London Book Fair - Sunday afternoon - Taking it Easy

I know New York City pretty well, after living there for 15 years. And once upon a time I could find my way around Hong Kong, in fact on a day off I would play a game in which I would actually try to get lost. But I always managed to orient myself because of the Harbour and the Peak, and never really got very turned-around.




But there is no other city I can really figure out. I could never figure out Boston, after four years of going to college there. And to a great extent the layout of Washington DC, where I travel once a month, is still pretty obscure to me (I have this vague impression that it is more or less like a circle, or a snail shell - wait, maybe that's Paris ...)




I wake up this afternoon in my London hotel, after a flight from New York in which every conversation on the airplane, subway, on the street seems to have to d0 with publishing and seems to invariably include "And Business is Down by 40%!" Outside, I have no idea where I am in relation to anything else in London, but it is Spring and it is beautiful and I am touched by that magical feeling that strolling through a foreign city on a lovely afternoon can give you. I decide to get lost, which shouldn't be too hard.



I have been to London several times already, but still really have no sense of the overall layout or feel of the place. I wonder: Is this what it all looks like? Who knows, but this is what it looks like to me. For all us clueless Americans there is lettering on every street corner to remind you which way to look so that you don't get flattened.





Another reason why you might get distracted and bowled over by on-coming traffic is that it is just so incredibly cute. Yes, it does look like this.





Even the back alley ways are picturesque









Good Heavens! Who would have expected such unusual birdlife! I risk getting flattened (again) to capture this "National Geographic" shot of what is probably an ordinary London Bird, but looks highly exotic to me. He's big too!






Later I meet up with my colleague Nancy, and our wanderings inevitably lead us to a cute cafe and a glass of wine. After which we wind our way through these small streets, hitting dead-ends, false turns, a secret pathway between a tall garden hedge and finally make it back to our hotel just in time for our pre-Fair meeting.