With an overseas relative visiting, I took the opportunity afforded by someone who didn’t know London distances to propose we visit the Cockpit Arts open house in Deptford. We had been regulars at the Holborn open houses back when we lived around the corner in Bloomsbury. It proved quite easy to get there: the DLR to Greenwich, followed by a 5 minute walk over the Deptford Creek to the studio. It was a much more expansive, open space than the studio in Holborn, but still full of corridors and staircases and small rooms, some interconnected and some not, that one got lost in very quickly. As usual, the standard of work was very high, as were the prices. There was a lovely 1 cup teapot that I thought I might like, only to find it cost 400 pounds. There was one mysterious studio, which contained a couple of mannequins with hair combed over their faces. A wigmaker? Hard to tell, and I was shy of asking the woman there.
My original intent had been to go to Greenwich, but we were both hungry so decided to return to Hampstead via Golder’s Green, there to have a quick Korean bite. The Korean restaurant I remembered was closed, but had been replaced by another identical one in the same location and using the same furniture. The pa jeon was different, but perfectly pleasant.
A great pleasure of being in London is walking around. I had missed that in KL, and now find myself walking miles every day, and feeling unhappy if I don’t get at least half hour’s walk at my fairly rapid pace.