Not Just Any Library

After a long period of closures that began back in September due to construction on the Overground, regular services were finally running again from Canonbury station, so we decided to head on over to Camden Arts Centre to catch their latest round of exhibits before they closed tomorrow. When we got off the train, we noticed the station's bulletin board hadn't been updated since last night, and we smiled at what technically qualifies as "additional information":

My favourite exhibit today was Serena Korda's The Library of Secrets. A few shelves hold books, many marked with call numbers. So just what makes this library so secret?

Well, it literally holds the secrets of those who dare to share . . . gallery visitors are asked to browse the library, choose a book, bring it to the writing station,

"take a deep breath, relax, unburden [themselves] and write [their secrets] anonymously on the paper provided below," then place the secret somewhere between the pages of their selected book, and return the book to the library. There were many secrets hidden in the books, ranging from lighthearted confessions about how much the writer really liked bacon to rather startling admissions about infidelity, crimes, and hate.

There was something rather brilliant, and yes, addictive, about the installation. After adding a secret each to the library, we bade the library (and our secrets) goodbye and starting wandering up toward Hampstead, where this tree kept watch over some of the narrow back streets:

We passed Ernö Goldfinger's lovely 1939 building on Willow Road, which we visited during last year's Open House event,

and continued along streets that were lit more like paintings than real life.

Near the station, the neighbourhood paper had this to say:

While the sentiment is of course true, it's still a bit tough hearing it in Hampstead, which is said to have more millionaires (and that's in £, not $!) than any other neighbourhood in the UK. We Hackneyites try not to hold it against them . . . .