August 27: Back in Town

We made it. By 3pm yesterday, local time, we were showered and snoozing in our East London hotel room. It’s our second stay and now our go-to: great value (scaling for Zone 1 in London), clean and practical. Our room is ruthlessly designed for utility: 13 square metres with 2 beds, 1 desk, 1 chair, a comfortable bathroom, coffeemaker, smart TV, hanger rail (with 5 hangers), 4 mirrors, 2 pieces of pointless commercial artwork. We are 2 adults, 3 cases, 2 rucksacks in it and still speaking to each other. The nice receptist “upgraded” us to room with skylight, because this room-class does not include windows. That’s how we roll.

We roused ourselves yesterday evening to join Gareth and Fabi for a fabulous evening of lantern-lit wine in the lush sanctuary of their courtyard garden, followed by pizza (and dark-chocolate McVitie’s digestive biscuits) around the kitchen table, interrupted only to pop out for another bottle of wine. It was so good to see them both. Home really is the people in it. Sitting in the gloaming in Gareth’s green space putting the world to rights with thoughtful conversation, olives, wine was a deep exhale. We’ve been looking for “the” olives we so enjoyed in Portugal during our last trip. Gareth served them to us. Now we know precisely what to search for.

Today, we headed for the British Museum. Just because. In April, we attended the Curators’ Lecture for “Living Traditions – faiths of India”, but returned to Canada before it opened. It was worth the wait – the exhibition space is hung with coloured taffeta. Each bay has its own soundscape. Smoking incense, flickering candles are projected onto the walls. Cinnamon wafts through space…

A particular temple panel transfixed me. Carved around 250 CE, it showed Buddha’s empty throne, beneath a Bodi tree, shaded by a parasol. In front of the throne are carved footprints. At that time, Buddha was represented by such symbols, because his enlightenment/transcendence “meant” he was beyond human form. I was really moved by the footprints. Maybe, it’s that sappy Christian story about walking on a beach; maybe that “leave only footprints” eco-tourism tagline; maybe their simple poignancy. All of these? (ironically) they left their mark on me. I also felt a tremendous alliance with Christian imagery – the empty tomb, the (Protestant) empty cross derive from the same impulse: reverence for incarnation ended, teaching both completed and left behind.

I needed to mark all this today, which my birth family always did with jewelry. The British Museum’s Grenville Room is an ultra high-end gift shop, with my Member’s discount and a sale rack. So, I’m wearing a new pair of jade and pearl earrings, discounted because, in their remaining stock, the jade flowers are yellow, not the desired green. To me, they are sunflowers, which they will be harvesting in a few weeks as we walk through Spain. Green jade is the stone of abundance. Yellow jade emphasizes clarity and joy. What could be more fitting?