I stayed in the lab till midnight on Friday. Thankfully, I had a view of the outdoor screen.
If I had not bumped into Catherine the week before I would have forgotten that we had a conference at St. Anne's on Monday and Tuesday. I guess it escaped my mind because we were hosting it and that meant not flying to some exotic location. (Naman kumare, baket deto pa naten he-nost etong conperens. Di ba pwidi sa Barbados? Or Mauritius?)
I caught up with a lot of my contemporaries and the organisers (ie. Catherine) thought it was a brilliant idea to have scientific speed dating on the first day. Never again. I'm not a two-minute and you know me sort of guy. I need some time convincing people that there's more to me than my (lack of) looks and that takes at least two years.
Two of the speakers were MI5. It's a known fact that a lot of spooks get recruited during their time at Middle Earth (Oxford) or Fenland (Cantabrigia) and I'm still waiting for my phone call in the middle of the night. Who does not want to drive the new Aston Martin? (Fenland of course had more KGB recruits per cobblestone during the cold war.) Apparently, the MoD has also started looking for recruits in fitness centres across the country. I should renew my gym membership soon.
Shakespeare's Tempest on the lawns
Marquee madness. Conference food. My team won second place in the pub quiz, largely owing to my 80s trivia knowledge.
After a long work Friday, I woke up on Saturday and took the bus to Notting Hill. I needed to do some banking and pay my Flipinoy insurance. My mom thinks it's a good idea to have an overpriced insurance subscription which, like all Flip insurance, does not cover me while I am OUTSIDE my beloved Las Islas Filipinas. (Heck, I don't even think it covers me while I'm IN the Philippines. I need to be 85 or something to retire to a life of luxury. Wahoo.)
Notting Hill has lots of quaint booksellers but all the tourists seem to be looking for the Hugh Grant one. I got stopped a lot for directions. Duh? Don't ask me, I'm just a boy standing in front of a girl, asking you to please get out of my way.
It was a hot day but it was also a great day so I went to Hyde Park to look at the wildlife. The heatwave and drought has magically transformed what used to be well manicured green green grass into a beautiful golden brown savannah. For a moment, I expected antelopes, lions, and wildebeests. Instead I saw lily white people trying to be brown like me. (At least they're not doing the orange fake tan.)
Cue National Geographic Voice Over....look at those well camouflaged beasts.
Whenever I'm in the area, I can't help but go have a quick look inside the Science Museum. It's just a great place for someone young at heart like me. Plus, I'm an engineer. You cannot not stop to genuflect in front of Babbage's differential engine No. 2.
There's also the entertaining museum shop that sells lots of cool gadgets and toys and then I found these......
They are recycled juice packages from the Philippines made into bags. The smallest costs 9 quid! There is certainly money to be made from waste if you are creative enough. (These were made in the Cordilleras, specifically in Apayao)
I finally made my way into the V&A Museum but instead of heading straight to the galleries........
My my, it was so warm people were wading in the fountain of the Museum's John Madeski Garden.
Pure pure Bliss. How could I not join in on the fun?
It's official, long shorts are in for the summer.
Me and the mandatory shot of my feet....and a cup of Sangria. Ole!
The innocence of youth. When was the last time I was this carefree?
Water frolics. This little critter decided to direct a fountain of water at me. It was refreshing.
Body art.
I drank and drank while getting splashed from those little happy creatures running all over the place and when I went back inside it was nearly closing time.
There was an exhibit focusing on Korda's photograph of Che but I skipped that for another weekend. It will take at least two hours to appreciate how iconic and ironic this image has become.
Korda's Guerrillero Heroico is the most reproduced image in the history of photography. This version is made of the logos of the big corporations.
My real intention for going to the V&A was because the Jameel Gallery of Islamic Art has just opened this week and the piece de resistance was this beauty.....
The huge Ardabil Carpet. Intricately designed using silk and wool in 10 colours and has 304 knots per square inch, this was made for the Shah of Iran in the 16th century. Those Persians definitely knew geometry and executed the piece with mathematical precision.
The carpet is lit for only 10 minutes every half hour and is also surrounded by the best non-reflecting glass I have ever come across.
At closing time, I headed to Harrod's and Harvey Nichols for some window shopping. Harrod's attracts a very entertaining parade of freaks, albeit rich freaks who arrive via Bentleys. I must have exuded a certain aura of pretentiousness that I was invited to view some posh flats for sale in Dubai. The Emirates has been building and developing all those artificial islands along their coast. The asking price for a penthouse was $50M. I told the agent I'd think about it and ran away with a flute of complimentary champagne.
I did find something on sale which I thought I needed. A pair of Hugo Boss pantaloons that I probably could afford but then I asked myself the all important question "Ang pagbili ko ba ng pantalon na ito ay makakatulong sa ika-uunlad ng aking inang bayan?" (If I buy this shite, will my beloved motherland be better off?) The answer was a resounding Pota pare, hindi. Walang kabalbalang luho lang ito. (No!) But I tried it on anyway (Kung hindi man sya mapupunta sa akin, at least ako naka-una. Nyahahah.) When I got out of the changing room, I got compliments from the salesgirl who said it now looked like an ordinary cheap pair of pants on me instead of the expensive-looking (but still cheap) pair of pants that it was meant to be were a real model to wear it. ('Aba, nagmukhang mumurahin sa iyo' ika ng tindera).
I returned the pants to the relief of the PR people at Hugo Boss and I remembered that I had asked my mom to send me two pairs of jeans from Baguio. (Bought from Countrymart Department Store no doubt.) Come to think of it, they should have arrived in Middle Earth by now. Please God don't tell me the postman stole my mail again or I will go postal.
I got back to Middle Earth and for some bizarre and inexplicable force, I was drawn to the library. It was dark and empty and I was not really feeling like resuming my Vampire research but as I entered, I saw that someone had taken out from the archives stacks, a bound volume of The Times from 1919.
I stayed on for two hours because I saw some freaky fascinating stuff...
Brasenose library at midnight. All to myself.