Changes

Yesterday I had a taste of three of the main drinks in the UK: cider, tea and Pimm's. When you wake up on a Sunday morning with no idea of what could happen during the day, then it's gonna be a nice day for sure! I was sitting in the tube, heading to Cutty Sark station in Greenwich and I was thinking about how fast things can change. And how easy it is for human beings to adapt to changes. I think it's part of our evolutionary skills, that we have to face changes in the best ways in order not to be overcome by them. You meet new people and your life get twirled upside down, but yet it's not such a harm as it may sound. I feel pretty confortable in these shoes. So as I said, we were heading to Greenwich. I had only been there once, three years ago, and I couldn't help some memories to come back to my mind. The wind, a shy sun that was hiding behind fast clouds, the smells and tastes of Greenwich Market. But then, here I am, another period, another go, another life. Walking through the Naval College Gardens, you feel a sense of inner peace: large meadows, high buildings with white columns, people laying on the grass and a feeling of being in a quiet place where anything could happen to you. There, surrounded bu young men in their uniforms, you feel as if anything could hurt you - apart from memories, as they come from the inside. 

Naval College Gardens and the Royal Naval College, Greenwich.

We stopped for a drink at a pub called The Gipsy Moth, where I had half a pint of cider - and it soon got to my head! There we go with the first taste of Britain! As soon as you feel confortable, sitting at the table and start having a conversation in the fluency that alcohol gives to your English, suddenly it starts raining, so that we decided to head off to the National Maritime Museum, and spend half an hour there waiting for our tea-room reservation time. Changes in the weather here are so quick because clouds fly over so fast, adaptation is a way of life and there is not so much wonder about it, but I still feel confused sometimes when I go out in the morning and it's sunny and warm, then after a couple of hours it gets chilly and damned windy that you can't almost stand on your feet. That's a clear message: I have to get used to any sort of changes. Starting with the weather ones could be a good point.

The tea room has been a very British experience, too! Now I know for sure how all my dolls must have felt when I used to place them around the table in their best outfits, with lot of cups, teapots, plates full of scones, cakes, brownies and glasses with cream and jam. It is a very "Victorian age" experience, with fresco painted walls and mirrored doors that double the actual room size. Unfortunately there wasn't much light through the windows because of the clouds, but the atmosphere was delicate and warm. I tried to imagine how women from the high London society could sit there and spend many words about the people they knew, and how London aristocratic dynamics were manipulated from those apparently harmless round, nice and well-dressed tables, covered by the tinkling of pots and spoons. There we were, four girls talking about our holidays and travels, nothing compared to those powerful women, but yet we enjoyed the stay very much. Changes happen, but tea is always tea.

Tea room in the Fan Museum, Greenwich.