London

[lapsedmodernist]

For the second year in a row, for Carnival week I did as the Romans do, which, in this city, means decamping for the duration of the debauchery. Last year I went to Venice for a carnival that was more up my aesthetic alley. I like pretty masks and not so much lots of jester-type costumes in the cold/rain with cheap beer everywhere. Those types of carnivals are for warm weather, not final-stretch-of-winter Holland. This year I turned to Eurostar instead of Ryanair and, with Fionn in tow, went to London to visit my friend Wench:

Her daughter, the lovely Maddy, was turning 3 on Valentine's Day.

Fionn and I were invited as international guests to the birthday party, and, of course, just to hang out in London for four days, simply dreamy. So Fionn made a friend (more than one--he kept calling all the adult in the house "big friends" and in the morning would wake up and say "want to go downstairs and see if big friends are awake"), attended his first birthday party, delighted in practicing saying (en route) "happy birthday Maddy!" and giving her a present (a kaleidoscope), threw stones into the Thames not far from the boat launch place near the Putney Bridge, and, impromptu, attended a soccer class.


































Bonus: Fionn with his new Paddington Bear toy and book:

In my ignorance I never realized that Paddington came from "the darkest Peru." We are just going with "Peru" to dial down on the colonial turns of phrase.

Comments

[aerynne.livejournal.com]

Paddington was supposed to come from darkest Africa, but then the editor told the author that there are no bears in Africa, so they had to change it. So even if it is still colonial, at least it is zoologically semi-accurate?

[lapsedmodernist.livejournal.com]

oh boy! "darkest Africa" would have been even worse I suppose...

[congogirl.livejournal.com]

I love the different moods of these photos. Also, I love that Wench wears a neutral plaid coat with an aqua belt.