Wednesday 29 April. London

In 1997 an artist named Rick Buckley decided to stage a humorous protest against the CCTV cameras appearing all over London.  His comment on this “ Big Brother-like”  nosiness was to place plaster models of his own nose in many locations. Theoretically there are only 7 left and they are located in Soho and Covent Garden.

Finding the noses was my special project for this trip to London, a project I had little success with.

My first port of call was Lincoln’s Inn Fields, the largest public square in London. The park has been enjoyed by Londoners since 1376. Back then they even used it for jousting. Today there are tennis courts and a cafe as well as the paths and gardens. This was my morning coffee stop and would have been delightful if the wind hadn’t been blowing a gale and covering one and all with pollen. Not the day to sit outside with my cuppa.

Lincoln’s Inn is one of four Inns of Court ( professional societies of barristers) in London, so I was probably having coffee with a few of them. No sign of Rumpole though.

Next stop was a sculpture called “The World Turned Upside Down “ and from there I headed to Floral Street and my quest for noses. There were also supposed to be some ears there.  I must have looked very suspicious loitering in the street and searching up and down the buildings. No luck though. I had a map of approximately where they should be and I checked both sides of the street and often backtracked as I made my way around the trail. 

By about 1 o’clock I was exhausted so I stopped at a pizza place for some lunch and a much-needed rest. Found a couple of more specific directions about the nearby noses when I was Googling while the pizza cooked so after lunch I retraced my steps and found 2 of them. A third just couldn’t be found and I think the building it was on has been renovated. Either that or I’m just not good at finding noses.

So 2 out of 7 is all I could manage. On my way to the station I came upon another pretty park, Soho Square Gardens. It was packed with people enjoying the sun and, as the wind had died down, it was enjoyable. My trip back to Paddington was on the new Elizabeth line - very modern and similar to our new Melbourne stations.