Monday 16 June 2008

My little farewells to London: Southbank

It is this time again for the Nomad to take her leave. It is like a wind blowing to the direction of “exit”. I know I have a little more time left just to kiss London goodbye.

Some places you conquer and some other places conquer you. London falls in the latter category. Too big and powerful, too many impressions. So, this time the Nomad leaves with slow careful steps not to awake Julius César inside her.

My first little farewell was to the Southbank where the old and new combine, where the planned and the unintended mix together. It is a normal indecisive day typical for London, when the sun and the clouds just cannot agree whose turn it is to rule the sky (and our moods come to that). The planned feature of the day is an eastern European festival. The unintended picture I took home with me is a black man forging his Caribbean dance to fit the gypsy rhythms. I walk on.

A woman in the sand performing her rituals to awake it; to give it a new form that will last only for as long the almighty tide allows it.

Few steps further I enter the wildlife world. I come face to face with tigers, pandas and other paper creatures in a not so successful exhibition. What is a cheetah doing next to the Thames anyway? Or is this part of the collection of impossible faces that constitute London?

This city fascinates me and frightens me as I still cannot grasp the over arching logic that rules it. I understand square things. And this city is round. There is only one place where its minimalist nature allows you to believe that you understand. The Tate. And from there I try to understand London again.

And this is the result:

1 comment:

Lyric Person said...

Περιγράφεις πολύ ωραία το Λονδίνο alexia, μου μοιάζει σαν ένα γνώριμο μέρος απ' τον τρόπο που το παρουσιάζεις, παρόλο που δεν έχω πάει ποτέ..
Πάντα είχα στο μυαλό μου το Λονδίνο ως άλλη μια φανταχτερή πόλη με φώτα, μια πόλη γεμάτη ζωή, αλλά φαίνεται ότι είναι κάτι παραπάνω..