Whisky, trains and books

Umh… where to begin?
I’m in London now. We’re staying in a college’s residential buildings – Cordwainer’s Court. It’s a four bedroom apartment with a kitchen. So far no one else has occupied the remaining two bedrooms, so A. and I have the place to ourselves. Great!
It’s situated in Hackney, so we didn’t escape this part of town after all. :-) But it’s a nicer area of the borough than where Tent City’s situated. And bus 55 takes us all the way to Oxford Street, though in this morning’s rush hour traffic the trip took more than an hour.

I’ve done a lot of shopping today, mainly books. Some Indian authors – I guess it’s a period I’m going through. Vikram Chandra, Jhumpa Lahiri and Vikram Seth. Also some beat related stuff and Coupland’s Miss Wyoming. And some cds, mostly weird compilations. Probably no good.

Over the past few days I’ve visited a couple of distilleries. Talisker on Isle of Skye (where the French woman turned up! Argh!!) and Oban distillery in the heart of the cute town Oban. I’ve bought too much whisky, so let’s hope that I get it all home.

The night between Wednesday and Thursday was a very long one. We spent it at the easyEverything Internet cafe in Edinburgh, after having travelled all day – getting up at six. Four train rides, a bus ride and a ferry ride. I was so sleepy when we finally arrived in London yesterday, but still managed to go on an excursion to Shakespeare’s Globe, which was absolutely charming, and to Tate Modern. The latter was interesting. I especially liked the Nude/Action/Body exhibition which displayed different cultures’ ways of relating to the body. There were some video displays and a lot of paintings, photos and sculptures.
The building itself is pretty amazing, and they are building a cool pedestrian bridge across the Thames that will lead people to it. It was my first time in Southwark and it seemed like an area well worth a second visit.

Tomorrow is market day – Portobello Road and probably Camden. I’m running out of cash. :-/