After the talk I had lunch at the Wellcome Collection cafe. Both the lunch and the walk (free!) are to be highly recommended.

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