It's been very interesting to me to see so many sites from "history." Coming from California, a comparatively young state in terms of the stuff you learn about in school, I was fascinated when I moved to Chicago, then New York, to finally be able to get a visual idea of what it might have been like for George Washington crossing the Delaware. So to come here, and walk across Tower Bridge to the Traitor's Gate, has been really interesting.
It does have its downsides, though. Some things are strangely antiquated. We light our stove with matches. One of the bedrooms has a coal fireplace.
Case in point: we're trying to get our internet connection at home set up. This requires a phone line to be rented from BT, which can't be done until you have a bank account with direct debit. Then it takes 2 days for them to magically throw the switch for your phone line to be turned on. Then you wait 5 days for the internet company to see your new phone line. Then you can call them, and they will send you something in the mail which you can use to turn your internet on. Sometimes you just wish for AOL to send you an unrequested CD in the mail!
The best, though, was this morning. Our electricity inexplicably wen't off around 3am. When we went to speak with our neighbors (we had no idea who to call), she suggested that to get ready for work, we "boil a cauldron of water" and asked if we needed to borrow matches. Maybe it's just the time of year, but I'm suddenly more concerned for our safety...
Tuesday, 30 October 2007
music I'm listening to these days
I'm currently obsessed with a few bands - some you'll know, some you won't, but all are worth a listen... it's funny, my iTunes account has been getting a workout since I've started working in an office by myself... if you take a look at this list, you'll probably see that I have a real thing for girls with guitars. :)
The Cliks: think Sleater-Kinney meets Justin Timberlake...
Jenny Owen Youngs: quirky, tongue-in-cheek, punk-folk - she sounds (and looks) a bit like Jenny Lewis from Rilo Kiley but substitutes the angst for hilarity. I heart her.
Kaki King: A guitar goddess, a real innovator. We saw her in concert in a tiny club in London a couple of weeks ago, but have been fans for years since I saw her at Bonnaroo and she left me speechless. Check out a youtube video of her here.
Carbon Leaf: the only dudes on my list. Jammy, bluegrass-inspired goodness, in the same vein as Dave Matthews. Makes you want to sing along.
Rachael Sage: East Village meets Tori Amos
The Ditty Bops: take inspiration from old-time folk and rag-time, and put a modern spin on it. did their last cross-country tour, travelling by bicycle. quirky doesn't begin to describe them, but incredibly catchy and lovable. you'll find yourself singing their songs in the shower.
The Cliks: think Sleater-Kinney meets Justin Timberlake...
Jenny Owen Youngs: quirky, tongue-in-cheek, punk-folk - she sounds (and looks) a bit like Jenny Lewis from Rilo Kiley but substitutes the angst for hilarity. I heart her.
Kaki King: A guitar goddess, a real innovator. We saw her in concert in a tiny club in London a couple of weeks ago, but have been fans for years since I saw her at Bonnaroo and she left me speechless. Check out a youtube video of her here.
Carbon Leaf: the only dudes on my list. Jammy, bluegrass-inspired goodness, in the same vein as Dave Matthews. Makes you want to sing along.
Rachael Sage: East Village meets Tori Amos
The Ditty Bops: take inspiration from old-time folk and rag-time, and put a modern spin on it. did their last cross-country tour, travelling by bicycle. quirky doesn't begin to describe them, but incredibly catchy and lovable. you'll find yourself singing their songs in the shower.
Monday, 29 October 2007
What's wrong with this picture?
We went to see the Dolphins play the Giants at Wembley Stadium yesterday. It was my first-ever live NFL game.
We had tons of fun, even though the NFL vastly underestimated the love of American football here. They ran out of most of the merchandise before the game even started. Several concession stands ran out of beer (they don't serve beer at football [soccer] matches because the fans are rabid enough already). Weirdly, though, there were tons of empty seats even though it was sold out.
More photos on my Flickr site.
We had tons of fun, even though the NFL vastly underestimated the love of American football here. They ran out of most of the merchandise before the game even started. Several concession stands ran out of beer (they don't serve beer at football [soccer] matches because the fans are rabid enough already). Weirdly, though, there were tons of empty seats even though it was sold out.
More photos on my Flickr site.
Friday, 26 October 2007
Things that are different
Here are some things we've noticed that strike us as funny examples of the differences in culture:
- Cough medication. They have medicines for every possible variation in cough. Chesty cough? Tickly cough? Dry cough? Perhaps you've got a cough and a sore throat.
- Television. Both more highbrow and more lowbrow (if that's possible) than US TV. And sometimes, somehow, both.
- Lunch break and other examples of work-life balance. Our colleagues (well, mine - see Meg's last post) nearly always go out for lunch. At the very least, they take a half hour to walk to a sandwich shop a half mile away. I bring my lunch from Tesco, because if I don't I won't eat. Sad, and yet an unchangeable habit.
- And on that note, drinking at lunch. And again in the pub at 5pm after work. Needless to say, I have not yet fully adopted these habits.
- Politeness. They even tell you which way to look before you cross the street.
- The mail gets delivered 4 times a day. Mostly, unless they're on strike.
- And finally, the pub on Knightrider Court. Even once visited by David Hasselhoff.
Wednesday, 24 October 2007
too much working...
My current work situation is that I'm a "party of one" here in our London office. While there are times this is a wonderful thing -- like when a good song comes on my last.fm player (check this site out folks, it's brilliant) and I can have a one-Meg dance party; or when I'm writing a report or proposal or something and I need to not be interrupted by folks wanting to see if I want to go to four-bucks for a coffee.
However, there are times (like now), when I'm wishing that I had someone to pitch in and help me with the mountain of work I have to do. I'm also still trying to sort out some personal, logistical crap like "how do I pay my gas bill?" and "when will our bank account get opened?". These things take time, and the owner of our company is seriously about to have kittens because I'm behind on some deliverables that we promised to some potential clients. I never thought I would feel this way, but I need a boss - here in the office. Not because I need to be told what to do, but more because it would be incredibly helpful to have someone in the office to help me prioritize and bounce ideas off of... it's tough when your sounding board is 3500 miles and 5 time zones away.
However, there are times (like now), when I'm wishing that I had someone to pitch in and help me with the mountain of work I have to do. I'm also still trying to sort out some personal, logistical crap like "how do I pay my gas bill?" and "when will our bank account get opened?". These things take time, and the owner of our company is seriously about to have kittens because I'm behind on some deliverables that we promised to some potential clients. I never thought I would feel this way, but I need a boss - here in the office. Not because I need to be told what to do, but more because it would be incredibly helpful to have someone in the office to help me prioritize and bounce ideas off of... it's tough when your sounding board is 3500 miles and 5 time zones away.
Monday, 22 October 2007
thoughts on sports...
Wow, what a weekend... South Africa wins the Rugby World Cup, the World Series teams have been set (let's go Rockies!), and the Chicago Bears go 97 yards on the final drive of the game to score a TD with 9 seconds to go, beating the Eagles 19-16!
Sunday, 21 October 2007
Upcoming travel and visitor plans
Megan and I have a busy winter planned. We both have several European work-related trips on the schedule (me to Frankfurt in November for a conference, and Megan to Switzerland and Germany for client meetings through the end of the year). November will see visits from Megan's parents and sister, as well as my mom. December should be action-packed, as we're planning an extended visit to the U.S., and I'm also going to my brother's graduation from Army basic training, followed by a few days of fun in Puerto Rico with my best friends...
However, we don't have much planned for the late winter or early spring at this point. We're always excited to have visitors, and could also meet you someplace besides London for a few days of European fun! Hope to see you soon!
However, we don't have much planned for the late winter or early spring at this point. We're always excited to have visitors, and could also meet you someplace besides London for a few days of European fun! Hope to see you soon!
Belgium Trip - Part 2 of 2
Day 3: We woke up this morning, and had breakfast at the B&B, where we learned that our Michel, one of our hosts, was a previous holder of Belgium’s Mr. Leather title. Turns out that he won Belgium’s Mr. Leather competition the first of time he ever wore a leather get-up, which earned him a trip to the International Mr. Leather contest in Chicago. He got 21st place – and retired from competition. Now, he works for Brussels’ sanitation department. You can’t make this stuff up, folks.
Our first stop of the day was the Musical Instrument Museum (MIM), where we saw several beautiful examples of historical instruments, ranging from tribal drums that were more than 1000 years old to electronic instruments from this decade. From there, we made our way over to St. Boniface, which is in the heart of a trendy, diverse neighborhood with lots of interesting shops and restaurants. We stopped at one and had lunch, before continuing on to the Fortis district, which is near several universities. We window-shopped there for a while, particularly noticing the numerous second-hand comic book stores in the area (though comics weren’t invented in here, the Belgians are great aficionados of them). By then, we were ready to get off of our feet for a bit, so we found a bar and had some beers.
It was Saturday night, and that meant England v. France in the semi-final of the Rugby World Cup (held in France this year). So we picked up some take-away kebabs, and headed to Churchill’s, an English bar in Brussels, to watch this fierce match. It was truly an epic defensive battle, though fortunately, England came out on top with a 14-9 victory over the French hosts. Belgium is a popular destination for French holiday-seekers, so even though we were in an English pub, the fact that we were in Brussels meant that most of the other patrons of the pub were French. Aside from a few English ex-pats in the bar, we were pretty much the only England fans in the whole place. After the English victory, several of the French fans came over and shook our hands, wishing us “Bon chance” in the final.
Day 4: This morning, we got up pretty early (at least for us) and took a train to Bruges, a town whose history dates back to the middle ages. It is only about an hour’s trip from Brussels, and for the past 150 years, has long been a popular tourist destination. It is a little touristy, but the architecture is lovely, and weather-wise, it was a gorgeous day. Megan took a lot of great photos in town.
Our day in Bruges began by visiting the Markt (central square), followed by lots of wandering along the canals and through the parks, and stopping for lunch in a small square where we could watch horse-drawn carriages walking by. Here I had the chance to use some of my “advanced” French. Sitting next to us at lunch was a older couple with their dog, who were travelling around Europe in their “camping-car”. I complemented them on how well-behaved their dog was (he was sitting under the table during their meal), and told them that we also had a dog. They asked what kind of dog he was, but high school French didn’t teach me how to say “pug” en français… After lunch, we took the long way through Bruges to the Brouwerij De Halve Maan (“Half Moon Brewery”). We had a beer in the courtyard before taking a tour of the historic brewery – the original location of the Maes (a prominent Belgian brewer) brewery. On the tour, we met Nancy, an American woman who was travelling on her own. After the tour, we were given complimentary beers, so we invited her to join us at our table in the courtyard. We started chatting, and it quickly came out that we were both from Chicago. Crazily enough, this woman was also originally from Flossmoor (the tiny little town where I grew up)! She left the town when she was still in junior high, so she didn’t remember my family, but we still had a great time talking about our home town! File that one under “it’s a small world”…
After leaving Nancy in Bruges, we grabbed wafels, and headed to the train station for the trip back to Brussels. Tonight was the South Africa v. Argentina semi-final for the World Cup. Since we had a wonderful time at the pub the previous night (giant projection TV, delicious beers on tap, friendly service – what else do you need to watch a match?!?!), we decided to head back to Churchill’s for the second consecutive night. Unfortunately, South Africa crushed Argentina 37-13, making this match not nearly as exciting as the England/France match.
Day 5: Our last day in Belgium – and really just a half-day at that. We slept in again, and then headed to the Flanders Museum, a really weird toy museum. We thought it would be a sort of look at toys throughout history, but actually turned out to be some creepy old guy’s HUGE toy collection. It was a short visit. We then walked to the Botanical Gardens – on our way, we accidentally stumbled across the hostel where I had stayed during my previous visit to the city back in 2000 with Kate. The gardens were still as great as I had remembered, and we wandered around here for a bit, before heading back into Central Brussels, where we finally got frites in a cone – the best French fries imaginable, topped with mayo (not as gross as it sounds), and served in a paper cone. Megan was wanting to get these for our whole trip (they are iconically Belgian), and considering how it was our last day in town, I finally caved in…
We then headed back to our inn, grabbed our bags, and took the metro back to Gare Midi to catch our Eurostar train back to London. On the train back to our new home, my Spanish-speaking wife was ordering beers in French “deux Stellas, s’il vous plait”, which I think is the most important phrase an international traveler can learn when abroad…
Our first stop of the day was the Musical Instrument Museum (MIM), where we saw several beautiful examples of historical instruments, ranging from tribal drums that were more than 1000 years old to electronic instruments from this decade. From there, we made our way over to St. Boniface, which is in the heart of a trendy, diverse neighborhood with lots of interesting shops and restaurants. We stopped at one and had lunch, before continuing on to the Fortis district, which is near several universities. We window-shopped there for a while, particularly noticing the numerous second-hand comic book stores in the area (though comics weren’t invented in here, the Belgians are great aficionados of them). By then, we were ready to get off of our feet for a bit, so we found a bar and had some beers.
It was Saturday night, and that meant England v. France in the semi-final of the Rugby World Cup (held in France this year). So we picked up some take-away kebabs, and headed to Churchill’s, an English bar in Brussels, to watch this fierce match. It was truly an epic defensive battle, though fortunately, England came out on top with a 14-9 victory over the French hosts. Belgium is a popular destination for French holiday-seekers, so even though we were in an English pub, the fact that we were in Brussels meant that most of the other patrons of the pub were French. Aside from a few English ex-pats in the bar, we were pretty much the only England fans in the whole place. After the English victory, several of the French fans came over and shook our hands, wishing us “Bon chance” in the final.
Day 4: This morning, we got up pretty early (at least for us) and took a train to Bruges, a town whose history dates back to the middle ages. It is only about an hour’s trip from Brussels, and for the past 150 years, has long been a popular tourist destination. It is a little touristy, but the architecture is lovely, and weather-wise, it was a gorgeous day. Megan took a lot of great photos in town.
Our day in Bruges began by visiting the Markt (central square), followed by lots of wandering along the canals and through the parks, and stopping for lunch in a small square where we could watch horse-drawn carriages walking by. Here I had the chance to use some of my “advanced” French. Sitting next to us at lunch was a older couple with their dog, who were travelling around Europe in their “camping-car”. I complemented them on how well-behaved their dog was (he was sitting under the table during their meal), and told them that we also had a dog. They asked what kind of dog he was, but high school French didn’t teach me how to say “pug” en français… After lunch, we took the long way through Bruges to the Brouwerij De Halve Maan (“Half Moon Brewery”). We had a beer in the courtyard before taking a tour of the historic brewery – the original location of the Maes (a prominent Belgian brewer) brewery. On the tour, we met Nancy, an American woman who was travelling on her own. After the tour, we were given complimentary beers, so we invited her to join us at our table in the courtyard. We started chatting, and it quickly came out that we were both from Chicago. Crazily enough, this woman was also originally from Flossmoor (the tiny little town where I grew up)! She left the town when she was still in junior high, so she didn’t remember my family, but we still had a great time talking about our home town! File that one under “it’s a small world”…
After leaving Nancy in Bruges, we grabbed wafels, and headed to the train station for the trip back to Brussels. Tonight was the South Africa v. Argentina semi-final for the World Cup. Since we had a wonderful time at the pub the previous night (giant projection TV, delicious beers on tap, friendly service – what else do you need to watch a match?!?!), we decided to head back to Churchill’s for the second consecutive night. Unfortunately, South Africa crushed Argentina 37-13, making this match not nearly as exciting as the England/France match.
Day 5: Our last day in Belgium – and really just a half-day at that. We slept in again, and then headed to the Flanders Museum, a really weird toy museum. We thought it would be a sort of look at toys throughout history, but actually turned out to be some creepy old guy’s HUGE toy collection. It was a short visit. We then walked to the Botanical Gardens – on our way, we accidentally stumbled across the hostel where I had stayed during my previous visit to the city back in 2000 with Kate. The gardens were still as great as I had remembered, and we wandered around here for a bit, before heading back into Central Brussels, where we finally got frites in a cone – the best French fries imaginable, topped with mayo (not as gross as it sounds), and served in a paper cone. Megan was wanting to get these for our whole trip (they are iconically Belgian), and considering how it was our last day in town, I finally caved in…
We then headed back to our inn, grabbed our bags, and took the metro back to Gare Midi to catch our Eurostar train back to London. On the train back to our new home, my Spanish-speaking wife was ordering beers in French “deux Stellas, s’il vous plait”, which I think is the most important phrase an international traveler can learn when abroad…
Belgium Trip - Part 1 of 2
It has been about 3 months since we moved to London, and aside from our numerous work-related trips of late, we have yet to leave the country on holiday (a nice British-ism that we have adopted). Lamely enough, our work schedules are both so hectic that we were forced to put time in our schedules to force ourselves to have some “quality time”. Anyway, after deciding that our only criterion for a vacation was that we didn’t want to travel to our destination by airplane, we decided on spending a long weekend in Belgium, which is only 2 hours and 20 minutes from London on the high-speed Eurostar train. Belgium proved to be just the break we needed - here’s a recount of what we did this past weekend, broken into 2 posts for easier reading...
Day 1: We met Thursday after work at London’s Waterloo station, where we caught the train for Brussels. After a couple of beers on the train (the first of MANY on this trip), Megan needed a nap, and I did a bit of lingering work that needed to be wrapped up before I could ease into vacation mode. We arrived at Gare Midi (the international train station) in Brussels pretty late, so we just took a taxi to our hotel, giving me the first chance of this trip to use my high school French: “uh... Je voudrais… uh… aller… à l’hôtel Sheraton Four Points (insert silent prayer that the taxi driver understands me here)???”.
This first night in Brussels, we stayed at a generic hotel, because we couldn’t find any B&B’s that had availability. However, this place had plenty of charm, as you will see from this photo of the “art” hanging on the wall of our room. Remember people, this was not a flea-bag, one-star place with the bathroom at the end of the hall. It was actually a ridiculously expensive Starwood hotel, so it caught us a bit off guard to see this hanging on the wall. After all of this excitement, we were exhausted after a full day at the office followed by our trip, so we ordered room service and went to bed.
Day 2: We slept in and decided that we would spend the day getting our bearings in Brussels. Megan had never been to the city, and it had been about 7 years (and innumerable brain cells) since I had been in the city. So we started our day by wandering through the neighborhood around our hotel, grabbing coffee and making our way over to the Mannekin Pis (Aside: If you don’t know what this is, it’s a ridiculous, yet iconic statue of a little boy peeing. The Belgians dress him up in seasonal costumes – when we saw him, he was dressed like Christopher Columbus, presumably for Columbus Day, which I had always assumed was an American holiday, but whatever. Like I said, it’s ridiculous, but to go to Brussels and not see him is like going to Paris and not seeing the Eiffel Tower.). From there, it was just a short walk to the Grand Place, which was Brussels’ central market several centuries ago, but is now very touristy. The buildings around the square used to be guild houses; some of the notable ones around the square formerly housed the baker’s and the hat-makers guilds. We had lunch at a non-descript, yet typical Belgian restaurant in the Grand Place, where we paid a small fortune for a couple of beers and salads.
After lunch, we did some more aimless walking, taking in the sights, grabbing a wafel (a sugar-coated waffle – absolutely delicious), and generally hanging out. It was absolutely wonderful to not have to think about work, or household chores, or any of the day-to-day b.s. that tends to consume any couple. We got to actually talk – about things that really mattered, o r that didn’t. But there were none of the “what do you want me to get at the grocery store?”, or “did you pay that bill?” conversations. What a luxury! We got to have some of these conversations at one of the oldest bars in Brussels, a place called Mort Subite – such a notable bar, that the Belgians have even named a type of beer after it!
Later that afternoon, we headed back to the Sheraton, picked up our bags, and made the journey across Brussels to the Court Guest House, a lovely B&B just outside of central Brussels. The proprietors of the hotel (Joris and Michel) live upstairs from the inn, which was the site of the original Godiva factory in Brussels. Throughout the common areas of the inn, they have displayed a wonderful collection of photographs of workers producing chocolates in what became their home, as well as other Godiva memorabilia from that era.
We had dinner that night at a restaurant near St. Catherine’s church, where we enjoyed Belgian beers, moules frites (mussels with fries, a Belgian specialty), and the company of a couple who were on vacation from Georgia. Another early night for us, so we took the metro (Brussels’ incredibly efficient subway system) back to our inn.
More in part 2…
Day 1: We met Thursday after work at London’s Waterloo station, where we caught the train for Brussels. After a couple of beers on the train (the first of MANY on this trip), Megan needed a nap, and I did a bit of lingering work that needed to be wrapped up before I could ease into vacation mode. We arrived at Gare Midi (the international train station) in Brussels pretty late, so we just took a taxi to our hotel, giving me the first chance of this trip to use my high school French: “uh... Je voudrais… uh… aller… à l’hôtel Sheraton Four Points (insert silent prayer that the taxi driver understands me here)???”.
This first night in Brussels, we stayed at a generic hotel, because we couldn’t find any B&B’s that had availability. However, this place had plenty of charm, as you will see from this photo of the “art” hanging on the wall of our room. Remember people, this was not a flea-bag, one-star place with the bathroom at the end of the hall. It was actually a ridiculously expensive Starwood hotel, so it caught us a bit off guard to see this hanging on the wall. After all of this excitement, we were exhausted after a full day at the office followed by our trip, so we ordered room service and went to bed.
Day 2: We slept in and decided that we would spend the day getting our bearings in Brussels. Megan had never been to the city, and it had been about 7 years (and innumerable brain cells) since I had been in the city. So we started our day by wandering through the neighborhood around our hotel, grabbing coffee and making our way over to the Mannekin Pis (Aside: If you don’t know what this is, it’s a ridiculous, yet iconic statue of a little boy peeing. The Belgians dress him up in seasonal costumes – when we saw him, he was dressed like Christopher Columbus, presumably for Columbus Day, which I had always assumed was an American holiday, but whatever. Like I said, it’s ridiculous, but to go to Brussels and not see him is like going to Paris and not seeing the Eiffel Tower.). From there, it was just a short walk to the Grand Place, which was Brussels’ central market several centuries ago, but is now very touristy. The buildings around the square used to be guild houses; some of the notable ones around the square formerly housed the baker’s and the hat-makers guilds. We had lunch at a non-descript, yet typical Belgian restaurant in the Grand Place, where we paid a small fortune for a couple of beers and salads.
After lunch, we did some more aimless walking, taking in the sights, grabbing a wafel (a sugar-coated waffle – absolutely delicious), and generally hanging out. It was absolutely wonderful to not have to think about work, or household chores, or any of the day-to-day b.s. that tends to consume any couple. We got to actually talk – about things that really mattered, o r that didn’t. But there were none of the “what do you want me to get at the grocery store?”, or “did you pay that bill?” conversations. What a luxury! We got to have some of these conversations at one of the oldest bars in Brussels, a place called Mort Subite – such a notable bar, that the Belgians have even named a type of beer after it!
Later that afternoon, we headed back to the Sheraton, picked up our bags, and made the journey across Brussels to the Court Guest House, a lovely B&B just outside of central Brussels. The proprietors of the hotel (Joris and Michel) live upstairs from the inn, which was the site of the original Godiva factory in Brussels. Throughout the common areas of the inn, they have displayed a wonderful collection of photographs of workers producing chocolates in what became their home, as well as other Godiva memorabilia from that era.
We had dinner that night at a restaurant near St. Catherine’s church, where we enjoyed Belgian beers, moules frites (mussels with fries, a Belgian specialty), and the company of a couple who were on vacation from Georgia. Another early night for us, so we took the metro (Brussels’ incredibly efficient subway system) back to our inn.
More in part 2…
Monday, 1 October 2007
Like ships in the night
Apologies for the lack of posts. Meg and I have been mostly passing one another in the airport these days, so we're looking forward to an amazing holiday in Belgium coming in a couple of days.
This weekend we settled ourselves in our new flat. Some people, including our landlords, are packrats. They tried to do a very nice thing and leave things to "keep it from feeling too bare" when we moved in. It's just that they have a pretty traditionally English view of things, with pictures on every conceivable wall, more furniture in a single room than was in our entire apartment in NY, and overgrown plants on the patio. Let's just say that's not really our style, so we put a few things in storage for them, and hung our own things on the wall. We're a bit afraid we've decorated ourselves out of a flat, but it's how we like it.
We also went to the local Farmer's Market. Quite nice, if not as big as Borough Market. They did have, though these "Candy Beets" which were completely amazing.
The next day I was reading one of the free London papers (of which there are approximately 1,000,000, all competing for your eyes) and there was a story about a guy who spent a week eating only food that had been grown within the reach of the London tube map. Eating local at it's best. Anyway, the photo that accompanied the story was of those very same candy beets.
Meg is off to NY so we're on separate continents again...
This weekend we settled ourselves in our new flat. Some people, including our landlords, are packrats. They tried to do a very nice thing and leave things to "keep it from feeling too bare" when we moved in. It's just that they have a pretty traditionally English view of things, with pictures on every conceivable wall, more furniture in a single room than was in our entire apartment in NY, and overgrown plants on the patio. Let's just say that's not really our style, so we put a few things in storage for them, and hung our own things on the wall. We're a bit afraid we've decorated ourselves out of a flat, but it's how we like it.
We also went to the local Farmer's Market. Quite nice, if not as big as Borough Market. They did have, though these "Candy Beets" which were completely amazing.
The next day I was reading one of the free London papers (of which there are approximately 1,000,000, all competing for your eyes) and there was a story about a guy who spent a week eating only food that had been grown within the reach of the London tube map. Eating local at it's best. Anyway, the photo that accompanied the story was of those very same candy beets.
Meg is off to NY so we're on separate continents again...
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