Walking around...

 We do have a trip to look forward to, which is an upcoming overnight mini-vacation in Bath, but as I mentioned in my last post, the country was in a partial lockdown, so there wasn't much that we could do, aside from walking around. Public transportation was still available, but we tried to limit our usage of that during the lockdown period. The lockdown is over, as of today, and until now, every weekend, I would look for an outdoor market that was still open, and we would walk or cycle there, grab a bite to eat at one of the street vendors, and just enjoy whatever there was that could be seen. I wrote last about Brick Lane and Spitalfields, and the following weekend, we decided to try out Brixton Village.

Colourful produce displays

I had taken the train to Brixton a couple of times to go to some stores that are just outside the tube station, and you could tell that the neighbourhood had quite a different feel, mainly for socioeconomic reasons. I wasn't sure what Brixton Village would be like. Many of the vendors listed that are normally found at the market were closed during the lockdown, but most of the restaurants and local grocers were still open, so we thought we'd see what was there. At least we knew we could get a meal! What we discovered was a heavy Afro-Caribbean and Colombian presence! There were grocers and restaurants offering Colombian food and groceries as well as Caribbean food and groceries. There was even one grocer selling some type of produce that I didn't even recognise. It wasn't labelled either. As my husband pointed out, they don't need to label it because it's only for people who know what it is and would know what to do with it! It was just wonderful. I even found a half-decent Mexican place. I was pretty excited, and I can't wait to go back when the market is in full swing again. I will do another post one day, but when I was researching Brixton after we went there, I discovered that there are all these murals all over the place, and many of them relate to Brixton's history of racial clashes and immigration. It's an interesting history, and I'll post more about it another time when I can get some photos of the murals. Now that I know about them, I want to cycle over there and see some of the murals in person. But for now, you can read about a brief history of the area here. 

The Tate by day

I posted on my social media accounts but didn't put it in my blog, that the Tate Museum, although being closed during the lockdown, was beautifully decorated for Diwali. Again, turning to good old Google, I learned that it wasn't just a decoration, but it was an art installation by feminist artist Chila Kumari Singh Burman. It looks beautiful by day with all the vinyl application to the museum, but it also lights up with all kinds of neon designs at night. It's very colourful and fun but has a lot to say. We had gone out last night for my husband to practise certain techniques of night photography with his camera, and we stopped at the Tate on the way home to get some photos. While I was getting some close-up photos, somehow my husband ended up meeting the artist herself! I didn't believe him until he pointed her out, and she was indeed walking around the sidewalk across the street. We had to pass by her to go home anyway, so we started talking to her and learned she had been to Canada about 20 years ago for some type of internship or study opportunity at the Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity. I asked her if she uses neon as one of her typical media, but she said it was the first time she had used it. What a product! 

The Tate by night

She then told us that some of the display wasn't lit up properly, that Hanuman, the monkey god is supposed to be lit up on the upper right-hand corner as well as having a full red sun burst there. She said also that she felt bad for asking the museum to fix it, but I told her I thought that she intended her work to be viewed a certain way, and if it's not working, she deserves to have it presented the way she wants it as her own work. She agreed and said she thought so, too! This morning, I reflected on that and thought how interesting it was that even this lady who has a strong feminist message in her work would still feel guilty for asking for something like fixing her own project--for which she was paid and commissioned to do. I mean what an honour! Yet her apprehension to ask for it to be fixed seemed so ironic to me. The one thing I wish I would have thought to do was get a photo with her! Oh well--what can you do! 

Today, we went to Holland Park. It's somewhere that's probably more beautiful in the spring and summer than it is right now, but we still enjoyed walking around the grounds. There's a small mansion there, known as Cope Castle, that used to be the home of Sir Walter Cope. It changed hands once and then was no longer used after being damaged in WWII. One safe part of the place is currently being used as a youth hostel, but the majority of the building has been left to the elements, and the gardens are still maintained for use as a lovely garden park. There was one garden wall with some lively tiling on it, but I think that addition is fairly modern as they didn't look like they were super old.

Anyway, I'm looking forward to our little jaunt out of town. It'll be nice to have a change of scenery, even for just the short time we're away. Below are a handful of photos from the park today that don't fit well in the text above.