Category Archives: London

Bought my first pair of wellies this week

Posted on 31 January 2010 by | Leave a comment

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Now we’ll see if I have them with me when I need them.

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Posted in Culture, London

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This week

Posted on 23 January 2010 by | Leave a comment

Several days this week, I was laughing out loud on the bus as I was reading my way through the title essay in A Supposedly Fun Thing I’ll Never Do Again by David Foster Wallace. The topic of the essay: luxury cruising.

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While we were on vacation over the holidays, I enjoyed listening to music on the radio…primarily KCRW. Normally in London, I don’t listen to a whole lot of music, especially current music. But this week, I decided to track down some new things to listen to. New to me, anyway. I’ve been listening to xx and Lungs and really enjoying both albums. It makes me wish I could have music playing in the background through more of my days.

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Posted in Literature, London, Los Angeles, Music

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Ceremony of the keys

Posted on 23 January 2010 by | Leave a comment

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This week, we were invited to attend the key ceremony at the Tower of London. I’d heard a lot of really cool things about this ceremony, and both of us were very interested to see what it’d be like. So a few nights ago, after the Tower had officially closed to the public, we got to take a private tour and then relax and warm up (it was a freezing night!) in the Yeoman Warder’s Pub while we waited for the ceremony to begin. At the designated time (9:53 to be exact) we gathered near the gate to watch the Yeoman, clad in a bonnet and holding a dimly lit lantern, march out and lock up the Tower gates. After the gates were locked, he marched back, bellowed to a military guard that he’s got the Queen’s keys and all is well. Then there was a bit of bugle playing and the ceremony ended shortly after 10:00pm. It was really cool to see, and interesting to hear the history of the ceremony. They’ve performed the ceremony every single day for over 700 years. I wondered if they always used the words “all is well” as part of the daily ceremony…like even when the bombs were falling during WWII.

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Posted in Culture, History, London, Uncategorized

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Pumpkin pie, finally

Posted on 29 November 2009 by | 2 comments

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This was our fourth Thanksgiving in London, but the first year we’ve had pumpkin pie. Because I’m not a huge fan of the pumpkin pie, and because I can always think of a dessert I would rather make/eat, we have had an alternate dessert for Thanksgiving for the previous three years. We have an agreement that if Brodacious will roast the turkey and make the stuffing, I’ll take care of dessert (not a bad agreement, as far as I’m concerned). Apparently, though, Thanksgiving sans pumpkin pie had become unacceptable to Brodacious, who demanded that the celebration this year would include a proper pumpkin pie. And so it did.

As a side note, cans of puréed pumpkin were partipularly difficult to find. The only place I could find them was Selfridges, at a silly £3.30 per can.

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Posted in Food, London

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London Jazz Festival

Posted on 22 November 2009 by | Leave a comment

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The London Jazz Festival has been going on this month, and we decided to take in a performance and expose ourselves to some new musicians—new to us anyway. We went to see Dave Holland, who was really impressive on the bass. Some of the pieces he pulled off seemed incredibly complex. With him on stage were Jason Moran on the piano and Eric Harland on sax. Plus Chris Potter, who played the best drum solo either of us has ever seen.  Each of these people was a strong musician and composer, and it was a lot of fun to see them perform together. To top it all off, we had great seats on the 5th row. Since the show, I’ve been enjoying some of their music on Spotify.

As an added bonus, the opening act for the show that night was David Jean Baptiste and his clarinet council. I’ve never seen someone play a contra bass clarinet. Hearing a small ensemble honk away on clarinets took me back to my high school band days. The major difference being that these people were actually good. And they were playing jazz, which was nice.

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Posted in London, Music

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Weekend report

Posted on 15 November 2009 by | Leave a comment

Both of us have been sick (courtesy of me) for the past four days. Not super sick…just irritating aches and pains, coughs and sniffles so that in general it feels so much better to lie down with your head on a pillow.  So the days have been filled with sipping hot tea, napping, watching old movies and mediocre television, and soaking in hot baths. And (after four straight days of being cooped up in the house together) trying not to drive each other crazy.

We’ve continued our search for a few more pieces of furniture. Last month we won this desk from ebay, which we should be able to actually use once we get the second bedroom organized.

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Since we spotted one of these Jieldé lamps in Liberty, we’ve been dreaming of owning one. I don’t think it will happen anytime soon, though. I might be too cheap to fork out so much money for a simple lamp.

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We’re trying to invest in a few furnishings that we’ll enjoy for many years, upgrading a little bit from basic IKEA furniture while staying within an affordable price range. It’s the quest for affordability that’s been such a challenge, especially around here in London and especially because one of us (not me) has such an incredible eye for detail.

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Posted in Design, Internet, London

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Halloween

Posted on 3 November 2009 by | Leave a comment

A colleague who just moved to London asked me if he and his family should expect trick-or-treaters on Halloween. It’s never seemed like much of a holiday here, and I’ve never seen trick-or-treaters and I said as much. So what happened on the 31st? Of course, we saw trick-or-treaters! Not many, and not at our house (though we were gone part of the evening) but they were out there with their goody bags and their costumes. I think the difference is that there are actually a number of families with children in our new neighborhood. I also found out (from a friend with children) that you are supposed to put a jack-o’lantern in your window if you want to participate in the trick-or-treating festivities. Who knew? It only took me three years to find that one out.

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Posted in Culture, London

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North of the Thames

Posted on 25 October 2009 by | Leave a comment

We’ve been in our new neighborhood north of the Thames for almost two months now, and both of us have really enjoyed getting to know a new part of the city. The make-up of our new neighborhood is a bit different. There are a lot more children here, both at church and near home. As we transit between home and work, we frequently travel Edgware Road, which has a distinctive Middle Eastern feel to it. The shop names are written in Arabic, you see many women in full burkhas and loads of people sitting at the restaurants puffing away on the hookahs.

At church, we bump shoulders with a lot more Americans than we did before our move; also a good number of Asians. The congregation is much larger, and there are many experienced members and things feel very organized. I had to laugh a little today when someone gave me a fancy, colorful and detailed flyer for an upcoming activity. Haven’t seen anything like that since we left the States.  It takes us a little bit longer to get to church now (about 45 minutes) but it’s only one bus ride, and not bad. The ride is my one chance during the week to sneak a peak at the window displays at Harvey Nichols. I used to pass Harvey Nichols daily on my commute to/from work. I love their creative and somewhat bizarre displays.

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Posted in Culture, London

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Bacon Cake on Edgware Road

Posted on 20 October 2009 by | Leave a comment

The other day, Brodacious and I were riding the bus down Edgware Road. We passed by a bakery called Bake and Cake and had a little conversation that went something like this:

Me: Bake and Cake. That’s a dumb name for a store.

Him: Bacon Cake…that is a dumb name.

Now I smile every time I see Bake and Cake (which is pretty frequently, since I find myself on Edgware Road practically daily).

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Posted in Food, London

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You could do with a bit more flossing

Posted on 20 October 2009 by | Leave a comment

I’ve now experienced private dental care in the UK. Where’s my paper bib? What, no x-rays? It was a little different than the standard US visit to the dentist, but not bad, and not too expensive. And happily, no root canal or fillings required this time around. I went the private route at the recommendation of some of our colleagues, and also because there was an eight-week waiting list to see an NHS dentist.

The bad thing about moving is that I’ve had to find a new NHS doctor to see. I no longer live within the boundaries of my former GP’s practice, and so have to register with a doctor in my new neighborhood and build a new relationship with a new doctor. I suppose I shouldn’t complain too loudly, though, since it is free medical care. I liked my last doctor pretty well, and hope to find another good one.

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Posted in London

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