Wednesday, September 29, 2010
untouched dial
We found this fabulous sundial is on a building in Angel. I wonder how many days of the year it is actually useful.
design for living
Last weekend we went to The Old Vic theatre and saw 'Design for Living': Noel Coward's clever, saucy play about a complicated love triangle... banned in the UK when first presented in the 1930s.
The Old Vic is an old working class theatre that was once bought and renovated by Ed Mirvish of 'Honest Ed's' fame.
We found our way to the "nose-bleeds" with an insider's tip on £20 tickets.
The Old Vic is an old working class theatre that was once bought and renovated by Ed Mirvish of 'Honest Ed's' fame.
We found our way to the "nose-bleeds" with an insider's tip on £20 tickets.
Tuesday, September 28, 2010
a bit like the boat
Our flat is very humid, or perhaps it's that London is very humid. It reminds me of being on my Dad's sailboat -- everything is just a little damp.
Perhaps things will improve when they turn on the heat... It helped on the boat. I hear this may be a couple weeks away.
Perhaps things will improve when they turn on the heat... It helped on the boat. I hear this may be a couple weeks away.
the allure of everyday things
Before the thrill of foreign toothpaste wanes and grocery shopping stops feeling like a museum experience, I wanted to share the excitement of the everyday.
I know it's easy to exoticize foreign things, and I'm usually one to hide the labels -- my dish soap in a discrete glass bottle, for example -- but it is a treat to be around a whole new language in packaging and goods. Some great, some terrible.
Euthymol tastes (and looks) a little like Pepto-Bismol, with a spike of eucalyptus, but isn't the art nouveau tube to die for?!
Unbeknownst to us, the first toilet paper we bought was scented. This just didn't seem right. It was also embossed with koala bears. This one isn't much better: "Puppies on a roll"?! It's embossed with little puppies. We're still looking.
This is Brunswick Square an outdoor shopping plaza where we often do our grocery shopping. (As an aside, this development represents everything you were told never to do in planning school, but works amazingly well).
We have been somewhat adventurous with our grocery shopping. That said, there are some culinary journeys that will remain uncharted. If anyone wants Marmite flavoured crisps as a London souvenir, you just let me know.
I know it's easy to exoticize foreign things, and I'm usually one to hide the labels -- my dish soap in a discrete glass bottle, for example -- but it is a treat to be around a whole new language in packaging and goods. Some great, some terrible.
Euthymol tastes (and looks) a little like Pepto-Bismol, with a spike of eucalyptus, but isn't the art nouveau tube to die for?!
Unbeknownst to us, the first toilet paper we bought was scented. This just didn't seem right. It was also embossed with koala bears. This one isn't much better: "Puppies on a roll"?! It's embossed with little puppies. We're still looking.
This olive oil tin may be too beautiful to open. At present it's serving as a bookend.
This is Brunswick Square an outdoor shopping plaza where we often do our grocery shopping. (As an aside, this development represents everything you were told never to do in planning school, but works amazingly well).
We have been somewhat adventurous with our grocery shopping. That said, there are some culinary journeys that will remain uncharted. If anyone wants Marmite flavoured crisps as a London souvenir, you just let me know.
welcome to egham
Last week I spent three days out in Egham, the home of Royal Holloway, University of London.
It looks close-ish on the map -- just beyond Heathrow Airport -- but all told, with the walking, buses, and train, it's almost a two hour trek in each direction.
This is Waterloo Station, the cavernous space on the South Bank where I catch my train. Because I was going against London's commuter traffic, I had no problem finding a seat, but had a heckuva time beating my way through the crowds to get to the (deserted, outbound) platform.
Royal Holloway was originally created as a women's college by a chap with a penchant for French architecture. This is the main building where Victorian ladies would study and live -- with their maids. I call it "The Chateau".
The Geography Department is housed down the road in a modern, neo-Tudor building. I think it's from the 1950s. Here's the interior courtyard.
Royal Holloway is a walled campus and seems to have little connection with the town of Egham... a surprise, as usually you find more economic spill-over from universities to the surrounding area. None of the grad students or professors I talked to live in Egham.
I pass these bungalows on my walk from Egham station.
These were the first power lines I saw since arriving in England. They are usually tidily kept underground.
If it all looks a little bleak and remote, fear not, I may rarely be making the excursion to Egham. My research cluster meets at Royal Holloway's Bloomsbury outpost in Bedford Square -- a five minute walk from my flat -- and my supervisor is more than willing to meet at my local pub.
It looks close-ish on the map -- just beyond Heathrow Airport -- but all told, with the walking, buses, and train, it's almost a two hour trek in each direction.
This is Waterloo Station, the cavernous space on the South Bank where I catch my train. Because I was going against London's commuter traffic, I had no problem finding a seat, but had a heckuva time beating my way through the crowds to get to the (deserted, outbound) platform.
Royal Holloway was originally created as a women's college by a chap with a penchant for French architecture. This is the main building where Victorian ladies would study and live -- with their maids. I call it "The Chateau".
The Geography Department is housed down the road in a modern, neo-Tudor building. I think it's from the 1950s. Here's the interior courtyard.
Royal Holloway is a walled campus and seems to have little connection with the town of Egham... a surprise, as usually you find more economic spill-over from universities to the surrounding area. None of the grad students or professors I talked to live in Egham.
I pass these bungalows on my walk from Egham station.
These were the first power lines I saw since arriving in England. They are usually tidily kept underground.
If it all looks a little bleak and remote, fear not, I may rarely be making the excursion to Egham. My research cluster meets at Royal Holloway's Bloomsbury outpost in Bedford Square -- a five minute walk from my flat -- and my supervisor is more than willing to meet at my local pub.
Monday, September 20, 2010
street theatre
A fire drill? A queue? No, this after-work crowd is just enjoying a pint in the financial district.
Lax drinking laws permit drinking outside the pub. When the sidewalk is full, it seems patrons wander across the street or to parks nearby -- pint (and perhaps a bag of 'crisps') in hand.
Lax drinking laws permit drinking outside the pub. When the sidewalk is full, it seems patrons wander across the street or to parks nearby -- pint (and perhaps a bag of 'crisps') in hand.
studies in contrast
Last weekend many of London's architectural treasures were open to the public for the Open House festival. On Sunday we found our way to a few and, as always, wandered past a smorgasbord of other built gems.
Architectural bricolage at Shaftesbury & High Holborn
The striking deco lobby of the now defunct Daily Express
Mary Ward House: an inclusive community & learning centre when opened in 1898
A wedge of Tudor on Fleet Street
Architectural bricolage at Shaftesbury & High Holborn
The striking deco lobby of the now defunct Daily Express
Mary Ward House: an inclusive community & learning centre when opened in 1898
A wedge of Tudor on Fleet Street
The Hall in the Art Workers Guild
The guide noted that all Guild Members' names are painted on the walls in silver. Once a Member dies their name is gilded. That's golden boy William Morris looking down at her.
Roof tops, bricks, and window panes behind the Guild
Studies in geometry by our flat in Bloomsbury
Friday, September 17, 2010
angry skies 'round the parliament
We were due for our requisite touristic stroll around St. James and Westminster.
The light was as incredible as the Houses of Parliament, Westminster Abbey, and Big Ben.
The Abbey's buttresses seem alive -- sprouting from the ground. Must be the thousand years of rain.
The light was as incredible as the Houses of Parliament, Westminster Abbey, and Big Ben.
The Abbey's buttresses seem alive -- sprouting from the ground. Must be the thousand years of rain.
Monday, September 13, 2010
one week in
We arrived tired, but bright-eyed, last Monday.
Our place at William Goodenough House in Bloomsbury is small, but it's bright and comfortable. The top three windows you see here are ours. Being up in the gables creates some really wonderful angles in the flat. Interior photos to come.
It has rained for short periods on most days, but when it's not raining the clouds are amazing and the sun shines. This is a view from our building...
... and out our living room window into one of our building's courtyards.
On Saturday we went to the Columbia Road Flower Market to buy herbs for our kitchen window sill.
The flower hawkers incessantly belt their deals out at the crowds.
8 little herbs and some kale for £11 -- not bad. Now we're on the hunt for cheap flower pots.
Our Saturday meanderings took us from the Flower Market to the markets of Brick Lane, which are filled with food and vintage clothing, and then to Banglatown where we had fabulous curry.
We've also had other English "specialities" over the week. This, slightly less appealing.
Friday was the Ethiopian New Year. (Happy 2003!) In celebration we accidentally went to an Ethiopian wedding. We entered a restaurant where the wedding was running late and were led across the dance floor only to sit, with flood lights on our faces, through the final 20 minutes of prayer. (AWKWARD!) Notice the bride to Nicholas' right.
We are blown away by the pace and energy of the city. Our heads are in the clouds. Luckily the City has prepared for 'the likes of us' with handy reminders.
(All the images get bigger if you click on them)
Our place at William Goodenough House in Bloomsbury is small, but it's bright and comfortable. The top three windows you see here are ours. Being up in the gables creates some really wonderful angles in the flat. Interior photos to come.
It has rained for short periods on most days, but when it's not raining the clouds are amazing and the sun shines. This is a view from our building...
... and out our living room window into one of our building's courtyards.
On Saturday we went to the Columbia Road Flower Market to buy herbs for our kitchen window sill.
The flower hawkers incessantly belt their deals out at the crowds.
8 little herbs and some kale for £11 -- not bad. Now we're on the hunt for cheap flower pots.
Our Saturday meanderings took us from the Flower Market to the markets of Brick Lane, which are filled with food and vintage clothing, and then to Banglatown where we had fabulous curry.
We've also had other English "specialities" over the week. This, slightly less appealing.
Friday was the Ethiopian New Year. (Happy 2003!) In celebration we accidentally went to an Ethiopian wedding. We entered a restaurant where the wedding was running late and were led across the dance floor only to sit, with flood lights on our faces, through the final 20 minutes of prayer. (AWKWARD!) Notice the bride to Nicholas' right.
We are blown away by the pace and energy of the city. Our heads are in the clouds. Luckily the City has prepared for 'the likes of us' with handy reminders.
(All the images get bigger if you click on them)
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