Weekly Flâneur: Parallel Reminders

Warning: Reflections in this mirror may be distorted by socially constructed ideas of 'beauty'

InSpiral Lounge, a small cafe in Camden Town, London, December, 2009. 

you are beautiful

Restaurant X, a small cafe in Davidson, North Carolina, July, 2013.

Thanks, bathroom mirrors of the world, for the reminder.

Weekly Flâneur: Pin Me

Image of pins and badges on display. Click to enlarge.

Pins of Interest?

Interesting pins?

The pinnacle of pin interest?

Pinterest word plays that are just not pinned down working?

Pah. Pins provided per Portobello Market, London, UK

Weekly Flâneur: Silhouette

Haunting shapes on an arbor, with Kensington Palace in the background. Click to enlarge.

Of bits and bobs and keys.

Kensington Palace, London, UK

(The Palace reopens on the 26th; this arbor design may no longer be there. 

Always take photos and memories while you can!)

Weekly Flâneur: Alma Mater

Roehampton University in London was recently named the most picturesque university campus in the UK in an article by student website AllAboutCareers.com.

Though the article states with displeasure, and rather bitterly, about its first place local: "You could argue that Roehampton doesn’t actually have the most beautiful campus in the UK, but the reason that it’s managed to grab the top spot is the university’s absolute dedication to ramming the beauty of its campus right down your throat. As soon as you go on the homepage of the university website, KAPOW!, you’re slapped in the face with an inviting image of Roehampton’s most idyllic vista."

What the author doesn't quite grasp is that dear Roe needn't "ram" anything; the campus actually looks like it does in pictures all the damn time.

As a student at Roehampton, the inevitable grumbling moments of academic frustration sometimes hit and as I found myself tromping through the rain to the library or to the bar, it would not escape me even in my worst mood that the campus was still just as beautiful as the first time I saw it in full bloom. Even the drunken uni kids leaving beer bottles on the sidewalk couldn't hinder the over-all lush beauty of the gardens, the ponds, and the stoic buildings. It needn't try to be pretty or tranquil; it simply is.

For this week's belated Weekly Flâneur, I give you 14 images of my beloved alma mater (appropriate Latin for "nourishing mother"), Roehampton University, in her glory through the seasons.

The reflecting bridge. Click to enlarge all images.

Bridge in the snow.

Weekly Flâneur: Nostalgia

Image of Big Ben and London. Click to enlarge.

Miss your shining face through the crowds, Mr. Big.

City of my heart, London, UK 

Weekly Flâneur: Sweet Thames

(Click to enlarge)

THE river's tent is broken: the last fingers of leaf
Clutch and sink into the wet bank. The wind
Crosses the brown land, unheard. The nymphs are departed.
Sweet Thames, run softly, till I end my song.

                                              -- T.S. Eliot, The Waste Land

Weekly Flâneur: Found

 

(Click to enlarge)
We find God in strange places.

Obsession with street art in London.

Weekly Flâneur: Cheeky

"Northfield farm Beautifully well hung beef, just like our butchers!" Cheeky Brits.
Sign in Borough Market, London.

Oh, London!

"This is a Piccadilly Line Service to ... "

Cracks me up every. Single. Time. Without exception.

I filmed this today, while renewing my vow that some day I will ride the Piccadilly line all the way to Cockfosters (Cockfosters!) and have my picture taken next to the station sign. Some day!

Flâneur in London: Nature Edition, Part Two

My darlings, you know how I usually wax poetic or make witty little comments when I post my flâneuring pictures on this here blog? And you know how I usually alter the pictures to make them shiny and artsy and manage to hide my face since I'm still not 100% down with the whole put-your-face-on-the-Internet-for-all-the-world-to-see thing? Well, today, my dears, we're posting as is. Flâneuring without make-up, if you will. Because a recent jaunt to Richmond Park was so lovely, no amount of camera lomo-ish altering could shine-up these wild city pics.

Walking Richmond Park in order to experience it – with no purpose, no agenda – the flâneur is off the streets and in the wild. Well, kinda wild.

Council Houses and deer share space on a beautiful Spring afternoon.
(Click on any pic to make it bigger.) 

Flâneur in London: Nature Edition, Part One

London is not all concrete jungle and elephants, my fellow flâneurs.

Roehampton University, my home away from home, hosts a beautiful campus full of wilder animals than the students.

So, some flâneuring for your Wednesday! A different kind of flâneuring. This natural life is in city limits, so come take a nature walk with me.

The Canada geese are peaceful here, but they start their honking as soon as the sun rises. So, roughly around 4:30 in the morning, right around the time the drunken "Whooos!" have died down.

Flâneur in London: 32 Elephants Edition

The wind in the city will die down, the lost roads cover with dirt and mulch, the Spring pass way into Summer, and then?
Come, London. Let's dance.

Today we have more baby elephants than you can shake a stick at! But don't. Because shaking sticks at baby elephants is wrong. Didn't you see Dumbo as a child? Baby elephants need lots of love or else they'll drink champagne and wake up in a tree with crows of questionable and jaw-dropping stereotypical origins. (The head crow was named Jim Crow. Yeah.)
Also? Hallucinations of pink elephants. But! You needn't drink champagne, you lucky Flâneur reader, because I've your pink elephants right here! Racism-free elephants to boot! (Flâneur in the City: 100% less racist than Disney.)

The Elephant Parade of London is a charity art installation of 260 life-sized baby elephants hand-painted by famous artists, designers and Londoners.

The Telegraph had this to say:

The highly collectable artworks will pop up at a host of London landmarks including Buckingham Palace, Parliament Square and the South Bank over the next few months, before being auctioned off to raise £2 million for charity.
The money will help The Elephant Family charity and more than 15 UK conservation charities working in Asia.

Our dear London is crawling with beautiful baby elephants! And your favorite flâneur hoofed it all over our fair city with a pair of mates to capture some on film.

We walked from Waterloo Station to South Bank, South Bank to Parliament Square, down pass all the hung Parliament news crews and cameras and protesters (the UK is seeing its first hung Parliament since 1974 -- and here comes Natalie right in the thick of it, taking pictures of the news crews and bobbies), down to Trafalgar Square, looped around to Piccadilly Circus, swung down to Hamleys Toy Shop, backtracked to Regent Street, and ended up in Green Park by Buckingham Palace. All that walking and we only saw about 30 of the 260 elephants!

(The elephants were everywhere!)   

Ready for elephant overload? Continue on!

Speaking of ...

Seen on and around Putney High Street this week:


* This puppy. Named Sapphire. Who crawled into my lap without hesitation. My face is right in the middle of a mixed "Awww" and "Snuggle-wuggle-puppy-wuppy!" I was corrected by the pup's owner when I mistakenly called her a "he." I guess I'm just used to males trying to lick my face.

* Seen on the High Street: Dude that totally could double for a young Captain Jack Sparrow.

Since I lost my Johnny Depp lady-boner when I learned he was a Roman Polanski supporter, it's nice to know that there are still avenues for my physical attraction to his facial features by gawking at random street dudes. I don't find Johnny attractive anymore. But a non-child rapist supporter with his features? We can talk.

Speaking of Johnny Depp ...

* The unique and authentic London experience of shopping at the Kate Moss-influenced Topshop is negated when the salesgirls are all American.

(Kate Moss and Johnny Depp used to date. And there's your celebrity gossip for the early 1990s.)

* I saw a priest and a rabbi on High Street. Sadly, no punch line occurred. (They could have at least gone into a bar or something.)

* There comes a point where in a girl's life, say, the late 20s, perhaps, that one knee sock falling down ceases to be cute and crosses the border to annoying. There are 6-year-olds more put together than I am.

* Speaking of ... I am ready for hot weather, please. Thanks, London. As cute as my knee socks and sneakers are, I'm ready for sandals and sundresses.

* Life would be exponentially more awesome on a bicycle.

Flaneur-ing?

How about some flaneur-ing for your Monday?

Fishing lures, seen in a window by South Kensington Station, April 3, 2010.
(I would be a very dead fish, because these little guys were so attractive.)

Inside South Kensington Station, looking out.

The massive crowds on Putney Bridge,
seen from the second level of a double-decker bus,
after the Cambridge v. Oxford rowing race.
(Cambridge won this year!)