And Yes - British Weather

yesterday we were treated to some glorious Weather - very cold and rainy all day.  we had planned to head out to spitalfields, partially because there is a really cool 'museum' there that we wanted to see, and partially because it is where mary kelly lived, and where most of my mary kelly script took place, including The Ten Bells: a pub where at least two of jack's victims were known to drink, and which is still around today.

anyway - after a hearty breakfast, we braved the elements (both of us congratulating ourselves on our foresight in bringing collapsible umbrellas.  perhaps that doesn't seem terribly impressive to some, but i'll take what i can get :o) and headed out.

only to find that the tube line we needed was closed for the day.  so we found an alternate route, got to the exchange location, and found that the OTHER tube line we needed was closed for those stops.  third time's the charm, and an hour later we alighted (alit?) in spitalfields.  of course, then we managed to get ourselves completely turned around, and so ended up taking a cab anyway.  (are you impressed about the umbrella yet?)

at any rate, we finally arrived at the dennis severs house.  the idea of the place is that it's a house restored to look as if you've just interrupted a family at their home from the early 1700s to the late 1800s.  you go through the four-story house silently, and the whole place is lit only by candle-light.  there are lots of smells (in the kitchen, someone has been cutting leeks, in the bedroom, someone has been eating an egg and toast, etc.) and you can hear the family's voices and the sounds of life (a baby crying, a carriage pulling up outside, a dog barking, etc.)  you can also hear the footsteps of the other people going through the house. 

i'm describing it poorly, but it's kind of an amazing place. 

when we came out, we wanted to just sit somewhere and process a bit, but spitalfields has a big market that is very popular shopping, and also the football (in the british sense of the word) game was on, so all the pubs were packed, and it was raining, so all the restaurants and coffee shops were super-busy as well.  it definitely made an impact to come out of this otherworldly place where you've been moving around in silence and whispering, to walk into a pub full of people shouting at the tv.  amazing.

we eventually found a restaurant to have some soup and tea, and then wandered around for a bit of shopping.  (although neither of us bought anything.  i'm working my way up to it.  at the moment i'm still kind of dazed at being here and wondering how the trip will progress.)  i had forgotten to look at my old whitechapel map before i left.  i remember all the street names, but i forget why i know them.  which ones had what businesses on them, things like that.  we did visit christ church, which i wrote a brief scene about where mary sees a young girl leaving a baby on the steps...

they've very recently renovated the church, which made me kind of sad, because although it's all nice and clean in there now, i picture it doesn't look anything at all like it used to.  almost no stained glass, lots of white walls and lighter woods, with modern art behind the cross in the chancel.  both megan and i were already a bit suspicious, since there was lots of literature all over the place about evangelism, and the baptism font had been taken from the 'society to convert the jews' or some such.  still - i sat for a few minutes and had a chat with mom while megan looked around.  mom wasn't crazy about it either, but had more generous things to say than i did.

we finally got to the ten bells, where a lot of my script takes place.  it seems they're trying to disconnect their business from the ripper legacy - they also underwent a renovation a few years back, and they've finally removed the sign with the names of the victims from the front of the pub, which was the only remaining vestige in the pub proper.  on the steps leading down to the bathrooms, there is still a copy of a front-page police illustrated news which i recognized.  i don't remember for sure, but i think it was after annie chapman was killed.  at any rate, that was the only connection, and the servers who i asked seemed surprised and a little confused, which surprised me.  i have to assume that lots of the 'jack the ripper tours' end up there at some point. 

i'll spare you the rest of my musings on the ten bells.  suffice it to say, it was very interesting being in the area and wandering around in the streets that i had researched for so long.  it's very un-ripper-y (next to the ten bells is an organic health food store), although someone had spray-painted a portrait of james maybrick on the wall by commercial street.  (maybrick was the purported author of the 'jack the ripper diary', which in my esteemed opinion, was rubbish.)

all right.  i'll leave it at that.  today megan woke up not feeling well, so we've cancelled our plans to go to high tea and see the tate modern.  i'm sorry to miss out, but being back here i've accepted that if i don't come to live here, i will at least have to return every few years and spend lots of time here.  so, there will be other chances. 

i hope life is good with you!