There were many, many New Zealanders in London today. More New Zealanders than I thought existed. Even in New Zealand. They were clad predominantly in black although some were dressed as superheros, they were covered in temporary fern tatoos, sipping Stella (at 11am) and being rowdy. I discussed the probable cause with fellow Tube travellers (nothing like a bit of nationalism to get people talking). We ruled out rugby as it’s the six nations at the moment and NZ’s in the wrong hemisphere. And we were in Notting Hill, not known for its rugby. I think it was some kind of celebration of New Zealandness day which is traditionally marked by undertaking a circle line pub crawl. But have yet to confirm this.
I was in town to make the now annual pilgrimage to the Wildlife Photographer of the Year exhibition at the Natural History Museum. Lesley, Kathryn and I caused minor chaos by walking around the exhibition anti-clockwise, against the prevailing stream, so we could see the runners’ up photos in each section before the winners’, which was surely the only logical way to do things. There were of course many absolutely stunning shots of flora and fauna, noteably a peckish looking silky shark with a pilot fish leading the way, a meerkat baby and babysitter transfixed by a hornet, a blue sky dotted with migrating monarch butterflies, and many comedy pictures of penguins. I can’t really do any of it justice in words http://www.nhm.ac.uk/visit-us/whats-on/temporary-exhibitions/wpy/
We then found the best cake shop ever. There’s a children’s book I loved called The Elephant and the Bad Baby which features a place just like this. Fairy cakes heaped with icing in pretty colours and embellished with sparkles and sprinkles, tall fat layer cakes on proper stands of varying heights and with glass covers. The windows were decorated with perspex boxes displaying cakes. Calories as art. A visit to their website reveals that the Hummingbird Bakery is the home of high quality American baking in London. This makes me feel less well disposed to the place somehow, but I still want one of their T shirts. ‘Hummingbird Bakery – South Kensington’ in brown and pink to match the walls of the cafe, which puts one in mind of sitting in a giant sugary cake.
