After nearly two months in Miami where I enjoyed my daughter and drove my air conditioned car to an air conditioned restaurant twice a day its nice to be back in London where walking and public transportation are my preferred means of getting around and my days are once again free to explore.

Though the heat here over the last few days has kept me mostly inside I took advantage and was able to unpack and set the flat to right. Now I am focused on getting my head back in the groove of semi aimless wandering.

With the Handwriting Exhibition closing at The British Library I did pop out for an afternoon to see what it was and I am so glad I did. I have to say that when I compare my NY museum experiences to my London experiences I find the curatorial style here much more pleasing.

Although I am not sure I learned anything completely new at the exhibit I was confronted by some new thoughts. I had never really pondered that people who speak different languages would have to make adjustments to someone else writing system. That my spoken language might contain sounds that didn’t exist in your language so when I co-opt your writing I need to adjust for these sounds. It’s just a thought that was new…

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Spread across one great room you followed a set path through the flow of the development and history of early written language, then in a side room you enter the ideas of the future where it was presented that possibly handwriting was really going away as we become more able to dictate our thoughts.

No photos were allowed in the exhibition and there were definitely some things I would like to have a record of. Early tiny stones that looked to be stamped to indicate merchant sales.

Also on view in the exhibition were some lovely books that spanned the ages from pre-printer, through the modern age.

While there I did get a ticket and entry for the Leondardo DaVinci show which I was able to walk through in 3 minutes. I didn’t see anything that I felt isn’t easily available online, so I wandered out… but thats just me.

Then in a side room, free of charge, were many large display cases, along the walls and throughout the vast space where Treasures from the collection were out on view. This I found to actually be worth a trip back to spend some time. There were historical documents, religious texts, manuscripts, and a number of other cases that all seem very interesting. Starving as I was I did manage 10 minutes to glance around in case I am never able to get back.

Heading back to catch a bus I came across a market at Kings Cross where I purchased a very satisfying spinach and cheese Burek from popina, a billionaire brownie from Outside Tart that didn’t thrill and some jerky. The market was less street food and more breads and bakers and even a salami gal.

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