A Butterfly on the Tube

Yesterday I decided I had to get out of the house, so I headed down to Westminster for a photo walk. How long has it been?! I've taken lots of incidental pictures here and there on other urban outings, but it's been ages since I've deliberately walked with photography as my primary purpose. I needed the exercise, and I brought my big camera rather than my phone, to make it a more intentional effort.

I started at Green Park and walked east through Soho to Covent Garden. Along the way I stopped at a Caffè Nero on Old Compton Street, where I sat outside with my Americano and watched the world go by. This Italian cafe was across the street. The blue plaque on the wall says John Logie Baird first demonstrated television in that building, in 1926. Talk about opening Pandora's box!

It's been so long since I've been able to get out and do some street photography. Maybe once I retire this is something I'll focus on more (no pun intended, honest).

Finally I got to Covent Garden and went to the market, where I spent some time combing through old photos. I bought a handful to add to my online archive of anonymous found photos, and you will no doubt see them in coming days. The guy charged me £7.20, and I gave him £12.20 thinking I could get rid of some coins and he could give me a £5 note back. But no! He gave me £5 in even more coins than I gave him! So ridiculous. Why didn't he just tell me he didn't have a fiver?

Weirdly, I ran into a guy named Patrick who I met the night I went to The Moth. He's a friend of my co-worker Staci's friend Chrissy (if you can follow that). So basically, a friend twice removed. We chatted a bit about good antique markets. So random.

I'd intended to buy Dave a birthday present, but I didn't find anything he'd want. I went to Nisbets to get him some new baking sheets but I couldn't find any. I wound up buying a cutting board instead, to replace one that Dave bought that doesn't fit in our dishwasher -- good to get but it didn't address the birthday issue. And then I had to lug it around.

On the way back to the tube in Bond Street I passed the Mexican embassy, which is all decked out for Pride. It's heartening to see that Mexico has joined the modern world, while the United States of America furiously backpedals against it.

On the way home I was surprised to see a red admiral butterfly trapped in the tube car. Considering we were underground this was a bit of a surprise. I'm sure it flew onto the car when it was parked in a train yard at either end of its route. Well, I couldn't leave it there, so right before I got off in West Hampstead I gently captured it in my hands. By that time we were above ground, so all I had to do was step off the train (a bit awkward carrying my camera bag, a cutting board and a butterfly) and release it into the air. It flew away in the sunshine.

"Thank you!" called a woman from the train just before the doors closed.

That's the first red admiral I've seen this year, and in such an unexpected place!