tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-39773402011-12-15T02:52:42.417ZThis Is My LondonA New Yorker's musings on life in London
Jonathanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00562761102621677437noreply@blogger.comBlogger1021100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3977340.post-1113409475546411862005-04-13T17:24:00.000+01:002005-04-13T17:24:35.546+01:00Goodbye, London. One of our last dinners here -- at the Holly Bush pub in Hampstead. Jonathanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00562761102621677437noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3977340.post-1111949640927084682005-03-27T19:42:00.000+01:002005-03-27T19:54:00.930+01:00I'm back in London for about a week to help Diane and Jay pack up our apartment before they join me in Bangalore.Now, that I'm about to leave, I can write about some of the things I didn't like about London.-- It's incredibly expensive to live here. -- It can take forever to get something fixed in your apartment. Repair people often don't show up for days.-- The people can be very hard to get to Jonathanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00562761102621677437noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3977340.post-1105173277351274392005-01-08T08:16:00.000Z2005-01-08T08:36:31.830ZThis may be my last post from London for a while. I am at Heathrow, waitiing for my flight to Bangalore, India.
Dawn is breaking over England after a fittingly stormy night (I thought I'd get soaked in the wind and rain. Fortunately, the storm abated not long before I started loading my bags in the car that took me to the airport).
Yesterday was bittersweet. I saw one of my closest friends, Jonathanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00562761102621677437noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3977340.post-1105044164115479252005-01-06T20:37:00.000Z2005-01-06T20:42:44.116ZOn New Year's Day, Jay and I went hiking with my friend David, his daughters Frances and Fiona, and our friend Ian. We walked around part of the Ardingly Reservoir in West Sussex.
It would have been fine but for the rain. But the rain -- and the mud -- were fitting for a goodbye walk in Britain. And it didn't REALLY rain buckets until the last 10-15 minutes of the walk (which was good). We had aJonathanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00562761102621677437noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3977340.post-1104148184466201712004-12-27T11:41:00.000Z2004-12-27T11:51:30.723ZWe have celebrated what may be our last Christmas -- and Boxing Day -- in London. I say "may" because Reuters being Reuters there is always the chance that we will return some day.
On Christmas Eve, we went to one of our favorite restaurants, Maggie Jones's, for dinner. Maggie's has tables on the ground floor and in the basement. Go for the basement and ask for a booth. It's got a very cozy Jonathanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00562761102621677437noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3977340.post-1103845188914069122004-12-23T23:35:00.000Z2004-12-23T23:39:48.913ZWe've been warned to brace ourselves for a partial strike on the Tube (subway) tomorrow, Christmas Eve.
The Picadilly Line, one of the most crucial lines in London, is expected to be hit by the strike. This will ball things up for travelers who depend on the line as a low-cost way to get into central London from Heathrow. The alternatives are the Heathrow Express, which is fast and efficient butJonathanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00562761102621677437noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3977340.post-1103369779817210892004-12-18T11:34:00.000Z2004-12-18T11:36:19.816ZBack at the Apple Store, this time with Jay. We're having fun playing with Apple gear.
Well, This is My London is about to become This is My Bangalore. I leave in about two to three weeks to help set up a new economic polling and forecasting unit. I am very excited, especially since it means I still have a job :-)
Jonathanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00562761102621677437noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3977340.post-1102096589416122032004-12-03T17:54:00.000Z2004-12-03T17:56:29.416ZI am at the new Apple Store on Regents Street. Very cool place. I crave their products. Oh, well.Jonathanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00562761102621677437noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3977340.post-1101259084557291162004-11-24T01:12:00.000Z2004-11-24T01:18:04.556ZMy new sister-in-law, Liz, visited London recently -- for the first time -- and we showed her the town. Diane took her to some of the sights, including Harrods, on her first day with us.
On the second day, we walked like crazy, starting at Parliament Square, then walking up Whitehall to Trafalgar Square. From, there down the Strand to a lunch break at the West Cornwall Pasty Company (yum). Then Jonathanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00562761102621677437noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3977340.post-1099766692794665362004-11-06T18:23:00.000Z2004-11-06T18:44:52.796ZToday, Diane and I visited London's Freud Museum, the house where Sigmund Freud spent the last year of his life after fleeing Nazi persecution in Vienna in 1938.
The residence in Hampstead in northern London was also home to his daughter, Anna Freud, a pioneer in child psychology. After Anna Freud's death in 1982, the house was converted into a musuem (Admission: £5).
We live about five minutesJonathanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00562761102621677437noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3977340.post-1099685877980690602004-11-05T20:13:00.000Z2004-11-05T20:30:47.906ZUnlike U.S. newspapers, British newspapers (and many Continental newspapers, for that matter) do not hesitate to take a stand in their news coverage as well as their editorials.
So, the coverage of the U.S. election result spanned the spectrum from pro-Bush to anti-Bush (or pro-Kerry to anti-Kerry).
At one end, The Daily Telegraph, a broadsheet which tends to be pro-American and Jonathanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00562761102621677437noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3977340.post-1099611304643710602004-11-04T23:24:00.000Z2004-11-04T23:35:04.643ZDiane, Jay and I went to see Diana Krall tonight at Royal Albert Hall. She gave a great concert. We have several of her CDs and love her voice.
But I don't think I really realized how well she can play the piano until I saw her in action in a jazz quartet that also included guitar, bass and drums. And, like anyone who spends a fair amount of time hitting keys -- whether a keyboard or a Steinway Jonathanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00562761102621677437noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3977340.post-1099513175279924202004-11-03T20:14:00.000Z2004-11-03T20:19:35.280ZA correction: last night I referred to BBC anchor Huw Edwards as "Hugh."
"Huw" is a Welsh name and less familiar in the United States.
I could have just fixed the spelling and silently reposted. But good journos admit their mistakes.
Sorry, Huw.
Jonathanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00562761102621677437noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3977340.post-1099433191371445252004-11-02T21:54:00.000Z2004-11-02T22:40:52.810ZFriends recommend the following U.S.-based blogs tonight. Some of the bloggers, like Wonkette, are already semi-celebrities:
Wonkette
Daily Kos Joshmarshall talkingpointsmemo BBC News at 10 p.m. leads with our election, with anchor (they call them presenters) Hugh Edwards in Washington. After more than four years here, I continue to be impressed with how interested people outside Jonathanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00562761102621677437noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3977340.post-1099427621647069312004-11-02T20:25:00.000Z2004-11-02T20:33:41.646ZThe U.S. Election Day is front-page news in many of today's British newspapers and, as was the case four years ago, a British colleague asked me who I think is going to win.
My reasoned reply amounted to a shrug, given polls that mostly show the Bush-Kerry race to be a dead heat.
But, if the contest produces a clearcut winner, we expats in London won't know until morning, if then. The first Jonathanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00562761102621677437noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3977340.post-1099356564040806572004-11-02T01:30:00.000Z2004-11-02T00:49:24.040ZA big day in journalism history on Monday. London's Times, once the quintissential British broadside, went tabloid only. The 216-year-old paper nicknamed "The Thunderer", which added a tabloid edition a year ago (they call it "compact," not "tabloid") had decided to ditch the wide-format paper.
Read all about it in The New York Times.
I prefer broadsheets for the way that story placement on a Jonathanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00562761102621677437noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3977340.post-1099258083344519502004-10-31T21:16:00.000Z2004-10-31T21:30:44.263ZOVERHEARD
On my New York vacation -- which ended with my return to London last night -- I faced the usual choice between having fun and blogging. So, I had fun. Now, to blog.
New Yorkers are not shy about expressing themselves in public. I was waiting for a bus when a black man standing nearby pulled out his cellphone and began chatting happily with a friend.
As our bus pulled up, the man toldJonathanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00562761102621677437noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3977340.post-1098395135201668292004-10-21T21:48:00.000+01:002004-10-21T22:45:35.200+01:00I've been enjoying New York food. Yesterday, my friend Frank and I went to John's Pizza on West 44th Street. We had the perfect sausage-and-mushroom pizza. John's is in a converted Baptist temple -- a great space.
Today, I met my friends Scott and Bill went to Ollie's, a great Chinese noodle shop on West 44th Street (I keep coming back).
Tonight -- Second Avenue Deli and great pastrami.
Jonathanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00562761102621677437noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3977340.post-1098061541408492922004-10-18T02:03:00.000+01:002004-10-18T02:05:41.406+01:00This is My London is This is My New York for the next two weeks. I'm in Gotham for two weeks of home leave.
So, expect some postings on bagels, barbecue and other U.S. culinary treats!
Jonathanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00562761102621677437noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3977340.post-1097308933669481812004-10-09T08:52:00.000+01:002004-10-09T09:02:13.670+01:00Headline in a London tabloid a couple of days ago:
I'VE EATEN MY GIRLFRIEND
It seems the fellow was a cannibal and that's what he told the cops when he called to confess his crime.
Jonathanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00562761102621677437noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3977340.post-1096698541260730292004-10-02T06:49:00.000+01:002004-10-09T08:51:26.060+01:00I went for a late evening swing through London last night. I caught bus number 168, at Haverstock Hill near Steele's Road, about 15 minutes' walk from my home on Belsize Park in Belsize Park (The street name and the neighborhood name are the same. Makes cab rides fun).
The modern, double-decker bus, carrying a fair number of folks making their way home from a pub, headed downhill for lively Jonathanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00562761102621677437noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3977340.post-1096696127485419982004-10-02T06:40:00.000+01:002004-10-02T06:48:47.486+01:00The South Bank of the Thames is home to one of my favourite markets: a used book market under Waterloo Bridge and just outside the National Film Theatre, or NFT, and its nice cafe.
But a sign pointing to the market has been altered. It now directs passersby to the "Poo Market."
Well, it is near the Thames!
Jonathanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00562761102621677437noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3977340.post-1096225764023929222004-09-26T19:46:00.000+01:002004-10-02T18:47:28.860+01:00Today, Jay, Diane and I visited Sutton House, which was built during the Tudor era and is located in the eastern London borough of Hackney.
The house, a National Trust property, has a Tudor room -- the Linenfold Room -- whose walls are covered with intricately carved dark oak paneling made to look like folded linen, a Victorian study and a Georgian parlor.
Built by a diplomat who served Tudor Jonathanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00562761102621677437noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3977340.post-1096222381461137862004-09-26T19:09:00.000+01:002004-09-26T19:46:28.353+01:00Yesterday, I visited The Wallace Collection, a wonderful, small museum off quiet Manchester Square and not far from the busy Oxford Street shopping district.
The museum is in a mansion that was home to the marquesses of Hertfordshire, aristocrats and collectors who had a sharp eye for good things.
As the museum's site says, the house contains "one of the best collections of French 18th-century Jonathanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00562761102621677437noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3977340.post-1096130407044987822004-09-25T17:24:00.000+01:002004-09-26T19:09:13.316+01:00Last Saturday, Jay and I took advantage of London Open House weekend and visited two of Britain's economic powerhouses: the Bank of England and Lloyd's of London.
Both buildings can be found in the City -- also known as The Square Mile -- which is home to London's financial institutions.
You could not visit two buildings more different in appearance in mood. The complex housing the bank, which Jonathanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00562761102621677437noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3977340.post-1095085213519921312004-09-13T15:10:00.000+01:002004-09-13T15:20:13.520+01:00Yesterday, Diane and I took a stroll through two of London's wonderful parks. We took the Tube to the Green Park station, then walked through Green Park to St. James's Park.
St. James's has a long pond that is home to a large variety and number of waterfowl. We saw white swans, a black swan, pelicans, coots and Canadian geese.
We went to the Inn The Park (also known as the Cakehouse) and had Jonathanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00562761102621677437noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3977340.post-1094467025307913562004-09-06T11:28:00.000+01:002004-09-06T11:37:05.306+01:00It was a warm weekend in London. Yesterday, Jay and I went to Hampstead Heath to swim in one of the park's ponds. It was a lot of fun. The ponds include a men's pond, a women's pond and a mixed-sex pond (there are other ponds where no swimming is allowed). We went to the mixed pond.
The pond is bordered by a thin, grassy "beach" crowded with people. There are also an outdoor changing area and Jonathanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00562761102621677437noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3977340.post-1094466466994932912004-09-06T11:21:00.000+01:002004-09-06T11:27:46.993+01:00If you walk around London long enough, you will see people on motor scooters equipped with clipboards. Who are these people?
They are aspiring London cabbies, learning the tangled network of roads they will have to negotiate in a city that dates back to the Roman Empire. This is a place where street names change unpredictably; just down the block from where I work Clerkenwell Road becomes Jonathanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00562761102621677437noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3977340.post-1094216821171940062004-09-03T14:00:00.000+01:002004-09-03T14:10:44.163+01:00Inspired by yesterday's subject -- pie and mash -- I had a chicken and mushroom pie and chips (french fries) for lunch. Some of my colleagues gave me a good-natured ribbing about my taste for British food.
I DO like the British custom of putting salt and vinegar on french fries. But I almost always regret this kind of meal minutes after consuming it. A man on cholesterol medication should NOT Jonathanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00562761102621677437noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3977340.post-1094132700068415502004-09-02T14:32:00.000+01:002004-09-02T14:45:00.070+01:00Well, systems problems keep us from working today, so time lies heavy on my hands. Naturally, it's time to blog.
Pie and mash -- a meat pie and mashed potatoes -- is a meal unique to London and is associated with East London.
Many tourists' first (and only) encounter with pie and mash is at Goddard's in Greenwich, which is handy to the Cutty Sark and the Docklands Light Rail (DLR) Maritime Jonathanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00562761102621677437noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3977340.post-1094035038492137092004-09-01T11:27:00.000+01:002004-09-01T11:37:18.493+01:00I learned this week that, while the U.S. networks are not giving the political conventions full coverage, you can see gavel-to-gavel action on a BBC channel.
BBC Parliament -- a digital channel which transmits sessions of Parliament -- is running a feed from C-Span. So, we were able to watch some of the Republican National Convention last night. This morning, another BBC digital channel offered Jonathanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00562761102621677437noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3977340.post-1094034298004143072004-09-01T11:23:00.000+01:002004-09-01T11:25:56.836+01:00My friend Amy Langfield has put together a nice site for folks wanting to visit my hometown, New York, with tips on the best sights, restaurants, etc. It's called Newyorkology. Check it out.
Jonathanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00562761102621677437noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3977340.post-1093879676211235422004-08-30T16:21:00.000+01:002004-08-30T16:27:56.210+01:00A lazy bank holiday weekend -- Britain's equivalent of Labor Day weekend.
Yesterday, I took in the Hopper exhibit at the Tate Modern. Very nice. "Nighthawks" has its own room and an admiring crowd. It reminded me of the "Mona Lisa" at the Louvre.
If you have a chance to see this wonderful retrospective of Edward Hopper's paintings, move fast. It ends on Sept. 5.
I got to and from the Tate by Jonathanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00562761102621677437noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3977340.post-1093175028530385382004-08-22T12:33:00.000+01:002004-08-22T12:43:48.530+01:00Apologies for the long silence. As always, I have been busy with work, family, etc. (Shame on me).
Highlights of the past month include:
A visit to Blenheim PalaceA night at Shakespeare's Globe on the South Bank of the Thames, to see an all-female production of "Much Ado About Nothing"A night at Regency Park's outdoor theater , to see the Lerner and Lowe musical "Camelot"A week's vacation (theyJonathanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00562761102621677437noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3977340.post-1088979315938556452004-07-04T22:58:00.000+01:002004-07-04T23:55:17.440+01:00I celebrated the Fourth of July today by going to a barbeque at the U.S. ambassador's residence, Winfield House, in Regents Park.
This has to qualify as The Most Secure Picnic I Have Ever Been To In My Life. We had to go through TWO checkpoints and metal detectors. You had to present your passport at each checkpoint (making this My First Barbeque That Required A U.S. Passport).
The house and Jonathanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00562761102621677437noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3977340.post-1088451231062804822004-06-28T20:32:00.000+01:002004-06-28T20:33:51.063+01:00Seen on the movie marquee at the O2 Centre, our local shopping center-cum-cineplex:
"The Day After Tom"
To be followed by "The Day After Dick" and the "The Day After Harry"?Jonathanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00562761102621677437noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3977340.post-1087769546186968532004-06-20T23:09:00.000+01:002004-06-20T23:16:50.613+01:00Seen at a Starbucks in Hampstead:
A muffin label reading:
"Skinny peach raspberry
Bursting with blueberries"
Diane spotted it. Once a copy editor, always a copy editor.
To be fair, it looked like they had crossed out the top line of the original label and replaced it with the skinny peach bit without updating Line 2. Funny all the same.
Jonathanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00562761102621677437noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3977340.post-1087769300219897652004-06-20T22:54:00.000+01:002004-06-20T23:15:53.196+01:00I took Jay to Hyde Park's famed Speaker's Corner today to see freedom of speech in action: Christians, Muslims, Socialists and others arguing their points of view before audiences that often argue back.
The speakers set themselves up on stepladders or rostrums, then hold forth to an audience ranging from a handful to perhaps 40 or 50 people, depending on how interesting the speaker is. Talk Jonathanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00562761102621677437noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3977340.post-1087122478585363622004-06-13T10:42:00.000+01:002004-06-20T00:09:47.873+01:00A couple of weeks ago, we took a day trip to Winchester to see its magnificent cathedral and other sights.
Winchester, which is about 60 miles southwest of central London, was the capital of 9th Century Saxon King Alfred the Great's Wessex. It once had status akin to that of London (William the Conqueror had his coronations in both cities). And then of course, there's the old-time song "Jonathanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00562761102621677437noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3977340.post-1084743093247986462004-05-16T22:26:00.000+01:002004-05-16T22:32:55.053+01:00We went to the Arsenal football (soccer) team's victory parade today. Arsenal has won the Premiership, the top championship in English football. Yesterday, they won a match against Leicester City, making them the first football team in 115 years to finish the season undefeated. Quite a feat!
The parade was a relatively low-key, happy affair. A crowd only one deep lined the street in Islington, Jonathanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00562761102621677437noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3977340.post-1083523744709285412004-05-02T19:49:00.000+01:002004-05-02T20:14:42.060+01:00We are in the midst of an annual "spring is here" home ritual: barbecuing. Yes, it's May but this is when the weather is finally getting good. By that I mean it's sunny and there is NO rain.
Along with hot dogs, hamburgers and grilled veggies, I mark the beginning of the UK grilling season with that quintessentially British drink: Pimms.
Pimms is a lightly alcoholic drink mix that you combine Jonathanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00562761102621677437noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3977340.post-1083124315020250492004-04-28T04:51:00.000+01:002004-04-28T04:57:05.560+01:00There are a few differences between British English and American English when it comes to food names:
America's zucchini is Britain's courgette (the plural is courgettes).
Over here, an eggplant is an aubergine.
And snow pea pods are mange tout (which, I think, translates from French to "eat all of it").
Interesting, non?Jonathanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00562761102621677437noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3977340.post-1080945551080603432004-04-02T23:39:00.000+01:002004-04-02T23:43:52.966+01:00Things you 'd swear you would have noticed long ago: on Gloucester Place just south of Crawford St. earlier this week, a plague marking a house as that of Benedict Arnold, who fled to Britain after a failed attempt to betray the American Revolution.
I think the plaque described Arnold as an "American patriot" (Well, OK, he was patriot in terms of supporting King George III, I suppose). In any Jonathanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00562761102621677437noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3977340.post-1079898697620129402004-03-21T19:51:00.000Z2004-03-22T13:24:34.310ZToday, we went to the South Bank of the Thames for a Sunday walk. We had a nice time, walking across Waterloo Bridge, shopping for used books at the stalls under the bridge and just outside the National Film Theatre (I bought Robert Harris's "Fatherland" for £2 (about $3.60), then walking down the bank.
We wound up at the Tate Modern, where this was the last day of The Weather Project, a giant Jonathanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00562761102621677437noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3977340.post-1079897808476638912004-03-21T19:36:00.000Z2004-03-21T19:40:07.216ZJay, Diane, Jay and I went to Fifteen, celebrity chef Jamie Oliver's East End restaurant. The tasting menu dinner was one of the best meals of my life and stretched over three hours.
Fifteen is a short walk north of the Old Street tube stop at 15 Westland Place off City Road. The restaurant, the subject of a documentary last year, is staffed by cooks trained by Jamie and friends and drawn from Jonathanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00562761102621677437noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3977340.post-1079292693148795862004-03-14T19:31:00.000Z2004-03-14T19:34:42.840ZToday, Joann, Diane, Jay and I visited the Columbia Road Flower Market in the East End. The market runs every Sunday morning until 2 p.m. There are stalls selling flowers and plants, and sellers crying "Six pots for a fiver" in Cockney accents. The road is lined with shops signaling the semi-gentrification of the area, but we learned that many of these shops are open on Sundays only.
Joann Jonathanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00562761102621677437noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3977340.post-1079291884041188852004-03-14T19:18:00.000Z2004-03-14T19:38:48.280ZBack in London. Our friend from Philadelphia, Joann, is in town, which means even more London fun. Joann and Diane went to the Ritz for tea on Friday. Unfortunately, Joann became sick to her stomach.
Her run of bad luck continued last night when we went to "Jerry Springer -- The Opera." In the middle of the second act, the "flying system" and the system used for set changes lost power. After a Jonathanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00562761102621677437noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3977340.post-1078663557305509582004-03-07T12:45:00.000Z2004-03-07T13:05:27.466ZAnd now I'm in New York!
Rome was good -- saw St. Peter's again (I never get tired of it or Micheangelo's Pieta) AND Jay and I climbed to the top. We also visited the Baths of Caracalla -- built by the Roman emperor of that name and immense.
But the highlight of the trip was dinner with our friends, the Sforzas, whose daughter attended school with Jay in London a couple of years ago. They and Jonathanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00562761102621677437noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3977340.post-1077227081456274312004-02-19T21:42:00.000Z2004-02-19T21:47:19.250ZWe had a great time in Naples. Lots of good food (although if I see pizza in the near future, I'll scream). We really liked the Amalfi Coast -- a scary bus ride.
Tomorrow, it's off to Rome. No computer at our hotel there, so my account will have to wait until our return to London.Jonathanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00562761102621677437noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3977340.post-1076792114200579262004-02-14T20:52:00.000Z2004-02-14T20:57:45.200ZSo, This Is My London is This Is My Naples this week. Jay has a week off from school, and we're in the land of Diane's ancestors.
We arrived this evening and are staying at a hotel with Internet access in every room (wheee!). We have just had some of the best pizza ever.
The area -- the Centro Storico -- has some of the narrowest streets I have ever seen a car drive down. We took a cab here Jonathanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00562761102621677437noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3977340.post-1076538179750681852004-02-11T22:22:00.000Z2004-02-11T22:25:27.246ZI love London street names. On Sunday, I spotted this one off High Holborn: Little Turnstile.Jonathanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00562761102621677437noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3977340.post-1075417347455982012004-01-29T23:02:00.000Z2004-01-29T23:06:53.090ZHomework can be fun for everyone. One of Jay's latest assignments was to write a report about Handel, who spent 36 years of his life in London. Handel's house, on Brook Street a short walk from Oxford Street, is a museum dedicated to the composer. You can see the rooms where Handel slept, composed -- and sold tickets and subscriptions to his concerts!
The house is marked by one of the circular Jonathanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00562761102621677437noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3977340.post-1073941998708402692004-01-12T21:13:00.000Z2004-01-12T21:15:06.653ZApologies for not blogging in a while. Among other things, I went for a post-New Year's walk (hike) along the North Downs Way with two friends, David and Ian. Two days and 27 miles, from Farnham to Box Hill. Beautiful scenery, including a hilltop church, St. Martha's on St. Martha's Hill.
We had a pub dinner and a grand fry-up (as they call the classic English breakfast) the next morning at the Jonathanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00562761102621677437noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3977340.post-1069589605017786002003-11-23T12:13:00.000Z2003-11-23T12:34:16.216ZNot much going on this weekend. I took Jay ice-skating, and we had lunch at a Chinese restaurant in the mini-Chinatown on Queensway, a street just west of Hyde Park in the Bayswater area. The restaurant, Mandarin Kitchen, makes the best chicken with cashew nuts I've ever had. I also had something new: e-fu noodles with mixed seafood. E-fu noodles are China's answer to fresh pasta. Soft and Jonathanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00562761102621677437noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3977340.post-1069589381382800782003-11-23T12:09:00.000Z2003-11-23T12:29:08.996ZLast Sunday, David Stamp, his daughter Fiona, Jay and I went for another fine walk in the North Downs. This time, we climbed Box Hill, which is featured in Jane Austen's "Emma." Box Hill offers great, panoramic views of the North and South Downs and the village of Dorking, where composer Ralph Vaughn Williams lived. David says that, were it not for the South Downs, you could probably see the Jonathanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00562761102621677437noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3977340.post-1068381386552273372003-11-09T12:36:00.000Z2003-11-09T12:36:48.670ZI've been bad about blogging. It's been busy at work. We did a week out a week ago to go to Brussels. Great food and some great Art Noveau architecture if you know where to look for it.
But, unfortunately, a lot of old Brussels was knocked down to make room for some truly horrible modern buildings in the '60s. They even have a word for it: Brusselization.
We took a side trip to Bruges, a Jonathanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00562761102621677437noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3977340.post-1065543675752768652003-10-07T17:21:00.000+01:002003-10-07T17:21:15.730+01:00Last Sunday, Jay and I joined our friends, the Stamps, for a hike (they call it a "walk" or a "ramble" here) in Surrey along the North Downs Way, one of Britain's National Trails. We took the train to Westhumble via Epsom, where the Stamps live, then set out.
Highlights included views of Box Hill and Britain's biggest vineyard, Denbie Farm, as well as a swing by Polesden Lacey, a stately home Jonathanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00562761102621677437noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3977340.post-1065543446893984832003-10-07T17:17:00.000+01:002003-10-07T17:17:26.906+01:00Catching up -- the Sunday before last I went to the Dulwich Picture Gallery. It's a great place in southeast London -- one of the first art galleries deliberately built as such. They have a few fine Rembrandts and other great Italian, Dutch and British art. The cafe itself is well worth a visit -- very inventive. I had an excellent mushroom soup with a nice hunk of bread.Jonathanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00562761102621677437noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3977340.post-1064139578051415602003-09-21T11:19:00.000+01:002003-11-09T12:31:45.716ZYesterday, we enjoyed one of London's great annual pleasures: Open House weekend, in which many buildings normally not open to the public let folks in to ooh and aah -- or at least enjoy and appreciate good architecture.
We visited Australia House, the Australian High Commission (i.e., embassy) off Aldwych and the Strand in the West End. It has a magnificent interior built with different types Jonathanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00562761102621677437noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3977340.post-1063565280568527032003-09-14T19:48:00.000+01:002003-09-14T19:54:26.763+01:00Here's a picture of Jay and myself on Mount Helvellyn's summit after a climb there last month during our vacation in the Lake District. We're smiling because it was not an easy climb and we're very proud of getting to the top.
Jonathanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00562761102621677437noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3977340.post-1063564865201964912003-09-14T19:41:00.000+01:002003-09-14T19:41:05.083+01:00Yesterday, I spent some time with several Georges and a William, Gustav Holst, Virginia Woolf, Kitchener and Winston Churchill. Oh, and Edith Cavell.
As some of you may have guessed, I'm talking about the National Portrait Gallery.
Before going there, I spent some time in Foyle's famed bookstore on Charing Cross Road, buying books on Iraq, Islam and terror for a good friend who's going on Jonathanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00562761102621677437noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3977340.post-1062935417396833002003-09-07T12:50:00.000+01:002003-09-07T12:50:17.240+01:00Hello, all. I've not blogged for a while because we went on vacation to the Lake District (a wonderful place), then work took over.
Yesterday, Diane, Jay and I went to see David Blaine, the magician who's living 44 days on just water in a plastic box suspended in the air near the Thames. The box is over the South Bank, near Tower Bridge.
Blaine began his stunt on Friday, and a crowd of a Jonathanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00562761102621677437noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3977340.post-1060639471452385312003-08-11T23:04:00.000+01:002003-08-11T23:04:31.330+01:00Tonight, Jay and I went out for a dusk bat walk in Regent's Park. A genial bat aficionado led nearly 30 of us through a darkening Regent's Park to a lake where we wached for bats. By 9:30 or so we started seeing bats -- and hearing them. Our guide, John Tovey, had handed out portable bat detectors that gave off clicks whenever a bat or bats made an ultrasonic shout.
We saw two species of bat -- Jonathanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00562761102621677437noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3977340.post-1060290366448434442003-08-07T22:06:00.000+01:002003-08-07T22:06:06.410+01:00The BBC's Radio 4 reads the headlines from British front pages every day at 6:45 a.m. As part of its summer programming earlier this week, they read headlines from the front page of U.S. newspapers.
You haven't lived until you've heard an announcer with a thick, Scottish accent say, "Kobe Bryant." Priceless.
Jonathanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00562761102621677437noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3977340.post-1059862443247167642003-08-02T23:14:00.000+01:002003-08-02T23:16:05.853+01:00Apologies for the long absence -- we were on home leave for two weeks. We had a great time seeing friends and family and enjoying American cuisine: hot dogs, pizza by the slice and Philly cheese steaks. Good thing we left when we did :-)
Tonight, we went to see Shakesepeare's comedy "Two Gentlemen of Verona" at Regent's Park's wonderful outdoor theater. The experience is wonderful. You get to Jonathanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00562761102621677437noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3977340.post-1057368727847824872003-07-05T02:32:00.000+01:002003-07-05T02:34:24.870+01:00I had dinner at an Italian restaurant tonight with my friend, former boss and brilliant colleague Janet, her economist/musician boyfriend Hans, their journalist friend Nesha and our colleague, project manager Chris.
Janet, a native of the Liverpool area, is living proof that we do live in a global village where distance has far less meaning than it used to. She works mainly in London but makes Jonathanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00562761102621677437noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3977340.post-1057367393552897152003-07-05T02:09:00.000+01:002003-07-05T02:09:53.573+01:00Last Saturday, I went out to my friend David's house in Epsom for a real treat -- a great dinner cooked by a Thai friend visiting from New Zealand. Chicken satay. Yummmm.
I met a friend of David's, an Australian named Ian who lives in London and helped survey New Guinea back in the day.
You get to Epsom -- home of the famed Epsom Downs race track -- by train from Waterloo. The journey is only Jonathanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00562761102621677437noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3977340.post-1057127716695050612003-07-02T07:35:00.000+01:002003-07-05T02:00:09.270+01:00On Sunday, June 22, Jay went to a birthday party, so Diane and I headed off to the Courtauld gallery just off the Strand and just east of Waterloo Bridge.
The Courtauld is a small gem of a museum that offers a cross-section of Western European art from Medieval times to the present, and is best known for its Impressionists. You'll find Monet, Manet, and Seurat, to name a few. But there are good Jonathanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00562761102621677437noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3977340.post-957869962003-06-18T12:38:00.000+01:002003-06-18T12:39:08.000+01:00On Sunday -- Father's Day -- Diane and Jay cooked me a modified Full English Breakfast: toast, eggs, sausage and beans. I say modified because two elements were missing: bacon and a grilled or stewed tomato. I don't like grilled or stewed tomatos, and Diane said she wanted to shorten my life by two years instead of five. (Note: the Full English can also include sauteed mushrooms).
Later, I went Jonathanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00562761102621677437noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3977340.post-957158622003-06-16T14:52:00.000+01:002003-06-16T14:52:20.330+01:00On Saturday, Diane, Jay and I went for what is becoming a tradition: walk to Primrose Hill Park, have a picnic there on a bench, then walk to bustling Camden Locks Market via Regent's Canal. A wonderful afternoon out. I recommend it to anyone.
Jay went to a school-related dance performance, so Diane and I had a date -- the first in memory when it didn't rain! We had dinner at a newish pub calledJonathanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00562761102621677437noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3977340.post-956210572003-06-13T08:19:00.000+01:002003-06-13T08:19:26.873+01:00Tube stations have whiteboards on which they post notices about things like station closings, train delays, etc.
But this morning at the Chancery Lane stop where I get out to go to work, the whiteboard said:
Friday, June 13
Good Luck???
Jonathanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00562761102621677437noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3977340.post-955012682003-06-10T12:31:00.000+01:002003-06-10T12:36:54.000+01:00Heard shortly before 7 this morning: "Today is the birthday of His Royal Highness the Duke of Edinburgh." (That's Philip, the queen's husband)
Followed immediately by the playing of "God Save the Queen."
And then the news.
Every now and again you get a little reminder like this that you live in a country that is governed by a constitutional monarchy.
Jonathanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00562761102621677437noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3977340.post-954350632003-06-08T21:27:00.000+01:002003-06-08T21:34:55.000+01:00Today is London Garden Squares Day -- scores of community and other gardens normally closed to the public throw open their gates for the day.
Jay and I visited seven gardens in Notting Hill and adjacent Ladbroke Grove, including the one in "Notting Hill" where Hugh Grant romances Jullia Roberts.
It was one of those typical London spring days, starting out cloudy and threatening, then turning Jonathanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00562761102621677437noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3977340.post-953758982003-06-06T17:28:00.000+01:002003-06-06T17:28:13.950+01:00But the BIG news today is that I got promoted.
The good news: more challenges and responsibility and experience as a manager.
The bad news: less time to blog.
But, seriously, I do expect less time to post. That said, don't abandon this site. Jonathanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00562761102621677437noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3977340.post-953756182003-06-06T17:20:00.000+01:002003-06-06T17:20:56.510+01:00T-shirt of the day: AVE IT, in white letters on a black background
As in 'ave It,short for "Have It" (Whatever "It" is)Jonathanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00562761102621677437noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3977340.post-948702612003-05-25T21:46:00.000+01:002003-05-25T21:46:16.620+01:00Well, I wrote some wonderful things about the Victoria and Albert Museum's great Art Deco exhibit, a walk through Hyde Park, drinks at the Savoy and dinner at Rules. But it got eaten up and I gotta work. Waaah. The Art Deco exhibit is great.Jonathanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00562761102621677437noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3977340.post-941884992003-05-12T07:22:00.000+01:002003-05-28T21:35:04.000+01:00Quick walk around the neighborhood yesterday. Lots of nice stuff, including Regent's Canal. More later. Falling behind. Gack.Jonathanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00562761102621677437noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3977340.post-936763342003-05-02T23:34:00.000+01:002003-05-02T23:39:36.000+01:00I took the train up to Glasgow on Monday night -- the Caledonian Sleeper -- so I could teach the following day at Strathclyde University. I love sleeper cars -- they are like a sailboat cabin on wheels. Every bit of space is used with great ingenuity -- a shelf flips up to reveal a sink and your cabin has hangers on the wall that allow it to double as a closet.
Scotrail offers a bargain £19 Jonathanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00562761102621677437noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3977340.post-931324092003-04-23T21:11:00.000+01:002003-04-23T21:11:11.140+01:00About Venice -- my wife Diane couldn't have said it better (although I will add a little more later):
Venice was cold (we actually had snow, which they haven't seen in 50 years), full of students on Easter break, and not like anywhere I've ever been. I thought it would be more like Amsterdam--canals and roads--but nope, only water. ... It's wild. You catch a vaporetto, or canal boat, to get Jonathanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00562761102621677437noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3977340.post-930001552003-04-21T21:00:00.000+01:002003-04-21T21:01:38.000+01:00I'll get around to Venice, but first ... the Florence Nightingale Museum. This small museum is dedicated to the life and times of -- you guessed it -- Florence Nightingale, who is generally recognized as the founder of modern nursing (and, as it turns out, nursing schools).
Diane, Jay and I went there today -- Easter Monday, as they call it -- because the weather was uncertain enough to make usJonathanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00562761102621677437noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3977340.post-926989272003-04-16T06:40:00.000+01:002003-04-16T06:40:31.890+01:00We returned from Venice on Saturday. This is my first chance to blog again.
I've got a backlog (back-blog?). I still need to get around to Leeds Castle.
And, if anyone's interested -- Venice. Anyone interested? E-mail me at jonathan@oatis.com. If there's interest, I'll blog about that, too.Jonathanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00562761102621677437noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3977340.post-920806782003-04-06T09:26:00.000+01:002003-04-06T09:28:02.000+01:00We're off to Venice for holiday today!
My apologies for the long absence. I don't like to see this thing get stale.
When I return, I hope to tell of our trip to Leeds Castle (which is not in Leeds) and a walk around northwest London that took in part of the Grand Union Canal.
Jonathanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00562761102621677437noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3977340.post-910805932003-03-20T21:07:00.000Z2003-03-21T08:38:38.000ZThe good spring weather continues -- which is incredible. This many days of clear, sunny skies is almost unbelievable in London -- like snow in Florida.
After work, I took the bus down to the South Bank of the Thames, where I combined two of my favorite things -- a pub dinner and the Thames. I enjoyed a nice dinner -- Lancashire hot pot -- a rich lamb stew topped with sliced potatoes -- Jonathanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00562761102621677437noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3977340.post-908761972003-03-17T21:11:00.000Z2003-03-18T08:37:50.000ZAnother beautiful day. And a tip for enjoying one -- Gray's Inn gardens, a nice patch of green dotted with benches and perfect for a picnic, is open from noon to 2:30 p.m. on weekdays. I had lunch there today. Wonderful.
Gray's Inn, like Lincoln's Inn, is home to many of London's lawyers. Both places are fun to walk through.Jonathanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00562761102621677437noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3977340.post-907799842003-03-15T22:55:00.000Z2003-03-15T22:55:56.000ZToday, my son Jay and I walked around Hampstead Heath, one of London's great parks and arguably its wildest bit of green space. As of Friday, London has seen sun and blue skies and for Londoners that means GET OUTSIDE.
One of the many things that surprises the relative newcomer is the London custom of exploiting any bit of sun -- no matter how cold it is. On a clear yet chilly day, you'll see Jonathanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00562761102621677437noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3977340.post-905403482003-03-11T20:17:00.000Z2003-03-11T20:44:17.000ZApologies again to those who read this for my lengthy absence -- I'm still working very hard. But I do have another tidbit.
Today, a couple of London Fire Brigade fire engines stopped outside King's Cross Station, where I was waiting for the bus to work. It didn't appear to be a major situation -- only a few firefighters got out of the truck and they were in no great hurry.
I looked inside theJonathanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00562761102621677437noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3977340.post-899694202003-03-01T22:04:00.000Z2003-03-01T22:05:11.000ZApologies for the long absence -- we went on vacation to Spain and I've been working my tail off lately (Does anyone read this?)
Anyway, here's a tidbit: I was walking to work one morning this week when I saw seven police officers on horseback heading down Finchley Road. They looked very smart in their uniforms. The hat, unlike the standard bobby's headgear, was a riding helmet with a Jonathanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00562761102621677437noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3977340.post-886082772003-02-05T20:55:00.000Z2003-02-05T21:00:14.000ZToday, I indulged in one of my favorite vices -- the caff.
A caff is Britain's version of a good diner, a greasy spoon (in a good way) where breakfast is your best bet.
The classic is the full English breakfast: toast, a fried egg or eggs, bacon, sausage, beans and a fried or grilled tomato. Sometimes you can also get fried mushrooms. Today, I went for everything but the tomato and the sausage,Jonathanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00562761102621677437noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3977340.post-883756502003-02-01T13:34:00.000Z2003-02-01T13:34:39.550ZSnow on Thursday and travel chaos. A trip that normally takes me 30-40 minutes took two hours and involved a bus, an all-too-brief Tube trip and a long, long walk from Baker Street to Belsize Park -- over ice and snow in my penny loafers. Grumble grumble.
But I was lucky. Some folks spent upwards of 22 hours in their cars on jammed roads.
The snow remained yesterday. But sun today has almost Jonathanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00562761102621677437noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3977340.post-875794092003-01-17T07:27:00.000Z2003-01-17T07:36:52.000ZReminders of the differences between American English and British English come nearly every day.
Last night: "Stoned Dates" on a package of the dried fruit. Which, of course, means the pits have been removed.
But, the first time you see "stoned dates," you can't help imagining a dialogue like this:
"Wow, man, I'm wasted. What movie did you say you were taking me to?"
"I forget. I'm wasted, Jonathanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00562761102621677437noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3977340.post-874370822003-01-14T21:35:00.000Z2003-01-14T21:35:14.810ZSaturday in Greenwich (continued) -- After the National Maritime Museum (see the previous entry), we headed off to Goddard's Pie House for traditional chicken and mushroom pies and mash(ed potato), covered with a thin, green sauce the restaurant refers to as "liquor". This family restaurant was founded in 1890 and has the basic-but-good atmosphere of a typical pie shop -- wooden floors, marble Jonathanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00562761102621677437noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3977340.post-873789062003-01-14T00:03:00.000Z2003-01-14T00:06:23.000ZSaturday saw Diane, Jay and I heading to Greenwich, one of my favorite parts of London because it feels like going out of the city to a charming riverside town even though you're still in the capital (Fellow New Yorkers: it's very roughly akin to going to Riverdale).
I also love Greenwich for being the epicenter of naval heritage in London. On the waterfront are the tea clipper Cutty Sark and Jonathanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00562761102621677437noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3977340.post-871067472003-01-08T10:56:00.000Z2003-01-08T10:56:08.350ZSnow in London today, a relative rarity. There was a dusting yesterday -- less than an inch but enough to mess up some trains. It will be interesting to see what happens during today's afternoon commute.
Big, fat flakes are fallling as I write this, coating the chimneyed rooftops of Bloomsbury. I half-expect Scrooge to come rolling out, wishing everyone a Merry Christmas.Jonathanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00562761102621677437noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3977340.post-870008812003-01-06T10:31:00.000Z2003-01-10T22:43:34.000ZMore fun. Last night we saw a jazz orchestra at Royal Festival Hall. They were pretty good. The night's selections included "Sing, Sing, Sing", "Summertime", "In a Mellotone" and, last but not least, "Rhapsody in Blue."Jonathanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00562761102621677437noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3977340.post-868782882003-01-03T15:21:00.000Z2003-01-08T10:54:10.000ZWe went to see "Anything Goes" at the National Theatre last night. An absolutely wonderful production. Good cast, good singing, great dancing and those fantastic Cole Porter lyrics. The set and the band are also a treat.
This show produced such classic songs as "You're the Top," "Friendship," "Blow, Gabriel, Blow" and, of course, "Anything Goes." It has special meaning for Diane and me: the 1987Jonathanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00562761102621677437noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3977340.post-865536682002-12-26T17:28:00.000Z2002-12-26T19:23:26.000ZChristmas Day is the most peaceful day in London and this year was no exception. Many people have already left town and everything is shut down. Even the subway and the buses do not run. This takes some getting used to if you're an ex-New Yorker.
We had a fairly nice Christmas. The major television stations, knowing that most folks will spend all or nearly all the day inside, lay on a banquet ofJonathanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00562761102621677437noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3977340.post-864312872002-12-23T11:21:00.000Z2002-12-26T17:28:46.000ZYesterday, we went to the National Portrait Gallery, one of my favorite museums, to see "The Americans," a special exhibit made possible by the refurbishment of the museum's U.S. counterpart.
Some of the usual suspects -- George Washington, Abraham Lincoln and Robert E. Lee -- were there in painted or photographed form. But there were quite a few you might not expect in this kind of exhibit: theJonathanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00562761102621677437noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3977340.post-864311202002-12-23T11:10:00.000Z2002-12-23T11:10:24.410ZCovent Garden is like Times Square: one of those tourist magnets you head for soon after you move to a new city, but then try to avoid subsequently, especially during the holidays. But we found ourselves at Covent Garden this past Saturday because there are shops my son Jay likes there: GadgetShop and Eric Snook.
I was glad we went. Covent Garden -- which once housed one of London's great Jonathanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00562761102621677437noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3977340.post-864309452002-12-23T10:58:00.000Z2002-12-23T10:58:29.943ZCommuting by double-decker bus is much more pleasant than taking the subway home, even if it does take a little longer. And it can bring unexpected rewards. Two days ago, going home from work, I took the bus to Waterloo Station, from where I could take the Tube the rest of the way home.
As I entered the station, I thought I heard a brass band playing. I followed the sound to find a group of 15-Jonathanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00562761102621677437noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3977340.post-856742442002-12-08T09:54:00.000Z2002-12-08T10:01:43.000ZMoving to a new city brings with it a host of pleasant surprises: the sounds and vistas you did not expect to happen upon or to happen upon you.
One such moment was the day last summer when I heard the clip-clop of horse's hooves on my way to my daily commute. At the end of our street, I saw a troop of cavalry in plain uniform, including a radio officer. I asked one of the troopers what unit Jonathanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00562761102621677437noreply@blogger.com0