On October 7th, I found myself in Chelsea, the really rich part of London. I was there to check out a vintage clothing fair, but I noticed on the map that it was near Tite Street, where Oscar Wilde once lived. So I stopped by to take a picture of the Blue Plaque:
It was a really quiet street in a really quiet neighborhood, and I had a hard time imagining Oscar living there. Which might partly explain why he spent a good deal of the 1890s living in hotels. I meant to stop by the hotel where he was arrested, which was also nearby, but I had a hard enough time finding Tite Street.
The next weekend, BC had planned a trip to Rye and Hastings, two historical port towns in Sussex. So I got to hang out with Jenny and Jeanne while we toured two castles, one in each town.
Bodiam Castle, near Rye:
Hastings Castle, stronghold of William the Conqueror:
Also there was a fire festival in Hastings Saturday night. I asked the tour guide, and apparently these are very common all over Britain this time of year. They're not really tied to any historical event or holiday, but she said they are probably rooted in pre-Christian autumn equinox/Halloween celebrations. Today they are celebrated by a procession of various bonfire societies, who dress up and carry torches through town, collecting money for charity. Afterwards, they all throw their torches on to a massive, three-story woodpile:
It looks like this:
(also, there are fireworks):
I got some video of some firedancers:
This past week, Heather came to visit from Italy. I had class a lot of the time, but we managed to visit Platform 9 ¾ at King's Cross station together, as we had planned to since forever:
Which combined with the fact that Heather had reread Deathly Hallows on the plane, and the recent news about Dumbledore (which, frankly, should not have come as a huge shock to anyone who read Deathly Hallows carefully), meant that we spent basically her entire trip discussing Harry Potter. It was like 8th grade again, except now we have the full story, much of which makes us cry.
She left on Friday, and after I saw her off at the train station to go to the airport, I went straight to Bishopsgate Institute, where I had tickets to a very rare reading by none other than Alan Moore, the notoriously reclusive comic book writer, Magus of Northampton, and Greatest Living Englishman (among his other fake titles). He was there with Michael Moorcock and Iain Sinclair, who were all reading from a prose anthology about London. It was a fairly free-form event with free wine and the opportunity to speak with him personally before the event started. So naturally I got a picture with him:
Yes, he does look a little scary (you should see him when his hair is down), but he is in fact very pleasant and patient with quivering fangirls. I get the sense that he would go out and mingle with fans more (like most comic writers do), but that he doesn't want the distraction from his writing. Now that he's semi-retired, I suspect he'll be making more public appearances as time goes by.
Also, a few days before, my Facebook buddy Stephen Fry (who is currently in New England filming a documentary), asked me to pass on his "very best wishes" to Alan. Alan responded that he was very pleased to hear them, that he doesn't blame Stephen for the V for Vendetta film (which Stephen was in) and that he is a big fan of Stephen's, and that he and Melinda Gebbie (his wife) watch QI every week. I sent Stephen a message, but he hasn't logged into Facebook for at least a week, so who knows when he'll get it.
I managed to grab a seat in the front row, right in front of him! I recorded Alan's reading, which combined with his hypnotic voice, was absolutely wonderful.
Afterwards, everyone hung around for autographs, and I got,
The Ballad of Halo Jones (his 'feminist space opera'):
Watchmen:
From Hell (about Jack the Ripper):
The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen (vols. 1 & 2):
By the end of the night, he must have been tired of seeing me, so I resisted the urge to hang around and just watch him, so instead I went back to my dorm and called my home comics shop to brag a bit (only for five minutes, Mom and Dad).
Anyway, that's it for now. I'm going to the National Gallery on Wednesday, so I'll have pictures from that soon.
(Today's subject quote is from Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. Dumbledore is talking about the love of his life, I'm talking about Alan Moore.)
5 comments:
Alexa it's good to know that Harry Potter still makes you cry! Remember reading all night in hotel bathroom in PA? Good times! Glad to know that you are having such a wonderful time. Katie has (she's counting) 19 more days. I think she wants to stay in Australia.
Love,
Aunt Kathy
Sounds like the event was pretty awesome. Maybe I SHOULD have skipped class and gone to London. Oh well. I love that you called the store at home to brag.
Meaningless but intriguing coincidences:
Last week, about the time you called the store, I was reading a post on a comic book retailer message board where one retailer referred to another as Jeeves (from the old P.G. Wodehouse books.
That inspired me to re-read one of them, which got me to thinking of just how much I enjoyed Stephen Fry as Jeeves in the BBC series "Jeeves and Wooster", and here he pops up again in a blog about Alan Moore. Huh.
Anyways, I'm glad you're having fun, and I hope it keeps up!
Later on,
George
Wow you met Alan Moore! That looked like a really cool event. And Platform 9 3/4! I need to get there one of these days.
The one time I went to London I TOtally checked out Oscar's house too! And the club where he was when he received the insulting note from the Marquess of Queensbury.
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