Hello sundiallers Caveat emptor: This is a long, almost off-topic and probabily boring narrative. keep reading at your own risk.
I want to thank a few people for their help when I asked for information about sundials in London. Peter Tandy, David Hindle and Andrew James were very helpful. They gave me a list of places to visit, some book shops to browse. So far, so good. I arrived in London Saturday night and had planned to stay until Wednesday. I expected to spend Monday and Tuesday in busy and boring meeting. Since I had to leave for the airport on the morning of Wednesday, that day did not count. I expected to be able to watch some sundials on Sunday, go bookshoping on Monday/Tuesday evenings. As we say in Brazil, "you tie, god unties", or "you do, god undoes". In this case I could say "I planned, weather did not agree". Sunday was a rainy day. An almost always light but persistent rain from sunrise to sunset. I went to Greenwhich anyway. I was determined to visit the Old Observatory and take some pictures of the dolphin dial. To my surprise it got very cold. I was not prepared for that. After crossing the foot tunnel I visited the Cutty Sark just to buy a sweater. Expensive, its is true, but it at least boosted up my endurance to finish my walk towards my goals. While I was in my way, and since it was raining cats and dogs I decided first to go to well-recommended 22 Nelson Road address where I was supposed to find Rogers Turner and a good collection of books. Well, there is still a book store there. Its name is Halcyon Books. They know nothing about sundials. The not-so-attentive young lady that was behind the counter didn't seem to want to acknowledge someone had crossed her doorstep. At first I didn't have courage enough to disturb her in her doing-nothingness. I can hardly say she cared. After browsing a little I discovered I couldn't find any titles of interest, except a small booklet clearly forgotten in a corner of the window. I uumbly came to the young lady and asked for help. She stared me for a while. It occurred to me she was probably trying to identify my accent, or perhaps she hadn't understood my broken English. Than I made it simpler for her just insisting on the keyword "sundial". She was still starring at me when she whispered "we don't have any" and returned her gazing to whatever she was trying to see on that empty table. I was almost frightened but decided to ask her if I could grab the book on the window. She nodded. I picked it up and asked if she accepted credit card. Her laconic answer was "cash only". I paid and jumped out of the shop. The rain and the cold outside were much warmer than the treatment I had just receveid. OK, lunch time. I walked to a tiny kiosk clearly umprepared for that whether. The tables and stools were completely wet. I was hungry, I liked what I had seen available so I marched in. What a surprise! The lad opened a big smile, started talking about the problems he had with the whether, how good the food was... He asked me if I wanted to taste this and that; he showed me the crabs, the fishes, shrimps and a long list of choices. Then only thing he couldn't offer me was a dry place to sit. I asked him to put everthing in a bag and walked to a wine store on the other side of the street. I bought a good red wine from Spain and headed to the Old Observatory. Based on my experience up to that point I could conclude that 50% of the British were very amicable while the other 50% weren't friendly at all. In the park I couldn't find any bench to sit. In fact, I couldn't find any dry place to sit. I sat under a tree and ate my lunch: shrimp, crab, fish and red wine. May the purists forgive me but white wine is something I don't drink, no matter what I am eating. Up the hill I walked. It almost put me out of breath. Than I did everything tourists do: cross the meridian, take pictures, get a certificate, so on and so forth. Under the rain, of course. Inside the building it was much better. At least it was dry. I spend a few hours watching all the time keepers, sextants, astrolabs, the harrisons... Nice hours did I spend there. Unfortunately reality was outside, waiting for me as a dull rain. I zip-zaped to the Naval Museum. It was too late for a good visit. As to the sundials outside, I took two or three pictures of it. I wanted to make sure that I had a good image of it, just for the case the rain would drown it. In the Queen House there was an exhibit about Peter the Great, but it seems in the UK everything you are interested in closes at five, so I couldn't see it. I took a boat back to Wetminster. I had many sundials to see but the night was arriving quickly and the rain didn't want to go away. Very well, let me go to the books again: Foyles, Dover, etc. Almost everything closed. Those that weren't closed did not have anything about sundials. I visited the seven dials -- that same night. I found the sevenths dial (there are only six on the center of the square). The sevenths is on a wall oposed the Earlham Street. It is an electrical time piece. I worked hard the next two days. Wednesday I woke up very early, took the tube and went to Foyles. I waited until they opened at 9 o'clock. I found a single book. No one to help me. Not even their computer, although I had a list of titles I printed from their Internet site! Then I understoo what Andrew meant when he said "I think [Foyles is] the largest 'new book' shop in London though not always very helpful". Right on the target, Andrew! Dover opened at 10 and a little past 10 I was there. I found two books only. Precisely two of the fours I have. I gave a last look to the seven dials, still under rain and took the subway to the airport. Having visited the Old Observatory was great. Visiting London was fun. Now I have a map with more than a dozen spots where sundials can be found in Soho, Holborn, Covent Garden, Wetminster, etc. Next time I'll see them all, even if under the rain. As we say here in Brazil: "I am not made of sugar [so I will not dissolve away under the rain]". Again, I want to thank all of you that pointed me several places to go. I'll not blame you for the rain :-) - fernando -- mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.pix.com.br Fernando Cabral Padrao iX Sistemas Abertos [EMAIL PROTECTED] [EMAIL PROTECTED] Fone: +55 61 321-2433 Fax: +55 61 225-3082
