A few cool old paperbacks donated to the thrift store...
Cover by Ben Shahn ^
It looks like Stanely Spencer, but I can't find that it is, or who it is otherwise either. Reminds me of the good visuals in the recent movie 1917.
Here's a WWI painting by Spencer: Travoys Arriving with Wounded at a Dressing-Station at Smol, Macedonia, 1916 (1919), based on Spencer’s work in the RAMC’s Field Ambulance
I looked up the address inside the copy of Goodbye to All That and I know it! Or, anyway, I've walked past it:
Gloucester Gate [at London's Parks & Gardens site] is alongside Regents Park. I wonder if it was run-down when M. A. Norman lived in a basement flat there...
When I first (early-1990s) stayed in an old hotel within walking distance of Regents Park (near the British Museum--a long walk, but doable), the area was well-worn, but it's way gentrified now. The hotel, The Crichton, used to be a cheap dive, now it's a spendy boutique hotel.
I'd like to, but I'm not sure if I'll ever go to London again, or where I'd stay affordably if I did...
There is definitely nothing about the Regents Park area that's affordable! Maybe moving toward King's Cross, where there are some public housing estates, but I bet even those have been gentrified. I love that Ben Shahn cover.
ReplyDeleteSTEVE: I also used to stay in a Georgian B&B/hotel up by King's Cross (The Crescent Hotel), and the last time I was there--gosh, 14 years ago--it was well on the way to full gentrification.
ReplyDeleteStill, I see I could still rent a small hotel room w/shared bathroom at the Crescent for about 70 pounds--
with the pound being so weak against the dollar, that's not bad for London!