Monday started a bit cloudy, but became an astonishingly lovely day for March. More summer than spring. And just very fortunate that today was the day Luka and I had arranged to meet up for the first time since last summer, with of course that long winter lockdown in between.
I had suggested this walk on the basis that we would go past some music venues (Dingwalls, the Garage, Union Chapel, Islington Assembly Rooms), see London from a different angle (ie Regents Canal) and finish up at the wildfowl area in Regents Park (as Luka's birdspotting includes a particular fondness for ducks). So we walked from Highbury & Islington to the end of the Islington Tunnel, then down Regents Canal (via a spot of lunch at Camden Lock food stalls) to Little Venice, turning into the Merchants Square development at Paddington, then to surface and walk up to Regents Park.
Far fewer photos from this trip compared to my previous walks along the canal for the simple reason that I had someone to talk to. And frankly one could have no more agreeable company than Luka. He is so totally the opposite of the stereotypical grunting teenager. Conversation flowed for a good 6 hours. Of course that is the nice thing about walking - at least in a varied area - as all sorts of topics of conversation just appear as you proceed - religion (as one passes churches) diversity (as you pass through the young crowds around Camden), graffiti (unfortunately as you pass anywhere).
As I say Luka is just so far from the stereotype of a teenager. Funnily enough much as the kids of most of my friends have been. So much so that it made me think. If 100% of the teenagers I know and have known are not like the stereotype, could the stereotype be wrong? What me? Wrong? And of course, if I am wrong, so is the media, because that is what offers me the image. It seems that not all teenagers are eco warriors suffering from mental health issues obsessed by body image, climate change and colonialism when they aren't acting as drug mules. Instead they are interested in music and football and members of the opposite sex and worried about exams and getting a good job and just enjoying a good laugh, remarkably like they were 40 years ago. This may account for why the BBC does such an atrocious job of attracting young audiences and the Sunday supplements do such a bad job of portraying them. The teenagers they describe account for a vanishingly tiny number of real kids. The sort that get all the attention.
Anyway, rant over. Just to say this was a great day.
And here is Luka appearing to try to engage a statue in conversation. Well it is a fairly life like statue😃
a 
Front
