guests

jeremy showed up in london. i hadnt seen the guy in nearly 4 years. it is really amazing how time flies. he is here for a few days only and making the most of it. so even though i am in the painful process of editing my latest chapter, i dumped my studies and went off to play tourist. actually that is something i definately dont do enough. i dont feel i know enough of london for the amount of time i have now spent here. and event the places that i do know change so much that i would have to keep going to them regularly to really stay on top of things. the museums do a great job changing around exhibits all the time, so everytime i set foot in, say, tate modern, the place looks totally different.
today jeremy and i did the british museum and the national portrait gallery. i use the word "did'" but actually it is impossible to do justice to those places. they are both so massive and hold so many collections that my mind starts spinning after a few hours nad i cant take things in any longer. but i wanted jeremy to at least see what is here in london. i feel obliged to do touristic justice to whatever city i am living in.
and actually, despite all its enormous problems, london is a good city for tourists. living here it is easy to forget that, and i need the odd visitor from time to time to remind me. the state museums are excellent and free. you can wander in, have a look and leave without feeling you have to see everything and get your money's worth, which is exactly how i feel everytime i go to anything in paris, for example. there are loads of parks and the centre of the city is pretty walkable. plus the natives are fairly benevolent. it is not like moscow where the police see a tourist and immediately dollar signs ring up in their eyeballs. so i enjoy the occasional touristic run of london. i think i need to do it more.