Bye, London. Hello, Job.
Went to Kew Gardens (The Royal Gardens) yesterday. It was very big and open, you can walk everywhere – no keep off the grass signs. My favorite was the Water Lily house. It’s basically a greenhouse with a huge pond in the middle, filled with (you guessed it,) water lilies.
There was also a tree top walkway. I was excited to go see it, thought it would be like canopy tours in a rainforest. Not quite, it was a walkway among some seriously tall trees, but no ziplines or monkeys or colorful birds. Too bad there’s no monkeys or exotic birds in England. That would have been cool. They did have peacocks though.
After I went to a nearby bookstore and bought two books for the flight home. I stayed up Tuesday night til 2:30, and last night til 3:15. I want to get back on Chicago time, so I need to stay awake during my flight.
Went to Waterloo station and from there went to the British Film Institute. They have thousands of digitized films. It was interesting seeing a Hitchcock film that was released both with and without sound. Also walked to the London Eye but missed closing by 3 minutes. No problem, Brady will love it there when we go back. He loves the Navy Pier ferris wheel.
Today I checked out, and put my bags in storage. Not a whole lot of time before my flight, so I went with Louisa to Trafglar Square in front of the National Gallery. Louisa is from South Africa and was in Germany for 4 months as an operetta singer for the summer. She came to England to try finding a job as a secretary, but that hadn’t been working out. So she’s busking (performing) for tips. In case you are wondering we’re just friends.
When she set up a London cop walked by. I went and sat on a stone railing when she started singing. The cop came over and asked me “do you have a permit for that?”
Me: “Me? I’m not the one singing. I just came to watch.”
He went to have a talk with her.
Some guy from Dominica came and talked to me about my implant. He seemed cool at first but started repeating himself about where he came from. The broken record thing was getting creepy so I was glad when Louisa came over.
She’d been busking for a week and a half, and other officers had just walked on by. She was convinced the problem was this guy was young and took his job too seriously.
We were in front of the National Gallery so we went in. I nothing really stood out at first but pieces from the Baroque period had intense use of light/shadows along with incredible amounts of detail.
We saw Van Gogh’s Sunflowers. I told her I don’t see what the big deal is. She gave me a huge lecture about the story and emotions behind it. Van Gogh was depressed, and you can see it in the sunflowers. The color is off and depressing, as is the arrangement. “You can never look at sunflowers the same way again.”
Good speech. I liked it. And now I like “Sunflowers” a little more. But I still think it’s overrated. I guess I don’t have an artistic soul.
When we came out, the cop was talking to three other singers – they looked like a band and sing contemporary music, not classical. Louisa went over to talk to them. She came back and said the officer was going to arrest them – they were forcing his hand. She said they were good, and when she came to sing they turned their speaker down so she could be heard. Nice. They could have turned it up to ruin the competition.
She’ll have to see what happens. She can either go back or apply for permits to sing in the Underground or Covent Gardens.
I asked her on the train ride home if she can help me say my R’s better, because I thought she’d know a thing or two as a trained singer. From there she explained to me that I (and most deaf people) talk from my throat. I actually open my throat to talk. She’s -trained- (her emphasis) to open her throat when she sings. But that’s not where the sound should come from. It’s supposed to come from the front of your mouth.
I’ve gone to quite a few speech therapists, even was married to one. They call it cul-de-sac resonance, but don’t know what’s the cause, exactly. Funny how I had to find out from an opera singer. And it’s weird I talk a little like an opera singer sings – I wish I sounded half as good.
So now I have a few things to practice.
Got back and left. It took 2 hours and 15 minutes to get to the airport instead of the hour I thought it would. It worked out but was close, especially since they hand searched my bag.
It’s starting to hit me that I have a J-O-B and have to W-O-R-K tomorrow. I get to see Brady this weekend though. I got him a diablo, I’m sure he’ll love it.