We drink a lot of tea at the Riggs Residence. So much so that we actually have two of these and they're usually full. We recently noted that Twinings had changed their packaging, and I opined that this was usually not a good thing as it meant we were probably paying the same amount of money for less product. Sure enough, the old boxes held 25 tea bags each, and the new ones only package 20 per box. That's a week's worth of morning office tea, just gone! This sleight-of-hand redecorating scam is standard when it comes to the packaging of yogurt and many other products, so it's not surprising, just disappointing.
Wednesday, May 31, 2006
Silly Site o' the Day
Wow, lunchtime already?! It's a fairly quiet day for me so I've designated it F-Day, "F" for Filing, which I needed to work myself up for. It's silly, I spend at least thrice as much time psyching myself to file than I do actually filing. All the stuff for my boss' office came to three small piles, all done, and the rest of the dwindling stack should be sorted in about 10 minutes total. Folks seemed to like the HTML graphing I ran a few days ago, so how about a Flash-based organic HTML generator? Found via Jesus' General.
Tuesday, May 30, 2006
Baked Apple
So um, I guess Apple is having some equipment problems of late. First their batteries start melting things and catching on fire (via Susie), now the Great Glass Wonkavator breaks down. Should I be glad I don't have the money at the moment for a new MacBook?
Sport as Heresy
Riverbend on Muqtada's fatwa against football and its effect on her soccer-crazy friend G.
Making Your Money Count(ess)
As many Pen-Elayne readers know, I have very little patience for blog-begging. I find it irritating and arrogant when bloggers who are not being forced nor hired to write seem to expect monetary compensation as their gods-given due, particularly if they're well off and have already expressed their intention to use the money to buy frivolities and techie toys. We're blessed to live in an age when, aside from the basic costs of being online which one would need anyway for email and such, you never need spend a single cent to blog, so no money ought to be expected or requested of readers to support your hobby until and unless you're hired to do it professionally, in which case it's no longer a hobby.
However, when a blogger is in dire financial straits and is asking for a little help just to get them through their lives, that's something very different. If you're a fan of Trish Wilson's fine writing and have any disposable income on hand, I urge you to consider throwing a little her way. (She's even offering free dessert recipes and erotic fiction and other stuff she does well in return for your kindness.) This is the sort of thing at which the blog community excels.
However, when a blogger is in dire financial straits and is asking for a little help just to get them through their lives, that's something very different. If you're a fan of Trish Wilson's fine writing and have any disposable income on hand, I urge you to consider throwing a little her way. (She's even offering free dessert recipes and erotic fiction and other stuff she does well in return for your kindness.) This is the sort of thing at which the blog community excels.
Obligatory Canadian Comics Post
Robin found this Fleet Week fluff article in the NY Times amusing because, when the "reporters" were interviewing sailors asking them where they wanted to go in NYC, one petty officer said he "wanted to visit the Museum of Comic and Cartoon Art on Broadway in SoHo for its exhibition 'She Draws Comics: 100 Years of America's Women Cartoonists.'"
Robin found this Fleet Week fluff article in the NY Times amusing because, when the "reporters" were interviewing sailors asking them where they wanted to go in NYC, one petty officer said he "wanted to visit the Museum of Comic and Cartoon Art on Broadway in SoHo for its exhibition 'She Draws Comics: 100 Years of America's Women Cartoonists.'"
Silly Site o' the Day
Gotta gas up today. Naturally I use Citgo rather than Exxon, but it's still a bite out of the ol' credit card.
And I mean it, too - they pay far more for gas in England, so we're still being subsidized in part, but of course there's no price gouging or collusion going on, according to the FTC chair who's a former oilman... Gas station sign generator via the Generator Blog, natch!
Gotta gas up today. Naturally I use Citgo rather than Exxon, but it's still a bite out of the ol' credit card.
And I mean it, too - they pay far more for gas in England, so we're still being subsidized in part, but of course there's no price gouging or collusion going on, according to the FTC chair who's a former oilman... Gas station sign generator via the Generator Blog, natch!
Monday, May 29, 2006
The Last of the England '06 Photos, Part 2
Where was I? Oh yes, adding one of my grand-nieces back onto my MSN Messenger because she leetspeaks and ID's herself using lots of Greek and Cyrillic characters and the first time she IM'ed me I thought it was some shady Eastern European spammer so I inadvertently blocked her. Kids today! Speaking of which, here are the rest of the fit-to-publish photos from England, mostly from when we went to visit Robin's oldest sister Carol in Bexhill-on-Sea (where Robin was born and where Carol, her daughters and their families all live) on the Thursday.
The outside of Carol's house. I love English houses! Just look at that garden.
Our hostess greets us.
Carol and her husband Graham in their back yard, which is as lovely as their front.
See what I mean? This is one border of the triangular-shaped yard, with the row of flowers (the other has a hedge row).
Every proper English house has a shed out back. I only know of one American house I've ever visited with a back yard shed (other NYC bloggers may recall that as well).
In fact, I suspect the main reason Rob posed here with Carol was to be near the shed...
And it was even worse when Carol revealed that they actually have two sheds, one behind the other...
This is the garden 'round the side of the house.
And they have a great view!
Out of all the photos I took in England, I think this one is my favorite, because it came out the way it did by accident. I call it "Dad Reflects." You may have to click on it to enlarge (you can do that with all these photos, by the way), but in the windows you can see reflected Graham (first window), Carol and Robin (his eldest and youngest, second window) and me with the camera (third window). It's one of those "arteest-y" photos I could never have arranged on purpose.
I believe Carol took this one.
After we returned from lunch (see food photos from earlier this week), "the kids" and their kids started to arrive. The last time I was in England had been for Shaine and Sarah's wedding; now Joel and Phoebe have been added to the family!
As many of my relatives have probably figured out by now, my favorite kind of family photo next to "the sibling picture" is a multigenerational one. Here's Phoebe with her grandmum and great-granddad.
And here she is again with Mum, Granddad, GGD and GM off to the side of the photo (her brother's feet are visible as well).
As the other daughters and their children started to arrive, I switched a bit to movie-mode, as you've seen previously, and I think I was able to capture more or less everyone that way. I didn't want to be too annoying with the camera, particularly as nobody else had one (these is a very close family whose members see each other all the time, after all), so I slowed down the picture-taking. I did notice, however, that the seat next to Grandmum seemed to be prime real estate, and that every family has at least one person who's amazingly photogenic and knows it. In this family, that would be Keri.
Keri's mum Tracy happened to marry a fellow with the same name as her father. I'm told that captioning this "the two Graham crackers" would be a wasted pun on the family, as they don't have Graham crackers in England.
Naomi is the first-born of a first-born (Sandra) of a first-born (Carol) of a first-born (Mum). For all I know this first-born-daughter thing may go back even more than four generations. There's real power there, as you can see by the way she subdues her brother Matt (like me, Naomi has two younger brothers; Ben is, wisely, well out of this photo). Naturally, Na seemed unimpressed by my first-born-power theory when I IM'ed her about it. She's also becoming quite the artist, just like Mum and Robin...
And just like that, it was time to leave. I kept trying to snap photos of various animals a'grazin' in the fields, but these darn hedgerows got in the way. If there's a bustle in your hedgerow, it's probably a frustrated amateur photographer looking for moo-cows and sheeps and horthies...
This came out a bit better because the hedgerow whooshing by in the foreground is kind of balanced by the stability of the trees in the background, but between them is still a field sans animals, so I was a little disappointed.
"We're coming up on the windmill," says Dad. "Cool!" says I, sliding over to the other side of the back seat to get a photo of it. I'm still rather amazed it came out so well (or at all), considering we were going at regular highway speed...
And so, with a lone tree against a dramatic-looking sky, we end our Riggs Return to England pictorial for now. We hope you've enjoyed the show; please deposit any comments in the appropriate receptacles.
The outside of Carol's house. I love English houses! Just look at that garden.
Our hostess greets us.
Carol and her husband Graham in their back yard, which is as lovely as their front.
See what I mean? This is one border of the triangular-shaped yard, with the row of flowers (the other has a hedge row).
Every proper English house has a shed out back. I only know of one American house I've ever visited with a back yard shed (other NYC bloggers may recall that as well).
In fact, I suspect the main reason Rob posed here with Carol was to be near the shed...
And it was even worse when Carol revealed that they actually have two sheds, one behind the other...
This is the garden 'round the side of the house.
And they have a great view!
Out of all the photos I took in England, I think this one is my favorite, because it came out the way it did by accident. I call it "Dad Reflects." You may have to click on it to enlarge (you can do that with all these photos, by the way), but in the windows you can see reflected Graham (first window), Carol and Robin (his eldest and youngest, second window) and me with the camera (third window). It's one of those "arteest-y" photos I could never have arranged on purpose.
I believe Carol took this one.
After we returned from lunch (see food photos from earlier this week), "the kids" and their kids started to arrive. The last time I was in England had been for Shaine and Sarah's wedding; now Joel and Phoebe have been added to the family!
As many of my relatives have probably figured out by now, my favorite kind of family photo next to "the sibling picture" is a multigenerational one. Here's Phoebe with her grandmum and great-granddad.
And here she is again with Mum, Granddad, GGD and GM off to the side of the photo (her brother's feet are visible as well).
As the other daughters and their children started to arrive, I switched a bit to movie-mode, as you've seen previously, and I think I was able to capture more or less everyone that way. I didn't want to be too annoying with the camera, particularly as nobody else had one (these is a very close family whose members see each other all the time, after all), so I slowed down the picture-taking. I did notice, however, that the seat next to Grandmum seemed to be prime real estate, and that every family has at least one person who's amazingly photogenic and knows it. In this family, that would be Keri.
Keri's mum Tracy happened to marry a fellow with the same name as her father. I'm told that captioning this "the two Graham crackers" would be a wasted pun on the family, as they don't have Graham crackers in England.
Naomi is the first-born of a first-born (Sandra) of a first-born (Carol) of a first-born (Mum). For all I know this first-born-daughter thing may go back even more than four generations. There's real power there, as you can see by the way she subdues her brother Matt (like me, Naomi has two younger brothers; Ben is, wisely, well out of this photo). Naturally, Na seemed unimpressed by my first-born-power theory when I IM'ed her about it. She's also becoming quite the artist, just like Mum and Robin...
And just like that, it was time to leave. I kept trying to snap photos of various animals a'grazin' in the fields, but these darn hedgerows got in the way. If there's a bustle in your hedgerow, it's probably a frustrated amateur photographer looking for moo-cows and sheeps and horthies...
This came out a bit better because the hedgerow whooshing by in the foreground is kind of balanced by the stability of the trees in the background, but between them is still a field sans animals, so I was a little disappointed.
"We're coming up on the windmill," says Dad. "Cool!" says I, sliding over to the other side of the back seat to get a photo of it. I'm still rather amazed it came out so well (or at all), considering we were going at regular highway speed...
And so, with a lone tree against a dramatic-looking sky, we end our Riggs Return to England pictorial for now. We hope you've enjoyed the show; please deposit any comments in the appropriate receptacles.
The Last of the England '06 Photos, Part 1
I know, I've dawdled in posting the rest of these. It was hard to pick out my favorites among the 200+ photos I took in England; as it is I'm probably going to post too many to hold your interest. In which case, thanks in advance for your indulgence.
Sunrise over the Atlantic, as seen from the window of our plane into Bristol.
Land ho! This aerial view is probably of Wales.
I snapped lots of photos during our train journeys; most of them didn't come out. I liked this one because it not only showed a vista but some typical English terra cotta roofing. Our American shingles still perplex Robin; terra cotta tiles last so much longer!
Rob and his Dad.
Dad's flat is on the upper floor of this building.
The spring flowers were in bloom!
On the Tuesday Dad drove us into Lewes to do a bit of shopping. We pass these houses-on-the-hill on the way into town, and for some reason they always show up in my dreams about Lewes as a sort of town marker in my subconscious.
I loved being in a civilized country with public bathrooms!
The war memorial on High Street. I thought it was heartening, particularly considering what today is, that the first site Google listed under "Lewes war memorial" was this one. Each Bonfire Night a wreath is laid here. (Here's a Bonfire Night photo.)
Yeah, a bit of my thumb got in the way, but I still like this shot of Robin in front of the High Street shops.
Looking down High Street. I love window-shopping in Lewes, and I almost always find something "essential" in at least one shop. This time it was a fold-up walking stick, without which I would have had a much harder time getting down this hill.
Looking back up at High Street from the bottom of said hill, where there's a shopping plaza.
The clock atop Fitzroy House (the former Memorial Library), now a dispute resolution company.
A slightly better shot of the clock.
The white cliffs are cool too. Dover's not the only place that has 'em!
Robin on the walkway leading to the supermarket where we met up with Dad.
The River Ouse looks fairly stable six years after the flood.
Continued after I get some sleep. Part 2 will feature more photos of relatives. Anyone in our British-based family who wants bigger and better copies of any of these should let us know or get them from Robin's Dad, onto whose computer we pretty much uploaded all of them.
Sunrise over the Atlantic, as seen from the window of our plane into Bristol.
Land ho! This aerial view is probably of Wales.
I snapped lots of photos during our train journeys; most of them didn't come out. I liked this one because it not only showed a vista but some typical English terra cotta roofing. Our American shingles still perplex Robin; terra cotta tiles last so much longer!
Rob and his Dad.
Dad's flat is on the upper floor of this building.
The spring flowers were in bloom!
On the Tuesday Dad drove us into Lewes to do a bit of shopping. We pass these houses-on-the-hill on the way into town, and for some reason they always show up in my dreams about Lewes as a sort of town marker in my subconscious.
I loved being in a civilized country with public bathrooms!
The war memorial on High Street. I thought it was heartening, particularly considering what today is, that the first site Google listed under "Lewes war memorial" was this one. Each Bonfire Night a wreath is laid here. (Here's a Bonfire Night photo.)
Yeah, a bit of my thumb got in the way, but I still like this shot of Robin in front of the High Street shops.
Looking down High Street. I love window-shopping in Lewes, and I almost always find something "essential" in at least one shop. This time it was a fold-up walking stick, without which I would have had a much harder time getting down this hill.
Looking back up at High Street from the bottom of said hill, where there's a shopping plaza.
The clock atop Fitzroy House (the former Memorial Library), now a dispute resolution company.
A slightly better shot of the clock.
The white cliffs are cool too. Dover's not the only place that has 'em!
Robin on the walkway leading to the supermarket where we met up with Dad.
The River Ouse looks fairly stable six years after the flood.
Continued after I get some sleep. Part 2 will feature more photos of relatives. Anyone in our British-based family who wants bigger and better copies of any of these should let us know or get them from Robin's Dad, onto whose computer we pretty much uploaded all of them.
Silly Site o' the Day
Okay, 3:30 AM this time. Here's a random cat name generator, via the Generator Blog. If he keeps this up, pretty soon Datsa's name will be Mud.
Mourning for Civilization
Today is Memorial Day in the US, a day when I don't barbeque or travel or watch parades. What I do is remind myself once more of the utter futility and stupidity of war, mourn all those (mostly young, mostly poor) people killed (not "sacrificed," not "gave their lives," none of those euphemistic niceties that makes this all seem normal and right) in this state-sponsored madness, and pray fervently to the deities of common sense that someday our civilization moves beyond the need to have any more Memorial Days.
Today is Memorial Day in the US, a day when I don't barbeque or travel or watch parades. What I do is remind myself once more of the utter futility and stupidity of war, mourn all those (mostly young, mostly poor) people killed (not "sacrificed," not "gave their lives," none of those euphemistic niceties that makes this all seem normal and right) in this state-sponsored madness, and pray fervently to the deities of common sense that someday our civilization moves beyond the need to have any more Memorial Days.
Sunday, May 28, 2006
Liberal Coalition Top Ten
Week of 5/21 thru 5/27/06
Week of 5/21 thru 5/27/06
Well, I went back to bed at around 7 and got a bit more sleep until the phone rang at 10 AM (naturally they didn't leave a message), and since Rob's gone back once more I figured this was as good a time as any to review my fellow Liberal Coalition members' posts-of-interest-to-me from the past week, followed by other posts I liked as I do my blog catch-up, followed by retreating into the bedroom once more for comics reading (I'm down to only the DC comp box now, having finally finished looking through all the old indies I had, many of which had been in that second box since before 9-11) and baseball watching. It's good to know that the following people, among others, have been much more productive with their time.
• A couple milestones to report first - Happy birthday to Jeff of Speedkill, and happy belated blogiversary to Norbizness of Happy Furry Puppy Story Time!
• Bora/Coturnix at Science and Politics is getting hot under the collar over temperatures, specifically Fahrenheit versus Celsius, something I experience from time to time when watching European news and trying (and mostly failing) to translate Celsius into Fahrenheit in my head. Thank goodness the Beeb weather folks that we watched in England always mentioned the F equivalent of the C temps at the end of their forecasts.
• Bryant at Make Me A Commentator! observes that the Presidential immigration plan is actually based on something approaching a knowledge base.
• Echidne of the Snakes has her doubts that an ounce of prevention is always worth a pound of cure. Now that's healthy skepticism!
• Jane Hamsher at Firedoglake compares the sex-obsessed gossip reportage in the National Enquirer with that of the New York Times, and finds the latter really lacking. Also at Firedoglake, fellow LC member T. Rex (usually found here) identifies the actual party of death, with which I tend to agree - the Democrats aren't the ones leading the way in sending other parents' children off to die in pointless wars, denying assistance to poor children and elderly folks, and generally making life unbearable for way too many souls on this earth. That would be, you know, the party in power.
• John at archy sings the praises of a principled politician (not), and notes the standard right-wing hypocrisy of criticizing their opponents for doing what's correct, even patriotic, when they do it themselves.
• Jude at Iddybud attended the second conference of the Network of Spiritual Progressives (and has pictures!), and reports that the NY Times coverage of the event pretty much got everything wrong.
• Keith at Invisible Library reminds everyone of time codes, a very useful thing for when you want your blog posts to appear during work hours when you're not actually blogging. I use this all the time; I wish I could figure out how to make it work for RSS feeds.
• Maru at WTF Is It Now?? finds a little quid pro quo at work in the FTC, where oilmen have just found other oilmen not guilty of price-fixing.
• MercuryX23 believes violence is not the answer. Maybe. Possibly.
• Michael at Musing's Musings has some thoughts about what is extracurricular and what is a student's personal time.
Lastly, I don't know if anyone else will care, but as you may know I read all blogs via Bloglines, which for the past couple months has inexplicably run some blogs' posts (but not others) in light blue type instead of the more legible black. I've figured out a workaround - if there's more than one unread post, sort the posts by "Read Oldest First" then back again to "Read Newest First" (or vice versa depending on your personal preference), then the blue type disappears and black type takes its place. Much easier on these old eyes!
• A couple milestones to report first - Happy birthday to Jeff of Speedkill, and happy belated blogiversary to Norbizness of Happy Furry Puppy Story Time!
• Bora/Coturnix at Science and Politics is getting hot under the collar over temperatures, specifically Fahrenheit versus Celsius, something I experience from time to time when watching European news and trying (and mostly failing) to translate Celsius into Fahrenheit in my head. Thank goodness the Beeb weather folks that we watched in England always mentioned the F equivalent of the C temps at the end of their forecasts.
• Bryant at Make Me A Commentator! observes that the Presidential immigration plan is actually based on something approaching a knowledge base.
• Echidne of the Snakes has her doubts that an ounce of prevention is always worth a pound of cure. Now that's healthy skepticism!
• Jane Hamsher at Firedoglake compares the sex-obsessed gossip reportage in the National Enquirer with that of the New York Times, and finds the latter really lacking. Also at Firedoglake, fellow LC member T. Rex (usually found here) identifies the actual party of death, with which I tend to agree - the Democrats aren't the ones leading the way in sending other parents' children off to die in pointless wars, denying assistance to poor children and elderly folks, and generally making life unbearable for way too many souls on this earth. That would be, you know, the party in power.
• John at archy sings the praises of a principled politician (not), and notes the standard right-wing hypocrisy of criticizing their opponents for doing what's correct, even patriotic, when they do it themselves.
• Jude at Iddybud attended the second conference of the Network of Spiritual Progressives (and has pictures!), and reports that the NY Times coverage of the event pretty much got everything wrong.
• Keith at Invisible Library reminds everyone of time codes, a very useful thing for when you want your blog posts to appear during work hours when you're not actually blogging. I use this all the time; I wish I could figure out how to make it work for RSS feeds.
• Maru at WTF Is It Now?? finds a little quid pro quo at work in the FTC, where oilmen have just found other oilmen not guilty of price-fixing.
• MercuryX23 believes violence is not the answer. Maybe. Possibly.
• Michael at Musing's Musings has some thoughts about what is extracurricular and what is a student's personal time.
Lastly, I don't know if anyone else will care, but as you may know I read all blogs via Bloglines, which for the past couple months has inexplicably run some blogs' posts (but not others) in light blue type instead of the more legible black. I've figured out a workaround - if there's more than one unread post, sort the posts by "Read Oldest First" then back again to "Read Newest First" (or vice versa depending on your personal preference), then the blue type disappears and black type takes its place. Much easier on these old eyes!
Silly Site o' the Day
CAT. 3 AM. UGH. I hope this stops soon.
CAT. 3 AM. UGH. I hope this stops soon.
Via just about every blog on my blogroll, you can now graph your website. I gave up on mine after about five minutes as it still wouldn't stop "growing."
Saturday, May 27, 2006
Quote of the Day
The Truffle on George Galloway. I agree with her completely. I'm sorry I ever admired this guy, however briefly.
Silly Site o' the Day
Cat. 3 AM. *grumble grumble* Ah well, at least it's the weekend, I can sleep later...
Via Bibi at Bibi's Box, which always has way cool animations to share, Beware the Humans! I dunno, in the wee hours I think I still prefer them to the Cats...
Cat. 3 AM. *grumble grumble* Ah well, at least it's the weekend, I can sleep later...
Via Bibi at Bibi's Box, which always has way cool animations to share, Beware the Humans! I dunno, in the wee hours I think I still prefer them to the Cats...
Friday, May 26, 2006
Comet of Doom Update
So what's up with the May 25 tsunami prediction from that wacky Frenchman? In case you're wondering why we're not all dead, Bad Astronomy has the answer, which is, basically, bad astronomy. As well as, you know, tinfoil-hat-level wackiness.
My Signature Song
Nice quiet half-day at work, all immediate job stuff done, finally skimming through the blogs, and I found that Desi linked to the YouTube rip of the Beatles' Penny Lane video. Cool! In case some of y'all didn't get it yet, that's where "Pen-Elayne" comes from...
Nice quiet half-day at work, all immediate job stuff done, finally skimming through the blogs, and I found that Desi linked to the YouTube rip of the Beatles' Penny Lane video. Cool! In case some of y'all didn't get it yet, that's where "Pen-Elayne" comes from...
Silly Site o' the Day
Not safe for kids, and probably not for anyone else either - the sordid tale of Pac-Man gone horribly wrong. Via Cory at BoingBoing.
Friday Cat Blogging (™ Kevin Drum)
Here are a few kitties we met in England:
The twins who live 'round Dad's flat.
I snapped one more photo of them before they bolted.
My sister-in-law's cat Spice. Incredibly affectionate, with the cutest demanding mew when she wants attention!
Here's -- hey wait, a bunny?!? This one also belongs to Carol.
Still and all, there's no kitties like home, and it appears that Datsa and Amy agree.
Here are a few kitties we met in England:
The twins who live 'round Dad's flat.
I snapped one more photo of them before they bolted.
My sister-in-law's cat Spice. Incredibly affectionate, with the cutest demanding mew when she wants attention!
Here's -- hey wait, a bunny?!? This one also belongs to Carol.
Still and all, there's no kitties like home, and it appears that Datsa and Amy agree.
Thursday, May 25, 2006
Presented Without Further Comment
I've lost track of the number of blogs on my blogroll who've mentioned that today is Towel Day. Only one other blog that I've perused so far has mentioned that it's also Africa Day.
Our Day in London
Was it only eight days ago? Wow. Last Wednesday we gave Dad a break for a day and boarded the Southern line for the hour-plus trip up to London.
The Chelsea Bridge, just west of the Victorial Rail Bridge where the train crosses the Thames on its way to London Victoria Station.
Our first stop was to meet bloggers Kathy Flake and Natalie Bennett for a lovely vegan buffet lunch at Sasa Thai (as mentioned in my food post). We talked about the sorts of things all bloggers seem to talk about at these gatheringss - yes, lots of meta-conversation! It was pretty odd to listen to Kathy's American accent and Natalie's Aussie one and realize that, out of the four of us, I was the only one who wasn't an ex-pat. I don't think poor Robin got a word in edgewise among all these rapid-fire feminist bloggers!
After lunch we decided to have a meander, as much as I could handle with my new Lewes-purchased fold-up walking stick in hand (which, alas, wasn't much), and came upon Denmark Street. I never knew that London has its own version of Tin Pan Alley; pretty cool!
Insert obligatory Muffin Man remark here.
As I couldn't walk very well, and it was starting to rain anyway, we ducked into the White Hart, where they apparently subscribe to the Weekly World News.
I thought the atmosphere was nice, but some people might opine that the place has gone to the dogs.
We cut through Bloomsbury Square in the rain. I loved this charming play area.
And, as with so many places in England, the flowers were lovely!
Here's my friend Hilary, probably the person I've known the longest out of everyone with whom I'm still in touch (Steve comes in a close second), and undoubtedly the initial source of my Anglophilia. One of my closest friends during my "Jewish singles" years, Hilary was also my guide and companion the first time I visited England in the early '80s. She was new to the concept of blogging, but not to the internet as she does a fair bit of writing for Trip Advisor. This was taken at My Old Dutch, previously mentioned in my food post.
Avedon Carol was also there for our teatime gathering, and her husband Rob later joined us. Avedon's camera, like Bryan Talbot's (see my Bristol post), was infinitely cooler and more compact than mine, and she snapped this photo of Robin.
Amazingly, her camera did not break when she took my picture. Alas, I don't photograph well; there are very few pictures taken of me that I really like.
After Rob joined us, we took the underground back to Victoria Station before seeking out an area pub, so we'd be near the station for our return journey to Lewes. Although it was rush hour, the folks on this busy street weren't nearly as pushy as the madding crowd was last time we were in the area.
Maybe they're all so well-behaved because they're in the approximate presence of the Queen... Anyway, as mentioned previously we had a lovely time at the pub. Rob has one of the world's coolest jobs, in my opinion, working at the Whitechapel Bell Foundry (they made the Liberty Bell and Big Ben, among others), and Avedon has led the most fascinating life I've heard about since listening to various tales of the hippie era from my old friend Anna Ackner. She was apparently one of the pot-smoking student-types that Nixon met at the Lincoln Memorial, as dramatized in the 1995 movie, and was acquainted with Abbie Hoffman and Jerry Rubin and that crowd. I was in awe and more than slightly jealous of this remarkable woman who had been a witness to so much history in the making! Avedon and Rob graciously invited us to stay at their place in East Ham the next time we're in the area, and considering that Dad may need a 2-day break from us and London is best done on an overnight basis anyway, if I can walk better by then I think we'll take them up on that offer!
All good things must come to an end, as we got back onto the Southern for the trip back "home." I really envy Robin's ability to nod off at the drop of a flash bulb...
Was it only eight days ago? Wow. Last Wednesday we gave Dad a break for a day and boarded the Southern line for the hour-plus trip up to London.
The Chelsea Bridge, just west of the Victorial Rail Bridge where the train crosses the Thames on its way to London Victoria Station.
Our first stop was to meet bloggers Kathy Flake and Natalie Bennett for a lovely vegan buffet lunch at Sasa Thai (as mentioned in my food post). We talked about the sorts of things all bloggers seem to talk about at these gatheringss - yes, lots of meta-conversation! It was pretty odd to listen to Kathy's American accent and Natalie's Aussie one and realize that, out of the four of us, I was the only one who wasn't an ex-pat. I don't think poor Robin got a word in edgewise among all these rapid-fire feminist bloggers!
After lunch we decided to have a meander, as much as I could handle with my new Lewes-purchased fold-up walking stick in hand (which, alas, wasn't much), and came upon Denmark Street. I never knew that London has its own version of Tin Pan Alley; pretty cool!
Insert obligatory Muffin Man remark here.
As I couldn't walk very well, and it was starting to rain anyway, we ducked into the White Hart, where they apparently subscribe to the Weekly World News.
I thought the atmosphere was nice, but some people might opine that the place has gone to the dogs.
We cut through Bloomsbury Square in the rain. I loved this charming play area.
And, as with so many places in England, the flowers were lovely!
Here's my friend Hilary, probably the person I've known the longest out of everyone with whom I'm still in touch (Steve comes in a close second), and undoubtedly the initial source of my Anglophilia. One of my closest friends during my "Jewish singles" years, Hilary was also my guide and companion the first time I visited England in the early '80s. She was new to the concept of blogging, but not to the internet as she does a fair bit of writing for Trip Advisor. This was taken at My Old Dutch, previously mentioned in my food post.
Avedon Carol was also there for our teatime gathering, and her husband Rob later joined us. Avedon's camera, like Bryan Talbot's (see my Bristol post), was infinitely cooler and more compact than mine, and she snapped this photo of Robin.
Amazingly, her camera did not break when she took my picture. Alas, I don't photograph well; there are very few pictures taken of me that I really like.
After Rob joined us, we took the underground back to Victoria Station before seeking out an area pub, so we'd be near the station for our return journey to Lewes. Although it was rush hour, the folks on this busy street weren't nearly as pushy as the madding crowd was last time we were in the area.
Maybe they're all so well-behaved because they're in the approximate presence of the Queen... Anyway, as mentioned previously we had a lovely time at the pub. Rob has one of the world's coolest jobs, in my opinion, working at the Whitechapel Bell Foundry (they made the Liberty Bell and Big Ben, among others), and Avedon has led the most fascinating life I've heard about since listening to various tales of the hippie era from my old friend Anna Ackner. She was apparently one of the pot-smoking student-types that Nixon met at the Lincoln Memorial, as dramatized in the 1995 movie, and was acquainted with Abbie Hoffman and Jerry Rubin and that crowd. I was in awe and more than slightly jealous of this remarkable woman who had been a witness to so much history in the making! Avedon and Rob graciously invited us to stay at their place in East Ham the next time we're in the area, and considering that Dad may need a 2-day break from us and London is best done on an overnight basis anyway, if I can walk better by then I think we'll take them up on that offer!
All good things must come to an end, as we got back onto the Southern for the trip back "home." I really envy Robin's ability to nod off at the drop of a flash bulb...
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
