In reference to my last post.
Although I’ve been meaning to go back for years the decision to go that day was more or less spontaneous.
I've lived and worked in London, on and off, since the 90's - staying mainly in the East End, and south of the river. North London, despite being the locus of my earliest introduction to the city back in the 80's, has, since then, remained somewhat foreign territory to me. I haven’t really spent any time there for more years than I cared to remember and – although I’m not a person to whom nostalgia is an important emotion - I was kind of pleased that the slightly unsettling aura of oddness that I always associated with the area has not much faded in the intervening years, and clearly wasn’t simply a result of it all being new to me back then.
It was a little bit grey – a little bit damp; perfect weather really, for a wander round an old English cemetery.
I walked up from Archway, through Waterlow Park (which has ghosts of its own, I believe), over Swain's Lane, and paid my tenner.
It was only a few minutes after entering that I had one of those encounters that makes you feel like you might have wandered into a movie (I find London’s pretty good for these).
At the top of the first section of path (the Colonnade Path), and close by the Litvinenko memorial, I almost walked into a woman who looked like she’d wandered off the set of some cool French action movie. Built like a gymnast, or maybe a ballet dancer (although possibly too tall for the latter) – very lean, but athletic looking, and wearing what looked like pretty high-end sports gear. But it was the shaved head and very striking neck and lower facial tattoos that really struck me. Facial tattoos are more common these days, and I’ve always disliked them – but this was obviously more high-end stuff; I didn’t want to stare, but you could tell from a glimpse that there was some real art involved.
I’d have loved to have taken a portrait, and the conditions and background were perfect – but she looked a bit like she might be an Eastern European assassin out of that French movie I mentioned, and I reckon one wrong ask and she’d have pulled a couple of Krav Maga moves on me and left me on the ground like a bundle of broken sticks. So, I left her to her morning, which appeared to consist of walking very purposefully around the cemetery, but to no actual obvious purpose.
In fact, I took virtually no photographs that day. I always have my camera with me, but sometimes I’m just not in the mood. Other times, it feels like the camera’s a bit in the way of experiencing a place in the manner I want to at the time. But I’ll definitely be going back with my camera-head on - hopefully soon.
One image I did take - couldn’t resist the splash of light spotted through the grill of one of the mausoleums (I think it would be the Cory Wright tomb):
All in all, it was a really enjoyable couple of hours or so, and I’m really glad I let my spontaneous decision have its way that day.
The place is really atmospheric – but it’s not spooky. Or maybe what I should say is that in the right conditions you could most definitely scare the wits out of yourself in there – but actually, even on that relatively overcast day, what it really felt like to me was welcoming.
It was a relatively quiet morning - a fair few people around, and a couple of groups - but the place still felt very peaceful. I came across a couple of individuals who were obviously tending to examples of the more recent graves mentioned in the previous couple of posts; if anything the fact that the place is still a living memorial, as it were, enhanced the atmosphere rather than dissipated it.
As I said, the cemetery is clearly well managed, but it doesn't feel at all overmanaged.
When I last went, I’m pretty sure that you had to visit on one of the organised tours – unaccompanied wanderings were not allowed (although I seem to recall that they maybe had one of two days a year when they opened the cemetery up and did allow unchaperoned visits). These days you can just wander on your own. On a wet day decent footwear would be a good idea if you want to get on those less maintained paths.
Definitely worth a trip if you are in London and have a few hours to spare.
