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!
Wednesday, December 12, 2007
Tuesday, December 11, 2007
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!
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!
Sunday, December 09, 2007
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...
Friday, December 07, 2007
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.
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.
Wednesday, December 05, 2007
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.
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.
Monday, December 03, 2007
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 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!
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!
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