Right: The Famous 3 Kings in West Kensington
New Directions, good from now until 18 September 2007:
21 Charleville Road
London W14 9JJ
UK
Through the efforts of the ladies of Flatland, I found a room in West Kensington on Sunday. It won’t be available until next Saturday, but meantime I’m renting a room in the landlady’s other house in Boston Manor, most of the way back to Heathrow. You can save quite a bit of rent living in the outlying districts, but you make it all up when you decide actually to go anywhere. From here you have to join a caravan at Brentford and trek through the wilds of Chiswick and through darkest Ravenscourt Park, fighting off wild animals the whole way. By comparison West Kensington is just slightly west of central London – coincidentally about ten minutes’ walk from where my course will be held in April – a thriving neighborhood of late-Victorian terrace (row) houses on the side streets, and lots of shops and restaurants on the main streets. The room – on the second floor (Yanks read third) of one of the aforementioned terrace houses – is all of a two-minute walk from the West Kensington tube, and perhaps five from Baron’s Court in the opposite direction.
The room itself is quite small; even smaller than good ol’ Room 3 over the Little Apple from last year’s stay, but not by much. It’s narrow and tall, with a nice big window at one end, and the furniture (wardrobe, table, shelves, chest of drawers, single bed) takes up about 80% of the floor space, but it also comes with a microwave, a mini-fridge, a toaster, a kettle, and a TV. There’s no sink, which is the main disadvantage. There is a tiny coal grate with an little mantel near the head of the bed that adds a certain amount of Victorian charm.
Before leaving Bayswater this morning I hopped a train to Flatland and delivered three bunches of tulips to Stephanie, Janine, and Lily, who had helped me find the place. Then I went home and trundled my luggage down the Stairway to Hell (two trips) and into a cab. No more four flights of steep, narrow stairs for me; I’ll be down to two now.
21 Charleville Road
London W14 9JJ
UK
Through the efforts of the ladies of Flatland, I found a room in West Kensington on Sunday. It won’t be available until next Saturday, but meantime I’m renting a room in the landlady’s other house in Boston Manor, most of the way back to Heathrow. You can save quite a bit of rent living in the outlying districts, but you make it all up when you decide actually to go anywhere. From here you have to join a caravan at Brentford and trek through the wilds of Chiswick and through darkest Ravenscourt Park, fighting off wild animals the whole way. By comparison West Kensington is just slightly west of central London – coincidentally about ten minutes’ walk from where my course will be held in April – a thriving neighborhood of late-Victorian terrace (row) houses on the side streets, and lots of shops and restaurants on the main streets. The room – on the second floor (Yanks read third) of one of the aforementioned terrace houses – is all of a two-minute walk from the West Kensington tube, and perhaps five from Baron’s Court in the opposite direction.
The room itself is quite small; even smaller than good ol’ Room 3 over the Little Apple from last year’s stay, but not by much. It’s narrow and tall, with a nice big window at one end, and the furniture (wardrobe, table, shelves, chest of drawers, single bed) takes up about 80% of the floor space, but it also comes with a microwave, a mini-fridge, a toaster, a kettle, and a TV. There’s no sink, which is the main disadvantage. There is a tiny coal grate with an little mantel near the head of the bed that adds a certain amount of Victorian charm.
Before leaving Bayswater this morning I hopped a train to Flatland and delivered three bunches of tulips to Stephanie, Janine, and Lily, who had helped me find the place. Then I went home and trundled my luggage down the Stairway to Hell (two trips) and into a cab. No more four flights of steep, narrow stairs for me; I’ll be down to two now.
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2 comments:
Yay!!!!!
excellent to see you back in your element!
have just finished my April almanac column (and no joke), am on the verge of heating water for teapot #3 of the day, and the lovely housemates are planning...a dinner party. will it never end?
how long will you be there? just curious, as I have recently FOUND my passport. of course, if it took you that long to satisfy the powers that be , what chance have I?
be well and happy
ecstatic on your behalf
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