Back To Shore

Lyrics: “The Fisher King Blues” ~ Frank Turner, 2013

I feel indeed a bit broken. Physically. When I had made and booked my plans for yesterday I obviously did not factor in any slight change in plans or any necessary detours. Or to be more precise the additional walking either might require. The plan had been to spend the whole day in the city (i.e. required a backpack not just a purse) with a guided photo tour from 10 – 12:30, some unspecific time wandering around and then head over to Battersea power station where I was booked for Lift 109 at 18:00.

Segue to sharing more context for this choice of title / song. The lyrics also include the lines

And in Battersea power station, the Fisher King
Ponders on his ruin, among many other things.

I admit neither the building, nor the history had been on my radar before or a lot since I heard the song for the first time in 2013, until I read about the new plans for it and then read about the opening of it all last year. When I looked into if it might be worth a visit, I discovered they had a lift to the top and was sold and bought a ticket. When I looked into more detailed planning of that day later, I realized I wouldn’t be allowed to take my bag pack and that there wouldn’t be any possibility to store it on site. I booked a place through Stasher near Victoria station in the end, which led to about 2-3 km more walking than planned.

The other change of plan was, that I was awake super early yesterday; possibly still a bit hyped from the day before. So I thought I could just as well have a stroll along the South bank before I met up with my photo guide at St. Paul’s. Which added another 2-3 km to my day.

In the end my smartwatch clocked 21.8 km. Ugh! Like stated above I feel a bit sore today. It was worth it though. It was just me on the photo tour, which made me feel a bit self-conscious at first as I’m such a novice photographer. But it was fine, as we didn’t really talk shop, but the guide just led me to a few good (possible a bit more unknown for the ordinary tourist) spots. Talked a bit about the bridges and history and all. It was nice and if you’re into this kind of thing I can definitely recommend this company: London streets photography. The 2.5 hours tour costed £85, which was worth it to me, especially as other tours I found in my research where so much more expensive.

Battersea power station: Well, I can say: Been there, done that. The whole “Lift 109” experience was a bit much. I enjoyed the historical exhibition as step one, but wouldn’t have needed the interactive show of something (what exactly?), before we went up the stairs to the lift. The lift going up was cool and the view from top is amazing, of course. But nothing I have to repeat. Battersea power station as such felt pretty artificial to me on the inside, but I guess that’s just the way of things.

Without further ado: a very small collection of the photos I took today in either of those locations starting with St. Paul’s

Oh look, she’s awake in the early hours again and blogging. I don’t know what’s up with that. Especially as I’ve basically been awake since 3 AM. I got up, booked the Stasher place for my bag this afternoon. Lay down again. Couldn’t sleep. Got up for real.

I guess I’m still totally hyped from the “Operation Mincemeat” mission I accomplished yesterday.

Thanks so much for coming and for your box of German/Anglo treats, so thoughtful, so kind- we feel incredibly lucky x https://t.co/2ZOcL0hRSt pic.twitter.com/3oyVHPmSwM

— SpitLip (@spitlip) April 8, 2023

Because after all these years of fangirling I’m still very much a proponent of the “if you are moved by any kind of art and have the chance to tell the artist: tell them” idea. So I did!

I’ll be seeing the show again on Tuesday with some friends, so I’ll refrain from sharing my thoughts yet. But if you’re interested what the hype is all about you might want to read my older reviews.

• May 2019, New Diorama: “Operation Mincemeat” – Absolutely Brilliant
• January 2020, Southwark Playhouse: “Musical “Operation Mincemeat” – Gets Better and Better With Every Run
• July 2022, Riverside Theatre: Big Flash of Joy: Operation Mincemeat – The Musical

When I pulled up those old posts, I came across two things in the first one from 2019:

I’m so happy for this new and small musical troupe that it seems to be going well. Fingers crossed!

My review from 2019

Well, well… they’re playing their show on the fucking West End now, baby!!!!

But also this

I’m also happy that we got the chance to tell them all in person after the show, because they’ve pulled off something amazing here and they all seemed genuinely humbled to hear how much we had enjoyed it. So I was glad I told them.

My review from 2019

Regular Programming will resume here shortly 😉 I took a few photos while I walked over from Waterloo station, but I’ll share those tomorrow. Or not at all, as today I will be heading out to the River / Bridges again, this time with a professional ‘photo guide’. I’m excited for that.

Awake from a nap in a – as usual – decent bed in my Travelodge, I can give a quick update from the first half day in London. I will still need to catch up on some sleep tomorrow morning, but that’s mostly due to a first crappy night here (not the bed’s fault, but my brain’s).

Train travel has been mostly fine, except for the one hour the train from Cologne to Brussels had to wait for ONE HOUR outside of Aachen main station. There was a police emergency which closed down the station for that long. I was glad that I opted for a over 2 hour layover in Brussels, which usually is more than enough time to get on the Eurostar even for my anxious mind. Due to the delay the ICE terminated in Brussels North and I had to switch to the local train to get to Midi. Nerve wrecking, but it all went fine in the end. A few more stressful moments when I opted for the quicker, but a bit more expensive route out to Wimbledon, where I’m staying this time. Switching from tube to train and finding and getting on the right train at Vauxhall. There was a moment where I thought I might be going in the wrong direction as I jumped on the one in a hurry, but it was fine.

Back when I made day plans for the various days here I had actually wanted to walk another section of the Capital Ring Walk today, but last night I knew this would not be happening. I went for a stroll along Wimbledon High Street up to the Village and Common. How did I not know that the Village is up a hill ;-)?

One thing I’ve learned to do over the past few months (I think?) is to not rush, when I walk. I used to rush a lot wherever I was going for no apparent reason. Sometimes it might be necessary, but often it’s not. Yes, I might get there quicker, but why should I? Just because other people pass me by with a quicker pace, does not mean I have to copy them. Especially not on a relaxing vacation. Yes, part of the reason today might have also been, that I was still quite tired. And another reason to go slowly was to look for interesting things to take photos of.

At the Common I spent some time sitting on a bench by a pond in the sun. Not doing anything. Staying with my thoughts isn’t always easy, but at least I didn’t pull out the phone to read or scroll past social media. Except for posting in my Insta story. What can I say? I’m not perfect.

For the first time ever I tried taking photos with my lens ball and to get an idea of how to best do that will take a while. But it’s fun to dabble around.

Because I then really felt in need of a nap, I opted for the bus back down the hill, grabbed a few things at the supermarket, had a quick lunch in my room and lay down for about 2 hours. Heaven.

After finishing this post I’ll get ready for some early dinner and then heading off to the Southwark Playhouse for “Berlusconi”. Why that and not one of the big shows in the West End? Because I’ll see Operation Mincemeat in the West End tomorrow. And the Southwark Playhouse were such and integral part of getting Mincemeat ready for the West End, so I thought I’d honour that by seeing another show there.