THE TAXI GALLERY IN CAMBRIDGE, UK:

The busride down to Cambridge was a little confusing, being shuffled around at the bus station in Galscow with confusing directions seemed to somehow work, yet turned into a fairly long wait as I managed to somehow hop on the wrong bus! The bus driver told me not to worry, as he was going in the same direction and could drop me off somewhere along the way where I could transfer to another bus that would take me to Cambridge. This was a little confusing at first as I waited somewhere in what seemed to be an abandoned station on the side of the busy highway with a few other people lingering around who seemed more confused than I was about their situation. It was as if they had this place where they dropped off their delinquent patrons until they figured out what to do with them amungst the mad rush and bustle of their everyday schedules that they had to maintain.

I eventually rolled into Cambridge arriving a few hours late to Kirsten Lavers' house where I would stay for the next few days and exhibit the suitcase out of her very local and charming Taxi Gallery titled Abbey Taxi. It was a real relief to be staying in a real house again wihtout having to worry about the security of the books and artwork amongst hundreds of other hostellers and travellers from all over the place. Many of the hostels (particularily the ones in larger cities seemed to have sketchyness coming out of their pores, which I suppose was part of the charm of operating a 'homeless', portable exhibition space.

Kirsten and her son Max were extremely hospitable, and the show went fantastically, with many neighbours and friends arriving to see what this suitcase from Canada was all about. The Taxi wasn't mobile like you would think, Instead it rested permanently in the front yard of Kirsten's house leaving it to be quite a neighbourhood spectacle, peaking the curiousity of passer by's and local residents. It seemed to bring the neighbourhood together in a really lovely way, and I can't tell you how refreshing that was for me at that time, to have even for a few days, a feeling of belonging to a neighbourhood. This was not only a time where I was able to re-charge myself before entering the jaws of London, but also, an exciting and reassuring event for the McCleave Gallery, which to be honest, at this point, was much needed to motivate me to get through the last stretch of what seemed to be an exhausting journey that had been taking it's toll on me at this point.

Kirsten and Max left a few days before I did, generously leaving their keys with me to give me a few days to rest on my own there in Cambridge. It was fantastic, but towards the end of it, I was ready to move on and explore what the city of London had to offer.