14.11.2026
First thing, chi building and meditation followed by light weights and a full breakfast of nuts, seeds, berries, oats, yoghurt and honey, etc. Then, reading on the tube, ‘Great Tales from British History’. At the same time, I was listening to recent Hindi and Punjabi songs on Spotify.
First stop, Japan House. For the exhibition ‘Tradition/RebellionComing-of-Age Style in Kitakyushu, Japan’. Amazing fashion and kimonos. Interesting videos about what being an adult meant to the young people, showing them celebrating their coming of age, what they aspired to become as adults. They all spoke very well. I watched videos of two of these young women. Bright and colourful, inspirational designs all around. Videos about hair cuts and devising innovative costumes on demand. My thoughts were that they were catering to the individual so the ceremony seems to be about individualisation. The festival itself was created recently by the state.
A walk in Holland Park and Kyoto Gardens there. Beautiful to see the yellow leaves captured in the water. Beautiful to see the heron, ducks and pigeons there. I had a chocolate bar and some water sitting in the formal gardens thinking about how we organise nature. There, I saw a photographer woman with an Asian woman model dressed in a cloak of gold. The photographer was carrying a large golden reflector and I watched her shooting the back of the Asian lady while she struggled with the gold reflector.
Quick look in the Oxfam bookshop in the high street. Bought a book about twenty languages and their history, including my mother tongue, Punjabi.
The Design Museum for two wonderful exhibitions next. ‘Es Devlin’ first. Then ‘Laika Presents Wildwood: The Exhibition’. Introduction to Es Devlin, named after a crossword. Someone who almost drowned as a child in the Thames and produces lines of light to represent the experience. The journey started in a mock up of her studio and then an inspiring film about her. Beautiful and inventive designs throughout. The Wildwood exhibition about another form of world building for film through stop motion. The highlight was a bird puppet with hundreds of crafted feathers and a girl’s bedroom. Really wonderful pieces of art throughout and I’m looking forward to watching the movie at some point next week.
Looking at the exhibitions made me yearn for a creative life where I am producing art. But we cannot have everything in this world. Because they will not let us do these things.
Quick lunch of a Tesco Meal Deal. Tuna and sweetcorn sandwiches, chicken satays and a drink of mango with bursts of orange, passionfruit, acerola cherry as well as celery and carrots. I ate everything in the empty bus stop in front of Tesco’s.
St Paul’s Cathedral next to meet my best friend. It’s about two o’clock. Banged into someone I know that works there in the queue. Very friendly. Inside, we listened to the choral evensong. I was sitting next to a very beautiful and tall blonde Eastern European woman in a burgundy faux fur jacket whose colour was similar to mine and in faux leather trousers that were done in black. We had lighted a candle together earlier. She was outraged that she couldn’t use her phone during the service and protested loudly in English when she had been speaking another language altogether before that.
Next stop, the Oxfam bookshop near the British Museum. Bought a signed copy of a book about ‘The Language of Trees’. Almost bought a book about symbiosis. Hard to put it down and walk away from it.
Last but not least, a date with my girlfriend and dinner in a restaurant to cap off the day.
When I got back home, I studied French, Spanish, German, Greek, Punjabi, Hindi and Urdu through poetry, short stories and vocabulary lists. I also read some psychology articles on infidelity and also charisma. The last thing of the night was corresponding with my pen pals. During the day, I was in touch with four of my friends, including two recovering from chemotherapy to ask how they were doing.
