London, Oxford and a little bit of Avignon

I begin with a reassuring sign: the timeless London underground logo. I don't know why I love it so much. There is something about the shape of the circle with the name of the station centered over it with a tiny bit sticking out of both ends, and the three simple primary colors (is white a primary color?).

"Mind the gap." She (it's a female voice) still says it! In exactly the same way.

I've been traveling a lot these last few weeks, mainly because there have been long holiday weekends here in France. First there was the trip to Avignon and Provence where I spotted a woman in a striped dress at a wine tasting event on the square just outside the Palais des Papes; and another very elegantly dressed woman in Fontaine de Vaucluse - a tourist I assume because she was speaking Russian and taking photographs. Why not be a little dressed up while touring around? I wonder if she travels with a small backpack as her only luggage...

Then last weekend I went to London to hang out with some friends, and then to Oxford to stay with a fellow bande dessinée enthusiast. 

What I continuously love about England is its ability to absorb a diverse population from all over the world while (whilst, I love that word) still remaining so English. The double decker buses, the pubs, the Boots pharmacies, the long rows of white houses and red brick houses, the boxy taxis, although now they have logos all over them, which makes me a bit sad because they are a visual reminder of the  corporation snake slithering about absolutely everywhere. 

And then, as I was finding my way along Gloucester Road in London to an Indian restaurant I had located on line, I found heaven: three charity shops (as thrift stores are called in England) on the same street! 

In the first one, I found a blue silk skirt for 4 pounds. In the second one I found a green duster for 22 pounds. It was too good to be true. 

In Oxford, there was another Oxfam shop (they're everywhere in England) where my friend Ann who herself finds many of her clothes on ebay (including the Agnes B. "mac" she's wearing in the photograph) was intrigued by a striped dress.

East Oxford is more of a hipster town, with its fair share of vintage shops. Sadly, these sunglasses displayed in the window of a vintage shop on Cowley Road, were too late for the Milan trip and besides, it was Sunday and the store was closed.

 

The timeless beauty of England. The craftsmanship of a bygone era maintained for all of us to share, if one bothers to notice, for example, the steps of the Earl's Court Tube station.