Monday, April 18, 2011

Kultcher with Alex Alex and Tom

I love having good friends who just know you and your foibles.

Saturday saw Tom and I scuttling across country by train to London to
meet up with Alex. Alex shall forever be Cecil for me, a nickname
brought on by us living together in the History House whilst at
university. Two Alexes was a no go, so he was Cecil and I was Jones
and all was well.

As history graduates we read museum exhibits the way we read books,
scanning text, weaving in and out of stands until we find what
intrigues us. Alex and I left Tom trailing as we went to the main
event in the British Museum exhibit of Afghan treasures, the fabulous
crown:

http://www.britishmuseum.org/whats_on/exhibitions/afghanistan.aspx

It shimmered and moved in the tiny breeze upon it, each hammered,
pressed petal alive in the sparkling light. I was enamoured with it's
portable nature, being for a nomadic queen. It could be broken down
into 5 component parts and then reassembled upon arrival at the new
location.

Alex then took us for lunch at My Old Dutch in Holborn, our favourite
location for tasty, value for money food near the beloved BM and we
caught up on life and the universe and working for the government.
Alex and I shared a smoked salmon and Mediterranean pancakes, and Tom
had a lamb stew one, the stew tucked into the pancake as if wrapped in
bedclothes.

http://www.myolddutch.com/

I also tried a ninkenberry dutch flavoured beer, a strange mix of
blonde beer, mango, passion fruit, peach and abricot, which was rather
refreshing.

We moved on to mooch about the Wellcome Trust exhibit on Dirt and
considered the role of dirt in life. I like the combination of museum
exhibits with art exhibits, and the big wall signs that look fuzzy as
if they were sprayed on with an airbrush and dirt.

http://www.wellcome.ac.uk/News/Media-office/Press-releases/2010/WTX064015.htm

We had a pitstop in Patisserie Valerie for overpriced but refreshing
tea and walked over to the South Bank to see what we could see. There
were wonderful sand sculptors on the beach of the Thames, doing all
kinds of silly things, and buskers and crowds of people enjoying the
late evening sun.

I love the bustle and art of a big city, the shapes of the buildings
and glow of the skies. Cities let you explore and learn of new things,
and the last new thing of the day was Tom being entranced by the idea
of sushi from a conveyor belt. So as we gentled explored dinner ideas
we aimed for a Yo Sushi! and Tom got his wish to play with
techonological food. I know for you city slickers this is nothing new,
but us provicial mice enjoyed pressing the button that yelped in
japanese and set alight a bubble tube above our heads when we needed
more drinks. We liked watching the food scurry past, and trying odd
things we've never heard of.

Filled up with joyous sushi, Alex walked us back to Waterloo as the
sun began to set, and Tom and I drifted back home on the train,
reading our books with hands entwined.

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