Wow, what a weekend

There was a chance of a weekend in London, so I grabbed it:

Got to London in time to park for free
And go into the Mosaic Rooms, looked at photos

Mysterious heaps of grave stones
And a mysterious film also strong on rocks

Bookshop section, found 3 books
Nice room with views right down the street

Toss up between going to dance all evening or see if my parents were in
Stood in front of my parents' house, all dark

Texted with my mother and brother
Walked my feet sore to get hold of a box of sushi

Loved the buzz of Victoria Station, easily pleased
Wrote haiku in between bites of sushi

Amazingly none got spilt onto the pristine sheets
Late night news, luckily I can't remember any of it

Huge English breakfast
A little rest, woke up after midday

Trip to meet my brother postponed
Tube to South Ken

Enjoyed the dark metal joists of the ceiling at Victoria
Years of waiting on those platforms on my way to school

How can a station platform equal home
Deciding to wait for the next train so I'd get enough space

Start on my parallel reading, English/Arabic
Looking at the big pedestrian walkways with a tourist's eye

Risked a dip into the V and A, not in fact a short cut
Gazed at the dresses without expecting this

Decided I preferred the draped 40's dresses the best
Lines of 20's onwards seem to have settled in as our design standard

Remembered a beautiful silk kaftan I bought but gave away
Also a favourite dressing up petticoat, must have been from 50's

Then on towards the park
Surprised by the familiar plants, I touch them gently

I stop in various places, stopped by the planting
I see the view goes right over to the Shard and Eye

In the distance I see 2 vast rocks on top of each other, satisfying
In the Pavilion itself I ask: 'Where is the Pavilion?'

It is a cafe, so I eat and talk to a great stranger for ages
Eventually we have covered many topics and say goodbye

Off to the Sackler Gallery, bouncing severed heads, topical
Remind me of the video films T and H enjoyed years ago, gory but sanitised

Sit on floor to watch film, they always taste better that way
Eventually decide I have had enough

Go to see what else there is, and it's all more of the same
There is a message here, so I watch more of the same from different locations

More bouncing heads, they are growing on me
Total surprise, the restaurant next door is where I want to live

Corridor to ladies is a thing of such minimalism and beauty
The walls of the loo are soft metal, what an experience

The sinks are a test of ingenuity, how to get the taps to work
I just gaze at the restaurant, nearly spend more cash in there

Come across some long grass and sprawl
The grass smells and I smell it, my face gets creases with grass marks

I just look at the London sky through the grass, forget culture, just lie on the grass
My impossible sandwich gets eaten without onlookers

More walking, find out that the 1 million years of human evolution finished at 5pm
Try a new cookie shop by station

Try again to see if my parents are back in town, silent house
Brother and I agree on Edgware Road, not Leicester Square

Get dropped off at Speakers' Corner, try to listen
Religion is still the impossible theme, still a dialogue of the deaf

Good natured crowds, clustering close round each speaker and main opponent
Why don't people use chairs to stand on any more?

No bookshops, worth a try, but I get a cd for the car, title makes me blush
J and I go right up and down Edgware Road and settle on a cafe

Much mint tea and puddling, I am stuffed, news swap
I teach him to order pudding and tea in Arabic

Goodbyes on the street, then I see a friend from Oxford
We search for a cafe, no luck

She then sees another friend from Oxford, tells me it's fine to go off with them
Long evening of chat and meeting someone else who knows my own family, back 1am

Driving across to try again for the million years of history, too long a queue
Take a chance with Disruptive Objects at the V and A

I am riveted, death penalty, videos, defacing bank notes
I used to write 1% and 99% on all my bank notes for a while

Get into conversation with another interesting stranger, is there no end to this?
Drive to Great Russell Street, how many changes there are to the roads

Useful to drive around the routes, learn the new ways, so much building work
Flooding in bookshop/cafe, so I only get into the book bit

Glad to get text book I need
Korean place for spicy soup and read intro to my text book

Yay, my mother answers phone, drive there
Kisses, chat, toast, tea, sofa, my father, news about children

Discuss things, grab these chances,
See haiku opportunities in unlikely places

Huge puddles by Embankment
Murky Thames, high under the bridge arches

Drive and drive back home, rain all the way
Sodden stacks of baled straw in field by motorway.