The Top Floor Flat

Remember that time that I was going to update my journal more frequently so I wasn’t stuck doing massive weekend-long posts verging on novel-length? Yeah.

This weekend has been absolutely fantastic which is great as the work week was less than thrilling (as would be any week spent in front of a computer although we are SO CLOSE to actually launching the website – and about time too!). Wayyy back on Thursday night, I had a long chat with Ann about her main hobby singing in a Bulgarian Folk Choir (she’s from Norwich and about as English as you can get). It’s actually quite a famous choir and does a lot of touring which is one of the reasons she’s always away on the weekends. What was interesting, however, was the thrilling background and meaning of the songs she sings. Almost exclusively, the traditional Bulgarian songs are about socks and sex and with some frequency, both. It is, I’ve been told, one of the most meaningful gifts you can give to knit a pair of socks for someone and the sex comes from being part of a country that’s so often at war (the idea being enjoy the time that’s not spent dying). I’m going to reserve judgment on the validity of these claims until I actually travel to Bulgaria but it makes quite a good introduction to their culture. Additionally, their style of music sounds a bit like someone standing on the top of a mountain, trying to contact someone on a mountain quite far away without using any notes lower than a high C. In other words, loud, high pitched and staccato. Somehow it still manages to be quite pretty.

On Thursday night, or, rather, very early Friday morning, we had a bit of a rude awakening at about 4:30am when there was a bit of rather nasty vandalism at the flat next door. I hear shouts and breaking glass but unfortunately what kept me up the rest of the night was the coming and going (and loud talking) of police officers trying to sort out the mess. I live in one of the safest parts of London – I’m not remotely concerned. It was also clearly a targeted attack of vandalism and no one was hurt. It was a bit like watching a fire. You feel bad and watch in horror but are secretly just glad it’s not you. It also doesn’t make you feel any less safe. I was mostly annoyed about losing half a night of sleep.

Saturday morning I lazed about a bit then got my act together to get to the high street near my flat to do some proper shopping. I had managed to destroy approximately 1/3 of my clothing by washing them with a dark shirt the first week in my new flat so I was starting to wear though my remaining clothes. That, in addition to the fact that I had just gotten my paycheck meant that I was well overdue for some shopping. I called up Mimi and she came to join me which was not only a ton of fun, she also is a great shopping buddy. She helped me find some cute dresses that will be good work/out and about clothes. The rest of Saturday was pretty low key – I chatted with Debbi for a while, and my mom, but had an early evening so I could get up early the next day and go to Brighton.

Today, I left around 9am to make the 90 min or so trip to Brighton, the seaside resort town. I wasn’t really sure what to expect; I knew it was a popular destination for both tourists and UK residents and the weather was nice so I expected it to be quite crowded. I could see the sea as soon as I came out of the station. The Brighton Pier and seaside reminded me quite a bit of Santa Cruz. It was very alike in the fact that it had a number of amusement rides on the pier and lots of artists stalls along the beachfront.

But I wasn’t really interested in being on an amusement ride or buying knicknacks. What I was really looking forward to seeing was the Royal Pavilion. The Royal Pavilion was built out of an old farmhouse where George IV (King of England from 1820 to his death in 1830) had a pleasure palace built in an Orientalist style. The effect is absolutely stunning. It clearly draws its influence from Middle and East Asian architecture and art, however it’s reasonable to expect that none of the architects or artists who worked on the palace had ever traveled to the East so all of the work is quite idealised and romanticised. The outside was spectacular:

Unfortunately I wasn’t allowed to take pictures inside but I have never seen such an amazing building interior. It was everything you would imagine from a splendid palace but the Asian influenced opulence made the whole thing incredibly surreal. There was a great walking tour recording that they issued for free with admission and so I got a complete history of the palace as I walked through. On the second floor, they had converted one of the private rooms into a tea parlour which led out onto a second floor balcony. I had packed a lunch to save money but decided I couldn’t pass up the chance to get some tea, scones and clotted creame on the terrace of the Royal Pavilion overlooking the gardens.

After I finished the tour of the Pavilion (which is no longer owned by the royal family but by the city of Brighton), I went out to the gardens where a small orchestra was playing a concert. The weather was amazing and I had brought a book, so while I waited for the art museum next door to open (at 2pm on Sundays) I listened to the music and read in the sun.

I then visited the art museum which was next to the Pavilion. I was immediately struck by the unique curation of the exhibits. Normally, objects are arranged by period or date. Here, there was an absolutely wonderful display on Love and Furniture which were arranged together so well. It started with some really modern bedroom furniture and modern art and love songs then moved back in time through Victorian era furniture, art and traditions of courtship. It was a really fantastic museum.

By the time I finished at the museum, it was nearly time to catch my train back to London. I had a nice chat on the train with a French Canadian woman who had been stuck for a 12 hour layover at Gatwick (an airport about 40 min south of London and about 20 min away from Brighton) and had gone down to the sea for the layover. I had wanted to try out a dance class in my area this evening but by the time I got back, I was quite tired and ready to relax and blog about my weekend :).