Living in London

The snow on our street	The White Cliffs of Dover	We even brought a bit of the cliffs home

We didn’t work in England on December 27^th because it was the official holiday for Boxing Day. For weeks we had been talking about taking some day trips over the Christmas break, and when we awoke to big fat white snow flakes outside our window, the “white” theme was set. How about those cliffs in Dover you hear so much about?  

The city of Dover is located in the southeast corner of the country, about 80 miles from London. Knowing it would take at least an hour to get out of London, we left mid-day for a leisurely drive, admiring the beautiful snow-covered countryside. Once there, we found the Dover Castle (closed this day) and so drove to the National Trust visitor centre.

From here we set off on a short walk to see the cliffs. One thing they don’t tell you at the visitor centre is that the chalk + dirt make for some voracious mud. It was all over us, and trying to suck our shoes off as well. We walked as far as we could on the path and took a few photos. The cliffs really are white, and you really can see France from this point. We have loved to have taken the tour of the war tunnels under the castle; I’m sure this was a very important and tense spot during WW II.

Also in Southeast England, we wanted to visit Canterbury (to find out more about the tales) and Sandwich (for, well, a snack) but ran out of daylight.

p.s. The snow didn’t stick in London — although the cold still lingers.

For those of you who struggled with wedging that last bowl of salad or leftovers or dessert into the refrigerator these past few holiday weeks, we offer you our sympathy. In London, most refrigerators are less than half the size of those in the U.S. As we prepared our Christmas Eve dinner for ourselves and a few friends we soon discovered that we had more food than our little fridge could hold.

How lucky we are that it has been so cold lately (it has been hovering around freezing for the last few weeks). Our window ledge served double duty as a substitute for extra fridge space. (Note the outside ledge is only about five inches wide, so all goods must be securely anchored on the inside of the window!)

We enjoyed our second visit to Paris this weekend, again in the icy winter. Our first trip was last year at this same time! What is up with that?

Anyway, it didn’t slow us down for a
second … we spent four glorious days enjoying a fabulous walking tour of Montmartre, seeing a terrific traditional French circus, taking another Segway tour, and shopping til we ran out of money. (I actually fell off my Segway this trip, and am happy to report that no photos exist of this event).

We had some great meals and learned of a new champagne drink that has become our new favourite. The weekend was gloriously clear with blue skies and unbelievable lights at night. But wow, was it ever cold. Our next trip to Paris needs to be in the balmy spring don’t you think?

We have been meaning to see the stage play “Mary Poppins” for some time now (it opened almost a year ago!). To augment this experience we rented the Disney film and viewed it a few weeks ago.

The Disney version wasn’t at all like I remembered from the last time I saw it (scary to think about how long ago that might have been) but the songs were even better than remembered!  Both of us were singing for days afterwards. This prompted us to finally get those theatre tickets, and we saw the play on Monday evening. It was the best theatre experience we have had in London so far. The actors, the staging, the music were all fantastic. Even the theatre was the best we have visited (there was actually room for our legs!).

Bravo!

On Saturday evening we went to our village church to see a local theatre company perform Tom Stoppard’s play Arcadia. The performances were unbelievably good! Most professional, and very well done for what seemed to be a fairly complicated play. We enjoyed wine and snacks as we sat in the front pew completely entranced!

We walked home through the church cemetery on a wild windy night feeling totally satisfied.

 

Today we had a very luxurious experience at Berry Bros & Rudd, at the store and cellars where they have been operating for over 300 years. Still managed by the same family, this place has an amazing history, and really ‘gets’ the concept of service.

Established in 1898, they were originally an 'Italian Warehouse.' They not only supplied coffee beans, but also weighed their customers on their giant coffee scales. They showed us ledger books with the records of customers’ weights spanning three centuries. It was apparently very fashionable to get dressed up and head over to Berry Brothers for your annual weigh-in. Customers who visited the store include Lord Byron and Beau Brummell, Pitt the Younger, the Duke of Wellington, Napoleon III, prime ministers Balfour, Melbourne, Peel and Asquith, John Nash and Edwin Lutyens, Gertrude Lawrence, Laurence Olivier and Evelyn Waugh, and of course, us! [Note: we did not weigh in ]

In 1923 Cutty Sark Scots Whisky was created here. In 2000 they began a wine school and this was one of the classes we attended.

Our class included a tour of the store and cellars, a couple of hours tasting champagnes, and a fabulous lunch paired with five more wonderful champagnes. The tastes were generous and the air was spiced by interesting conversation with the other patrons. Very enjoyable afternoon.

Take a virtual tour for a 360 degree view of many of the rooms in the store and cellars.

“We are all worms. However I am fairly certain that I am a glow-worm.”

              —  Winston Churchill

A few weeks ago we watched the HBO film called “The Gathering Storm. It is about Winston Churchill’s life just before WWII began. We are exploring an emerging interest in Winston Churchill and we were completely entranced by the film. Albert Finney is amazing in the lead role, and I’d recommend the film just for his performance. Of course, the other performances are wonderful as well, and the subject matter was fascinating. We have been working on a Churchill theme ever since!

What a huge character this man was! Far from perfect, or even proven right about many things in retrospect, he is still bigger than life. He served under six monarchs, won sixteen terms in Parliament, and was Prime Minister twice. A prolific author and journalist who published over 40 titles in his lifetime, he was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature. He experienced an amazing range of history during the violent 20^th century – participating in the last great cavalry charge against the dervishes in the Sudan campaign, making a daring escape from a prison camp in Pretoria during the South African war, leading Britain and the world through WWII, and then seeing Britain on to becoming a nuclear power. He is reputed to have started every day with a cigar in bed and then held court sitting propped up in bed – including giving dictation to his secretaries and holding discussions with senior military advisors. His consumption of champagne is legendary, and he drank it daily at both lunch and dinner.  About Pol Roget (his favourite champagne) he said “I deserve it in victory and need it in defeat.

Following on the theme, we recently visited the Cabinet War Rooms and the Churchill museum. The War Rooms are located underground for protection from bombs, and are realistically preserved. It is easy to picture yourself trying to live and work there, around the clock, during the war. The audio tour is very helpful in portraying life “underground.”  The Museum is quite a contrast to the realistic 1940’s era Cabinet War Rooms – very high tech, multi-media based, and gives a thorough overview of Churchill’s entire life before and after the war.

Our next step is to visit Chartwell, Churchill’s family home in Kent for about 40 years, and a place about which he once said “A day away from Chartwell is a day wasted.” 

The web is loaded with great information about Winston. Here is a link that is a great place to start.

Since our last post we have had some challenges with time and space that have prevented us from really exploring London and from putting up any additional posts. The time issues are related to both of us: we are working full time at pretty demanding jobs, putting in long hours in distant locations from one another. The space issues are around the fact that we have been burglarized twice in our new location and are trying to figure out our next steps. We hope to be back soon with new and exciting posts, but for now, we are taking a rest.

Gosh it’s great to be back in England! When we were “out there” it didn’t feel like we had a home to come to, but as we arrived at Heathrow, and saw the orderly queues and the great multi-cultural throngs and drove home via the roundabouts, and came into our light and quiet flat, we realized that we are home. And happy to be living in London.

Our corner room in the Royal Hotel	Mercantilism lives!	A courtyard in the heart of the city

Because our room was not ready when we arrived on Saturday morning, we decided to venture out of town to visit Louisiana, the Museum for Moderne Kunst, er, I mean Art. We loved the museum (a small but very impressive collection) and the beautiful site. However, we were most impressed with our own ability to navigate the train system (without help) given how totally and completely exhausted we were and that the ticket machines and all the signs were completely in Danish.

When we checked into our room and did some research on the hotel, we were surprised to learn that we were staying in a work of art!  Arne Jacobsen was one of the greatest Danish architects, and in 1960 he completed his masterpiece: the Royal Hotel and every single thing inside it (including the silverware). We had a delightful corner room and the windows and mirrors made it feel as though we were floating high above the city.

On our last full day in Copenhagen we went on a city tour with a guide who walked us through the downtown area from the perspective of the 18th and 19th centuries. Denmark is a very small country with 1/10th of the land mass of California but it is ideally located at the entrance to the Baltic Sea. As a result, the enterprising citizens of Copenhagen learned very early in their history that trade and mercantilism would be a key factor in their success. This link to business and commerce is still very evident in the city today.

We spent the evening (sans camera. Doh!) at Tivoli, the city's very old and famous amusement park. Visiting a theme park is rarely on our list of things to do but Tivoli was unexpectedly charming. Very small, with a blend of old-fashioned rides and games with modern favourites. Everyone (and the numbers of young were easily matched by the old) seemed to be really enjoying themselves. We had a fine dinner featuring classic Danish food.

The bus queue from the ship	One last look at the ship's attrium	Our favourite spot — The Horizon Lounge on Deck 11

We disembarked in Copenhagen on Saturday 13 August, and felt really sad to leave our big ship. We had travelled 1,019 miles, and visited six different countries. Overall, we loved the luxury and the logistics of travelling by ship, but would caution people to avoid trips that keep travelling east through the time zones — it sure is hard to be rested enough for the shore excursions when you have to set your clock back each night.

The only downside we experienced was that the cruise felt very American. The onboard currency was US dollars, the evening entertainment was aimed at Midwestern sentimentality and we never did meet one other person we felt we had anything in common with. There were a lot of people who seemed to be happy with the most superficial look at another place, and we were struggling to really experience as much as we could in the few days we had.

There is a strange sensation you experience when you step ashore and your feet aren't sure if you are on solid land or on the deck at sea. The American oriented cruise felt that way as well — although we knew we were visiting these fabulous foreign cities, there was a dissonance where it felt like I was back in America.

Would we do it all again? Probably, but on a smaller ship with more direct cultural experiences, and with a more culturally diverse group of passengers.

A few more days of vacation and then back to the jobs (sob . . .) that make all this possible!

Life Boat / Tender	Tenders in the Water
Gotland Coastline	Muramaris Gardens

Today we visited Visby, Gotland, a place we had never heard of before this cruise. It was a beautiful day, and after St. Petersburg, the city looked extremely tidy and well kept. We left the ship in little boats called tenders. The tenders double as life rafts but there are not enough of them to hold all the passengers and crew. When Heather and I were poking around on a lower deck we found some big barrels that looked like they contained inflatable rafts, so I guess tenders are for the first few hundred lucky souls who make it to deck 5 and those crappy inflatable rafts are what they don’t tell you about until the “moment” comes so as not to panic you.

Anyway, the crew lowered the tenders from their suspended state, and pulled them up against a little loading area on deck 3 (at the water line) where about 50 of us boarded each one. Once into the city's dock area, we all dispensed to various tours. We took a bus out to the country and hiked back with about 20 of our fellow passengers. The coastline is wonderful, and the guide, a Swede who worked for the Swedish intelligence agency for 40 years during the cold war, really helped us understand what a great place Gotland is to live. We found ourselves thinking 'dacha in Visby' ... and hey it could happen.  After all, they have 22 flights in and out daily just between Sweden and the island.

The hike ended at Muramaris, the former home of a sculptor named Ellen Roosval that was an absolute inspiration. The house was small and cozy and had an amazing mantlepiece that she had designed, and fantastic gardens overlooking the Baltic. Again we could totally envision ourselves living there. Back in town, they were having their medieval week which seemed to involved a lot of dressing up and archery, but it wasn't really that interesting. This was a short visit to a memorable place.

The Independent has a wonderful article on the undiscovered island of Gotland:

"Many visitors never get beyond Visby, which is a pity, as the rest of the island is incredibly beautiful. Three miles north west of the city is Muramaris, an Italianate house with an incredibly romantic history. It was here where Ellen and Johnny Roosval fled early last century to avoid the scandal when Ellen, the wife of a Swedish diplomat, ran off with her son's young tutor. After roaming the world, they came to Gotland where they found this spectacular site overlooking the sea and immediately staked out their future house with champagne bottles. Contrary to expectations the love affair lasted all their lives. Ellen became a great sculptor and Johnny a professor of art history and Muramaris, which was built in 1917, a hub of artistic life. Now after a period of neglect (Ellen died in 1952) the house and garden are being lovingly restored and it is hoped that Muramaris will once again become an important arts centre."

Helsinki from a bus window	Pilot boat

One of our tour guides told us that many consider the Nordic summer to be three months in length - May, June, and July. She joked that the seasons are "nine months of anticipation followed by three months of disappointment." 

Today we had a brief stop in Helsinki, Finland where winter may have already begun .The weather was intensely stormy, so we spent only a few hours in the city. We hopped on a shuttle bus provided by the ship to the city centre, where we visited the Museum of Contemporary Art (waaaaay too post-modern for us) and managed to purchase a newspaper - a real treat in spite of the little one page summary of news we receive on-board ship each day. Back to the ship to enjoy the storm, and our departure from Helsinki, from deck 11 where tea and cakes were served. 

We also observed a phenomena we had noticed before as we were leaving port - a small official-looking boat would come tearing up to the side of our ship, and a man would jump over from our deck 4 to this small boat. Today we learned that we have to have a port "pilot" on-board to guide us out of the harbour until we are a certain distance out. Presumably this pilot knows all the nuances of exiting through the channels, etc. Once his work is done, his ride home is that little boat.

 

We are leaving St Petersburg today. A tugboat towed us through a narrow channel to the open Baltic Sea, and we are now rockin' and rollin'. We are experiencing 50 - 60 mile per hour winds as we travel in a boat that is as long as a football field and stands 9 stories tall above the water. Fortunately, the ship is equipped w/ stabilizers that dampen the effect of the effect of the rough water.

Even so, the motion of the sea is very pronounced, and Linda is definitely sick of hearing Heather say, over and over again, "it's not rough enough, we need open ocean."

Today, a bit weary, we rose early to take a small shore excursion (15 people) to the Hermitage. I don't know what we were expecting but it was SPECTACULAR and worth every moment of lost sleep. From Rembrandt, Da Vinci, and a sculpture by Michelangelo, to Van Gogh, Picasso, and Monet, every room had at least one famous work that we recognised, and the stories of the Russian royalty were amazing to hear.

The Hermitage is the most impressive collection of art work we have ever seen, but is housed in a 300-year-old palace that does not offer the best conditions. Lighting is terrible, many paintings are covered with some type of glass that reflects glare, and there is no climate control whatsoever with regular windows that open to the streets (and pollution) outside. The rewarding part of the conditions is that you can walk right up to most of these art works and examine them in detail.

En route to all the beautiful places we have seen the real "people's" St Petersburg. Communism and collective ownership resulted in 75 years of deferred maintenance, and most buildings that are not palaces or tourist attractions are crumbling. The apartment buildings, automobiles, and general demeanour of those average Russians walking down the streets appear to be very run down.

On a hopeful note, there is an enormous amount of restoration work underway in St Petersburg, and we hope that when we visit next the Russian people are more sure of their own important place in history.

Catherine's Summer Palace	Cathedral of Spilled Blood
Cemetery Sculpture	Elena and Vladimir, our guide and driver

Today we took a private tour (highly recommended) to Catherine's Palace, Cathedral of Spilled Blood, and some miscellaneous spots like art galleries (we are looking for a painting), a cemetery, and lunch at a restaurant recommended by a colleague. Elena was our guide and Vladimir our driver — and yes, we are SO happy we paid extra for an air-conditioned car!  It's 80 degrees F and humid. 

We learned all about the occupation of the summer palaces by those dreaded Nazi's, as well as more about Peter, Alexander, Paul, Catherine, and the Romanov's. It's all a bit of a blur ... possibly because the alcohol is flowing somewhat freely now that we are back to the ship. Typical tourists, what can we say?

The photos are of Catherine's Palace (blue for her eyes, white for her skin, and gold for her hair), of the roof line of Spilled Blood Cathedral (a truly impressive interior that is completely marble and mosaic), and a sculpture that captured our attention at a city cemetery. This cemetery houses the remains of many authors, musicians and composers including such recognizable names as Fyodor Dostoyevsky and Igor Stravinsky.

Tall Fountain	Tall Hair

Fountains at Peterhof Palace	Fortress of St Peter and St Paul	Nazi front line during WWII
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Today we took a ship-sponsored excursion (meaning 25 of us on a big bus) to Peterhof Palace, lunch at the Grand Hotel, and a quick visit to both Fortress of Peter and Paul followed by St. Issacs. Writing this after 8+ hours of tourism, we are exhausted. The Peterhof was wonderful and interesting, lunch was terrible but entertaining (with some ethnic singers), and the last two stops were a friggin' blur of information, marble and mosaic art.

It is hard to imagine the sacrifice of the people of St. Petersburg who endured 900 days (that's three years) of siege during WW II. The Nazis surrounded the city and occupied many of the summer palaces that lie short distances from the city. In the end, although St Petersburg lost half its population, the people endured and Hitler went home without his party at the Astoria Hotel.

It was wonderful to learn about the incredible devotion and extraordinary effort exhibited by the curators and workers at the museums and palaces. As the Nazis were approaching, they exercised great creativity in hiding many of the great works of art in their care. Although the Nazis left rubble and ashes in their wake, the efforts of the curators paid off as many of the original paintings, sculptures and tapestries are now displayed, once again, in their original homes as the palaces are restored to pre-war glory.

Today is the first day of the cruise when we haven't lost an hour of time during the night due to sailing eastward. The result of this 23-hour day is that we feel chronically tired ... can't imagine how the Americans who flew here from the west part of the U.S. must be feeling right now.

Our room from the balcony	Diligence at sea	Starboard view from the room
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This is what we are living in for the week on-board. Heather is able to work both the champagne glass AND the binoculars simultaneously.

We have arrived in St Petersburg where we are parked way out in some industrial port. Most people would find distressing but Heather is, of course, completely bewildered by the fact that a tour of the port logistical
centre is not listed for tomorrow!

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After our first night at sea, here we are in Estonia, schlepping around in our tennis shoes and jeans, looking for all the world like two tourists from Amerika. We spent a few hours in the city of Tallinn, but mostly are trying to get used to our new life of luxury here on the ship! You can can see we are small, but what you cannot see is how luxurious we are compared to our parking neighbor.

We are parked next to the Celebrity cruise ship, Constellation which is almost three times as long as our 7 Seas Voyager and carries almost 3 times as many passengers. There are only 614 guests on our ship versus almost 2,000 on the Constellation. Some of the larger cruise ships carry up to 3,000 passengers. It feels like the difference between being on a floating hotel and a floating city.

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It's 8:30 pm and darkness will descend in an hour or so. The captain explained that we must be out of the archipelago before dark, and so we left the Stockholm pier 30 minutes earlier than scheduled.

We write this from the 11th floor observation deck, Brandy Alexanders in hand, as the Seven Seas Voyager winds its way out of the Swedish archipelago, past rocky promenades and every size and shape of island covered with dense fir forests.

Since 3:30 pm we have checked in (one glass of sparkling wine), unpacked, then done a safety drill involving our life jackets and assembling on the deck under the life boats (could have, should have brought a glass of champagne), then a reception on the main deck (two more glasses of champagne), then a lecture on St. Petersburg and the history of Russia (one glass of champagne), and now we are up on the observation deck where we are in complete agreement that we could sit for the entire trip.

The ship is quiet but you can feel the engines humming under your feet, and it's a very powerful experience to see the islands melt away on either side.

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Today we segway'd, taxi'd, and cruise'd. We started the day with a Segway tour of Djurgarden, a beautiful garden island that is part of Stockholm. We rode past all kinds of beautiful flowers and vegetable gardens, all set in a gorgeous park. As I would have predicted, Heather is trying to figure out where we should live in order to justify owning one.

Then we set off to the National Museum, which turned out to be fantastic ... They had a very good design exhibition, and some genius curator has finally put 18th century paintings with modern in the same gallery. Heather was reminded of the etiquette of museums.

Then we did some fun people-watching as the city readied itself for it's Gay Pride parade. We longed to stick around to see the parade, but hey, we had a ship to catch. We wound all around the parade route in a taxi en route to the piers to begin our cruise. 

We loved Stockholm and hope we can return to this lovely little city soon. However, now that the day is here, we are both amazed at how excited we are to board this very impressive ship. 

Not to state the obvious, but there is A LOT of water up here. We took the obligatory boat tour this morning, and viewed a few dozen of the islands in the archipelago that is Sweden. The city of Stockholm is spread over about 20 islands, but when you are just looking at the pretty little harbour, its difficult to understand the true ratio of water to land, and the fact that this city isn't on the water as much as in the water. The landscape is as you might expect ... blue sky with fluffy white clouds, lots of evergreen trees, and a rocky shoreline. Temperature is in the mid-sixties (17 - 19 C), which our tour guide assured us is plenty warm for summer swimming!

After the boat tour we went to Ostermalmshallen, the market hall, which is gastronomy personified. It's not as big as Harrods, but fruits, vegetables, and fish were all stunningly presented. After lunch, we headed to the Moderna Museet (Museum of Modern Art), in a new building designed by Rafael Moneo, on the island of Skeppsholmen. (All these sights were within easy walking distance of each other; Stockholm is a small and easy-to-get-to-know city.) The museum had a special exhibit of architectural models, and we visited the regular collections as well (Picasso, Miro, Magritte all included). A highlight for Linda was when Heather was scolded not once, but twice, by the security guard because she could not keep from playing with the Alexander Calder mobile. (Heather's defence was "it's a mobile, it's supposed to move.")

We walked back to the Grand Hotel and talked over the day while sipping our Pol Roger and looking out over the harbour. There were lots of ferries departing this Friday evening with Stockholmers looking forward to a weekend at their cottage on a far north island. Seems a nice lifestyle here ... while summer lasts. Tomorrow we have a Segway ride planned, followed by our embarkation on the cruise!

 

Although we have found that our colleagues in Britain work just as hard (long intense days) as we do, the Europeans place a higher value on vacation time than most of our American colleagues. Three or four weeks of holiday per year is the norm, and some people even take this all at once.

At the office this means that it is challenging to make progress in July and August because so many people are out. Under this influence we have been able to actually schedule a two-week vacation for ourselves this year, for the first time ever, and it begins today!

We flew to Stockholm where we will spend a few days before embarking on a cruise of the Baltic countries. Yesterday we shot these photos as we walked around the harbour and into the old city, where we drank copious amount of bad red wine and heard some low-key jazz.  (Lesson for the day: beer or vodka in Sweden)

 

A few weeks ago, during the early hours of dawn, we heard the tinkling of glass bottles and the quiet whisper of an electric vehicle winding up our street. Upon investigation we learned that there is a milkman who makes home deliveries.

Last week, I returned home late on Thursday evening from my usual week in the northwest. The next morning, as I stirred from slumber at about ten before 6:00, my first thought was that we had no milk for cereal or cream for coffee. As if on cue, I heard the quiet electric open-sided truck pull up in front of the flat. I jumped up, threw on my robe, and ran down the stairs to meet Joe, the neighbourhood milkman. He sold me two pints of semi-skimmed, and signed us up for regular delivery every Friday morning.

Not only do the doctors in England make house calls, but it is delightful to have Joe bring us milk and cream every week.

-HrH

It is a rainy day in London and what a great day to catch up on a bit of reading, take a nap, and watch a DVD. A refreshing break from the long days and travel away from home during the week.

London gets about 23 inches of rainfall annually. This is only slightly higher than the 20 inches of annual rainfall for San Francisco. The difference is that San Francisco gets all its rain in the few months of winter and London spreads it gently throughout the entire year. It is very common to get a short rain shower during the day that gives way to sunshine a few hours later. This means that we rarely leave home without a brolly but find ourselves not needing it most of the time. We are generally indoors people (no golfing and our hiking is limited to a few hours in the heath) and find ourselves outside between showers most of the time. Only once did I get caught in a downpour and if I had have waited 10 minutes longer I could have walked home in sunshine.

Has it been mere luck that we evade the rain showers, or have we acclimated as Londoners and the rain doesn't phase us any more?

We went to the film cinema last night for the first time since we arrived in London a year ago … and what a posh cinema it was!  Sitting on comfortable couches instead of cramped theatre seats made it feel as though we were lounging in our own living room with one heck of a big-screen TV

Everyman Theatre is right in our neighbourhood and we have walked by a number of times, commenting on how we need to get out more (no snide comments please). The theatre first opened in 1933 and has a long and interesting history as an independent venue. For more images, check out the photos at the bottom of this website!

By the way, we saw Batman Begins and, well, we highly recommend The Station Agent.

We love to sleep with the windows open, and enjoy the cool night air. Last night was a great sleeping night until I woke up about 3:00 am to the smell of acrid smoke. I jumped up and checked the hallway to determine that our building was not on fire. Then I stuck my head out the window (American readers note there are no window screens here – the few bugs that exist just fly in and then fly out again) and I could see a heavy haze in the air. Then I noticed other people moving to their windows and in a few cases, out their doors into the street. The lady across the street called up to me to compare “sniffing” notes, and the said she would call the fire brigade. They told her there was a big fire miles away, and that the wind had shifted and was blowing the smoke into our neighbourhood. We would have all breathed a big sigh of relief if we could have taken a deep enough breath.  

I went back to bed feeling very good about our new neighbours. This morning it’s a beautiful sunny and clear day again, but my thoughts go out to those in the immediate vicinity of the fire. I hope they can get a breath soon.

The London Fire Brigade offers this brief update on the incident.

Around 100 firefighters and twenty fire engines are currently tackling a blaze at a timber yard on Staples Corner in Cricklewood. People working in the surrounding area have been evacuated while crews work to bring the fire under control. Local roads and rail services have also been affected.

The Brigade was called at 1331 (16-July) and crews are still at the scene.

Life goes on, but it’s always different afterwards. And today is no different for us. We have errands to do (need to buy a dishwasher, take the drycleaning, take the cardboard to the recycling centre) and a life to live.

And we do it — but with a bit of something hanging in the back of our minds.

The beauty of the British is that their response has been so different than the U.S. after September 11th.  There are no flags draped on every car, no (or not many) people looking for immediate retribution, no hysteria. Just quiet determination and stoicism. It makes me realize how much we really do like the culture here, in spite of all our frustrations documented on this web site over the last year.

 

We are fine. Details to follow.

Like the New York Times says, London is stunned, bloody and stoic.

A commenter on Diamond Geezer says it all: 

a two fingered salute to anyone who tries to change the way i lead my life. whoever did this will never put us down. they will never win. that is why we are londoners. and yep, tomorrow i'll be back on the top deck of the 15.

Check the BBC and the Financial Times for further coverage of the events.

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Last Sunday we went for our first walk in our new park … Hampstead Heath.  It’s very different from Kensington Gardens which is one of the “Royal Parks” and very manicured.  Hampstead Heath feels more wild and restful (meaning: farther away from the buzz of the city) and we liked it very much.  It’s 791 acres and situated about four miles from the centre of London, which you can see from the top of Parliament Hill. 

There are these really neat swimming ponds, one just for women, one just for men, and one for “mixed.”  It’s a romantic idea isn’t it, swimming around the pond in summer?  (meaning: not for me, not in this lifetime) 

There’s also a big concert shell at the top of the heath that looks like an interesting possibility.

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There’s a spectacular sculpture in one of the meadows for the next few months.  It’s called “The Writer” and here’s a couple of photos:

Visit this site for a great tour of the heath.

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One thing we love about our new flat in Hampstead is the feeling of being up high – we have large windows, lots of light, and feel really elevated after the old ground floor flat in Kensington. We have our office in the largest room on the street-side of the flat, and are constantly entertained by outside activities. I have been working at home quite a bit this week as I wait for various service people to call (and wait, and wait, but that’s another post . . .). 

Here’s what I have seen in a six hour window on Thursday:

• A policeman on a horse walking down the centre of the street (heard this before I looked out)
• A man with a broom, a dustbin, a little push cart, and a orange safety vest, sweeping up leaves and debris. They don’t have the concept here of days when you cannot park on certain streets because the street-sweeping machine comes through – or – they they believe in full employment. Not sure which.
• A big scooping machine picking up loose debris from the front driveway of the house next door, which is being completely renovated. The workers haul this debris, one wheelbarrow at a time, from the back yard and the inside, through the house, out onto a low scaffolding, and then dump it into the driveway. 
• A porta-potty being delivered next door.
• So many vans, delivery trucks, and service vehicles on the street that it was gridlocked.  Unfortunately, none of these were delivering anything to us! I am glad we don’t park on the street – looked like some close calls were happening!
• A flat bed truck picking up debris from the second floor flat across the street, also being renovated. (see photo)  (That’s the third floor if you were in the U.S. because the English they start at “ground” not “1.” )  These workers’ method of carting out the debris is via a big bucket they lower by a rope down from the scaffolding. This scaffolding is also how they get into the property in the morning, and how they exit at night. In the U.S. scaffolding would indicate that something is being done to the external of the building, but here, it’s apparently just to support the renovation work being done inside. The debris they lower down is all in office-rubbish-basket-sized plastic bags. These bags are removed from the bucket that was lowered and lined up on the sidewalk, or in the street until the flatbed comes to pick it up.

All this observing makes me glad that I don’t have to do hard manual labour for a living. Some of these guys make a lot less money than I do and they don’t get to live on the first floor in a nice flat in Hampstead.

-LmG

Click for larger image

We are settling into our new digs — leaving the buzz and tourists in Kensington for the northwest borough of Camden, in a neighborhood called Hampstead.  All we know so far is that our tube stop is the deepest in the entire underground system (300 steps up if you don’t take the elevator), and that our new park is called Hampstead Heath.  We are looking forward to exploring our little village-feel high street, and to listening to the wind blow through the trees in our new serene neighborhood.

We are also waiting for the movers eventually fit our sofa through the front door (they are coming back Tuesday). During the move last week, one mover said, “Everything’s bigger in America isn’t it?  Even the moving boxes.”  And I had to admit, as I unpacked 20 wine glasses, that we completely overdo most things in America. In any case, I am glad to be in England, even without a sofa!

We will get photos up soon, so stay tuned!

With my job taking me all over the United Kingdom, Linda and I have grown accustomed to very busy weeks. However, this week is one for the record books.

I travel to Edinburgh, Scotland on Monday, Manchester, England on Tuesday and Berkeley, California on Wednesday — where I will attend an Haas alumni retreat through Saturday.

While I am gone, Linda will be packing our personal belongings in our old flat and moving us to a new flat in Hampstead. Here is the crazy, day-by-day schedule:

Day	Heather	Linda
Monday	Leave at 5:00 AM for flight to Edinburgh Lead staff meeting all day 4:00 PM train from Edinburgh to Manchester	Full day of work Deliver keynote speech to UK Woman's Action Network in the afternoon
Tuesday	Interviewing candidates using the sky boxes at the Manchester United Football Stadium	Full day of work Pick up rental car
Wednesday	Leave at 7:00 AM for Heathrow. 9:50 AM flight to San Francisco	Full day of work 6:00 PM: Inventory new flat in Hampstead and pick up keys
Thursday	Hair cut and shopping in San Francisco	Receive shipping container with US furniture and belongings at new flat in Hampstead
Friday	Haas Alumni Network retreat in Berkeley	Pack belongings at old flat in Kensington and move to new flat in Hampstead
Saturday	Haas Alumni Network retreat in Berkeley 6:50 PM flight for Heathrow	Unpack in new flat
Sunday	Arrive at London Heathrow at 1:00 PM. Unpack our new flat in Hampstead	Pick up Heather at airport and continue unpacking

Now you know why the frequency of our posts can be so sporadic!

We are starting a new category today for words that seem to be common here in the UK but strike our American ears as unusal.

Today's word is nugatory. According to Answers.com it means

1. Of little or no importance; trifling.
2. Having no force; invalid.

Example, from The Observer:

Burke says the time scales are so long as to render nuclear's contribution to climate change by 2020 nugatory. 'If you started today, you would not have a reactor going for 10 years.

Listen to nugatory pronounced here. Of course, the British put the emphasis on the first syllable, rather than the third, as indicated by this pronounciation.

Life, liberty and the pursuit of cheese:

Men race a speeding cheese to the bottom of Cooper's Hill during the annual Cheese Roll in Brockworth, England. The first one down gets to keep the frommage, a seven-pound Double Gloucester. Many contestants suffer bruises, sprains and even broken limbs.

Full details of the event are available at the Cheese Rolling Festival web site.

So, what is the difference between England, Great Britain, the British Isles and the United Kingdom? Sam Hughes over at Sam's Archive has put together a great little Venn Diagram that helps illustrate the difference between the countries and regions that make up the British Isles.

You member Venn Diagrams don't you? They were those confusing circles in high school that had something or other in each circle that was somehow related to the other circle?

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In our continuing quest to see all of England, not just the posh parts of London, we found ourselves on the Isle of Wight this past bank holiday weekend. Why do we keep signing up for these little mini-vacations?  Why are we not off in Barcelona or on a beach in Sardinia like all the other Brits? It wasn’t a bad weekend . . . it just wasn’t that remarkable. 

We drove from London – five hours of bumper-to-bumper carriage way to the car ferry, a 35 minute ride across the water, then another hour of driving – to get to a lovely, two star, amateurish-run hotel high above the beach.  It felt like all five stories were clinging to the cliff with their fingernails and showing every sign that they won’t be hanging there much longer (the cracks in the wall and the leaning stairwell were alarming). 

We had some moderately successful meals, a delightful long walk along the coast and a pleasant stroll through the botanical gardens. Best of all, we caught up on some serious reading. 

The most amazing thing was watching the children playing in the surf. The temperature was in the mid 60's (18 C) and just because the sun was shining a number of children were frolicking in the water as if they were in the Bahamas. It was fun trying to figure out what draws people to the beach at the slightest whiff of sunshine (18 C at best, brisk wind, most people huddled in the little special-built shelters).

Our colleagues were mildly perplexed by our decision to come to the Isle of Wight for this weekend; and now that its over, so are we!

Okay we know we go on and on about this  . . .
but Kensington is an amazing place. We have never had this kind of easy access (3 blocks away) to such a beautiful and inspiring park.

Recently it was a spring-day-to-end-all-spring-days and the walk in the park was sublime. We took a bunch of pictures with our little Canon Powershot and put together a slide show.

Most of these photos were taken along the Queens Walk. Enjoy!

Yesterday we ventured out for our second try at the Sunday Roast experience. We went to one of our “locals,” a pub called the Abingdon and realized something significant – Sunday is a madhouse at most restaurants here, with many group and family outings. This was confirmed by our waiter who urged us to return under more tranquil weekday conditions. We will do a proper restaurant review at that time.

For now, the beef, potatoes, and green vegetables were all quite satisfying. However, the highlight of the day was the opportunity to solve a long running mystery for us involving the British concept of pudding.

The menu stated that the dinner came with Yorkshire Pudding. To our puzzlement, when the entree arrived, there was no "pudding" in sight. There was, however, something that Americans would call a popover. It was a bowl-shaped puffy pastry filled with a scoop of gravy. Is that it?

According to Answers.com, we were indeed enjoying Yorkshire pudding.

Yorkshire pudding . . . is like a cross between a Popover and a Souffle; and not at all like a pudding. It's made with a batter of eggs, milk and flour, baked in beef drippings until puffy, crisp and golden brown. It may be prepared in a shallow baking dish, muffin tins or other small containers, or in the same pan as the roast. Like a hot souffle, Yorkshire pudding will deflate shortly after it's removed from the oven. This specialty takes its name from England's northern county of Yorkshire.

Here is a recipe for Yorkshire pudding.

We have one more Sunday roast is scheduled, and then I think we will have had our fill of tradition and will move on to more exciting menu items.

In the last few days we have found ourselves taken with the game of snooker. We have become completely enamoured of the Embassy World Championships now being played (and televised on BBC2) over a total of 17 days. It’s really unbelievable how skilled these guys are at spin and geometry, and able to put the correct ball into the pocket while leaving the white ball perfectly positioned to make their next shot.

Unfortunately, our tentative favourite, Peter Ebdon, was eliminated yesterday. McCulloch and Stevens are battling it out this evening. It’s a toss up who we will be supporting (psychically) in the finals on May 2^nd. Because we know none of the players, we usually root for the underdog … but hair styles play a large part in Linda’s support, and Stevens has TOO MUCH HAIR GEL!  

I am in the second week of my new job and it is every bit as interesting, challenging and rewarding as I had hoped. I am working with a great group of people. My re-entry into the working world is going well.

My only challenge is that I am in the northwest of England which appears to be a bit of a technological backwater. I have no access to personal email or web sites during the work day (probably a good thing) but I wasn't prepared for the lack of WiFi or other high-speed internet access after work. There is no Starbucks and the Internet café that I found is actually in the office of a local real estate agent who put a folding table in the corner of his office and hooked up three PCs to his broadband connection. He calls this the CyberCafé. Unfortunately, the CyberCafé closes each evening at 6:00 PM — when the real estate agent goes home for the evening. I have managed to find only two hotels in the area with WiFi access and I am not currently staying at either of them.

Each evening I make a 10 minute walk to the neighbouring hotel for a fix of broadband. I get 2 hours or 75 MB of downloads for £5. By the time I retrieve my 80 - 90 emails and download a few of my favourite podcasts, I use up the 75 MB limit long before my 2 hours are up. To make it more challenging, there is a convention of senior citizens in this hotel the last couple of days. At the moment, someone is crooning Why Do Fools Fall In Love over a makeshift sound system in the lobby and encouraging people to join in the sing-a-long. Alas my voice just isn't up to it this evening.

It is difficult to keep up with the blog posts while sitting in a hotel lobby and with such limited access to the world. If all goes well, I will be staying at a hotel next week with high speed access. Ahh, to be reconnected again.

We had a terrific sushi dinner last night at Kulu Kulu, a most unusual sushi bar! Stools were arranged at the bar facing a conveyor belt that snaked through the room (think sushi boats without the water).

First, we have never eaten at a sushi bar where not one member of the staff was Japanese. Second the "art" of cutting fish is not what you would call elevated here – it all looks very amateurish. Maki are made at the bar, and nigiri comes from a mysterious window opening onto the conveyer belt.

The ambiance has all the panache of a Detroit strip mall diner, and the service is non-existent. Customers are requested to limit their stay to 45 minutes.

However, none of the above would deter us from a second visit. We had a good meal and recommend Kulu Kulu to anyone looking for good, quick sushi in London's Soho area. The fish was fresh (including the imitation crab ) although we were there at the beginning of the evening so everything was just going onto the conveyer belt as we sat down. There was plenty of variety, and the handrolls – especially the shrimp tempura-salmon rolls – were fantastic.

Thanks to Nicole and Bob for the suggestion.

Ratings (5 is the highest, most perfect score)

Food:	3
Service:	0
Ambiance:	0
Value:	4 — We were stuffed, and had two beers, for £35
Verdict:	We will absolutely return for fast, cheap, good sushi. Plus, they open at 5 pm which is big plus from our perspective.

 

Other Reviews:

• London Eating

Remember this song?:

Oh, do you know the muffin man,
The muffin man, the muffin man,
Oh, do you know the muffin man,
That lives on Drury Lane?

Oh, yes, I know the muffin man,
The muffin man , the muffin man,
Oh, yes, I know the muffin man,
That lives on Drury Lane.

Well guess where Drury Lane is located? Yep, in London. Here’s a fascinating blog post on it at one of our favourite sites.

You can listen to the tune by clicking on the player at the bottom of this site.

Get a job, she said! That is your primary task. Since last September, I have spent 20 - 30 hours a week networking and looking for a job.

Today I am proud to announce that I can mark the task complete. On Tuesday April 19 I will begin an interim position as the Head of Corporate Infrastructure Management with a large Civil Service employer. It promises to be a very challenging job as the organisation is undergoing a significant transformation over the next few years and I will get to help drive that change.

I also will have the opportunity to see a vast amount of England as I work in various cities throughout the country. I will spend a good amount of my time in the northwest of England but will travel to many other cities as well.

The position also feeds into my long term goal of becoming a turnaround specialist and someone who can quickly get up to speed in a challenging situation, helping organisations to move ahead.

Stay tuned for further reports from the road.

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We have previously posted on the fact that London is 950 miles farther north than San Francisco. The distance was driven home recently when I noticed that the satellite dishes on people's houses were darn near horizontal.

As I understand it, the satellite TV providers position their satellites in orbit over the equator. In order to pick up the signals, people in the northern hemisphere point their dishes southward towards the satellites over the equator. The closer to the equator, the sharper the angle of the dish. The farther north, the lower the angle. We are so far north in the UK that the dishes appear horizontal.

We have been eager to try some of the gastropubs located in the English countryside. Yesterday, during our driving adventure we made a slight detour to The Greyhound, located in an old coaching inn on the single main street in Stockbridge.

It was lunch, and we dined sans wine, so we did not have the full dining experience – but still found it quite pleasant. The 15th century low ceilings meant that we had to duck on the way to the lady's room but confirmed our presence in a country pub.

Linda had a cauliflower crème soup and a linguine dish that was rich but delicious; Heather’s Scottish rib-eye was the best beef we have tasted since we arrived in the U.K. The chef, Darren Bunn worked at the Criterion Grill in the West End before moving to Stockbridge, and has earned The Greyhound a Michelin star for the past two years.

Ratings (5 is the highest, most perfect score)

Food:	3
Service:	4
Ambiance:	3 (in that typical low-beams, big-fireplace, 15th century building style)
Verdict:	Would return if we were in the area

 

Other Reviews:

• The Times

• The Guardian

We took to the roads of England for the first time today. Following the advice of many other expats who have made the transition from driving on the right hand side to driving on the left, we rented a car and headed out of town for a little trial trip. We made our way into the southwest countryside with Stonehenge as our destination. Seven hours, 200 miles, a wonderful lunch, and some big stones later, we are home safe and sound.

Driving for the first time in England was intense to say the least, and not quite in the ways we had feared. It’s not that weird to sit on the right side of the car or to have the shifter on the left (we did get an automatic). We didn’t feel as if we were learning to drive all over again or anything like that.

The weird stuff is what’s stored in our ‘muscle memory.’ There are patterns and habits that are so deeply ingrained that we had to focus perpetually in order to ‘override’ our instincts. One example is having our body on the right side of the lane – we have such a deep instinct to align our body with the left side of the lane that we constantly had to fight the car drifting to the left (so that our line of sight is where it used to be).

Another example is looking in the rear view mirror, previously located up and to the right. Today we rarely checked the rear view mirror in our British car. Instead, we found ourselves looking constantly into the right hand side mirror — even when we were in the right hand passing lane and the right side mirror showed nothing but the shoulder of the road.

We are home now and none the worse for wear. Our shoulders are a little tense, which is undoubtedly a combination of the stress of driving in England for the first time and the wonderful ergonomics and quality of the seats in our Ford Focus.

My apologies for the tabloid headline but it was just too tempting.

Tony Blair has met with the Queen and requested that Parliament be dissolved on April 11 — and she has graciously consented to do so. It turns out that dissolving the parliament is a normal part of the election process. Cool!

The Prime Minister has called for an election on May 5. (05/05/05) The race is on for a month long campaign. (I suspect that many Americans would welcome the opportunity to dissolve congress, especially if they only had to endure a month of campaigning.)

All of the major papers have sections dedicated to the latest news on the UK election. Stay up to date with these links:

• Financial Times
• The Guardian
• The Evening Standard
• BBC
• Election Watch (blog)
• Lost in Westminster (blog)

Surprisingly,The Times does not have a section dedicated to the election, at least not yet. Stay tuned . . .

The upcoming wedding of Prince Charles and Camilla Parker Bowles continues to generate controversy and headlines.

First, there was the news that the couple would have to change the wedding venue from Windsor Castle to the nearby town hall. Apparently, licensing the royal palace would cause too much disruption (not to mention the fact that it would have enabled commoners to enjoy the same right as the Prince of Wales to marry in the castle, which is the Queen’s favourite residence). The consolation for us commoners is that the town hall will allow the public to cheer the newlyweds as they arrive and leave.

And this is just the beginning. According to an article the Times, "the Queen is deeply concerned at the shambolic preparations for her son’s second wedding." Apparently, the change in venue will cost the residents of the Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead £1 million ($1.87 million).

Then came the startling headlines that the Queen will not attend the ceremony. Stating that she wanted to respect her son's wish for a low-key occasion, the Queen opted to attend the blessing and reception.

Now the couple have fallen victim to an unfortunate confluence of international events. The wedding, originally scheduled for Friday, April 8, now conflicts with the funeral of the pope. What were the chances of that?

At first, a spokesperson for the Prince said the wedding would go ahead as planned. But then several VIP's (including the Prime Minister) said that they would be heading to Rome to attend the funeral, the couple agreed to postpone the wedding. The couple have now announced that the wedding will be moved to Saturday morning.

For all the latest, as well as a complete history, see the Charles and Camilla section at the Times.

It is a beautiful Sunday morning in London and I decided to venture out to Speaker's Corner in Hyde Park. Anyone may turn up unannounced and use this legendary locale to exercise their rights to free speech. Of course, the hecklers can be counted upon to reciprocate in kind. The corner has hosted such greats as Marx, Lenin, and George Orwell.

Although I wasn't expecting any world class orators, I thought that there was enough controversy in Europe these days to at least have an interesting speaker. With the war in Iraq a perennial favourite, Wolfowitz being confirmed as president of the World Bank, the upcoming UK elections and the impending vote on the EU constitution, I was sure there would be something interesting to hold my attention.

To my dismay there was only an aging English bloke who was railing on about the importance of Jesus in your life. He was highlighting the attractiveness of his beliefs by clamouring that taking the narrow road with Jesus would require me to turn away from my friends and my family. I walked away as he was recounting his experience in the Vietnam War when he asked himself the soul-searching question, "what am I doing here?" Apparently Jesus had an answer for him but I didn't wait around to hear what it was.

I wandered south in the park to the Honest Sausage and could not resist. I ordered a Park Porker. Unfortunately it was overcooked and smothered in an unappetizing sauce which leaked all over my hands. I tossed it after a few bites and strolled home taking in the emergence of spring among the flowers and the squirrels and the thousands of revelers. At least I got a good 4.5 miles worth of exercise out of the walk.

Click for slide show

We went to Ireland for a luxurious four-day Easter holiday. We were also celebrating the sale of our home in California, so went all out. We flew into Cork and had a driver take us to Sheen Falls Lodge in the west of County Kerry, a very beautiful spot near the little town of Kenmare.

We relaxed, read, ate very well, and walked about a million miles through a beautiful and remote countryside. Here are some photos that don’t begin to capture the serenity of this special place.

Slide Show

We have a peaceful retreat planned on the west coast of Ireland for the Easter weekend.

It turns out that the Easter holiday is a big deal in Europe. In the U.K. both Good Friday and Easter Monday are “bank holidays” which means everyone has a four day weekend and many people travel. We decided to try to beat the crowd for our trip to Ireland and leave on Thursday. Good grief. It’s been many years since we have been on a non-business airline (Aer Lingus), flying on a non-business day (roughly equivalent to the day before Thanksgiving in the U.S.).

Tempers flared, carry-on bags had to be removed to the hold, and both boarding and disembarking took forever. Of approximately 150 seats, there were no less than 30 adults holding infants, and every one of them were squalling. Basically every seat was filled—and some were filled with two people. Aer Lingus even has a special seatbelt for use when a child is on your lap—it hooks around the kid and to your seatbelt. The munchkin belt was something we had never seen before in our hundreds of thousands of airline miles. Perhaps this is a cue that Aer Lingus may be, um, a bit too Catholic-family oriented for our future travel needs. There’s a Monty Python skit in here somewhere, but we were so desperate to disembark in Cork, we left it on the plane!

Photo Credit: Iowa Beef Council

We have discovered that a roast, with all the trimmings, is a Sunday tradition here in the UK. In a recent survey 42% of Britons said that the Sunday roast would be one of the things they would miss most if they had to live abroad.

Linda and I decided to immerse ourselves in this heritage and sample the local restaurants for the traditional fare on Sunday afternoon. Yesterday we ventured out to a place called The Med Kitchen on Kensington Church Street. Although the service was excellent, the food was dismal. The beef was very tough and the carrots were a little too crunchy. The rest of the vegetables left a little to be desired. Strike one for adopting this particular tradition.

We will try two more restaurants in search of a delectable Sunday roast dinner. Stay tuned for further reports. (Don't even think about expecting us to cook this traditional meals ourselves! We are not that traditional.)

The following excerpt from the North Country Web offers some fascinating background on this long standing tradition.

In the distant past the village serfs who worked the land were held in bondage by the Squire. In other words, they were held in a form of slavery and not freemen able to roam at will. When called by the King, the landowners would rally their serfs to the King's Colours.

During the week the Serfs worked for the Squire for six days while Sunday, the Sabbath, was a day of rest. After the morning church service, the men would assemble in a field by the Squire's hall and practice with the sword, musket, pike & long bow to be ready to fight the enemy of the King.

After much battling and target practice the serfs were rewarded with the King's payment, which was several mugs of ale at the Tavern followed by a feast of oxen roasted upon the spit. This was how the traditional Sunday Roast, that the British still enjoy, originated.

Click for larger image

I came home to find another memo under our door from the Kensington Green management staff.

It would appear that there have been complaints of noisy children and it is time to do something about it. As a result, the management is considering adopting the same bylaws as the local city government. The memo is to warn us that they are, in fact, considering such drastic action.

Here is the full text of the memo.

Re: Noise Nuisance: Children's Ball Games, etc.

The issue of unsupervised children playing ball games, etc. has again been brought to my attention as a cause of considerable annoyance to many residents. I am obliged to remind those tenants with children that, under the terms of their lease, all residents are entitled to a peaceful existence on the Estate.

My Security staff have expressed concern regarding children playing on skate boards and roller blades, not only on the roads of the Estate but also in front of the exit of the underground car park. Damage is also being caused to shrubs in the gardens and to the sprinkler system by children playing football games nearby.

I would advise you that KGML are considering adopting the same bylaws as the Royal Borough of Kensington & Chelsea for the playing of games in gardens and squares. These rules apply to residents and tenants alike whether on long or short term occupancy leases. All estate agents and residents will be advised of the new rules when they are put in place (emphasize mine)

Regrettably these changes have become necessary due to the irresponsible attitude of certain residents who have repeatedly ignored requests to ensure that their children are supervised. These new rules will also put an end to the extremely time-consuming task currently being undertaken by the Estate's Security team in trying to locate the residents in question when these, all too frequent, incidents occur.

Your support in this matter would be much appreciated.

I just returned to London after a four night stay in Berkeley. I was attending another of the quarterly meetings of the Haas Alumni Board.

With so many trips back and forth to California I have finally achieved Premier Executive status on United Airlines. If you are going to fly, then it is best to fly a lot. Airports and planes can be highly stressful. However, if you fly a lot, then you reach Premier status where the perks are enough to make the experience tolerable, if not enjoyable. Of course, with so many flights, there are plenty of miles to spend on upgrades as well. Business Class on long flights is a treat. Never mind the improved meals, it's the extra personal space and the ability to sleep fully reclined that turns a 10 hour ordeal into a quick jaunt across the pond.

Business Class, it's the only way to fly!

Not only are the British and American accents very distinct, a new study by a Berkeley professor, has shown that your smile can reveal your roots.

An article published recently in the London Times, reports that the British smile by pulling their lips back and upwards and exposing their lower teeth. Americans, on the other hand, are more likely to simply part their lips and stretch the corners of their mouths. Also from the article:

He found the British were also more likely to raise their cheeks when they smile, showing the crow’s feet at the corners of the eyes. This produces a more sincere, hard-to-fake smile.

By contrast, Keltner found most Americans had the far less expressive “Pan-Am smile”, named after the defunct airline’s gesture of welcome. This depends only on the zygomaticus major corner-tightening muscle and has also been called the “Botox smile” because, like the cosmetic treatment, it leaves the muscles at the corners of the eyes motionless.

You can read the full article here.

Earlier this week we made a return visit to the London Design Museum. This time we went to see a lecture on Typography. The speaker was Matthew Carter, one of the most prominent font designers alive.

Typography is arguably the geekiest, and certainly the most omnipresent, aspect of contemporary graphic design, and Matthew Carter is the king of the font. The designer has created worshipped computer typefaces including Helvetica, Verdana and Georgia, in addition to creating the world's first internet font foundry. For this event, Carter discussed the letters that grace the pages of the modern press, including those of the Guardian and the New York Times.

Despite the fact that only about 20 of the 200 attendees could see the podium and the moderator's microphone was turned so low as to be inaudible, we could hear Matthew loud and clear and the lecture was fascinating. Many of the ideas that he presented are contained in this online interview.

For more information on fonts and type, check out the Type Museum.

Our thanks to the Comic Sans typeface for sponsoring this post.

I haven't mentioned much about my career search lately but I continue to work diligently to find a job in this great country.

A few weeks ago the media was abuzz with the news that Google was going to digitise some of the world's largest libraries, including material from the New York Library, Harvard, Stanford, and Oxford.

It would appear that Google and Oxford have signed an agreement and are moving forward with their plans. I have been energized by a job posting I found yesterday in the London version of Craig's List. They are looking for a Manager of Business Operations, Production and Logistics to lead the conversion of the Oxford library. This position is tailor made for me and I am moving forward with an application.

The commute to Oxford will be a bit brutal but I have already researched my options. I can catch an express bus called The Oxford Tube for a reasonable rate each month. The long bus ride each day will give me plenty of time to catch up on work and stay current on my podcasts .

Wish me luck!

Someone told me that if it ever snows an inch or more in London, don’t even try to get into work. Tonight we are having our first flurries . . . I am hoping for a SNOW DAY tomorrow!

Today we visited the Victoria and Albert Museum, another great British institution that stands in close proximity to the Natural History Museum, the Science Museum, and Royal Albert Hall. While the outside of the building is still pockmarked with damage from the attacks during the Second World War, the inside is full of exhibits that stand up to reputation as the “world's greatest museum of art and design.”

We only made it through the first floor – there is just too much to see in one trip. We were particularly impressed with the Cast Courts. These are two huge rooms filled with plaster cast replicas of all kinds of different items: columns, sculptures, tombs, friezes, building facades, and a full size replica of Michelangelo’s David. It was fascinating to see the intricate detail and looming facades. It’s a weird Gothic ambience, but one worth seeing.

Well, we have arrived home to Kensington only to find that Charles has proposed to Camilla – the second proposal in 35 years! Apparently he also proposed in 1972, but went off to the Navy or something and she married someone else. Think of all the public angst that would have been avoided (or spent on someone else) if they had married then.

Anyway, in typical British fashion, the bookmakers have been busy takings bets on the colour of Camilla’s wedding outfit.

William Hill is offering odds of 33/1 against the future Duchess of Cornwall choosing a white dress, and make cream or natural the favourite at 1/3. Pink, pale blue and yellow are offered at 6/1, 8/1, and 10/1 respectively.

Particularly brave punters can also lay money at 66/1 on
her stepping out in a patriotic mix of red white and blue on April 8.

We wish them a long and happy union, and God Save the Queen if she should choose the red, white, and blue wedding dress!

Linda is en route to San Francisco today and I leave on the 9:50 AM flight from Heathrow on Wednesday. The buyer removed all contingencies from her offer last Friday and the deal is going through.

Yes, we have sold Oakondo, our townhouse in Oakland. The market was very good to us and we couldn't be more pleased with the results. Now we must rush home and clean out our possessions. Our plan is to rent an unfurnished flat in London when our current lease expires at the end of June. Hence, most of our belongings in Oakland will be packed and stored for a few months then shipped to London this summer.

The stuff that remains (books, pictures, our Christmas tree, a few dishes, etc.) will be either stored in a Door to Door container, sold on Craig's list, or given away. The next couple of days are going to be quite busy!

Sometimes I wonder if the Britain and the US do things differently just to be ornary.

Index cards, those 3 inch by 5 inch cards of heavy paper, have a million and one uses. They are widely available in both the US and Great Britain.

In the US they are designated as 3 x 5 Index Cards, while in the UK they are 5 x 3 Record Cards (See photo).

3x5? 5x3? It is difficult to know who went first and who followed with the opposite designation.
 

Another entry in our ongoing series on the British Parliament.

Parliament is the supreme legislative institution in the United Kingdom and its overseas territories. The legislative bodies of many nations around the world are modelled on it (especially those of the Commonwealth nations). The UK Parliament is one of the oldest representative assemblies in the world, having its origins in the mid-13th Century. The United Kingdom Parliament today comprises members from England, Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales.

The Queen is the head of the State here (yes really!) and the rest of Parliament is comprised of an Upper House (the House of Lords) and a Lower House (the House of Commons). The 695 members of the House of Lords (known as 'peers') are not elected. Originally, they were drawn from the various groups of senior and influential nobility in Britain, who advised the monarch throughout the country's early history.

Unlike the House of Lords, the 659 members of the House of Commons are democratically elected and, as such, are directly responsible to the electorate. The forthcoming British elections will be to chose the members of the House of Commons.

In modern times, the centre of parliamentary power is in the House of Commons; the Queen acts only as a figurehead, and the powers of the House of Lords are greatly limited. The House of Lords is a more prestigious group and a “peerage” may be a kind of reward for time well spent in the British government. (Stay tuned for more details on both houses.)

Additional reading:

• House of Parliament (Wikipedia)
• An Introduction to Parliament
• Politics in the United Kingdom (Wikipedia)
• Previous Living in London posts

 

We have started to think about driving in the UK but are a little daunted by the idea of sitting on the right hand side of the car and driving on the left. A lifetime of habits and instincts have been embedded while driving on the right hand side of the road.

Brian Lucas (he's Canadian, you know) has written a fabulous article answering the question "Which side of the road do they drive on?" Of the 240 countries listed in his report. 74 of them drive on the left. Who knew?

Interesting highlights from his article:

Did the United States ever drive on the left?

• Yes. The evidence we have been able to collect is mostly indirect, but it seems almost certain that in the early years of English colonization of North America, English driving customs were followed and the colonies drove on the left, gradually changing to right-hand driving after independence.

What about pedestrians?

• Keeping right is the normal practice in the USA and Canada.
• The United Kingdom seems not to have a preference as to which side of the path to use when walking . . . This doesn't mean that the British bump into each other. They don't tend to use single-file traffic, but they still manage to negotiate their way effectively using body language, eye contact, and other cues to signal their intentions and notice others' intentions.(ed. note: in other words, walking on a crowded street is complete mayhem! )

(Thanks to joe-ks for the sign photo!)

Now here’s a British topic . . . and a controversial one.

According to this article in the Jan 24/31, 2005 issue of The New Yorker, fox hunting is the second most divisive issue in British politics today, and only a slight second to the war in Iraq. Here are some fascinating facts:

• 407,000 people participated in one particularly large demonstration in favor of hunting
• 240 fox and stag hunts are held in the British Isles each year
• 70,000 people ride in these annual events
• To participate you need two trained horses, a place to stable them, a groom, and all the feed, vets, blacksmiths, insurance, boots and clothes, and a subscription to the hunt itself – £1,500 per horse
• More than a million people annually “follow” the hunt, that is, they follow it on foot, or in Land Rovers, or on quad bikes
• The House of Lords (those with a peerage, aka a title of baron bestowed by the Queen) support the right to fox hunt
• The House of Commons (the elected folks, the bulk of whom are from the Labour party – traditionally the trade union types) generally are against it. (More on these two Houses soon.)

As liberal Americans, you can guess where we stand on this issue, as well as our challenge in understanding the class distinctions and cultural issues that have led to the uproar.

A wonderful Saturday morning in London. Up early and onto the number 9 bus just outside Kensington Gardens, riding in the top front seats on a double decker bus, enjoying the best urban vantage point of all time. Frost on the grass, a nip in the air, and a clear sky promising sun. We ride through Knightsbridge, past Hyde Park Corner, along Piccadilly, past Trafalgar Square and St. Martin-in-the-Fields, along the Strand into the theatre district. The bus discharges us on Aldwych street and we walk along the Strand, past the Royal Courts of Justice, toward St Paul’s Cathedral. Here we turn toward the River Thames and cross it on the Millennium Bridge, arriving on the south side of the River. The sun is rising but our breath is still frosty as we walk along the River toward London Bridge. We are en route to our favourite market – the Borough – located at the Southwark Cathedral and Winchester Square. We pass under the southern end of the Southward Bridge, and learn something amazing from a ditty inscribed on some slate panels along the walkway there:

Behold the liquid Thames now frozen o’er
That lately ships of mighty burden bore.
Here you print your name tho’ cannot write
‘Cause numbe’d with cold: ‘Tis done with great delight.
And lay it by: That ages yet to come
May see what things upon the ice were done

– printed on a broadsheet from the Frost Fair of 1739-40

Apparently, in the 17th and 18th centuries, the Thames used to freeze! The fact that the river was once much wider and shallower, coupled with the constrictions of the old London Bridge arches (which slowed the course of the river) meant that there were occasions when the Thames actually froze over. On these occasions, booths were set up on the frozen waters, printing presses sold souvenir broadsheets, whole oxen would be roasted and activities such as dancing and archery took place. These Frost Fairs are recorded in the winters of 1564-5, 1683-4, 1715-6, 1739-40 and 1813-4. 1814 was to be the last winter when a Frost Fair was held, as London Bridge was replaced a decade later with a new bridge of fewer arches. With less restrictions the Thames flowed more freely and has never frozen over since.

In our ongoing series of the politics of the United Kingdom, today we look at The Cabinet.

The Cabinet is the committee at the centre of the British political system and is the supreme decision-making body in British Government. When the Cabinet meets, Secretaries of State from all departments, and other ministers, meet in 10 Downing Street to discuss issues of the day. The Prime Minister chairs the meetings, selects its members, and also recommends their appointment as Ministers by the Monarch. Most members are Secretaries of State by title, with some exceptions. The number of members that can be paid as Cabinet Ministers is limited to 21.

For more information, see this page on the 10 Downing Street site or this wonderful entry in Wikipedia.

Tally ho!

All over London we have noticed onate metal boxes labeled "Grit." When you open it you find, well, grit or sand. The boxes started to appear in late December, shortly after winter officially arrived. A Google search has turned up very little. Are they for anyone’s use (we assume yes). Does the city move them in for the winter and remove them in the spring (we assume yes again because we never noticed them before the last few weeks).

It is mid January and the weather has been moderate here lately with lows in the 40's (Fahrenheit) and highs in the mid 50's. Just how cold is it going to get? Can we expect the streets to be covered in sheets of ice some morning?

The grit boxes are so ornate. It’s a quaint and wonderful place, this London!

Oxford Street at 4 PM on a Saturday afternoon from the front seat on the upper deck of a double-decker bus.

Buses . . . people . . . and more buses.

Click image for larger picture

I found this article on the London Times today. I must say that the headline threw me for a loop.

Kohlberg Kravis Roberts signs up Hollick as it targets UK media

By Dan Sabbagh

KOHLBERG Kravis Roberts, the US venture capital group, served notice yesterday that it plans to target UK and European media companies as it appointed Lord Hollick, the outgoing chief executive of United Business Media, as a managing director.

You can read the entire article here

As a follow-up to our post on Prime Ministers yesterday, we wanted to add a bit of colour about 10 Downing Street. In the US, the President lives and works in the White House at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue. Similarly, the Prime Minister of Britain lives and works at 10 Downing Street.

No 10 Downing Street is a historic building that is also a place of work. It is a symbol of Government known the world over and is the home to the Prime Minister and his family. From the outside, the plain Georgian frontage with its famous black door appears too small to accommodate all these roles. Inside, the building opens out to reveal a series of elegant state rooms, used both for official receptions and everyday meetings. Offices for the staff of the Prime Minister's Office are crammed into every spare space.

A few interesting facts about 10 Downing street:

• Number 10 has been the official home of the Prime Minister since 1735 when Sir Robert Walpole first took residence
• It has been home to over 50 Prime Ministers
• Downing Street stands on the site of a former brewery
• Number 10 was originally Number 5
• The last private resident of Number 10 was a Mr Chicken
• The Cabinet usually meets once a week in 10 Downing Street, normally on a Thursday morning, in the Cabinet room

Take a few minutes to explore the rich site dedicated to 10 Downing Street.

The British use a parliamentary system in which the role of Head of Government is separated from the role of Head of State. The Head of State is the Sovereign, or the British Monarch --- currently Queen Elizabeth II.The Prime Minister is appointed by the Queen, who is bound by constitutional convention to choose the individual most likely to command the support of the House of Commons. The natural choice is usually the leader of the majority party in the House of Commons. Tony Blair, for example, is the leader of the Labour Party, which has the majority in the House of Commons. (Look for more details on the Houses of Parliament in posts later this week.)

Should the Prime Minister lose the confidence of the House of Commons he or she is obliged, by custom, to either resign or to request the monarch to call a general election. If the Prime Minister resigns, the Queen can try to find another Prime Minister who has the confidence of the House.

There have been twelve British Prime Ministers since WWII began:

Prime Minister	Party	Years of Service
Tony Blair	Labour	1997 - Present
John Major	Conservative	1990 - 97
Margaret Thatcher	Conservative	1979 - 90
James Callaghan	Labour	1976 - 79
Edward Heath	Conservative	1970 - 74
Harold Wilson	Labour	1964 - 70, 1974 - 76
Sir Alec Douglas-Home	Conservative	1963 - 64
Harold Macmillan	Conservative	1957 - 63
Sir Anthony Eden	Conservative	1955 - 57
Clement Attlee	Labour	1945 - 51
Sir Winston Churchill	Coalition	1940-45, 1951-55
Neville Chamberlain	Conservative	1937 - 40

We post a lot about our regular walks in the park but it is such a refreshing place to be. In addition to the great exercise walks there are the happy dogs and the rabbits, and the Queen's Flower Walk.

Yesterday we were touched by the sight if children playing in the leaves. They were throwing leaves and laughing and having a wonderful time. Of course, there was a happy dog nearby to round out the fun.

Long live the public park.

2005 will be an election year in England, and we plan to actually read the news as the election approaches. We will share what we learn about the British system of government. The first thing that seems a bit weird, reading about all this as an American, is that the UK holds elections on some sort of ad hoc basis. Could be February, May or June.

The British General Election 2005 is expected to be held in May. However, in early November 2004, widespread news reports claimed that a snap poll could be held as early as February. According to The Scotsman, Labour Party officials "insisted that May remained the most likely time for the poll." In mid-November 2004, The Guardian claimed that May 5th was the most likely date, with the convenient abbreviation 5.5.5 (i.e. 5/5/05). However in mid-December, another Guardian article reported that "The coming general election could be held as late as June 16 and not, as most MPs in all parties have been expecting, on May 5, senior ministers are privately warning colleagues."

Turns out that general elections are held at intervals of up to five years. The Government can, and often does, decide to hold one at an earlier date. In times of national emergency, such as war, general elections can be postponed, but this is very rare. A general election is the election of the whole House of Commons at one time, that is, one Member of Parliament (MP) for each constituency in the United Kingdom. The candidates may be from any one of a number of political parties, or if not from a registered party, he or she may stand as an 'Independent'. One Independent MP was returned at the 2001 General Election. Also, a parliamentary by-election can be held when a seat falls vacant in the House of Commons (usually because an MP dies, resigns or is made a member of the House of Lords).

Stay tuned for additional posts on the British government . . .

In March of 2004 the BBC asked readers to vote for the top 50 things that everyone should try before they die. The results are in. Here are some of highlights:

• Cream Tea
• Crab
• American Diner Breakfast
• Moreton Bay bugs
• Guinea Pig, and of course,
• Chocolate

Be sure to check out the complete list on the BBC site.

Our contribution to the year-end countdowns is this wonderful list from the BBC News that enumerates 100 things we did not know last year.

6. Dame Judi Dench sends 450 Christmas presents, according to her daughter.

18. There are 75 withdrawals from cash machines every second in the UK.

27. So much for the overworked society, the average British employee actually works 75 minutes less a week than in 1997, according to the Centre for Economics and Business Research.

39. More Brits die each year falling from their hotel balcony than do in diving accidents, according to Foreign Office statistics.

47. A "jiffy" is 10 milliseconds in computer science terms.

73. Ducks have regional accents. London ducks shout out a rough quack to be heard above the urban din; those in the West Country make a quieter, softer sound.

Twas an interesting year, it was.

Thanks to J-Walk for the link.

We often feel that we are on the “opposite side of the world” from our friends and family in the San Francisco Bay Area, but it turns out that is more figurative than literal!

It turns out that if you drill through the earth you will not end up in China. See this map for an explanation.

We spent the New Years weekend upgrading our blog software from b2 (which no longer seems to be supported) to the latest
b2 Evolution. It is much improved on the back end and the look and feel seems a bit improved as well.

If you view this site via RSS you will need to update your RSS feeds using the XML links on the lower right of the information bar.

Sorry for the inconvenience.