London: day one

Now in London, I'm crashed at Thom and Ewan's apartment above Regent canal for a couple days(see satellite image of the apartment on google maps: http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=en&geocode=&q=SE14+6NW&ie=UTF8&ll=51.535671,-0.070492&spn=0.000457,0.001246&t=h&z=20 ).

Chris, who I met through facebook, hooked me up with them. I didn't go out today-- just sept in, cleaned the kitchen, and I'm recharging my batteries-- figuratively and literally.

Tomorrow I teach a hooping class at Goldsmiths college for a group of dancers. Laura, the dancer who invited me, was working the door last night at Shunt, a sweet underground club Ela and Chris took me to visit for a beer and taste the local favor. The place looked like a cave and smelled like soil. Tunnels lead off in different directions and rooms were lit by projected images. I couldn't take pics there cuz my camera battery was dead after shooting scenes of downtown London all afternoon, and I was dead tired, so I sept there in a reclining chair for the first hour, after just a couple sips of beer.

When I woke up, I spun the hoop a bit, and it came loose hitting a table, sending a glass to the floor. It didn't brake, but I was asked not to hoop there, so not to destroy any art installations over head. I took the hoop outside the bar to dance in the bustling underground connecting tub tunnels.



Seconds before getting on the bus in Saint John, dad and I cut my hoop into four pieces with a saw. Yesterday, my mission was to find shock cord to tie inside the hoop, to make it ridged and collapsible. After visiting a couple hardware stores and camping shops, that only had bundgee cords with hooks, I successed and sat on the front steps assembling the hoop with four connectors and shock looped through a couple times inside. A borrowed knife allowed me to shave one side of the connector, making it easier to take the hoop apart. I shaved one connector too much, so now it comes apart too easily, but that was easy to fix with a bit of tape.



I didn't see a single child all afternoon or evening. Ela said she is surprised when she sees old people too. That's the buy-ness district. Now I'm in the residential area. Tonight after supper, I'll interview Thom and Ewan on camera to ask them about what community looks like here in London.

I'll leave you to check out these videos of Angel Nigel, a clown street performer I chatted with for an hour yesterday outside Liverpool Station. He sang for me on camera also.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fKyudrkCEM4
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SbIF1fqGgEY
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RWSwdg40GQc
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tni0jZmG-yA