It's too darn hot!

Aline writes: Well, not really, but on Friday it was 86 degrees and over 90 percent humidity, and Londoners were suffering! According to the BBC, it was the hottest day in May in the last 50 years. As for us, well that humidity was pretty sticky, but we did the only logical thing - head out on the river! We took a boat trip down to Greenwich. It's a beautiful ride down the Thames past lots on landmarks, such as the London Eye


Tower of London


The Tower bridge (Bill's lovely arty shot as we went under)


The reproduction of Shakespeare's Globe theatre


One of the many pubs along the river, with lots of basking natives


And a view of Greenwich from the river: the Cutty Sark to the right, the lovely Christopher Wren buildings to the left, and the naval observatory in the middle peeking out of the trees (where you can stand on the Greenwich mean time line)


It was so nice on the river, with a lovely breeze and finally lots of sun. I'll leave pictures in Greenwich for another post. If you are wondering why the river is so muddy, it's because it's a tidal river. There are 2 tides a day, and the level changes up to 27 feet during high tide. So we went against the tide to Greenwich, and so it took almost 2 hours to get there from Westminster, but going with the tide on the way back, it only took 1 hour! Then we had a picnic dinner in our communal garden, where it was lovely and cool. Saturday the temp dropped 15 degrees, but we enjoyed the sunshine while it lasted!

British windows and british fauna

Bill writes: Aline has pointed out to me that in over 2,000 of British history, the brits have never managed to discover, let alone invent, the window screen. So far as I can tell, not a single Londoner has a screen over a single window or door.

At first I thought it must be because they either (A) have nothing that they worry about getting out (i.e. cats and children) or (B) have nothing that they worring about getting in (i.e. bugs and flying squirrels). However, I've seen lots of children and cats peering through the windows of London, and a fair proportion of them must hang out from and even escape through said windows from time to time. And as far as what comes in, well, I feel a bit like old Noah, in that during the forty days and forty nights of rain we've had during the past three weeks, I've seen two of each animal, male and female of its kind, pass into our flat from the garden below. Flies, bees and wasps have visited our little home by day, and moths by night. Birds fly by the window regularly, judging, I assume, as to whether the bookcase in our dining room will make a sizable enough rookery now that spring is here. And should the Bactrian camel ever escape from the London Zoo or Bennett's wallaby from the Whipsnade Wild Animal Park, I expect they will take up freehold tenancy in the second bathroom soon enough.

Perhaps I ought to go down and around the corner to P. J. Supplies, and purchase a square yard (meter? metre?) of their screening (presumably used to wrap cod--as they don't use it in any regard to windows)--and tack some up. But no, then again, I don't think I will. That would mark me as an american, and soon enough, the black London taxis would be pulling up and emptying jeering Londoners to point up at our screeny window and shout pithy epithets regarding my lack of sufficiently stiff upper lip. No, I don't want to be known as "That american chap with the flimsy upper lip." And so, screenless we arrived and screenless we remain. And if we become food for everything that flies and has an appetite, at least I take comfort knowing that our cat Grommet will feed on them in their turn. This, I believe, will not only be illustrative of the cycle of life, but will save on the expense of cat kibble, besides.

Visiting relatives and joining the library

Bill writes: On Saturday, we took the tube up to Hendon to visit my great Aunt and Uncle, Helen and Leo Adam. Leo is now 96, which is just amazing to me. (I'd never give Helen's age away!) They both are doing well, and are as kind and witty and warm as ever. Helen made us a lovely tea and we spent hours talking together. Here's a picture of the street they live on:


And here is a photo of us together. Leo isn't a pirate, by the way, he's just wearing an eye patch for some recent eye surgery:


On Monday, we joined the library. We're fortunate in that the local branch is just two blocks down our street in a lovely old building:


It's a tiny library, but very well stocked. We came home with a load of books, CDs, and DVDs.

Taking it easy..

Aline writes: Bill and I have caught some kind of flu, not too bad, but enough to slow us down. ALOT. But we did go out today to a local cafe that we passed by last weekend; it sits over Regents canal. Who knew that these canals run all through London? Well, not me! Here are some pics of this wonderful cafe. This is what it looks like walking up to it:


Isn't it nice? But the view from inside it is even better:


It's fun to watch the canal boats passing by right under your table:


We spent a couple of nice hours hanging out, watching the boats. They opened up all the windows, and it was about 70 degrees this afternoon, so it was really nice.

In addition to getting out a little bit, we have spent a lot of time inside over the last few days resting up. I have been able to observe the local fauna, and captured some of them in their natural environment (our communal garden). There is a whole pack of small ones who pursue strange activities. Here is a large one teaching a small one some odd local ritual:


And who knows what meaning this peculiar ritual has? Notice that the subjects have altered their environment by reconfiguring the man-made atifacts to support their activity...


I will continue to observe, and report back my findings as the year goes on. Perhaps the meaning will become clearer as we become assimilated.

Ah, the weather!

Aline writes: I just had to include an entry about the weather, which is amazingly changeable. It seems like the temperature changes about 20 degrees during the day, often in the 15 minutes it takes for us to go into an underground station, ride a few stops, and come back out. Londoners seem to be very practical, in that the minute the sun comes out, so do they. For example, around the corner at the Borough market yesterday, the sun came out around 5:00, and this Thames-side pub filled with people enjoying the (temporary) good weather. Notice the beautiful blue sky reflected in the windows...


Within about 20 minutes of taking this picture, it dropped about 15 degrees as the wind picked up, and started raining. It says something when the BBC weather tells you what it will be like every 3 hours. Here is the forecast for today:

PICTURE NO LONGER AVAILABLE




As you can see by today’s forecast, typically, for some reason, it clears up around 5:00. Just in time for happy hour I have noticed, and the pubs with outdoor seating are crammed full. In fact, I can be wearing a sweater (because I have a comfort range of about 10 degrees Bill says) and there will be people out in shorts and t-shirts. Perhaps my skin will be thicker by the end of a year here!

The good news is that the bad weather never lasts. The bad news is that the good weather doesn’t either ☺.

Buying a guitar

Bill writes: Because I had to leave my guitars and amps back home, I've been keeping my eye out for something over here to use temporarily. But because guitars cost basically twice what they do back in the states, I've been looking for a cheap, used one that I could use and then resell before I leave.

Anyways, I found someone selling a used but unplayed guitar and amp still in the box in the local online paper, Loot. So I went down to Brentford (out toward Heathrow) to look at it yesterday morning. Bradley, the person selling it, picked me up at the Osterley tube station. He's a session musician who records on various albums and does background guitar for shows here like "Eastenders" and "Coronation Street." It wasn't hard to tell what he does for a living, as when we pulled into his driveway I noticed it was inlaid with bricks in the shape of a giant guitar.

He was an incredibly nice and energetic guy with lots of stories to tell. It turns out he knows a lot of the british guitar community, having worked and been friends with Clapton, McCartney, and the like. I was a little dubious about some of the stories he told me until I noticed a gold album on the wall for his work on Boy George's "Do You Really Want to Hurt Me." OK, everyone over 30 now has that running through their heads, right? Cool. We got along great because he is into Presley bigtime, and I knew about Sun records, Scotty Moore, and James Burton, who aren't well known in England the way they are back home. Plus, we both have a real fondness for Telecasters.

Anyways, I bought the guitar and amp, which will be fun to fool with while I'm here. On the way home on the underground, I got some requests to start busking on the train. I'm thinking maybe that would be a good way to offset my weak American dollars.

Changing the subject to actual entertainment, on Thursday, Aline and I saw "Mary Poppins" a musical based on the Disney film.


It was really charming and I'm amazed at the energy the performers have, as well as the strong stomachs. At one point, Bert, the chimney sweep (Dick Van Dyke in the movie) dances across the stage, dances up the wall, and continues dancing upside down on the ceiling of the theater, forty feet overhead. As someone who has acrophobia, that was pretty amazing to me.

Yum - the Borough Market!

Aline writes: On the advice of a Londoner I met at the San Francisco Farmer's Market, Bill and I went to the Borough Market this afternoon. It is right next to Southwark Cathedral under the London Bridge.


It's full of delicious food: cheese, jams, meat, fish, savory pies, olives, bread, and of course, all kinds of desserts! Lots to taste and buy:




And lots of different little areas with shops and stalls tucked in.


Yum Yum! We will definitely be back.

Museum of London

Aline writes: Bill and I visited the Museum of London, which is a wonderful museum. It traces London from prehistoric times, to the Roman town Londinium, to the development of London as a modern city. They have lots of fascinating artifacts that have been discovered, like skulls with holes in their heads that have partially healed, indicating that brain operations were performed on them and they survivied! Plus lots of gold roman coins, mosiac floors, weapons, etc. My favorite part was an exhibition about an excavation done on the Thames, where they discovered piles for a bridge or platform into the Thames (pre-Roman) that may have been used for offerings to the river gods - they also found lots of artifacts such as spearheads, skulls, coins that may have been used as offerings. Then the same night, they had a whole show on the excavation by Time Team, a show I am totally addicted to. Luckily they have Time Team on here multiple times a day, and even on multiple channels at the same time, so I can feed my addiction! The whole idea of digging up a Roman Villa in your back yard has a romance to it when you are from California, where my 60 year old house is considered old :-). We recuperated by stopping at a little Austrian cafe (our museum guide told us about it) and having tea and divine cakes. Yum!
The streets around the cafe were really neat (which the guide also told us about) and so we took a few pictures there. Apparently they have filmed Poirot episodes around here (for those Mystery fans out there!) here are a few pics:

How expensive is it?

Aline writes: many have asked "how expensive is it in London?" Well, it's hard to believe! Here are some sample prices:

1 prime-time movie ticket = $25.00
7 day underground pass = $40.00
1 Phillips screwdriver at the local hardware store = $20.00
1 hacksaw at the local hardware store = $55.00
1 roll of duct tape = $14.00
Very modest dinner for 2 at our local cafe = $60.00 (no alcohol included)
1 bottle of sparkling water at a restaurant = $7.00
Cream tea for 2 (scones and tea) = $30.00 - $80.00 (depending where you go)

Being in London = priceless!

Lucky for us, food at the grocery store is very reasonable, so we eat at home regularly. Plus we discovered both "poundland" and "pound city", which should be familiar to those of you who know the "dollar anything" stores in the US. I bought a 100 piece sewing kit for 1 pound (2 dollars). And Bill bought 4 screwdrivers for 1 pound (no he didn't buy that hideously expensive one listed above :-). Who needs top quality when you only need it for 1 year? Bill has already repaired 2 chairs, 1 dishwasher, and cupboard door latches with the screwdrivers!

Star Wars

Bill writes: Friends of ours asked how our cat Grommet is settling in, so we took a few snaps of him this morning. This is him after he's finished the morning paper--"The Independent" (just like him):


And this is him after breakfast checking out the weather and the view:


After breakfast, we went out to Covent Garden, stopping at The Wolseley for lunch and tea. While we were wandering through Leceister Square to pick up some play tickets, we sort of wandered into the big premiere for Star Wars. Lots and lots of Imperial Storm Troopers and the like everywhere, since there were at least three major theatres on the square having competing opening nights:


We had no idea about this until we sort of bumped into Christopher Lee being ushered through for some to-do at the Empire theater. He didn't look any happier about the crowds than we did. Or maybe he saw the ticket prices. Did you realize that movie tickets cost $25? Now I admit that they have full bars inside some of the theaters, but I assume that's only because you need a stiff drink after paying that much to see "Porky's 7."

Our Garden

Bill writes: Our flat has a communal garden, and because the weather was so nice out today, we finally had a chance to go down and see it. You enter it from a gate just around the corner from our flat:



Then go down a set of steps:



And from there, you can see the garden, which goes on for a city block:

The design museum

Aline writes: We went to the design museum on Tuesday, one of my favorite London places. They had 2 great exhibits: a history of information design, and voting for the best British designer of the year (picked by jury but we got to vote - not sure how that works!) The history of information design was especially interesting; for example, here is an early map of what the London underground really looks like:



But this is the popular map drawn in 1933 that is iconic now:


It sacrifices accuracy for simplicity, prioritizing the display of the relationships of the stations and lines over real geography.

Here was another example I liked, where the designer was able to show streetmaps as well as elevation:


I really like the medical examples as well, although they totally missed the boat on Leonardo da Vinci, since he was showing the mechanisms of the human body and anatomical illustrations 150 years before the example they used :-) - hey, I knew that thesis would come in handy!

As for the designer of the year, I loved the candidate from Penguin books, who worked under lots of constraints and developed a beautiful product - this is from the exhibit,
"Faced with the challenge of designing Great Ideas as a coherent collection, while reflecting the provocative spirit of each title, David Pearson, a Penguin junior designer, worked with art director Jim Stoddart to develop a graphic identity for the series. Another challenge was that each book had to be sold for £3.99 making it impossible to use expensive materials or production processes. Rather than risk distracting attention from the content with illustrations, they decided to use typefaces that evoked the text. By restricting each cover to two colours – burgundy and black – on uncoated paper, they remained within budget while indulging in special finishes such as debossing."

Here is a pic of one:



That's who I voted for - the embossing of the covers are really beautiful.

More later!

Grocery shopping in Paddington Station

Bill writes: We woke up cold today. The heat had gone out on our flat overnight, so we got to shower using water from the kettle mixed in a saucepan with cold tap water. It turns out someone from the gas company was playing with the Russian gas and turned it off to our building.

To get warm, we went out to do some shopping for groceries. We walked over to Paddington Station, which had the grocery shops, yep, inside the train station.




We also went to the hardware store to buy some things we needed to seal up the hole in the wall Grommet found. Unfortunately, it turns out that British hardware is a bit pricier than we were used to. For instance, here is a picture of a $14 roll of duct tape:


We couldn't afford the $20 screwdriver or the $55 wire clippers. Oh well.

Here's the park we walked through on the way back to our flat:


Which runs alongside Little Venice:

What I've learned so far...

Aline writes: here are some things I have learned so far:

If you don't bring an umbrella, it will rain. If you don't wear a jacket it will hail :-). No car, remember!

All my UI experience didn't help me figure out some of these oven icons:


Luckily, unlike most users, I actually dug around the flat until I found the manual. It is a combo conventional/convection oven - that explains the fan icon! Then there is the temp in Celsius - who knows what temperature I am baking at.

My landlady doesn't do much cooking - there are few pans, and no measuring implements. Maybe she is a Bridget Jones type... Luckily, I brought measuring cups and spoons. Always prepared, that IS the girl scout motto.

And the prepared food you can buy in the store here appears to be much healthier - lots of whole wheat, and Marks & Spencers Food section has lots of yummy prepared food like moussaka, pizza, etc that is healthy and has no chemicals - I can actually pronounce (and recognize) all the ingredients! That and a salad and presto, we have dinner!

I am not the only one who finds the front-loading washing machine fascinating:


After 20 minutes, I had to pull Grommet away from it - I was worried it would have some mind-altering effect on him. And I am not sure how I could tell if it did :-)

That's it for now - I will post later on our great trip to the design museum today, always a favorite destination.

British nomeclature

Bill writes: I asked our landlord's sister where we drop off our trash. She said there's a big black bin out front, and to put it in that. I asked her how we'd recognize it. She told me it would be obvious. It was:

London Guitar Show

Bill writes: Went to the London Guitar Show yesterday, over in Wembley. I think they should rename the area Isle of Spliff, because who-eee, folk there love their weed. As I rode in by underground, first a fellow came in and just reeked up the joint with a joint. In fact, a joint roughly the size of a cuban cigar. The next guy was worse. With his shades and a big white spliff the size of a walking cane, he could have passed for a blind guy--especially given the way he was weaving about.

The show itself was, well, a big, noisy guitar show. Here's a link to some pictures:

London Guitar Show

My Sunday Plans

Aline writes: It's Sunday, and I have big plans. I am going to the May Faire (Punch and Judy celebration) at St. Paul's church (it sounds strange and fun, maypole, dancing, folk music, and lots of puppet shows) and perhaps the big ceramics show too. How can I resist going to something that has Punch in the pulpit in St. Paul's preaching a sermon! Bill is heading for the International Guitar show (the biggest guitar show in Europe - how convenient that we are here during it :-) Grommet will probably spend the day trying to burrow back into the hole he found in the wall (more on that later!). Grommet is doing well, but is still worried about the view from the third floor. We are keeping the curtains closed for now, but he can't resist peeking out - his natural curiosity is winning over his worry. More later ...

Edit: The May Faire was really sweet, a small-town event in the middle of Covent Garden. The Maypole dance was really complicated, done by both adults and small children all dressed up in spring clothes and flower wreaths. There were jumble tables, full of little antique knick-knacks, a sandwich sale table, obviously all homemade in little plastic baggies, and about 30 little puppet theatres, who rotated through doing different punch and judy shows - usually 3-4 at once. SO very English and very enjoyable. (No pics, as Bill had the camera at the guitar show.)

Getting Ready and We Arrive

On the night before, our cat Grommet was wondering what all the packing fuss was about:


I explained it to him as he listened patiently:


But it was clear that he was not happy with what I had to say:


It was an eventful journey. It took TWO trips to the airport to get all the paperwork for Grommet - thanks to Eric (Aline's brother) for driving us back and forth so much! Virgin Atlantic took good care of Grommet, and when we picked him up at the "Animal Reception Center" at Heathrow, he had eaten and rested in a kennel while his paperwork went through customs. Eventually we arrived at the flat with all our luggage. Here's Aline in front of our flat while we wait for our landlady's sister to let us in:


We found this wonderful package from Aline's boss, Daniela, waiting for us:


The flat is in a really nice residential neighborhood, with lots within 2 blocks: several restaurants, chemists shops, pubs, grocers, organic fruit & veg, newsagents, etc. The flat itself is nice, on the third floor (fourth floor in US + no lift = no need for the gym now!) This is the view out of our living room window: