Apr 3rd, 2004
Southwark
When I was in London the first time, I lived in Wolfson House, a dorm reserved for students attending both Kings College as well as the nearby Guy’s, Kings & St. Thomas’ Medical and Dental Institutes. If you were to walk through one of the tunnels that passes underneath the tube station and continue on until you hit the Thames, you would find yourself in Hayes Galleria - a quaint little plaza that contains a number of kiosks, stores, pubs, and restaurants.
It was here that I used to get my morning coffee and bagel, sit near the HMS Belfast, and gaze across the river at the Northern part of the city. I would think about the papers I was working on for my coursework at Kings, the events that had transpired the previous night, the friends I had made in London, my friends and family at home, and when and if my hangover would dissipate.
If you were to start at Hayes Galleria and then travel east along the Thames, the path would wind away from the river and you would find yourself walking through an area of small cobblestone streets surrounded on both sides by coffee shops and restaurants. For a fleeting moment, you could almost imagine yourself being in Venice.
After a few blocks, the path would lead back onto the waterfront and there would be a succession of trendy restaurants with outdoor seating overlooking the Thames. Continuing on, you would pass by numerous apartments with balconies hanging over the river and contemplate the astronomical fees that their residents must pay to live there.
Eventually, the apartments would end and you would find standing on a patio next to a pub called, “The Angel.” All of a sudden, you would realize that something was different about this place compared to all of the other places you had visited up to this point. Less than two miles away from the tourist-populated Tower Bridge, you would find yourself surrounded by absolute silence.
It was here that I suddenly thought of being in Rock Creek Park in the middle of DC and that wave of the simultaneous similarity and difference in the world hit me.
It reminded me of being young and seeing something for the first time, yet also feeling that I had seen it before. Perhaps it was just something that I hadn’t seen before, but always felt and just not realized it.
Standing next to “The Angel,” I felt like I was standing on the train from Gatwick airport and in Rock Creek Park in DC at the same time.
Then it hit me.
I hadn’t had anything to eat in about five hours.
I remember that one of the restaurants I had passed had a two-course meal for about 8£ so I stopped staring at the Thames and headed back from where I had come.
