Elevator Philosophy (20 February)

Today was a bit of a shock, getting used to London again after our Parisian getaway. Stone buildings have been replaced with brick ones; cars on the road and people on the sidewalk once again come from (what is for Canadians) counter-intuitive directions, we both found ourselves rehearsing in our heads how to say sentences in French before realizing that we already knew how to say those things in English, and we didn't hear a single accordion all day long (something which never happened in Paris). Along the way to the Photographers' Gallery to check our their newest exhibit of photographers shortlisted for the Deutsche Börse Photography Prize, we came across an electric car recharging at a public recharging point (something we've never seen before), and a busker in Covent Garden, something we've definitely seen before. This busker was singing opera though, and the acoustics of the building made her voice sound pretty impressive:
At the gallery, Philippe Chancel's photos of North Korea were especially eerie and evocative. Afterwards, in order to wean ourselves off of all the wonderful French coffee we had last week, we decided to go to Monmouth to have some very yummy coffees before taking the tube up to Sainsbury's to stock up on necessary items for the week. In the massive elevator that takes passengers down from street level to the train platform at Covent Garden station, we met a very funny man who had a lot to say about Londoners. When the elevator doors closed after leaving quite a few people still at street level, waiting to go down, he said very loudly in the silent elevator, ostensibly to his friends, "This really is an unfriendly part of London, innit? We could fit way more people in the lift if everyone only moved forward. But no, it's every person for himself in London, innit? I'm a Londoner and I know my people well and we're a rude lot. Maybe it's all the rain that makes us so terrible, innit?" Of course, Bob replied with a comment that made the man laugh: "We're from Vancouver, Canada, and it rains just as much there, so it's not just the rain!" The man and his friends got off the tube a stop before us, and he gave us a big smile, said goodbye, and wished us a good night on his way out.