18 Apr 07 The journey
Travel is something I’ve developed patience for in London. Going places by tube can be time-consuming, but I no longer consider distance as a factor in deciding if I want to go someplace. If the tube stops near a destination then there’s no good excuse whatsoever not to go. I will happily, and now regularly do, travel across the city to meet someone or just go see something that I haven’t seen before.
Walking is also just a requirement of living in a large urban environment. A quick walk ‘around the corner’ might take 15 minutes, while a ‘long’ walk in the city is likely to take two hours or more. Walking a different way each time out is a fun way to discover such an intricately laid-out city, and to realise new things about what’s familiar in the well-trod routes. I appreciate seeing unexpected views of the architectural landscape from snickleways, and take pictures of them with my mind (or often in camera too).
Patience is easy to cultivate when you keep your eyes and mind open, with interest. The journey is the destination.
7 Aug 06 Weekend of walking
This weekend we clocked at least 25 miles/40km on foot!
Saturday was lovely, not too hot, so we ventured from home near Aldgate East to Covent Garden and back. It was imperative we stop in at a hardware store to pick up some mouse poison. Yes, after all our humane efforts to stop the mouse madness in Ithaca we have been ‘forced’ to try alternative methods here. This is a new building, so it’s surprising how quickly these peskies infiltrate. The humane traps you buy here do NOT work and I’ve been trapping on my own with a combination approach: corral the mouse behind a rickety arrangement of cardboard boxes then cup it under a tupperware bowl. I’m a champion trapper! First sign, a couple of months ago, there was only one mouse traveling through the building and accessing the cupboard under the sink through holes around the piping. Then the other day I got quite worried when I spotted no less than three mice… in the bedroom. I was working at the computer and glanced down to see one sitting between my feet! My nerves were a bit shot that day :) I was convinced they had nested under the bed, but after a thorough cleanup found that wasn’t the case. They had created a spawning paradise at the back of our storage closet, behind the water heater, in a gaping hole cut to fit the pipes. So we set the humane traps, but they absolutely do not work. Since Friday night there’s been no indication of a return but we just laid out some poison anyway. Stay away rodents!
Sunday we interacted with different, cuter, and much larger animals: sheeps and cows! It was the first walk we chose to do out of Time Out’s Country Walks (near London) books, Volumes One and Two (not to be confused with 50 Walks to Country Pubs). We traveled an hour by train to Lewes, followed the guidebook out of town, up a hill and across a field, and soon discovered we picked one of the tougher walks in the book :) They may not be mountains high as Banff or BC, but there are some huge rolling hills and valleys through the south and we trekked up and down more than a few of them during that 15 miles! In the UK you can cross through farms on privately owned ‘access land‘ without fear of being shot on sight.
Under the Countryside and Rights of Way Act 2000 (CROW), the public can now walk freely on mapped areas of mountain, moor, heath, down and registered land without the need to stick to paths.
We came across a farmer and son shearing sheep, walked past them onto their fenced property, and further along met with a large herd of friendly curious cattle. We moaned through layers of sweat as we hiked from the first valley up a 700m hill. Direct sun and humidity didn’t make this experience the most pleasant, but luckily later on the clouds overcast. Before we left home we knew Lewes had a lovely castle, but seeing it up close wasn’t meant to be. This walk was pure country, and after walking the final five miles along the river Ouse, where we counted 38 white swans and passed the spot where Virginia Woolf walked into the river to her death, we had no energy left to climb the (relatively small) hill up to the castle.
Some notes on sheep doo doo and cow pies: Some sheep poop out a bundle of blueberry-sized pellets while others don’t. The contrast between the two types is confusing. Cows plop perfectly round 12-inch pies. Attempts to avoid all these hazards were futile, and I’ll just say a crunch underfoot is so much better than a squish…
19 Jul 06 To the beach!
This time I’ll give in and admit there really is a heatwave happening here! Current temperature is 34 degrees, and schools have even closed early. It’s not a good day to be riding the tube, which fits just fine with my plan to stay inside as much as possible.
Especially since I got a bit scorched down at the beach on Sunday :)
The south-coast beach at Brighton isn’t the closest to London. You can get to the east-coast beaches at Essex in about an hour by train, but we’ve wanted to take a Brighton trip for quite awhile and it’s only an extra 15 minute ride. The train departs from Blackfriars Station which is a few tube stops from home.
We arrived in Brighton around 9:30 and it was already sweaty-hot, even at the shore. Ocean! The water was a gorgeous deep aqua colour… but that’s one long stretch of pebbly beach.
Much of the beach is dotted with canvas lounge chairs you can rent for £1.50, but exploring the promenade and pier was more interesting. Just like any town with a beach, there’s a fair number of chippy’s (essentially a concession with a deep-fryer), pub patios and boat rental outlets lining the promenade.
The pier is where all the fun fair action goes on, it houses a gazebo with carnival games and casino slot machines. I blew about £2 playing a silly coinslot game where you drop your coin onto a huge pile of other coins with the goal of hitting a metal sliding thing that pushes all the coins into an even bigger pile. You cross your fingers and hope the big pile shifts just enough so a bunch of coins (ie. the ‘booty’) will fall out, but odds are rather slim I’d say. You might just win 50p though, never know!
Next destination: Crazy Mouse!
With some (just a little) persistence, Matt convinced me to climb aboard a Crazy Mouse coaster car, a ride which from the ground seemed harmless. We had watched others go round and not heard any shrieking. And it’s not like there’s upside-down loops…
But now we know what the ‘Crazy’ part is: just the feeling you’ll launch off the end of the track and over the edge of the pier, crashing into the water 100 feet below while locked into a coaster car. No biggy :) The cars jerk around so rigidly, too, that you can’t help but imagine that loud snap sound you just heard means you’re strapped into that one car in a million bound to go off the rails. It didn’t.
Later, just beyond the mini-golf course, we caught ‘the world’s oldest operating electric train‘ eastward down the beach toward the sand sculpture festival. Housed under a big tent (so you have to pay to see) are several enormous, impressive sand creations made with a Roman theme. We gasped at the skill, time and patience required to achieve such works of art, then giggled at how erotic - even pornographic - some of the sculptures were! Hey, kids admission is only £4.
Away from the beach we shopped a little in the Lanes, a nest of winding streets with all sorts of shops, and Matt bought me a lovely pink purse :) Had a cursory look at the exterior of the Royal Pavillion and ducked out of the heat into the air-conditioned Brighton Museum & Art Gallery which has free admission but was very entertaining, worth every penny.
We had dinner reservations at Terre a Terre, a vegetarian restaurant recommended as the best in the country. From their website:
Forget everything you have ever read or heard about vegetarian food. Forget everything you have ever eaten at vegetarian restaurants. Dining at Terre à Terre is a culinary experience like no other, with intense flavours, sublime textures and a combination of ingredients that few have the imagination or daring to put together.
The food was great, all components works of art, and definitely the best vegetarian we’ve eaten. My dish was Hot Parmesan Dumpling, with Beetroot Chevre Battenberg served with green olive and fresh leaf smash, brunoise of pumpkin and cumin crecy, lentilles de lait, merlot soft sticky onions and rosemary rub. Sounds pretty good right? Lots of supremely rich flavours, the kind I could treat myself to once a year.
Matt had Terre à Tapas a selection of lovelies, hot & cold, served with garlic & herb focaccia (large enough for one hungry person or two to share). The Tapas samplers were beautiful, but not large enough to keep him from ordering dessert.
All that and we were home around 8:30pm, exhausted and crispy.
15 Feb 06 Eh to Zed
If you live in London, you probably own a London A-Z Map that maps all central London streets and includes a full street index and tube station index. It’s the BIBLE - don’t leave home without it or you just might (ie. probably will) get too lost too find your way back home on your own. That’s if you’re a newbie anyway…
These are sold everywhere from your corner convenience store to grocery shops and bookstores. Shortly after we arrived someone advised us to pick one up, but we waited a few days before pulling the £5.50 trigger. Never look back, best pounds you can spend! Especially helpful when trying to guide your way out of a circus. By definition, I think, a ‘circus’ is basically a circular park with at least 8 roads leading out of it in all directions.
London’s full of circuses :O)
9 Feb 06 In the neighbourhood
First off, we just got news our shipment from New York has arrived in London and cleared UK customs! Delivery is set for Tuesday morning 14 Feb, the same day as BT is scheduled to hook up our landline. All other connectivity is dependent on having that landline working… It will be really fun to unpack those personal things here on the other side of the Atlantic, and to be able to change up the wardrobe I’ve been wearing for nearly 2 months!
Exploring our neighbourhood has been great, though a decent-sized grocery store (Waitrose) is a bit further away than we’d like. Closer by we have a Sainsbury Local and a Tesco Metro, both of which offer a couple of cold cases more than your average convenience store. Finding other home basics nearby is also a challenge. In one direction is the City, where shops and restaurants close down early in the evening and at weekends altogether. Really the best direction to go is underground to the tube and into a different neighbourhood for that stuff.
We are located very near to three particular markets: Petticoat Lane Market, selling lots of clothing, shoes, baggage and bedding; Spitalfields Market has plenty of art, crafts, kitschy stuff and some food; Brick Lane Market, which I’ve mentioned before, is a mish-mash of all things.
There’s no shortage of wonderful arty cafes around to have coffee, lunch and relax. There’s Coffee @ Brick Lane, Rhythm (on Whitechapel) and my favourite, Root, which is just off Brick Lane at Truman Brewery. They’ve got lots of comfy couches, great (loud) music and use candlelight during the day. Perfect place to write or curl up with a book.
Also we can almost see the Whitechapel Art Gallery from our window which we plan to visit this coming weekend. I forgot to mention previously that most galleries and museums here have free admission, but have several boxes where you can make a donation. Those boxes are often stuffed with currency from all over zees great big world :O)
So I’m on the hunt now for a stick-vac which is the perfect way to clear dustbunnies off hardwood floors, but I’ve got no idea where to begin…
22 Jan 06 The whale in the Thames died
The other day when I first heard that a whale had been spotted in the Thames river, I had a bad feeling the outcome would not be a good one. The river is so narrow and shallow for a whale and it seemed too far in to have any realistic chance of survival, especially after it was injured from a collision with a boat. Sadly last night it died while being towed back to the ocean. The riverbanks in the city were apparently crowded at times with people excited to get a look at the whale, which is understandable.
When we lived in Vancouver I saw a number of whales in my travels and we also saw some when we cruised to Alaska, so it wasn’t a priority to try to get a look at this one in the Thames. A few years ago a whale was successfully towed back out to the ocean after becoming disoriented in North Van. From watching that incident it was evident how delicate such an operation is.
Yesterday we were on the south bank of the Thames, but quite far from the Battersea Bridge, where the whale rescue attempt was underway.
We visited the awesome Borough Market under London Bridge and loaded up with a couple of bags of fresh goodies. There’s an incredible selection there, from sweets to savouries, breads, wines and of course meat, dairy and produce. Our favourite pick was two slices of ’savoury pie’ - that’s ‘quiche’ to those back home :) We also bought fresh pepper sausage, oak-smoked cheese, olives, croissants, baklava and plenty of yummy fruit. The grapes we’ve had here are especially juicy and sweet! This market will definitely be a regular destination for us on future weekends.
Such a sunny day! We enjoyed the walk from London Bridge back to the hotel to drop of the goodies, then returned to the south bank to Queen Elizabeth Hall to take in another Mime Fest show - this one was free! It was aimed at kids, but was goofy enough for adults to have a laugh too.
In other news, our reference checks for the apartment came back A-okay, so we’ll be moving in Feb 1 as planned. We also heard from the shipping company that our possessions should arrive by Feb 5, but they scheduled a tentative delivery for Feb 8. Now I’m feeling pretty anxious to get into the flat and out of the hotel, which is very comfortable but not home…
18 Jan 06 A full weekend of exploration
We covered so much ground on the weekend, it will be tough to recall the entirety of it to share with you, but I’ll do my best.
As I mentioned previously, we’re staying just around a corner from Trafalgar Square. On Saturday in the square was the Russian Winter Festival, and a highlight was to be a display/performance of the Kremlin Guard. We showed up before the gates opened, so made a decision to take a pass through part of the National Gallery instead of wait outside. We saw lots of paintings from 14th-17th century. I’m always surprised by how rich the colours in those religious works are, how could that paint survive so long and look so fresh today? There were so many paintings, after awhile of looking your brain just goes numb to the wonder of it. So we ventured back out to the Russian Festival.
Some booths were set up to sell Russian goodies, but with the throng of people crowded around, we couldn’t even get close enough to peek. On stage a teenage girl was belting out some songs with an incredible voice, which made for a wonderful backdrop to the mayhem in the crowd. After a few passes by the food concession stands, we decided to head out. Unfortunately we never saw the Kremlin Guard, but we did enough other stuff to make up for it.
Next we walked across the Golden Jubilee Bridge, over the Thames to the South Bank which offers good views of the city across the river, and has several galleries and theatres. On that side we spent a considerable amount of time poking through pages in the Foyles bookstore. Selection is quite amazing there, which I especially noticed in the design section. Further along the promenade was an outdoor bookmarket, some funky buskers playing great jazz (clarinet, double-bass, steel drum) and an outdoor exhibit of UK press photography from 2005. We walked across the Waterloo Bridge and down the Strand back to the hotel.
If that wasn’t enough adventure for a day, we set out to see the British Museum! On prominent display, we had a good look at the Rosetta Stone, saw one of the familiar statues from Easter Island, and walked through the African collection.
Sunday we took the tube to East London to have a look at our apartment building in the daylight. This area is a real mishmash of modern, gentrified buidings and shops, eastside arts and multiculturalism and derelict shells of businesses past. A few blocks-ish down is Spitalfields Market, setup with booths full of fashions, crafts, furniture and food. We wandered out toward Brick Lane, which is an insane market crowding a number of streets in all directions! All manner of junk is on offer there, some set on tables, other on blankets on the ground or spilling out of car boots. I can imagine that gems could be found here, but as a sensory experience it was unmatched in mayhem - good fun! For street art fans reading, this area is canvas for the likes of Banksy - we saw at least three of his pieces in our travels.
We then attempted to check out the Smithfield meat market, but it was all shut.
Later we took the tube over to Oxford Circus and did some shopping at John Lewis (department store) in the haberdashery department. What’s haberdashery, you ask? It’s the crafter’s fantasy, that’s what! There’s a large section there, with fabrics, yarn and sundry, and I bought some Noro yarn to make a new fancy scarf! Next up we visited Liberty, another department store, partly set in a Swiss chalet-style buiding. Liberty is known here for offering the ultimate in style, different from Harrod’s which is ostentatious, horrendously expensive and set in a tacky interior. We wound back to the hotel down Carnaby Street, and through Covent Garden.
So that’s what I remember from the weekend! Who’s coming for a visit?
7 Jan 06 Replacing my luck
I’ve gone and bought a compass, which is absolutely necessary to maintain my mental well-being. (The brand is Suunto and their tagline is Replacing Luck, which explains the title of this post.)
I wandered lost after viewing a flat in Pimlico. I meant to make my way directly northeast toward the hotel, but walked in vast circles into Chelsea, around Victoria Station and through Knightsbridge. At one point I thought it would be useful to refer to a map, but on its own it was no help. With a compass though, I can ease this pain in the future :O)
The flat hunt is proceeding reasonably well. Since we are unfamiliar with neighbourhoods, I’ve been looking in many areas - primarily in the east and south (that’s E1 and SW1 for those hip to the postcodes). I’ve also looked in Islington and Shoreditch. Since Matt is working in Mayfair around St. James’s Park the only location preference we’ve had is to be near transport links for him to easily commute.
Today we actually made an offer on a place! It was listed for 295/week and others offered 315/week… yes, we are in a bidding war apparently which I’ve never encountered before when renting. We offered only 300/week and that’s it, but the agent we’re dealing with said we are the landlord’s preferred choice for tenants. We met with him today and hit it off well. We should know by tomorrow if he accepts ours or the higher offer. What would you do?
The flat is in a most ideal spot for Matt. He could walk to work in 10 minutes, straight across the park. This is a large one-bedroom in a 70s building near the Home Office (and Buckingham Castle), SW1, practically on top of St. James’s tube station and very near a Sainsbury’s (groceries). It’s got a really modern kitchen with a large fridge, dishwasher, washer/dryer. It’s fully furnished, down to replacement lightbulbs! Great condition, lots of storage, secure building, etc. We really like it, but won’t be heartbroken if the higher bidder wins. We’ve still got till the end of January to confirm a place, so there’s no great urgency. It was nice to have Matt along looking today and moreso since it’s been the best flat so far - by a long shot. Speaking of Matt, I’ll bug him to make a post to tell how his work is going :)
Let see, what else is going on? A few discoveries of Britishy things…
- We tried a cornish pastry (pasty) which, somewhat surprisingly, was a very tasty pasty!
- Discovered Roasted Chicken-flavoured crisps and had to give em a try and guess what.. they taste like roasted chicken. The texture of crisps is different enough from potato chips though that indeed they deserve a different name.
- Many thoughts in my head now have a British accent, and I’ve also practiced my accent out loud for Matt. His opinion: it’s horrific! :)
- Water closets are annoying! That’s WC for short. I curse evertime I open the door to go to the bathroom and see no toilet there.
- Perhaps I’ll get a job driving a bus, double-decker big & red. They are hiring…
- Nearly every corner has a Pret or an Eat shop for a quick pre-packaged lunch grab.
- Don’t just order “water, please” at a restaurant. It’s still water (bottled), sparkling water, or tap water.
- Canadians say eh at the end of a sentence, Londoners say yeh
Also, I had to get a mobile phone. Everybody (and I mean everybody) in this city has one. Not only that, but the voice messaging system in our hotel room failed, and I needed to be reached by lettings agents. You can get a pay-as-you-go mobile here by walking into Carphone Warehouse and handing them less than 10 pounds. Just like that.
The surroundings, the architecture and history, are really beautiful. I haven’t taken photos yet as I’ve got plenty of time to gain some perspective before shooting, as opposed to just taking snapshots. Besides, it’s another few weeks before I’ll be able to share them on the blog. Imagine though - our hotel is steps away from Trafalgar Square, around the corner from a fabulous view of Big Ben. It’s alright!
3 Jan 06 Aldgate East
First I want to note that I haven’t figured out yet how to edit and post photos using ubuntu Linux. It could mean I won’t offer any photos until I receive my own computer, which has likely just set sail from New York (ie. beginning of February).
It’s a misty/rainy day and I haven’t yet bought an umbrella. That hasn’t been crucial yet. Matt’s still at work and I just received an email from him that all is going well.
I spent the morning searching flat listings, then had a lunch at a great takeout sushi spot called Wasabi. I decided to take the tube to visit a lettings agency near Aldgate East station. We’re just around the corner from Embankment station (directly across the Thames from the BA London Eye), so the trip was expected to take about 20 mins.
I spent 3 pounds for a one-way tube ride straight to Aldgate East, which is about 6 stops northeast. I saw a sign about Oyster cards, essentially like a NYC MetroCard, and if you’ve got one the trip would be only 1.50 - half the price - and thought I should get one for the trip back to the hotel.
Before I left I checked the map and directions were fairly simple to find the agent’s office. I forgot to bring the map book with me, but once I arrived at Aldgate East station I followed the notes I made. One problem: many streets have no names! Guess which song was running through my head…
I wandered TWO HOURS looking for the street I wanted, asking directions from a few people who had no idea. I passed twice by the Stiralfields Market, which I knew was close to the office, and zig-zagged across Whitechapel Street where the tube station was (didn’t want to get so lost I couldn’t find my way back home). In my travels I saw dozens of women with headscarves, some with burkas, and an amazing street full of tables offering Indian textiles. But I couldn’t find Fashion Street.
After giving up I wandered back toward Aldgate East via Commercial Street, as it was getting dark. Of course that’s when I spotted a sign for Fashion Street out of the corner of my eye. I found the lettings office and spoke with the lone guy there who set an appointment for tomorrow for me to view some flats. On the way back to the tube I saw another lettings office and stopped in. He quickly showed me a 1BR available right above their office which, frankly, was an old grungy dump renting for 215 pounds/week (times that by 4.3, remember) . I didn’t look past the living/reception room and told him it was maybe too ‘rustic’ for my taste.
Hopefully tomorrow’s viewings will be better. One space I’m looking at is a former council building (government subsidized). I asked the agent why those seemed to have a reputation of being undesirable, and he said those flats were previously rented to junkies so the buildings may appear very run-down from the outside. From the pics I’ve seen though, reno’s on these places have served them well. I’ll see the reality tomorrow… if I can find my way back to Fashion Street, that is :O)
Oh and I did get an Oyster Card for the ride home. I filled out an extensive application to register a card, including my (hotel) address, phone #, email, etc. The positive of that is if you lose your card they can trace it back to you. The negative is of course that ‘big brother’ can keep track of every move you make on public transport, as you have to scan your pass to enter AND to exit the system. HEY but what an incentive that you save so much money!
On a side note, I have seen more police guarding historical places and tube stations here than in NYC.
GET FED: