Christmas!

So I'm back in the US now. After the initial shock of the amount of water in the toilet bowl at the airport, it's been a smooth transition back into American society. Oh, plus there was a tiny moment of fear today as I thought my mom was pulling into the wrong lane of traffic.

Yesterday was Christmas. In contrast to last year, there was heat and other people around. Let's call this an 'upgrade'. Due to the time change times, I was first up at 4am, thinking it was 5am due to the inaccurate guest room clock, then decided to go back to sleep for a few hours. So I was up bright and early for presents. Which is always exciting. Wooo. Then we had some lovely cinnamon pullapart, eggs and bacon for breakfast.

Sometime in the mid-day time range it started to snow. This was again very exciting. And just in time to make guest arrival a bit more interesting! Everyone made it okay. Then I made approximately 28 cocktails for folks and then ate some brie. A while later there was dinner, then I took a nap, then there were more presents and dessert. Then more sleeping!

Oh, and then there are the alleged 'kittens'. Edgar, I'm pretty sure, is the world's largest cat. But he's also the world's softest cat and is pretty but slow. Lizzie is not as big, but is still evil and the size of a regular cat. And pretty. I have taken many photographs of both the Christmas events and the giant cats. They can be found on Picasa. As can photos of my dinner at harlem a few weeks ago!

Merry Christmas

so wanted to wish everyone a merry christmas! i hope you (the hemphills) enjoy the mince pies - single cream i think is like pouring cream its the kind that you pour rather than spoon!

so didnt really know what to write and margo suggested to say what an anglo xmas involves - well in my family as im sure everyone differs!

so my mum wasnt going to do stockings this year but my 22 year old brother insisted that we have them and he normally still wakes up at like 4am to open them! i found out the other day actually that when he was little he connected his stocking to his bed though a banger from inside a cracker...basically meaning that when someone ('santa') picked up the stocking there was a small band which waked him up!!! i thought this was genius! anyways yeah stockings usually involve really stupid things that are of no use but fun on the day to open - like chocolate money! we then usually have a present opening session (1 each to keep my brother happy!) and the lunch prep is started. this involves getting a little stove thing out as the arga is not powerful enough to keep its heat for everything that gets cooked:
1 turkey/vegie option for my mum
3 kinds of stuffing
peas
carrots
roast potatoes
pigs in blankets (small saussage rapped in bacon)
small sausages
bread sauce
cranberry sauce
bacon rolls
gravy
brussel sprouts
other vegies - normally parsnips

these are combined with wine and crackers!

so thats cooked and normally eat around 1.30pm and pudding is xmas pudding with brandy butter and ice cream.

then its the queens christmas message which is broadcast at 3pm on all channels - well my dad insists on watching it i cant say im the biggest fan, but its one of those things that when you watch it its actually quite interesting!

next in the post xmas walk with the dogs that have xmas decorations...usually just round westbourne but youll have no idea what that is...then when we get home its present opening time. then its normally a film that mums bought....like a family thing like love actually/gladiator no idea what it will be this year/if theres a good tv show on like the only fools and horses xmas special.

then its bed - not really any more room for food but there is plenty of turkey for the next week!

26th is boxing day. this usually involves heading down to the sailing club where my dad brother and I take part in the boxing day rowing race which involves 360 degree turns/rowing backwards etc. my bro and i have done it together for the last couple of years and normally end up last and my dad usually wins it - most annoying! then its just home for more turkey and relaxing times. i think we are also heading over to my cousins in bognor.

thats enough from me...merry christmas!!!

hope you all have a great time!!!!!!!!!!!!

EAT.

Amongst the gazillion places you can buy a normal, quick lunch in this city, one stands like a beacon of light: EAT. While you can partially attribute this glow to the starch white interior, especially visible when it starts to get dark, it has much more to do with what goes on inside.

I started going to eat regularly a little over a month ago when the weather started to turn cold and the concept of soup before lunch sounded like an overwhelmingly good idea. Both Eat and Pret a Manger have hot soups available, and Tesco down the road has cold soups you can buy and heat up yourself. So on my first attempt at lunch soup I ended up first poking my head into eat to see if I liked what they had on offer. They had a smoky bacon and lentil, which I got with a chunk of wheat bread. It was the most delicious soup I'd ever eaten. The next soup I had there was of a southeast Asian variety and unfortunately had a high percentage of mushrooms, but was tasty otherwise. That was followed by Moroccan root vegetable, chili con carne and chicken pot pie. By this time I was checking the weekly soup menu on Mondays to see what would be the best day of the week to go (I try to take my lunch most days). Today they have smoky bacon and lentil, so it is indeed my eat soup day for the week!

The trickiest part of the ordeal is the actual ordering of the soup. Everyday they have two soups, one termed 'simple' and the other 'bold'. Smoky bacon and lentil is a simple (basically chunkless). I stick with ordering the name of the soup, while the people behind the counter refer to them as simple or bold. So a couple weeks ago when trying to order a big bowl of smoky lentil, I nearly ended up with two soups: a big 'bold' and the lentil. There was a long discussion but it was eventually sorted out and I just ended up with my big 'simple' so to speak. And eat soup day is one of the highlights of my week. Along with starbucks coffee day, which is again limited to once a week. It just so happens that today is both!

Speaking of today, it is also my last day in the office this year. After getting a transport assessment I did out in the mail yesterday right before lunch, I haven't had anything to do. So I'm slowly trying to gather knowledge on the history of the British monarchy and all their offspring via the best source for these things, wikipedia. Keeps you entertained for hours, I tell ya.

And I've got some tesco's finest mince meat pies ready to come back to the states with me! Get those taste buds ready folks! Mmmm. Raisins and goo.

Soul Food

Last night was the little 'Southampton' people Christmas dinner. With this in mind, what could be more festive than going to a restaurant called Harlem that served soul food? Nothing I tell you, nothing!

In my ongoing effort of metropolitan exploration, we went to the Bayswater neighborhood, sort of east of Notting Hill proper. So basically it was a walk trip from work. Lucky for me I missed the turn on the way, so had to walk extra far in bitter, bitter cold with high winds blowing in my face while carrying a bag of heavy baked goods. It was not pleasant!

Before dinner we went for drinks at a pub that came in second place when deciding where to hold my work group's Christmas thingy, so I was curious to check it out. It was expensive and eerily quiet, but pleasantly warm! I was complimented by the barmaid for my ability to properly pronounce San Miguel, which is apparently difficult for Americans (she was Hispanic but had lived in LA). Anyways...

I was really excited at the prospect of a corn fritter appetizers. Like, really excited. It's why I want to go to there in the first place. They were really good. And came with a leafy salad. For my entree I briefly considered the Cobb salad but decided I could probably get a much cheaper, better one when back in the homeland next week. So attempting to roll with the soul food idea, I got ribs. I think it's maybe the third time I've ever ordered ribs. They came with coleslaw and 3 onion rings. It was pleasant. Elsewhere on the table there was chicken and ribs aplenty, collard greens and steak fries. All in all a tasty food representation and not a dissapointing rendition of the concept of American food in general.

The restaurant was small dark and woody. Below the restaurant there was a tiny little bar with a dj and a dance floor. Oh, and when I went down to use the restroom the light was out in the stairs so it was a bit spooky. And I also had plenty of opportunity to play with the settings on my camera again. The above photo is actually of a mirror reflection. I like to think it makes a bit ethereal, but really it's just out of focus.

Cream of Tartar

The day after the Christmas party, commonly called 'Saturday', I had few missions. Mission number one was to procure baking and cooking ingredients, mission two was to clean up an apartment that had basically been empty all week before dinner guests arrived.

My first trip was to my local kitchen shop, where I had gotten a meat thermometer for Thanksgiving. Miracle of miracles, they had colored sugar. Not just colored sugar, but a big thing of festive colored sugar, a green/red combo. I was like, yesssss, and then I saw the price and was like, nooooooo! So £7 later, I had my snickerdoodle ready sugar imported from American. I also sniffed around for a 13"x9" baking dish, but they only had ones that were fancy and cost £20. I have my limits.

The next trip was a quest to big Sainsburys at Earl's Court/Gloucester Road. I figured it was my best chance for cream of tartar. We had a long shopping list, as we needed stuff for dinner as well as all my baking requirements. All items were miraculously found, from light bulbs and drain cleaner to thyme and toffee fudge ice cream topper, until only one item remained... the freaking cream of tartar. I had spent considerable amounts of time in the baking aisle, stocking up on flour and sugar, but had failed to see any. After gathering everything else I went back and kept looking, by this time a bit grumpy. Having failed to find the baking powder and bicarbonate of soda before, I figured if cream of tartar was there, they would all be together. In the second miracle of miracles of the day, I finally found it, on the top shelf above a case otherwise full of flour. They are tricky. So for £1.03, I have procurred a many years supply of cream of tarter.

I spent the afternoon making a double batch of snickerdoodles and cleaning. The holiday sugar supply worked out absolutely perfectly with the amount of snickerdoodles. And on Sunday I made raspberry bars and carmelitas in my new pan (oh, they had a pyrex at Sainsburys for £6 that I picked up). I also candied a few more pecans. Everything seemed to turn out okay, so I was very pleased! All thanks to my cream of tartar, of course.

The company party

My company Christmas party was on Friday night. It tactfully began at 7pm, when the work day ended at 5:30. So after work, those attending basically all spread out to a number of pubs either at Notting Hill or Gloucester Road. This went on for slightly over an hour before the masses headed towards the hotel.

After the coat check, there were 'welcoming' drinks outside the main room. So basically there were waiters walking around with trays carrying glasses of wine, orange juice, and beer. Then they had a meal with fancy table service (where if you went to pour yourself some more water, someone rushed up and poured it for you). I was a little sad as the starter was salmon, and I don't like salmon. The entree was turkey with gravy, carrots and brussel sprouts. And a sausage wrapped with bacon. It was alright. I ate it. Dessert was Christmas pudding, which I was excited to try because it kind of looked like chocolate. Alas, it's not chocolate. It's like, raisin. And I wasn't a fan. Perhaps it's an acquired taste. Or it just wasn't a very good example. Who knows. They also brought out some mince pies to go with the coffee. Again, raisin and rather unpleasant. Although I'm still intending to bring some back to stuff down the throats of others. Oh, and there was wine on the table for drinking.

Around this time there were speeches that I couldn't really hear. So I didn't really listen. I might also mention that whilst I spent the before party time with the other folks from development, I sat with Adrian's team at the meal. It was a bit crazy, but I feel like it can't hurt to talk to new people at those things. Anyways, after the speeches I made a run for the door. This is apparently the time of night that everyone a) starts paying for their own drinks and b) people 'let their hair down'. So basically, that's when all the stuff would have happened that I get to hear about tomorrow.

Umm. I don't really know what else to say about said party. Many people were going for what seemed to be the explicit purpose of getting quite trashed and dancing around with their coworkers. That seems a bit sad, really. Oh, and there were lots of little party hats on the table. See above photo. Speaking of which, I have added some additional photos to picasa! A bit random, but perhaps mildly interesting.

Hertford and the Failure of Whole Foods

Yesterday at lunch I went on yet another Whole Foods quest. I find I have come to rely on Whole Foods as a source of items with perhaps an American slant, which was my mission yesterday. As a key component of my plan to make festive snickerdoodles over the weekend, I needed colored sugar and cream of tartare. Having recalled seeing colored sugar there before, I figured it was a safe bet. But noooooo. They did have colored sugar, mind you, but it was £4 for a little tiny thing and they didn't have the right colors. They had a light green, orange, pink, and yellow. Not useful if you need kelly green and red! On top of that, the little dye kit was £16. There comes a point where you decide your snickerdoodles don't need to be festive and they can roll in normal cinnamon sugar.

For the second ingredient I wasn't sure if it fell under the category of a spice, like cinnamon, or if it lived with the baking ingredients, like baking powder. Luckily it's one and the same aisle at Whole Foods. Despite about ten minutes of searching, I was unsuccessful again. They have about 24 kinds of flour, 1000 types of salt, and 27 varieties of pepper, but no cream of tartare. Things are not looking bright on the festive snickerdoodle front. While I know they don't have colored sugar at my nearby Sainsburys Central (aka, 'small with no bakery or meat counter, but bigger than a convenience store), tomorrow I shall go on a quest towards the full-size Sainsburys at Gloucester Road. If I fail there, I can always up my other options with more readily available ingredients.

In other yesterday news, in the afternoon I got sent on a mission to get a 'contract of common ground' signed in Hertford, located in Hertfordshire (they are that clever, it's like Oklahoma City, Oklahoma). This involved taking the Central Line to Oxford Circus, then the Victoria line to Highbury & Islington, getting off and walking around really confused until I realised it indeed was not Finsbury Park, taking the Victoria line one station further to Finsbury Park, buying a ticket like a good non-fare evader, taking a short-haul overground train about 12 stops to Hertford North, walking in unpleasant freezing cold surroundings for about 15 minutes to the council, staying there for about 2 minutes and then doing the whole thing in reverse. It took 3 hours and 45 minutes. I got to the office 15 minutes after quiting time to drop off the contracts and pick up my newly acquired parchment paper and pecans so I wouldn't have to take them to the Christmas party tonight.

And in response to a comment made by someone generically calling themselves 'dad', public transport is the default mode for business trips around here. There are no staff vehicles available for use, and everyone take the tube and train to reach their destinations, perhaps with the occasional cab. Oh, and you can walk or take a bus. This is probably a combination of destinations lacking parking, people not being willing to drive, complicated road systems, the ability to do work while travelling by train, and the company being 'green'. I guess if we keep telling everyone else how to travel by sustainable modes we should practice what we preach, even if it does take ages to get places! Although with traffic around here I'm not sure how much a difference it would make!

The Nutcracker

Last night was Nutcracker night! I had my £8 partial view bench seat tickets to see the Royal Ballet before at the Royal Opera House in Covent Garden. A good deal really.

For the pre-show meal, the concept of grab a quick sandwich had transformed into pizza, which then became a specific destination. Alas upon arrival they were full and with limited time before the show there wasn't much we could do! Luckily, about a block away I had spied a newly opened second branch of a restaurant I had really been wanting to go to that was located in Chelsea. The phonetically named Wahaca is seemingly making waves in London by bringing the people the concept of fresh 'market' style Mexican. They had good guac. I got a chicken burrito with some black beans on the side. Good stuff! We had gotten seated right away (arriving just after 6), but by the time we left at 7 there was a line up the stairs and to the door of people waiting for tables. I had grabbed a match book because I had managed to soak my only other matches in water, only to discover that the matchbooks contained seeds to grow your own jalapeno plant. Not so useful!!

The Opera House is located right in Covent Garden and has been recently fixed up. There's a lot of lobby space and a lot of different levels. Mark and I felt a bit of the people when we walked into the first open area and everyone was drinking champagne from the central champagne bar. Mark had some of the free ice water. I bought a program. Things got progressively less fancy the higher you got. I couldn't help but wonder how much some people paid for their tickets! Our seats were some lovely red velvet benches, quite frankly a little better than I expected for £8. The whole place was pretty much covered in red velvet, including the massive curtains with the 'EIIR' symbols on both of them and a giant royal crest at the top. The official patron of the Royal Ballet is listed as 'HM Queen Elizabeth'. Bizarre I tell you, bizarre.

The ballet itself was very good. It was a slightly different interpretation of the story than I'm used to, but of course all adaptations have their differences. The staging and performances were good. At the interval everyone ate ice cream, and at the end there were like a million and a half rounds of applause because people kept coming out and bowing! It got to be a bit ridiculous, really. Anyways, I thought it was very good and fine festive fun. Mark survived his first ballet and not only lived to tell about it, seemed to derive at least some enjoyment out of the affair. So that was cool as well!

The only downside was that it was really really cold when we left! I was slipping a bit crossing the street this morning on frozen road condensation. Such is life adjacent to the north pole!

Chelsea FC

I don't think I like living by a football stadium. Whenever there are Chelsea home games the trains are suddenly inundated with men wearing bright blue jerseys, all heading to or from Fulham Broadway. This past Saturday there was a home game at 3 (the kind folks at the Fulham Broadway tube station have a permanent sign up saying when the next home game is and who they are playing), which meant I had to wait for the second train before I was able to squeeze onto a train into town. Luckily it was getting close to game time and most people were probably there already and everyone gets off at the next stop so you are in the clear after that.

On Monday I was not pleased when I saw the sign saying that there was going to be another home game on Tuesday (yesterday) at 7:45 pm, basically in order to cause maximum disruption for all who live or work on the Wimbledon branch of the District Line. I was okay on the leg of my journey from Notting Hill Gate to Earls Court, where a mass was waiting and not everyone was able to squeeze on. I was heading towards the gym, which meant I had to get off at Fulham. Normally you just walk out of the tube, up some steps and up a couple escalators to get to the gym, without having to go outside. It's really quite nice. But not when there's a Chelsea game. The stadium is right next to the shopping centre, and to deal with the crowds for these games they shut the normal entrance/exit to the tube and open up these normally locked doors at the end of the platform. Instead of being shuffled into the nice warm mall you have to shuffle along with a massive crowd, some of which are singing, go outside, up some steps and end up in some random side street. I couldn't even figure out where the mall was right away. There are a number of restaurants in the mall, all of which had huge long lines (you normally never see lines, like, ever) to get tables before the game started. The little line guiding ropes were Chelsea blue.

I was hoping the gym wouldn't be very crowded because of the game, but it was. Alas. I met up with Turner post gym to head back to the green, but the game was still yet to start so we decided to go see the Golden Compass. Of course, as it turned out this just meant we were leaving at 10, when the game probably got out about 9:30. So again instead of being able to slip down the escalator and straight to the tube (yes, you can walk but it was below freezing so we didn't want to), we had to walk outside and down random side street to get to the tube. It was quite amusing going down to the 'westbound' platform that was practically empty and looking across to the 'eastbound' platform, where there was literally a solid wall of Chelsea fans about 10 deep waiting to cram onto trains. I took a picture. Normally I would fear photographing Chelsea fans in fear of attack, but there were two third rails separating us so I was feeling a bit bold. I guess they had the final laugh when 3 eastbound trains came before a westbound train, so they were all scooted off before me anyways! Oh, and by the time the train came they had also reopened the 'normal' entrance/exit and closed the giant doors. If only the movie was a few minutes longer!

The ballet tonight is the Royal Ballet performance at the Royal Opera House in Covent Garden. I'm hoping it's the top notch London Nutcracker. Of course I hope it's not that great as I bought the tickets before my first paycheck and thus have really cheap limited view seats!

Christmas Shopping

I took yesterday off of work. It was exciting in many ways.

To start things off, I went to the gym in the morning time. I decided to see if I was humanly capable of swimming laps. Turns out it's a bit of a stretch. Don't ask me how you are supposed to go straight in there. Needless to say I didn't last long. Oh, and the steam room has a creepy fake color-changing rock and smells of insence. It's not a happy place.

I then went over to the South Bank to meet up with Mark for lunch. I had some goats cheese and spinach pizzettes or something like that and a side salad. To undo some of the healthy, I ate some of Mark's fries.

After this I went Christmas shopping. I spent some time in and around Covent Garden and even took a side trip over to Harrods. Whilst in Harrods I walked by a £31,000 marble bath tub. Like, um, yeah. When is that ever, ever going to be a good idea? I spent £3 on dog treats. Oh, and the cruel people there also have a little room where there were puppies running around. There were two Cavalier King Charles Spanials and they were indeed the cutest things ever. But again, who would buy a puppy from Harrods? Anyways, I accomplished a lot of shopping and in basically no crowds, so I'm quite pleased.

It's a bit sad being back at work, but probably for the best! This weekend will be a bit more laid back and homely, but before then I have Nutcracker tomorrow night and the omminous company Christmas party on Friday!

the weekend after dissertation....

so the dissertations are at the binding people and hopefully if nothing goes wrong the university will have our completed books on Wednesday....in celebration a weekend of fun was planned well not planned but left to go about in a natural way (not sure right now how to express that)

so on Friday i dragged Margo to a Australian bands gig in hammersmith just up the road called powerderfinger - one of my favorite bands. was good time met some of my undergrad friends there and had couple of drinks afterwards in a nice bar.

er Saturday was xmas shopping time for me after Margo cooked what can only be described as a legendary breakfast ...margo cooked cookies and nuts (not sure their name). The tube was very busy but for some reason Covent Garden was empty so got away with getting a seat while everyone else battled it out - you can definitely tell those who do it everyday and those who do not! in the evening we were suppose to go to Vinopolis a wine museum/tasting thing where you go to taste world wines only problem was that it was really busy i think because of the really bad weather so we went for nachos and newcastles in the pub next door. next stop was ice skating with my fam and some friends of my parents. they took ages getting to tower bridge so margo and i stopped off at German market and had bratwurst and mulled wine. it was good times. the ice skating was really good fun -Margo was definitely better than me apparently she had lessons when she was 8! it was outside the tower of London which is actually a really good part of town - i would say it looks very modern but with the old parts there too! i haven't really spent too much time there even though i work like a 10 minute walk from there! anyways it was a good time (well i thought so). afterwards we went to wagamamas which is this weird modern Japanese thing (chain) but we went to the one at Victoria which is all office etc so its completely dead at the weekends - really bizarre! but the food was good and the restaurant definitely didn't have a problem coping with the party size!

Sunday was lazy day and i realise no one will read this but ill carry on. we got the 2pm showing of American gangster which i thought was amazing but not sure about Margo. i thought it showed the signs of what taking drugs really means very well. also russel crowe is a very good actor and Washington needs no introductions! then we went to the elk bar in fulham and had cheap nachos though we partly went there because they advertised kronenbourg 1664 for like 1.50 but we found out that's for half pint bottles so we were like we'll get full pints for 3 quid anyways! nachos were good though not as good as the more expensive pub thing near London bridge. i get confused between London bridge and tower bridge not sure why!

er then we went to the German bar for a stein and now I'm like its work tomorrow but Margo's got a day off but meeting her for lunch at the slug and lettuce on the south bank which is something to look forward to on what otherwise is a day spent at work.

right think this is about as boring as one of these things can be...but the end of the dissertation was celebrated well. Margo's watching csi! sorry about the bad grammar!

p.s. There are pictures on Picasa! Lots and lots! They just don't have captions yet...

Edmonton Green

Yesterday I went where few Americans had gone before: a random private road into a small development in Edmondton Green, which is in zone 4 in north London outside the realm of the tube. You have to like, take an actual train to get there. Being the sucker that I am, I said I would go up there and count movements in and out of the development during peak hours. Peak hours being 7:30-9:30 am and 4:30-6:30 pm. I was assured there was overtime involved. I'm not that much of a chump.

So after getting up at 5:15am and getting precisely the second tube of the morning at 6:05 to Earl's Court, then another tube to Victoria, then one from Victoria to 'Seven Sister's', I went on a crappy train with some pink interior to Edmonton Green. Being that special combo of December and London, it was heavily misting when I first got there, then it stopped misting, and then it just started raining. You do not look cool trying to hold an umbrella with your chin trying to mark things on a clipboard and then having to chase after your umbrella when it blows away. The whole thing reminded me of every Jane Austen novel everywhere where people get wet and cold and get fevers and nearly die.

On the way back I had to mind the world's biggest gap to get on another one of these regular trains, and then due to my own confusion and lack of announcements or maps or signs anywhere, I got off one stop early. And then I realized this and the train pulled away. Thanks to the crappy weather apparently causing some signal problems I got to wait 30 minutes for another train. It was very unpleasant. I was really just cold and wet. Don't go to Edmonton Green.

In that afternoon I went back despite at one point swearing nothing could get me to go back there. It was a little better as there was no mist, but there was a lot of rain and wind to test my umbrella handling techniques. Some kids lit off a firework that kept me entertained for approximately 2 minutes, which was a definite highlight. I got home at 8pm.

So today is the Friday before a 3-day weekend. You gotta like that excessive leave allowance! We can't carry it over to the new year so need to use it up! I'm going to be festive and put up some lights and have some egg nog latte and go ice skating and such. This is made possible by the done-ness of my dissertation, which is, quite frankly, very anticlimatic.

Crazy English Christmas Time

Sometimes I think the English are more into Christmas than we are, and sometimes I think they are less. It probably just bottles down to a bit of a miscommunication guised by the combination of the English sense of humility combined with their quirkiness. Really they just don't do ostentatious. Let's go through the list.

Let's talk more of my adorable little Christmas tree. While it may not be visible to most passers by, it is there in the front room, and so far I have spotted two other trees on my street. This is not very many considering the number of abodes. There are no Christmas lights in any windows. Although this will change as soon as I get my £19 lights up in the window (which is dependent on me buying packing tape). I am hoping this will inspire neighbors to do the same. Perhaps in the suburbs people cover their houses in lights and have animatronic reindeer and such, but I have yet to see it. I wonder if there is a Peacock Lane type thing somewhere in London?

For a people so allegedly into their Cadbury and generally superior chocolates, there is not nearly as much of it at Christmas as you would expect. They have their Christmas pudding (still have no idea what it is, but it looks like cake) and their mince pies (not to be confused with actual mince meat, which is what they call ground beef). I think the mince pies might involve raisins or something, but no chocolate. Although I am willing to concede the yule log.

Perhaps it's because I haven't been to any malls recently, but I feel like I have no been inundated with repetitive Christmas tunes. This is probably a good thing.

I also sometimes think that their idea of Christmas is a little off. It seems more concentrated on this idea of a Thanksgiving feast than anything. We seem to have the right idea of putting aside eating as a separate holiday, thus allowing us to concentrate on presents and eating chocolate all day. Which in my mind is as it should be. Oh, and this year I shall be putting decorative items on Lizzie and Edgar and making important notes on their different reactions.

Don't even get me started on Boxing Day. As far as I can tell it's just a pause between Christmas and shopping.

Christmas Tree

That's right, two posts in one day. I'm trying to make amends.

The roomie and I had decided that Saturday was a good time to get a Christmas tree. See, if you're going to be away from the week of Christmas you want to maximize your tree enjoyment without looking silly. And December 1st didn't seem to be pushing it that much. Embarassed by even the thought of carrying a Christmas tree on the tube, we headed down to the Fulham Garden Centre down by Bishop's Park, a little less than a mile away. The place was crammed full of trees and some of the poshest people ever, where you were surprised they didn't send the help to get the tree. Anyways, after much debate we for some reason decided to get a little tree still in the pot. Now, I couldn't left it to save my life, but Mark said he could carry it. The potted thing was somewhat logical as it was only a few more pounds than a cut tree but the stands were ridiculously over-priced, so in the end it was cheaper. We purchased the tree, two 'nice' ornaments and a mini-poinsetta.

Because the tree was potted, there really wasn't a way for it to be easily carried by two people, so it really was a one-person affair. And that person clearly wasn't me. It required a lot of pausing and what I can only assume to be a lot of pain, but about 3 hours later the tree made it into the front room and was adorned with the two ornaments. Clearly this wasn't going to cut the mustard, so in lieu of working on dissertation in the afternoon we hopped on the tube to Wimbledon to go to a home improvement store.

Wimbledon was a bit crazy, but B and Q wasn't too crowded. We decided on a red and silver theme and got ornaments, some colored lights, a bead garland thing and a little tree-topper. To demonstrate Christmas spirit to the masses, we got the world's most expensive string of lights to put in the front window and a fake wreath to hang in the front window. Due to a lack of heavy-duty tape they have not yet been put up. Anyways, I spent a portion of my late afternoon/early evening decorating the little tree. Before long I decided it was the cutest little tree ever. A photo shall follow soon!

In other Saturday news, I have taken a giant step of commitment towards living in London by purchasing an annual travel card. For £928, I can now travel freely anywhere within zones 1 and 2 for the next 12 months. This extends beyond my lease even! I don't know why, but it's a slightly scary step. Now I need to submit some paperwork and should get reimbursed for the ticket at work, with equal interest-free installments taken out of my monthly paychecks (before tax). If I leave the company for whatever reason, the remaining balance will be taken out of the final paycheck. So now I have this hankering to go places on the tube at lunch. Just because I can. At no additional cost! And like tak the tube back from the gym when it's raining instead of the journey costing £1 (inter zone 2 trips are cheap). Freedom people, freedom!

The American Embassy

First off, I know I'm a horrible person for not updating blog for a week. There are no excuses. My bad.

Anyways, on Friday I took a venture to the American embassy. The day before Thanksgiving I had received a call from someone at the embassy telling me that my passport had been completed in October, they had tried sending it to my house and the Royal Mail apparently couldn't figure out where I lived so they had sent it back to the embassy. They then gave me the option of picking it up or sending them another envelope to try and mail it again. Giving my proven inability to go to the post office when needed and the inability of the Royal Mail to find where I live, I said I would go pick it up.

Like all of these places, they have obscure opening hours. My choices were 8:30 am - 11:00 am Monday through Friday, or 2:00 pm - 4:00 pm Monday, Wednesday, Friday. Anything to keep you from being able to go on your lunch hour, really. I decided I would try and get there at 8:30 so I could arrive at work with minimal delay. Last Friday I got up early and left early to head to the embassy, but still didn't get there until about 8:40. Oh, it's in Mayfair, just to the east of Hyde Park, while my work is to the west of Hyde Park. It's 4 stops on the Central Line, and I was able to take the Piccadilly Line to get there and then walk about 15 minutes.

So first of all they were doing some construction work outside the embassy. Requiring 3/4 of the building to be surrounded by construction fencing, so I had to walk quite a ways once I found the building to even find the entrance. Then I went through the first check where I put my cell phone and USB port in a clear plastic bag and declared my intentions. If I had been a Brit there to get a visa I would have had to show them my paperwork about my appointment. I then proceeded through to wait in the American Citizen Services line to get through the metal detector. There were separate lines for the visa folk. There was initially a large delay as I can assume some required strip searching, but then things started to speed up a little. The American services line got called up slightly more frequently than the visa line (there was only one metal detector).

After leaving previously mentioned cell phone and USB port in the security office, I had to walk all around the outside of the building again to get to the American services entrance, where I had to go wait in the passport line. This took a bit longer than it should (but still not as long as the metal detector line!), dragged out slightly by the mid-western woman behind me who decided she wanted to chat the entire time. Finally I was able to pick up my passport, regaining my status as a legitimate human being. It was a very exciting time!

By this time it was around 9:40. Having skipped breakfast, I was pleased to discover a Starbucks on the way back to the tube. I figured heck, I was late anyways, what's 2 more minutes? My muffin was delicious. I got to work at 10. Alas. Perhaps there's no such thing as a 'quick' trip to the US embassy. Oh, I forgot to mention the building! It's on Grosvenor Square, which is a cute little open area in like the nicest area of central London, surrounded by cute Georgian, brick townhouses. Except the embassy. Which looked like it was built in the 1960s, was off-white stucco with yellow gold trimmings, and the world's largest gold eagle with spread wings on the top. And of course a giant American flag, but that's standard embassy issue. It's perhaps hard to describe, but the construction around it didn't help the blending in process.

Anyways, I now have a fully legitimate 10-year passport. It even has a microchip!

Anglo-giving

So last Thursday was my attempt at recreating a traditional Thanksgiving dinner in a tiny London kitchen to be served after work. While lacking in many of the traditional Thanksgiving elements, I believe I managed to get the general gist of the food consumption bit across.

First I'll go over the positives. I was able to get just the right amount of boneless turkey breast from Whole Foods as my recipe required, and was somehow able to figure out how to a) make stuffing, b) 'butterfly' a giant chunk of meat, c) get the turkey breast tied up again once the stuffing had been put into it. All three of these things were minor miracles. It took ages to cook, but thanks to my newly acquired meat thermometer, it turned out edible in the end. I didn't have a single pot big enough to make mashed potatoes for 6 people, so I made two smaller pots, combining them for the garlic/milk/butter combining process at the end. The remnants of the spillage from that will be cleaned off the stove soon, I'm sure. I also managed to have too much food, which I think is also key, so no one went hungry and indeed were grumbling about how full they were.

Now the things that weren't quite right. Primarily, I not only had to go to work on Thanksgiving, but the day after as well. What's up with that. We should have some sort of diplomatic agreement between our countries entitling me to having American holidays off of work. Then there was the fact that there were not endless football games on tv, that I actually had to do all the cooking instead of sitting around watching said tv, and scouting trips were required to locate all the required ingredients instead of being able to buy them from any and all grocery stores. I think in all, 5 grocery store trips were made.

In other news, I went to kickboxing class (aka, 'body combat') on Saturday. And apparently all that 'punching' and 'hair-pulling' is effective as my arms and shoulders are really sore!

Happy Thanksgiving!

You know who's not in a celebratory mood? The, excuse my French, bitchy New Yorker woman sassy the people at Starbucks this morning (I saw her drivers license in her Prada wallet).

Speaking of uncelebratory, the England 'football' team has like, totally blown it. TOTALLY. They have failed to qualify for the 2008 EuroCup. Instead, Croatia and Russia will be representing Group E or whatever. Basically, all they had to to was muster a tie against Croatia at Wembley last night in front of the home crowd. By the end of the first half they were down 2-0, and then on brief channel switched from Heroes saw that they managed to tie it, and then gave up another goal and lost 3-2. For shame, England, FOR SHAME. Oh, and Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales also failed to qualify. It's going to be a dull, bitter summer around here with minimal togetherness, it seems.

While some may muster somewhat more legitimate excuses, I choose to blame England's failure to qualify on a special combination of suckiness and cockiness. You're not going to win if you don't think you have to try.

So today is Thanksgiving and once again most people around me are oblivious to that the fact that they should have the day off. I'm being forced to use annual leave to cut out at lunch time to go do some cooking. Basically I have no idea what I'm doing handling large chunks of poultry and instead am banking on people just eating lots of mashed potatoes. I made cranberry sauce last night and I think it went relatively well. The turkey breast is sitting in a bowl full of salt and sugar water in the fridge for the day. And I managed to get a pumpkin pie from Whole Foods yesterday and then looked really cool carrying it around all day, including to the gym and another grocery store.

Hope everyone has a happy holiday and watches lots of actual football and eats too much!

Ta

Ta - 'thanks'

This word 'ta' has arisen from the depths since I've started working. Before this I have managed to either avoid hearing it, or most likely just avoid noticing it. I received it in a email to from my boss and quite frankly I thought it was some sort of typo as I had no idea what it meant. Since then I have heard it said aloud by people in the office/people in the other offices in the building when you get the door for them. I feel like it's main purpose is to avoid having to thank someone the same way in a repetitive manner. For example, when you take the elevator to leave the building you quickly go through two sets of doors to get to the lobby and then another door to get outside. This means if someone follows you outside the elevator you could be getting three doors for them. I would just mutter a 'thanks' under my breath for each of them. But those anglos are a diverse lot. If you're lucky, you could get a 'thanks', a 'ta', and a 'cheers' all within the space of about 30 seconds!

Speaking of work, yesterday morning we didn't have power for the computers and the heating was broken (we did have power for lights and the elevators were working). Luckily the power on my floor came back around 10:15, as opposed to some of the other floors with had to go out and buy massive extension cords to hook the whole floors up to the small number of outlets that were working. It was bitterly cold and pouring down with rain all day yesterday. Basically everyone was sitting around slightly damp and wearing their coat. I'm predicting an outbreak of pneumonia by the end of the week.

And back in gym news, I met with the personal trainer types on both Saturday and Sunday and now have a little 'routine' I'm supposed to do. I gave it a whirl yesterday and it took over an hour and I was quite sweaty by the end of it. Those trainers don't give you simple tasks, I tell ya. Like, I have to run really fast!

BodyStep, BodyPump, BodyAttack!

I made my second trip to the new gym on Wednesday. Feeling brave, but not too brave, I managed to convince myself to try out a class. It was a step class, so I just had to follow the unspoken lead of the few people that got there before me and go in and grab a step and assemble it in an empty area of floor. Luckily I was able to do this. There were about 15 people in the class - all females. The class was 45 minutes long and involved a warm-up, some kind of hard stuff, and then a sort of cool-down stretching period at the end. Overall, probably looked like a bit of an idiot but I enjoyed it and will probably go back.

Yesterday I went to the gym after work again (if you can't convince yourself to go a lot the first week you join, you'll probably never go). The class at the same time was called BodyPump. It again involved the step, but also incorporated weights. I poked my head in to see if I would be brave enough to endeavor, but the set-up looked way too complex. Everyone had a step, a mat, a bar with weights at the ends, and extra weights on hand. How on earth was I supposed to know what sort of weights to collect? Is it supposed to be light and based on repetition or heavy and strenuous? What were the extra weights for? Needless to say, I fled back to the sanctuary of the elliptical trainer.

In this class starting with the word body trend, there is also BodyAttack and BodyCombat. The combat one just incorporates some martial arts moves and sounds like it could be fun. BodyAttack sounds like it will kill you by apparently testing your endurance no matter what your fitness level is. I take that to be a bad thing and will avoid it for the forseeable future. On Monday evening I may try 'cycling' as it sounds way less scary than 'RPM', although both involve using a bike in the dark with strobe lights and someone yelling at you.

Woman in Black

A few weeks ago, right after I got paid and was feeling rich and motivated by the 2 for 1 Oyster card offer, I got tickets to see a play. Perhaps primarily for the reason it reminded me of the best ever book, The Woman in White, I decided I wanted to see the Woman in Black. While based on a novel, it was not written by Wilkie Collins.

The Woman in Black is, in my mind at least, a bit different for the West End in that it's a major show that's been running for 18 years, but it's not a musical. While still a theatrical more so than what I term a 'deep thought' play, it's performed with only two actors and the only effects are done with relatively simple light and sound. It's a 'scary' play, but I wasn't too sure what to expect. Oh, and the play was last night.

It was in a small theater on the far side of Covent Garden from Leicester Square, where there is quite a cluster of theaters (it was right across from where they are doing Lord of the Rings, which I certainly have no desire to see). And by small, I mean pretty tiny. The bathroom was the smallest thing ever still managing to have 2 stalls. When I was waiting in line a woman left without washing her hands. I almost said something. Anyways, the Oyster card deal entitled me to get two top price tickets for the price of one, so it was basically the same price as getting two really crappy seats. Instead we were sitting in the 7th row, right in the middle. Of course, there were only about 12 rows on the lower level, but that's besides the point. If for some reason anyone plans on seeing it, I won't reveal much of the plot, but I will say it was very effectively scary and the acting was good. I heartily recommend it for a pleasant evening out. And it wasn't boring at all!!

In other news, I made my first trip to the gym on Monday. It was a little intimidating, but I managed to remember my way around alright. The cardio area was a bustling, and after not having been to a gym since I left Southampton, the treadmill and I didn't get along all that well. When I was leaving there was a girl waiting for a locker to free up (they were all taken by this time), who saw my Beavers tee and asked if I was from Oregon. She was from Seattle (but went to Michigan for school). I'm going for my second whirl this evening. I'm contemplating taking a class but the likelihood of me chickening out is high.

The Gym

Yesterday I did something new and exciting: I joined the gym! And not a student gym or an express little gym, but basicall the fanciest gym I've ever seen. This is not because I am indeed a fancy person, it's just the only gym I can get to easily in my hood. It's a David Lloyd, which is some sort of chain with a multitude of locations, this one being at Fulham Broadway, in the same lovely building as the tube station, the movie theater, restaurants and a grocery store. Let me just stop for a moment to say that my 'y' button is sticking and has been really bothering me for several days now. Bad y, bad!

My reason for not joining the gym before now has been the price - 75 pounds a month. Which after paying 80 pounds for a whole year of Southampton University gym is quite a blow. But lucky for all involved, David Lloyd is running a special deal with a slashed joining fee and no membership due until January. So yesterday afternoon we made an appointment to see the place and basically join as I don't think anyone can escape those things without joining. The gym is on the top floor of the little mall thing and includes a swimming pool, jacuzzi, sauna, steam room, Costa Coffee, free wi-fi, a licensed bar, a big cardio area filled with plasma tvs, random equipment I would never know how to use, a separate 'ladies gym' with much small tvs, and 3 rooms where they hold different types of classes (and they have a lot of classes!). And most importantly, free towels as you walk in. Joining also includes an appointment with a personal trainer who will basically show you how to use everything and come up with some sort of work out plan for you (which is then conveniently left on file accessible as you walk in). Note: the y key seems to be behaving. So my appointment is on Saturday. I'm a little wary that some drill instructor type will spend half an hour yelling at me but mainly optimistic that they'll be able to show me how to use the scary looking pilates machines.

I've got my little extra bag all made up to take to work with me today so I can go straight to the gym on the way home. I have the distinct feeling that I will get lost as the place is some sort of maze and I'm going to end up in a sauna with a bunch of mafia members or naked Germans or something but hoping that won't be the case! Also worried that it's going to be overly crowded at that time, but can also see the ladies only gym possibly coming to the treadmill rescue!

And I tried some of Lisa's tube standing techniques yesterday evening! They went quite well but I had to end up putting one foot in front of the other to maintain balance in the other direction. I'm assuming it doesn't help that train tracks I'm using were built in the mid-1800s.

Tube Standing

One thing that I have a lot of trouble with on my daily commute is not falling on my bottom and/or a gazillion other people. In the morning time, there's basically no way I will ever get a seat so I am always standing, squashed amongst many others. There are bars overhead that you can generally hold on to, but often-times you find yourself in such a cramped position as to not be able to hold onto any and instead you must rely on your own crafty balance. This wouldn't be too bad but I don't have crafty balance, and this is only worsened by the fact that I am wearing heels that minimize my floor contact.

You see hardened commuters who can just stand in the middle of the car and read a book and have no problems, while I am standing there holding onto an overhead pole flailing about like a jack in the box. The other day I think I might have pierced a guys foot with my shoe and from hearing the under the breath cursing, I don't think he was pleased.

I keep trying to find the best way to stand - facing the direction of travel, facing away from the direction of travel, facing perpendicular to the direction of travel, and nothing really works. Do you keep your knees locked? Slightly bent? I sometimes I think it helps to keep a slightly wider stance than normal, but this can be near impossible in the mornings. And I also try to have my toes pointed in different directions, but this can also be difficult without looking really silly. Basically to maintain any sense of cool while on the tube I need to either have a seat or be in a position where I can hold on firmly (aka, have basically my entire forearm wrapped around) one of the floor to ceiling poles. And then I have to be mentally prepared for starting and stopping and the occasional random lurch that comes with traveling on the District Line.

Are there any secrets to train standing that I just haven't discovered? Is there just a bit of a learning curve? Or is my balance just that bad? Most likely it is all of these things.

Taste the Difference

One thing that seems to be rather common around here is distinct divisions of quality and price within the same stores. To clarify, there are numerous opportunities to go into one store and either buy things on the cheap or to class things up a bit. Much like when flying you have a choice of economy or first class.

Exhibit A: the grocery store. Tesco and Sainsbury's (and I'm sure other chains, I just can't think of them right now) both have 'regular' food items and their gourmet food items. At Tesco it's Tesco's Finest, at Sainsbury's it's 'Taste the Difference'. These product lines cover vast spectrums, from pre-made sandwiches to condiments to noodles and frozen entrees. For a little more money, you get something with slightly more pretentious ingredients and a heftier price tag. The down side of this is that if you just get a regular sauce there is the general implication it is made with cheap crap as all the good stuff is in the pricier version. For example, when I was at Sainsbury's buying cold soup on Sunday, I had the general option of paying £1.99 for their fancy soups, including root vegetable, or paying £0.99 for regular, which included flavors suchs as minestrone and potato and leek. In this case I opted for the cheaper as I enjoy minestrone soup and it was very delicious. I think things only get really complex when you have to seemingly identical items, like pasta sauce, where one is fancy and the other is not and you feel like you are having to choose between having a tasty dinner or not. And now that I think about it, Sainsbury's also features Sainsbury's Basic, which in some respects is kind of like slurry and/or cardboard.

Exhibit B: the clothing store. My primary example of this is Zara, where they have two completely separate lines: Zara Basic and Zara Woman. Zara Woman costs about 50% more and features more substantial fabrics, some classier designs, and usually occupies the prime floor space in the store. Like having a Banana Republic and an Old Navy under one roof. I think everything I own from Zara falls under the Zara Basic classification. While this to me implies they clothes are more likely to fall apart after two months, I'm just a bit cheap like that. Plus I think the Zara Woman clothes often go a step too far in their fashionable-ness when I need something simple that I can get away with wearing to work at least once a week.

There are many more examples of these divisions. Like, Marks and Spencer features 'everyday value' products which tend to be simpler and cheaper than other items (and more likely to include polyester). And I'm sure there are many others. I just can't think of them right now.

The Golden Age of Couture

It's Monday morning again. But never mind that, let's relive my weekend. On Saturday I got my haircut at an 'Aveda concept salon' down the street from my house. It was my 'I got my first paycheck treat' (that along with getting 2 pairs of shoes fixed). It was in many respects bizarrely similar to a Habitude experience. Whilst it was lacking in giant woodsy atmosphere and guy in the waiting area offering hand massages, it had the same tea, the exact same robes and the same pre-haircut head massage with scented oils (but instead of just head, the shoulders were tossed in as well). There was an American girl next to me getting her hair colored by another American, and they were discussing how there just weren't many Americans in London. I wanted to be like, what are you talking about? There are loads! But I didn't.

Yesterday I did something I've been intending to do since the end of September... I went to the special exhibit at the Victoria and Albert Museum on what was basically 1950s high fashion. Instead of being free as the general exhibits are, it was £5 for a student ticket (my Southampton card does't expire until the end of July 2008) but I thought well worth it. It was, believe it or not, full of women. But the exhibit featured a large quantity of designer fashions from the time, including additional items to put everything in context, compared clothes being made locally at the time to items made in Paris, the undergarments involved, and had clips from fashion shows at the time. There was daywear, cocktail-type dresses, and an extensive evening wear section. Included in the exhibit was one dress worn by the queen on a visit to Paris in the late 1950s, several items owned by Princess Margaret and a few items owned by quite possibly the most famous person who shares my name, Margot Fonteyn. She was a wee one. Anyways, I thought it was an excellent exhibit and well-worth the special trip. Sadly, it was probably one of my favorite special exhibits ever. Followed closely by the Sargent exhibit in Seattle and that German royal family exhibit in Portland.

Oh, and worth noting is that I have had soup the last three days for lunch. Friday it was chicken noodle but with no noodles from Whole Foods, Saturday it was this fabulous Moroccan chicken from Waitrose, and yesterday it was Minestrone from Sainsbury's. I think it may be my new favorite thing. In fact, today I may go hit Tesco and microwave myself up a little something. Or I can go to eat and pay twice as much and have it pre-heated. Hmm. Choices. Mmm. Soup.

Kensington Gardens

We've had our fall time change in England. That means for some reason I SWEAR it gets darker two hours earlier than it did last week. But! And I mean this in the best possible way, it has been very nice, sunny and not too cold during my lunch hours. Being the spry, lunch-packer, office-avoider-on-free-time person that I am, I decided to go for a walk for my lunch hours both on Monday and on Tuesday.

I must admit that I still am finding it truly bizarre that I'm just walking about on my lunch hour and there are tourist milling about, but for these walks I've gone to Kensington Gardens. Kensington Gardens is the largest open green area to Notting Hill Gate, with Holland Park being over twice as far, and quite frankly, kind of creepy. So Kensington Gardens it is. On Monday I walked down to the Albert Memorial and Prince Albert Hall, back up Kensington High Street to Kensington Church Street and back to work. On Tuesday I went in search of the Diana, Princess of Wales Memorial Fountain and ran out of time before I had to turn back. But whilst searching, I came across tons of pretty fall foliage and was able to spot quite a few bids, such as herons and coots (there was a little plaque telling you what the birds were), in addition to the usual swans, pigeons and gooses. I also came across what they called the Italian Gardens, which was really just four fountains artfully arranged. But still, very nice. And very pretty this time of year!

Today I did not go on a walk. Well, I did sort of. I made a bee-line for Whole Foods. You see, today was my first pay day, and in celebration of actually having income, we opted for expensive, heavy salad bar times. I showed no constraint in piling on roast turkey, tandoori chicken, pasta salad, cous cous and veggie samosa on my healthy salad base. And it only cost me 8 pounds... On the sad side I was too full afterwards to partake in a Whole Foods brownie. Alas. The next Big Lunch Idea is to get soup and baguette. I'm not sure when this day will be, but I await it eagerly. As for tomorrow...perhaps PB&J....

NFL at Wembley

Yesterday was the Giants-Dolphins game at Wembley Stadium. As was likely all over the papers here and there, not only did the cheerleaders come, but the Giants won 13-10. So basically, it was a close game (made much closer in the final minutes), but the low score made it a bit dull at times.

It is my job to tell you what you may not get on tv. Things possibly of key interest: while Americans were adequatly represented in the crowd, most people were still English. As it was such an odd game situation, if attendees seemed to have any sort of NFL jersey or clothes supporting any team, they generally wore those, even if they weren't playing. There were a lot of Patriots and Redskins jerseys, I spotted a cheesehead and yes, some Seahawks fans. I even got a not of understanding from one waiting to get down a row a couple in front of mine. In my NFL-gear-less attempt to represent, I was wearing my Washington hoodie.

The cheerleaders got what may have been the largest cheer of the night. Believe it or not, the audience was mostly men and to many of them the idea of a bevy of scantily clad really excited women was quite novel.

There was a streaker. At the start of the second half. I was sadly not at my seat in the time, and returned as he was being hauled off the field. Apparently the same guy streaked at the Super Bowl three years ago. He does it a lot.

There was a good wave effort. In the first half. And the second half. The first one originated in my area. They booed on the initial failed efforts.

There was a guy dressed as Superman that someone decided to take a swipe at. It took approximately 8 'safety stewards', the head safety steward and literally, 4 'response team' members to remove the punch-thrower from the stadium. Superman was holding water bottle to his wounded head. After that it seemed someone else tried to hit him or something, and he was removed as well. Perhaps Superman is an a-hole.

Oh, and American day went well. The root beer floats were a big hit. And I thoroughly enjoyed my token Tootsie Roll purchased the day before.

There are game pictures AND captions on Picasa. Check 'em out.

football of the american variety

so im getting quite excited about the forthcoming trip (tomorrow) to watch the giants v dolphins. having visited new york and not miami i feel i must support the giants even if normally i tend to root for the underdog.

so as part of the game festivities we (margo and i) are having an american day which i think im correct in saying involves pancakes in the morning time and root beer floats at some point - margo spent $10 on a bottle of root beer in what i would describe as an american/chinese candy store just off leicester square. margo is also hoping for hotdogs at the game but i doubt (though i may be proved wrong) they will have them.

sounds quite boring but im also looking forward to checking out the stadium!

so importantly i'm going to try and remember the rules that brian and aaron taught me back in portland - this combined with margo who will probably not like me after the game due to the number of questions i will ask should give me a reasonable understanding of the goings on!

Aussie Aussie Aussie

One thing I can't help but find kind of strange about my current workplace is the sheer number of Australians and New Zealanders that work there. First of all, why do so many Australians come here when practically every Brit you talk to has some dream of living in Australia? Is it simply a case of the grass always being greener?

I have also heard some interesting tales about some of these Australians. I'm going to go ahead and generalize this as an Aussie thing because I have not heard of anyone else doing these things. My boss apparently interviewed an Australian last week. Aside from a rumor going around saying he was a bit odd looking, apparently he was just looking for six-months of contractual work so he could save up and then go traveling 'again'. This fits in with some tales of strange Aussie housing conditions I have heard as well. For example, a very large number of Australians sharing an apartment with at least 2 per bedroom and perhaps a few more people staying over in the living room. I can only assume this lifestyle is adapted again to support a substantial amount of travel. I should also add that this seems to be purely a phenomenon amongst the 20-something set, I don't think you find any 40 year-olds in those living situations.

Of course, I still have difficulty differentiating between Aussie and Kiwi accents. But now I think I can pretty easily tell the difference between English and Australian. Which was always a tricky one before.

In other news... I've added a couple photo albums to picasa. One covers a few pictures I've taken in the local hood, the other about 3 different days around London. I'll work on getting the captions up tonight!

The final

So Saturday was the rugby World Cup Final. To make a long story short, England was supposed to lose and they did indeed lose, to South Africa. And the people who play for South Africa have kind of strange names. But the good news is that instead of losing to them 36-0 like they did in the first round of the cup, they only lost 15-6, and it was very nearly 15-13 as England came very close to what we shall just for simplicity sake call a touchdown.

On Saturday the landlord was coming to redo the kitchen. At 7:45 am. So this required getting up at 7am and clearing all the stuff out of the kitchen before this time. We then went to Starbucks because we could make coffee at home, then tried going to the Natural History Museum but it was only 9:15 and it didn't open until 10. So we went to a nearby French cafe, then spend a number of hours 'learning' at the Natural History Museum. This included 'driving' a 'snowmobile' in the special Antarctica exhibit. I did not do that well, as I kept going into the water or flipping the darn thing over.

After the museum we went to another little French cafe for baguette sandwiches that were very good. Mine had avocado. We then intended to go to the wine museum on the Southbank, but when we got there we learned that it costs £17.50 for the basic package, and £22.50 for a worthwhile package, so ended up deciding to hold off on this one. But, I must say, for that £22.50 you get 5 wine tastings, 2 beer tastings, a Sapphire cocktail, 2 absinthe tastings, and either 2 whiskey tastings or 1 whiskey cocktail. Basically, this is not a place you want to go if you have anything to do the rest of the day. So instead of going there, we strolled along the bustling riverfront pathway, popping into Tate Modern to use the bathroom/see the giant modern art crack in the turbine hall. It was deeper than you would think. Then in search of a place to watch the rugby, we walked through the giant Eid celebration in Trafalgar Square and past Buckingham Palace. We figured that places in the tourist areas would be less packed as most would not care about the rugby.

We ended up trying to watch the game at this pub with this horribly mean, drunk owner who kept yelling at people and even turned the tv off at one point because a guy wouldn't move. So we ran screaming out the door right before half time and got back to a luckily-landlord-free apartment with new kitchen for most of the second half. I've taken a photo of the new kitchen, but it will have to be added later. I swear I'll get new photos up this evening!!

Mid-week review

It's Wednesday of week 4 of work. I've sort of slowly passed a number of additional one-year marks: it's been over a year since I've been in England, over a year since I started classes. Well, I guess those are the main ones. Now when people ask me how long I've been here I just say 'oh, a year'. It sounds much more long-term since my old answer of 'oh, just since September' (this is usually accompanied by me point over my shoulder, as if that is where last September was located).

One of my main goals as a working person is to aviod, or at least delay, falling into the working person rut. You get up, go to work, go home, eat, watch tv, go to bed. While I must admit this is what I do most days, I think it's key to mix in random events in mid-week times. Like on Monday, I went to the grocery store. Yesterday I checked out someones new pad in Finsbury Park, which is like the opposite corner of London from here. Today I bought some beans at Starbucks. Tomorrow I shall sample local Thai. Whilst there is something said for the routine, I think that as a new Londoner I have to do my best to take advantage of at least a very small slice of what my surroundings have to offer.

Although I also must admit that I have something of a routine with my work wardrobe. While I change tops everyday (mainly blouses with a few cardigans mixed in), I don't have that many bottoms so I tend to wear a similar set each week. At least once a week I wear my black skirt with black nylons, and another day I wear one of my two lighter skirts with the neutral nylons. The dark grey trousers are worn once a week (wore them yesterday), and then there is usually at least one day involving all or part of a suit. The fifth day (let's call it Friday) is in some ways more of a wildcard. Tomorrow is Thursday and as I haven't worn black skirt yet this week, I think we all know what's coming. And I'm not sure if anyone else ever has this problem, but for some reason when I wear skirts with nylons and blouses tucked in they often times tend to creep up a bit. So you walk to blocks and you have to pull your skirt down so it doesn't end up in your armpits. But this is quite possible just me. Actually tucking doesn't really impact as much as the nylons. Perhaps I best stop talking now...

Ikea

I went to Ikea yesterday. Via public transportation. This may be an Ikea first! There are actually 3 Ikeas in and immediatly around London; one in Croydon to the south, Wembley in northwest and Edmonton to the east. Having been to the one at Croydon before and knowing how to get there with relative ease, that is where we headed.

Getting there involved paying 1 pound to take the District line to Wimbledon and then paying 90 p to hop on the Croydon light rail tram 9 stops to that opposite Ikea. After nearly getting over by several cars walking through the massive parking lot, we grabbed some meatballs before facing the carnage. We were there to get curtains and a frame. It took a little time, but we finally picked out some curtains that we liked. But alas, after much searching, we discovered they were out. And sadly, we didn't care too much for those they had in stock. In the grame section, we discovered they did not have the size frame we required. So sadly, it was not the best trip to Ikea. It seems we're going to have to make another trip to try and get those curtains!

In rugby news, England is going to be playing South Africa on Saturday in the final. This is somewhat expected, but not the best news! There's been a considerable amount of press coverage as well as a lot of talk on the streets. Oh, plus people seem kind of excited in Scotland as they have had a couple of upsets in the EuroCup 2008 qualifiers, including beating France in France and beating Ukraine in Scotland this past weekend. Sometimes I think there are just too many 'big' games!

The semi-final

So this evening was the England-France semi-final game in the Rugby World Cup. The game was held at the Stade de France in Paris, and as with last week, the English were kind of supposed to lose.

We went to the fest, getting there nearly an hour before the game and grabbed some steins. Unlike last week, they took out most of the benches and packed in the people. There was actually a velvet rope and a line outside. At the fest. If you ever come to visit you will see the obsurdity in this. Dirndls and velvet ropes don't mesh. Anyways, near half-time I was getting a bit clausterphobic and thought I was going to hurl from lack of air so made a run for it. Luckily my own personal couch was approximately 30 seconds away. Watched the rest of the game from here. Fewer steins, much more breathing room.

Oh, the game. Right. So within the first two minutes, in what reminded me of a good football tackle, England scored to go up 5-0. Then France got some, um, points and went up 6-5. It remained this score at the end of the first half. In the second half, things were looking grim for England and they were behind 9-5. They got what I can only describe as a field goal to close the margin to 9-8. In the last five minutes, they scored twice more to go up 14-9. So basically, France was going to have to get a touch down (a 5-point 'try') to at least tie, and the clock doesn't stop until the play ends. And this last play past the 80' mark lasted a little too long for most. But alas, England persevered and pulled another minor miracle out of their hats. For some reason, the stadium in Paris started playing some classic Oasis shortly after the end of the game. Interesting choice.

The World Cup final is next Saturday, in the same stadium in Paris. Today was a crazy sport day in that the 'football' team had a game against Estonia this afternoon followed by the rugby game (the beer was flowin' in this town, I tell ya). However I can't help but feel like I am slightly unprepared for the madness that will great me next weekend. It will be against either Argentina or South Africa. South Africa beat England 36-0 or something ridiculous like that in the first round. Things may be ugly.

Hotel Chocolat

So numerous times a week I like to get some fresh air and make sure my feet are nice and pained by walking to Earls Court. I have mentioned this before. What I have no mentioned is what that I walk by this amazing looking chocolate store called 'Hotel Chocolat'.

It's on Kensignton High Street a bit farther down than the thick of the stores on the corner of, well I have no idea what the street is. Anyways, I always look in and everything is all dark and there is a lot of open space like one of those overly expensive clothing stores. Only it's all chocolate. Today I couldn't take it anymore and finally walked in on my way by. There were little bags of plain chocolates and chocolate covered things. Along the wall there were giant pieces of chocolate in varying forms, then big chocolate bars. I stopped at the dark chocolate section and there were SO many different kinds. They all listed both the percentage cocoa, ranging from around 70% to 100%, most around 72%. What I found really odd was that they listed where the cocoa came from, listing the subtle underflavors. Chocolate from one locale had underlying fruitiness, one was whiskey and leather. It was really like a wine shop in this regard. So basically you want to go in there and get all the different kinds of chocolate to try and pick out these flavors. Although I might skip the whiskey and leather. If you wanted that you could always go to a country western bar.

In the back there were three sections: white, milk, dark. Each had selections of 6 truffles and smaller chocolate bars with the base kind of chocolate and all kinds of additions. You could have dark chocolate and ginger, or something with chilli. What finally caught my eye were the white chocolate creme flavors, with real berries involved. There was strawberry creme, rasberry creme, and a rasberry and blackcurrant creme. The rasberry creme won out as the initial chocolate. Needless to say, it will take absolutely ages to even have nibbles of everything worth sampling in this place.

Oh, and I have my ticket to come back for a week at Christmas. I'm taking orders. They've got a website.

Immigration show

Good news and bad news. So I've been coming up with all these good blog ideas, but haven't really been around the computer and so have been failing at updating. My apologies.

One day last week. Let's call it Thursday. There was a show on tv about immigrants in the UK. My 'boring' radar went off initially before it dawned on my a considerable time later that I was classified as an immigrant myself. While the show did deal with a what in this country is thought of the burdensome immigrants - those that come as asylum seekers who end up living in government housing, they did take the time to highlight the benefits of certain immigrant groups as well. They mentioned the 'invisible' immigrants (aka, those that people don't really think of), being Americans, Canadians, South Africans, Australians and New Zealanders.

Within this group, they chose Americans to discuss in more detail. There are 183,000 Americans living in Britain, making us the 8th largest immigrant group. They (as I don't earn nearly this much) earn on average 36,000 pounds a year and pay twice as much average tax as UK citizens. This is pretty good. Needless to say, we were used as a shining example of the benefits that immigrants bring. Yay America! We represent.

In sporting news, it's been a big weekend in the rugby world cup. It's the quarter-finals, and yesterday England was playing Australia. Four years ago, when England was theoretically better than now, they barely got past Australia in the final to win. Yesterday they were expected to get their, excuse my French, asses handed to them on a plate by the Aussies. I watched the game at 'the fest', the German bar about 50 feet from my front door. It was remarkably full of Aussies. Anyways, in an utter, utter nail-biter, England managed to pull out a 12-10 victory. It was a big victory. The game deciding who England would play in the semi-final was in the evening time. It was New Zealand-France and New Zealand was supposed to win quite easily. But alas, in further giant upset news, France managed to win. This is especially good news for England as they theoretically have a better chance of beating France in a semi-final than New Zealand. The game is next Saturday, so I'll have to keep you all posted on what goes on.

Working, week 2

So I'm in the midst of my second week of anglo work now. Quite frankly it's not as scary as I had thought it would be. The work week is 37.5 hours, so while it's expected that you work a bit extra everyday, it only comes out to about 8 hours a day in the end. And there is lee-way depending on how the trains are behaving in the morning and it's not the end of the world if you show up a bit late. People go to the pub for lunch on the occasional Friday (but drinking beer would be purely optional, of course). Other than that, things also seem sort of laid back in a 'but let's be chargable in an efficient way' sort of thing. I don't know, perhaps it's difficult to describe. Although with the late working/.ong commuting times, working still seems very time consuming! I guess that's true for all, though.

I wasn't sure how I would cope with not having a lunch break until 1, but it's really not that tough. Perhaps this is aided by the fact that I drink a couple mugs of FREE hot chocolate in the morning times when I get cold and/or sleepy and/or sleepy & cold. It's Cadbury. That's how they roll in these parts. And I've already got the Christmas Party date set aside.

I also keep thinking of all these witty things to write about in blog entries but seem to forget about them by the end of the day! Perhaps I shall start writing them down. Like those people who write down their dreams.

Tower of London

Today is my first weekend as what I would consider something of an actual Londoner (I go to work, therefore I pay taxes!). So what did I do? Some sort of insider activity unknown to the outside world? As if, people! I went to the Tower of London!

A witty Yeoman Warder led the tour. He had good tales and kept us all amused. We learned about historical facts and how everyone died before seeing the crown jewels. After a quick trip to the gift shop we were out of there. Plus it didn't rain! Very nice place to spend the afternoon, and even more exciting to know that it's on my relative doorstep! On the way back, however, we tried getting on a train that was blessedly empty. Upon climbing in and being confronted by an odor similar to rotting meat, we learned why and got off. And then ended up with some sort of BO situation on the train we were on. There's a bit of a ventilation situation when you're in the bellies of the earth!

After the Tower we went over to Kensington High Street and got Mark a new pair of 'trousers' for work. Now he has 'options'. Tomorrow I'm thinking V&A exhibit!

Oh, and the first work of week ended alright. Had a trip to the pub after work on Friday, which was a step in the direction of being social! Although, I was shocked to learn that there was no casual Friday. That's not too cool with me. Not cool at all!

The commute

So I've gone to and from work 4 times now. Aside from not being able to fit on a few trains and having to wait short whiles for the correct trains to arrive at Earl's Court, the mornings have not been too bad. Now let's go over my evening commutes.

Monday - decided to walk, walked. Was wearing flats, so was not unreasonable. Took 65 minutes, including brief stop to pick up dinner items.
Tuesday - decided to take the bus, took bus. Not really sure how long it took, but was back home by 6:30 and probably left around 5:45. Bus goes from very near work to Fulham Broadway, so 15 minute walk at the end
Wednesday - decide to take tube, didn't take tube. Walked down into Notting Hill Gate station, scanning my card at the ticket gates. Learn that District Line trains are suspended between there and High Street Kensington, and next Circle Line train (which also goes to High Street Kenginston) is 20 minutes away. Walk out, having to scan my card again and pay 1.50 for the privledge. Take bus, which is addition 1 pound. Took little over an hour. Had to walk from Fulham Broadway again.
Thursday - decided to get home by whatever means possible. Checked the tube status before leaving work. Learned that District Line trains were running from Kensington, just not Notting Hill. Walk down to Kensington High Street station, about 10-15 minutes. Pay to get through ticket gate. Learn after several minutes that it would be 25 minutes until a train showed up. Went back through ticket gate, walked to Earl's Court station as traffic was at standstill and would be quicker than taking a bus. Took tube to Parsons Green from Earl's Court. Took 60 minutes. Feet really hurt!

So like, what's up with this TfL? Apparently the drivers were complaining that the trains didn't have 'brakes', and like they only want to drive trains that have them. So therefore the reason for the suspended services was lack of available, aka 'able to stop', rolling stock. Pain in the neck, I say. Oh, I guess I should also mention that my smooth Wednesday idealized morning commute took exactly 25 minutes, door to desk. That puts the 60 minute thing in perspective. If I didn't fear eminent death and getting sweaty while going to work, I would seriously consider riding a bike to work. But helmet hair and 'smart' dress doesn't suit me I've decided.

The District Line is apparently up and running again. Hopefully it will be tomorrow morning. I might also add that I avoided having to deal with the suspended services this morning by starting out my day with a site visit to Islington, in northeast London, which then required returning to work via the Central Line which also stops at Notting Hill and was working fine. Oh, and you can't get anywhere in the remote vicinity of where I live by taking the Circle Line from Notting Hill, either. So it's not to much an option. Anyways, let's hope tomorrow's commute goes smoothly. It's tough becoming a bitter London commuter after only 4 days.

First day of work

Today was my first day of work! After weeks of relatively mundane weather, I awoke this morning to pouring down rain. And I also awoke before 7 am. This hasn't gone on in quite some time either. While it was rather scary, all fears were somewhat appeased by the fact that Adrian was going in at starting at the same time.

We met up at the Starbucks across the street from the building at 8:45, to pass our last 45 minutes of full-time student-ness. Post-muffin, we headed in and waited for the HR lady to show us around. After the tour we were dropped off individually at our new desks. Adrian didn't have a computer, and mine was in the process of getting set up for my use. About half of my 'group' was out, including my boss, so one of the others showed me around a bit more and got me set up with a mug and a notepad and such. Once my computer was ready, I got to read the employee manual. All in such was a bit dull, although I was intrigued by the maternity leave policy. I think the US one was that you could pop one out but had to be back the next day. Here you were allowed to take an entire year of at somewhere around 90% pay. On the slightly unfair side, men could only take two weeks paternity leave.

I got a sandwich for lunch from the Tesco across the street and consumed it on the 6th floor by Adrian's desk. It seems like an interesting lot down there. Back on the 8th floor, my boss returned and briefed me on some projects I'll be working on. Most were in London, including the main one for which I will seemingly be writing the better part of a transport assessment for in the next two weeks. This made me suddenly realize that I'm going to have to do actual work. Involving thinking. This is worrying!

work work work

guest blog entry:

so its gone from education education education to work work work even though (and I think margo is in the same boat) we still have quite a lot (American quite) of work still to do with school.

so we are both starting work tomorrow morning margo at 9.30 and me at 10. so should be an interesting day - will be very strange walking around town in a suit! not really looking forward to my first experience of peak time London public transport if its anything like peak time driving in Southampton should be a nightmare!!!

so we've been living in fulham for 2 weeks now and its definitely a very multicultural city! the first people we heard in sainsburys in Earls Court (which I think Margo found strange because she went there on holiday 2 years ago) were Americans. There are also a lot of French speaking people - I could almost be in the minority! It's a very different deal to Southampton in what I've seen so far - just wish there was more time/money to enjoy all that's on offer. We've been quite adventurous so far though :-)

Margo had some friends over from your side of the pond for the last two nights. I got grilled about the British school system (questions that relate from harry potter i think). I think was like the opposite from when my dad met Margo...lots of questions though i guess its just interesting leaning how different cultures do what is basically the same thing - school! They were cool people one was from Portland and the other Seattle (well living now) - hit a soho bar and they got chatted up by some 40 year old Australian which i thought was funny! Good effort though!!!

Anyways margo's excited because theres a Coldcase on TV that she hasn't seen before!

Have a good week

Mark x

Birthdays

Happy Birthday, Kathy! Hope it's a good one! I didn't do any exact calculations, but I think the matron is about 36 today. She was very young when she had me.

I also took a look back a couple days ago and realized that blog is now just over a year old. My very first entry, done the day of blog's creation, was September 17, 2006. It's really quite bizarre to think of all that has happened in the past year! The terror of quitting work and selling my car and getting on a plane last September was certainly much more intense than my current worry of starting a new job on Monday. It may even really be too bizarre to dwell on, I think. Things of rememberence are always strange, and I'm not quite up for doing a recap.

Of primary interest, it is go-see-Kelly-Osbourne-in-Chicago evening. Apparently she should do a good job, but in these sorts of things you really just havce to keep your hopes up for some kind of slip-up. The show will be good, I'm sure.

+ 1

First off, work resolution. My future employer is allowing me to start work in my current visa situation. I'll be signing a new, 4-month contract when I show up for my first day on Monday. Now this means I start work on Monday. Now I'm scared for entirely different reasons. Eek. The first day outfit is worked out, but what about the second? Hopefully I won't be confronted with the need to produce additional suits. I'll be trying to get more of the scoop from my inside source later this week and then will be wheeling in with another bud, so I'm pretty lucky in that regard. Of course, none of us are actually in the same group so there still will be mingling!

Moving on to dear old television. For some reason there is a plethora of channels that are simply shadows of other channels, one hour behind. They call these 'plus one' channels, so there is E4 + 1, for example, that shows everything E4 shows but an hour later. It's sort of like tevo, only it's everything and just a straight hour later. I'm almost surprised there aren't plus two for those who are running two hours behind. I admit to watching the channels, of course. Sometimes there are two things on that you want to watch and nothing on afterwards, so you just watch the +1 and you're good to go. Two birds with one stone. While this ensures that either Friends or Scrubs is always on, it's a little tricky because you can be paying not that much attention and come across an episode you'd just watched an hour earlier.

And I'm still intending to upload some more pictures, I just haven't gotten around to it quite yet...