Taking stock

Sometimes it’s necessary to step back and look at what you have around you. And for me, I have London. After a good, boozy

Eye on the Thames

night out with co-workers in Covent Garden, I bypassed the tube from Embankment to Victoria and instead treated myself to a walk along the Thames. Yesterday was the first time I can think of in the last few weeks/months where it hasn’t been OOC windy. The North embankment was mostly empty with only a few tourists about. Personally I find Westminster more beautiful lit up at night rather than in the day. And on top of that, you don’t have to fight through the mobs of people stopping to take pictures, thousands of tour buses and angry cabbies zooming through the area. It’s lovely.

Today I slept late and eventually gathered enough energy to pick up my bike from work and then head down to Borough Market to pick up some food.  The market was busy with people taking pictures of their significant others holding steaming piles of delicious foods and others mostly getting in the way. I really love the market, but the congestion of the place and lack of places to park a bike are on the verge of having me not go there anymore. That’s a real shame honestly.

After walking a while I finally found a place to lock my bicycle up. I have been extremely nervous to leave my bike out anywhere in London that isn’t uber secure.  When I do leave it out, I’m left stressing about it’s safety and hurrying along whatever I have going on.  I should probably stick to the train and boris biking in order to calm my nerves.

Should be a quiet weekend here. Tomorrow I’m planning to knock out the rest of my book and be able to return it to the library on Monday.  I know. Being 29 and living a rather solitary life is enthralling….. Take care everyone.

Pashley locked up. London style.

2011: A year in review

It’s just passed 7 AM in the morning. And with one more day’s holiday for the…umm…holidays, I am up early. Up early

Nairobi Jump

enough that I’ve already cleaned out the kettle to make myself an uberly fresh cup of tea. I can only hope it helps to clear the muck out of my head from a bit of a dizzy and not-as-pleasant-as-it-could-have-been new years from which I spent most of yesterday in recovery. So let’s crack on with looking back at some of the Best of Moments from 2011 for Colleen.

Best Trip – Kenya.  It’s impossible really to say that the first trip to another continent is not the best place you’ve been in a year.  Especially if it gets you out of a couple weeks worth of classes on the excuse of doing “on the ground research.” I was so over the moon excited to take my first trip to Africa, although I had some hesitancy about going by myself. Those worries slipped away as I got off the plane, made my way through customs and got out into the brisk, dusty, dirty, Nairboi air.  It was better than I thought it’d be and it only got better from there. The trip was made special by the place I stayed in Nairobi and the people I met along the way. There were quite a few late nights up talking till very late in the garden and I imagine keeping up half of the guests as most of them were staying in canvas tents in the garden. The locals I met, especially Paulino who spent a few days showing me Nairobi and taking me to various offices, couldn’t have been nicer and more generous.  My side trip to Mombasa started with an overnight trip on the Lunatic Express, which was made really special with a full moon blazing overhead the whole way. I honestly can’t wait to go back to Kenya and to other places in Africa and have more time to explore and maybe plant some trees.

Port Charlotte, Islay

Honorable Mention Best Trip – Scotland. I think people sometimes get obsessed with visiting far off lands (me included) and forget about the beauty and excellence of places right in their own back yard. I’ve tried to go out and see as much of this island as financially possible since moving here. Scotland feels like a whole different planet compared to South East England and only a 5-hour train ride away. My favorite bit of discovery on the trip was Islay. I want to go back and spend a week of doing nothing but reading, walking and drinking whisky (not all at the same time) on either Islay or one of the other Scottish Isles. It was oh so lovely to share the experience with Eric, who hadn’t been to Scotland before. And before I go there next, I will learn to fully appreciate whisky, which I am working hard to accomplish.

Best Pub – The Earl Ferrers, SW16.  It kind of had to be my local, didn’t it? Since moving down to London in June, I’ve spent most of my extra income in there. It took me all of about 10 seconds to start talking to someone when I first walked in and now she (Jessica) is one of my closest friends in London. The Ferrers is a hidden little gem in Streatham, filled on most nights with locals. It’s difficult for me to go in and not end up knowing someone else sitting at the bar. On top of that the bar staff is excellent and I am happy to go in and chat with them all night as well. The beer, when it is not sold out, is usually local and decent. I would like more hoppy beer though! Looking forward to wasting a lot more time in there in 2012.
Honorable Mention Best pub – Southampton Arms, NW5.  I had one pint in here in 2011 with Eric on a pub crawl.

Ferrers

We went to the Southampton Arms had been named CAMRA pub of the year for London. It was the first place we went and I would have been perfectly happy to cancel the pub crawl and spend the whole day there. It was a classic boozer made even more classic as they only had a record player, no tv, and scotch eggs for sale.  Not that I want to eat scotch eggs, but I see them as a sign of a good pub. Their beer and cider selection was the best I’ve seen at any pub ever. All wonderfully hoppy and from mostly small local microbreweries. Disappointingly I haven’t made it back yet. I foresee a trip up there soon though as my co-workers are big fans of it as well.  Next time you’re in London, pay them a visit.

Best New Food Item – Baobab seeds.These were what I snacked on a lot in Kenya, along with mangoes and cashews.  I’m still trying to find a source where I can get the bags of baobab seeds here in the UK. No such luck yet. I know most of you wouldn’t like them. The ones I had were a crumbly dry, sweet outside layer. Then the seeds are very very hard, but I ate them anyways. In

Yum

the process I think I doubled the size of my jaw muscles in a matter of a couple weeks in Kenya. I miss them.

Honorable mention – Halva. I must admit the first time I had this was in California a couple years ago. But I haven’t had it since until this year, when I have found it in various shops in London. It’s a seasame seed based kind of dessert, I think originating in the Middle East/Meditteranean. It’s a weird consistencey. Kind of mushy and dry.  Again, it doesn’t sound very appetizing but I find it delicious.  And I found some Halva with chocolate. I must admit I really like eating seeds. Lots and lots of seeds.

 Best cycle ride – Boris bikes with Jimmy and Elizabeth. I was totally exhausted. My dissertation was due that morning. And Jimmy and Elizabeth were leaving the next day to Scotland and so it was my only opportunity to see them. Cue manic travel experience back to London from Preston and a wild afternoon and evening of drinking and cycling. Some of it in the rain. I had such a great time with them and I am so glad they made some time to visit me on their honeymoon. I wish I could hang out with them more often!
Honorable mention – coming home from work via Waterloo bridge.There’s no better place to view the city than on Waterloo Bridge.  Every evening I cycle home, I get to look out over the city and

Jimmy and Elizabeth: real American heroes

it reaffirms my decision to move here. St Paul’s on a partially foggy evening, with it’s flood lights burning brightly, is a fantastic thing to get to see.

Best meal – Ethiopian in Nairobi. Never had Ethiopian before, but I had it twice in Nairobi with different groups of people. The restaurant was located at the Chinese Economic Centre on the 2^nd floor.  Right below the night club.  Of course.  It was just a great experience and the owner played some traditional Ethiopian music while we ate and drank.
Honorable mention – Ethiopian in London. One weekend there were two chaps on the same course I was on last year down in London. I somehow got ropped into meeting up with them for the weekend.  It ended up being one of the most fun weekends I have had with strangers. I showed them around the city a bit and along the way we surprisingly went to a couple really good pubs. After a few drinks on empty stomachs we were in desperate need of some quality grub, and grub that a vegan could enjoy. We hit up an Ethiopian restaurant I had spotted a month earlier in Kings Cross. It was so delicious. And well priced at £11 a head. We were absolutely stuffed afterwards and I was incredibly gassy!  Win for all.

I’m sure I’ve left out some other very impressive moments of the year. The first 5 months of 2011 seem like an awful big blur of writing essays and trying to find a job. And the summer makes me think of stress of money and writing my dissertation. So a big huge blur for 2/3 of the year. I guess that’s good. I marked off a few huge life goals in the process.

Not sure what 2012 will hold for me. Quite honestly I’m a bit worried about everything and lacking in much enthusiasm.  I’m life goal-less at the moment for the first time in my life. And it’s not a very good feeling. I’ll need to sort something out soon. I’m open to suggestions. So long 2011.  And here we go 2012………..

2012 New Year’s Resolutions

After a pretty high success rate on my 2011 goals, I hope to do as much in 2012. I should have a lot more free time for my brain without essays and dissertations to concern myself with this year.  Here’s what I’m setting out to do:

1.  Read 30 books…. written prior to 1962.  For the last few years, I’ve had a reading goal on my resolution list and I don’t think I can stop now. I’m hoping this goal will make me read many more of the classics, which I’ve been wanting to read for many years but never seem to make the time to do so. It may involve re-reading a few books from high school, which I initially didn’t like as a teenager, but may like more now.

2.  Run half marathon.  I haven’t been running much, but I’d like to be. I’m thinking next fall I’ll run a half marathon. I’d do a full marathon, but with my weekly cycle commute, I’m not sure I have the energy reserve to run and train that much.

3. Learn French. Bahahaha. I don’t know why, but I’d like to learn a bit of French. I don’t know any of the romance languages and no better place to start than learning the language of our neighbors to the south. I’d like to learn enough to be able to get around France and ask directions and read a bit of a menu.  Just some basic stuff.  And then see where it goes.

 4. Go on a 250+ mile bike riding tour.  I have a plan to accomplish this if my finances allow for it to happen. And I may have one recruit to join me already and may be looking for others. It’s going to happen in late Spring and on the continent.  And I may be doing a warm up cycle ride in April. More details to come on this as they develop.

 5. Plant 100 trees. Well, you’d think this would be easy for someone who works with trees, but not so much. I don’t get a chance to plant  trees at all.  But I would like to try and do this through various means in the coming year.  It starts in a couple weeks!

6. Go to 20 new parks in London. There are so many great parks in this city, big and small, and I am in no way doing my best to see them all. What tends to happen is that I end up going to the same ones over and over. But it’s time to branch out. I will document on my blog every time I go to a new one.

Yeah, I think I’ll stop at 6 this year. I believe there’s enough on that list to keep me busy when not at work. I’m looking forward to all of them. If you have any good new years resolutions, I want to hear about them. It’s nice having company when attempting to accomplish non-essential (that’s kind of debatable isn’t it?) goals.

Lord Nelson

2011 New Years Resolutions update

Well, 2012 is only 52 hours away and I think that means I should have completed my new years resolutions for 2011.  I am currently tucked cosily into my bed as it’s about 40 degrees fahrenheit in my house. I think my feet are hovering around 45 degrees.
Let me recap what my resolutions were for 2011 and then I will chat about their progress.

1.Read not-yet-read 10 books from that BBC list. To be quite honest, I haven’t looked at this list since January as I usually have a good memory of what my goals are. On this occasion though, my memory failed and I don’t remember writing this at all. I created another goal of reading 30 books (which got inflated to 38/39 due to sibling rivalry) and only focused on that. So mega fail. I managed to read zero books from this list. I think next year this goal will be achieved. More details on that in a couple days. But that’s beside this point.  RESOLUTION FAIL ✕

2. Do 25 real push ups. I was worried for a few months about being able to do this. But within the last week I am happy to announce that I have done 25 pushups TWICE.  And I will try to do it again before the end of the year. My arms are feeling great. I can honestly say I couldn’t have done 25 at the beginning of the year, so this is a proud moment for me. RESOLUTION WIN ✓

3.  Get an MSc in Arboriculture and Urban Forestry. At a few tenuous moments this summer, I wasn’t sure I’d finish my dissertation on time. It was not the beautiful prose I envisioned at the start of the course. Yet somewhere in my hobbled sentances and feeble conclusion, my supervisor found something redeeming enough to give me a passing grade. And I somehow passed the rest of my assignments as well.  Thank got that shizz is done.  RESOLUTION WIN ✓

4.  Move to London. After an epic effort on my part to get down to London as soon as I could after a full day of traveling back to the UK from Indianapolis, I signed my lease for my first home address in London in 7 years on June 1.  Huzzah.  RESOLUTION WIN ✓

5.  Bike 1500 miles. I think I may have scratched this off my new years resolution list after getting my odometer stolen off my bike.  And although I couldn’t verify the achievement of this goal with an accurate numerical figure, I’m pretty sure I’ve smashed this goal.  Just in the last month alone since getting the Pashley, I’ve cycled 350-400 miles. I should get a new odometer and see how many miles I do next year. I bet it’s over 2000.  RESOLUTION WIN ✓

6.  Give more love to the world. I think I’ve done this. I’ve tried to be nice and more compassionate. And most importantly, love myself more. And if you love yourself you’re capable of giving away more love! RESOLUTION WIN ✓

7. Chew my nails less.

RESOLUTION FAIL ✕

5 out of 7, not bad!  I’ll be back in the next couple days with a recap of the year and my resolutions for 2012. Cheers all.

‘Nother Saturdizzy night

That must be the whisky coming up with that well creative title for tonight’s post. Or I’m just that bored. I’m coming into this post with no agenda or plan on what I’m going to say. So if it seems a bit more stream of consciousness than usual, you know why.  And I almost just slipped onto the floor from my bed. It may be that I need to stop drinking the Bunnahabhain. Or maybe I’m alright. It’s when I actually slip and fall on my face that we should start to get worried.

A tree I made a decision about.

So life’s been ticking along here. I feel a bit like these days that I have nothing worthwhile to report on the blog. It seems like everything is work related and I don’t think most of you are interested in reading about such things. But I’m going to pretend that you are totally enraptured by tree work here in the UK. So here’s what I do most days. Log onto my computer, look at maps of where trees are in the borough.  Look at a database of information which pertains to those trees. Print maps. Circle trees.  Go look at trees and make decisions about those trees.  And then sometimes I take phone calls from people who would be happier if they called at a different time than when I was on phone detail. I am so amazingly awkward and  horrible on the phones. I think it has something to do with me feeling really uncomfortable being an American answering the phone at the council. It just doesn’t seem right. And there are at least a couple people out there who hate me and my inability to give them a satisfactory answer. So far though I have not been fired nor reprimanded about my phone etiquette, so I must be doing ok.

Besides that, I’m eating a lot of cheese and butter. That’s not really new news though. That’s bog standard for me. I am however happily losing fat off my body, contrary to what you’d think from a high cheese and butter consumer. And even more promising is the large amount of muscle I’ve developed. That’s right folks, don’t even think about fucking with me, because I will fuck you up. Fo realz. Or at least I can cycle away really fast before you’d have a chance to do anything for me. That’s actually much more likely. Also, you may remember my new years resolution involving 25 pushups before the end of the year. Well I did slack off severely for a few months, but I’ve really ramped things up in the last month. I can do 20 push ups now without my arms giving out. Give me another week and I’ll be up to 25. They may not be very pretty but there will be 25 of them in one go before the new year.  Maybe I’ll video tape it so you can tell me whether they are good enough.

Besides that just looking forward to the Christmas break. I’m off from my normal job for a week, but I’ve got a huge project to finish over that time. I’ll be heading out of London town a couple times over the break as well. That’ll be nice as I haven’t been out of London and into other bits of England since I handed in my disso!  So yeah, I am looking forward to that quite a lot. I’m realizing I am getting a bit stir crazy and may need to get off this island sometime soon as well. Could be booking a trip to the mainland for Jan/Feb.

I’m going to put you all out of your misery and stop writing. It’s the best thing for the both of us.

Ahhh Southwark. At least I think it's Southwark.

 

Puttering along

Winter is just around the corner. Light is fading early in the day. I do a lot of cycling in the dark and near dark to

A bit of my daily commute over Waterloo Bridge

and from work.  And as of this week, I can feel myself going into winter hibernation mode. I want to stay in, wear 4 layers of clothing, drink tea and do a lot of reading. Given my lack of expendable income, it’s probably a good option. Now that I think about it, I’m always particularly skint in the month of December. It’s certainly not from buying Christmas gifts as I never do such a thing.  And this year it’s not even from buying Christmas cards, the 2nd year I won’t be sending any out, which really breaks my heart. This year I’m aiming to do something at least partially creative and get something out to family and close friends. We shall see how December progresses.

I’m in my 3rd week of work at the council. It’s a totally rad job and I still am in love with it. I’m getting a better feel for what I need to accomplish everyday.  The office is very laid back with everyone just taking care of their shit. I realize I am just a minion tree officer with not very many responsibilities, but it’s somewhere to start. And everyday I’m learning so much about trees and their managment. You wouldn’t believe the amount of time and resources that go into managing trees in a city. It is a significant undertaking. And I am happy to be working at a council who takes it seriously. Well up until at least March when their funding may get drastically cut. But let’s not think about that as it’s still November for a few more hours and March is ages away.

Onto something way more fun.  New bike!  My first new bike in over 4 years!  The new Pashley bicycle sitting in my room is my dream bike.  Don’t know if I could ever bring myself to buy another bicycle again after having a Pashley. A tricycle is another story. Still plenty of room (well maybe not really) for a tricycle in my room.  A tricycle with a cooler and umbrella specifically. For when I move to that California beach town in my retirement years and sell organic-free-range-locally-sourced-vegan ice cream.  Yeah, so the new bicycle is making my 22 mile round trip commute a bit easier than it was on the Schwinn. I still love Schwinn bike whole heartedly, but it will be resigned to  leisure rides, use when visitors come and riding to the pub. I think really that’s all it was designed to handle and I was pressing my luck with my insane commute on my white wall tires. So in the end we’re all happy.

Ok, I’ve been sitting in front of a computer for most of the day and I do not wish to continue this. I am retiring to my bed for a solid hour of reading before my 10 PM bed time rolls around.  Yeah, I really know how to party these days. I will leave you with a picture from inside Emirate Stadium on Saturday. I went to see Fulham play Arsenal in definitely the best premiership game I’ve so far seen.  There was even a glimmer of hope for about 15 minutes where Fulham looked like they were going to record their first victory against Arsenal in 63 years or something ridiculous. Alas, it was not meant to be and it ended in a 1-1 draw.  Still a great game and great atmosphere. Ok, peace out!

The Emirates...I got there a little bit earlier than I expected.

Just a smidgen of an update

Lovely, relaxing weekend here in London. Well, if you consider a 25ish mile tour of London through the most

The only time I've ever felt safe cycling through Parliament Square.

dangerous junctions for cyclists with 200 other cyclists lovely and relaxing. I do. It’s good to be back on my bike after too long of hiatus. When Eric was here I was starting to go mad as he will probably be more happy to attest. Walking is fine and dandy, but I’m definitely a cyclist. I digress. I was speaking of the Tour du Danger on Saturday, which set about to highlight the perils of being a cyclist in London. They are many and they are great. On the eve of the tour a 15th person was killed on a bike this year in London. I’m hoping TfL and the Mayor will take serious note of the ride and make cyclist (and pedestrians!) safety the bigger priority. I know I keep my wits about me and I still get rather too close to serious accidents more than I like. I can’t imagine someone who is cycling with a child or less able bodied than myself wanting to take the risk to cycle in the city regularly. This is what the Mayor should be focusing on providing for the cyclists.

Tomorrow I start my new job. I’ll also be sending in my work visa stuff this week. Let’s hope the UK Home Office deems me OK to stay for (at least) the next two years or else my new job isn’t going to last very long. And I don’t want that. Besides that I’ll be looking to kick off some serious toning up and slimming down of my body. My multiple full

Bike Nation!

English and Full Scottish breakfasts on holiday coupled with some serious drinking in the last month and commuting by train and van has not had me feeling as good as I’d like. Getting fit should be easy with my 20 mile round trip commute via cycle and more free time in the evenings to get some running or exercising in after work. The goal is to get to my fighting weight by the new year (even though I don’t have a scale to take my weight. I’ll know.). I want to ring in 2012 feeling the best ever.

I’m off to sleep land. Want to look bright eyed and bushy tailed on my first day as an office worker!  TTYL

 

 

Holiday from the holiday

Me watching a cat, watching a cat

Eric’s somewhere in the sky right now over the Atlantic flying back state side. I’m drinking tea, watching my cat, Piccadilly stare at another cat in the back yard. This is the kind of fun I have when no one is here to keep me busy with traveling and sightseeing.

My highlights for our time in London included the two Fulham matches we attended. One was Europa league matchvs. Wisla Krakow and the other was a Premiere leauge match against Tottenham.  The Tottenham one was heart wrenching as we outplayed them, but couldn’t put the ball in the back of the net.  And we definitely got robbed of an obvious handball in the Tottenham box. Fulham are playing good football and I think by the end of the season, we’ll be in a spot in the league that shows our side’s strength.

Besides football, I really enjoyed our North London (to central London) pub crawl on Saturday. We were able to make it to some new pubs and efficiently found some nice hoppy beers, which we thoroughly enjoyed.  Our trip took us to the Southampton Armsin Hampstead, which was recently crowned CAMRA London pub of the year. I have to thoroughly agree with them as the pub had the best selection of ales and cider on tap I’ve seen and the pub itself was delightful.

First pint at Southampton Arms. It won't be my last.

The fireplace crackling and the records playing just made it oh so much better. It was a bit of a shame that it was our first stop as I could have spent all day there.  Our pub crawl continued to Stoke Newington to the Jolly Butchers.  I enjoy the Jolly Butchers and happy that if I ever get homesick for Oregon, I can go there. The place has either been airlifted from the city (including the hipsters) or every pub in Portland has used the Jolly Butchers as a template for it’s design. They do have an excellent collection of beer and cider available.  Plus the food (which I have yet to try outside of some chips) looks really yummy. From there we went down to Euston to the Euston Tap. This one is located right out front of Euston train station in a small building which manages to hold a lot of good beer and a lot of happy customers. It happened to be celebrating it’s 1 year anniversary that day and I do remember finding out about it shortly after Eric’s trip here last year. It was warm enough outside next to the heaters to enjoy our pint there and enjoy the loudness of the Bonfire Night fireworks. After this we made it all the way down to the Cittie of Yorke, a Samuel Smith’s pub.  We had our

Outside at the Euston Tap

final pint of the night there and went home.  We both had come down with a pretty bad cold the day before and we were both struggling to keep going after a full day of cold fighting and beer drinking.

It was a crazy, fun 2 weeks with Eric over here. We saw a good bit of Scotland and did some wonderful exploring of London. But now I have a hundred things to get back to working on. And a new job to start next Monday. The new job should be a real kick in the pants and a foray into the maintenance of trees where I need to do a lot of learning. I’ll be working for a council for the next 4 1/2 months and hoping to get a lot out of the job.  I’m very much looking forward to working with the people at the council and hoping I don’t make a fool of myself. On top of that, I have a few other side projects that you may be hearing more about at a later date.

The rest of this week I’ll be filling out the paperwork for my work visa so I can continue to stay in this country. I’m also predicting a lot of reading, writing and general taking it easy. It’s been so long since I’ve had some proper PROPER time off so I intend to use it wisely. Have a good week, folks!

Back from the northern lands

Distillers at Laphroaig

Late last night, after 3 train rides, Eric and I got back into the SW16. Our 6 days in Scotland went by way too quickly and I think we’re both in agreement that a return trip is due in the near future.  For me the highlight was going to the Isle of Islay (pronounced eye-la) in the inner Hebrides. The weather was for the most part pleasant with only a few hours of heavy rain showers.  We stayed on the south coast of Islay in Port Ellen, where three whisky distilleries are.   These three, Laphroaig probably being the best known, are world renouned for their peat taste. And for me, they are renowned for me not being interested in drinking any of them ever again.  The peat taste is over powering and makes me think I’ve just stuck my head in a camp fire and attempted to chew on the smoke.  Try it for yourself.  We went on a tour of the Laphroaig distillery, which was very interesting as I’ve never known about the distillation process.  And no better place than Laphroaig which even goes as far as making their own malted barley.  In total Islay has 7 distilleries.  If you like scotch, I don’t believe you

Pretending to enjoy the smell of the peat sandwich in my glass and also attempting to keep my breakfast down.

can go anywhere better than Islay. And if you’re not into scotch (like Eric and I), I think Islay is still an amazing place to journey to and explore.  It’s a quick 2 hour and 15 minute ferry ride from the Kennacraig.  And only slightly nauseating on rough seas.

Our first four days we got to feast on full Scottish breakfast. If you haven’t yet experienced a “full breakfast” over here, well I think you’re missing out. I couldn’t get enough of it and cleaned my plat of all the food every morning.  Except for the mushrooms, which Eric gladly took off my plate.  Mary, our b&b host while on Islay, was satisfied with my ability to put away the food.  Eric left food on his plate both days (she even gave him one less egg the 2nd day!) and the disappoinment given off by Mary was palpable by every one in the room. I

It's not that much to handle, is it? Oh and we had a bowl of porridge before this.

think next time I stay at that b&b, I’ll be sure to not associate myself with anyone who is unable to complete the breakfast challenge.

After getting as much as we could in our limited time in Islay, we headed back to the Highlands.  This included a second stop at a pub in Inverary, which was a favorite of both of us.  They had the best salmon baguettes ever, chocked full of salmon and cream cheese on a soft and delicious baguette.  Plus they had Fyne Ales on tap.  We stumbled upon Fyne Ales on our way to Islay and stopped in and sampled their beers. We left with 4 bottles of the stuff, so obviously we were both impressed. I’m hoping I can get some of it down here in London.

We had a long day of driving where we drove all the way to Edinburgh. I knew Eric would love the city and

A view from the portcullis gate of Edinburgh castle

convinced him that we should spend our last two nights in the city. I have been to Edinburgh with Matt about 5 years ago and had a lovely time. He was happy I suggested it as I think he’s fallen head over heels in love with the place.  Who can blame him as it’s a beautiful city, especially at night.  We did the tour of the castle and did a ghost and ghouls night tour of the city since it was Halloween.  Both were great.  We found a couple of nice pubs as well and I look forward to going back to the city soon as well.

Our last day was a little crazy as we needed to take a pilgrimage up to St. Andrews so Eric could see the Old Course at St. Andrews (that’s golf for you non-golf people).  It was a really nice day and good to be on the East coast.  We walked around the golf course for a while and then into the city for a bit.  The castle was closed (at least I think it was) for renovations, but we were able to visit the ruins of the cathedral which were cool.  I’ve always wanted to go to a ruined cathedral as they seem to keep a certain kind of romance and magic to them.  St. Andrews did not disappoint.
From there we needed to get back to Edinburgh to catch our return train to London.  We made it in plenty of time.  Actually we enjoyed our 3rd Indian meal of the trip.  I’d say we’re both a little obsessed with Indian food at the moment.  And we’re prepared to fully exploit that obsession while on this 2 week holiday.

Our time in London should be fun.  We’ve got a couple of football matches to attend and of course the world famous pub quiz at the Ferrers.  No real set plans beyond that really! Just seeing how we feel in the morning.  It’s the way holidays should be.  Ok, I need to make some dinner before quiz, so I will sign off.  Let’s hope I get some more updates in from now on!  I’m seriously disappointed with my effort as of late!  Cheers guys.

Sitting on a pillar foundation at St. Andrews cathedral ruins. Pretending we like each other.

 

Blogging from the pub: new low or new high?

london boroughs like you've never seen before at Fenton

The internet at my house has been down since Saturday when I got back from Fenton House in Hampstead.  It’s a sad story as I didn’t fully realize how much I need to have the internet available to me at home.  This may have been a little bit more imperative this past week when I’ve needed to work on projects exclusively on the internet and accordingly be able to send emails regarding said topic.  So I’m a bit miffed about the situation and have received no further word on when the internet will be fixed.  I hope by the weekend at the latest as my bank account can’t take me spending every night at the pub drinking and facebooking.

I have been thinking about writing a lot lately.  So much thinking about it that I haven’t actually done any writing much to your chagrin I imagine.  Sorry.  But let’s see if I can’t turn that around soon, yeah?

I’ve got a trip to Scotland coming up with Mr. Arndt, which should be quite nice.  Although I have a bit of hesitancy about it as there has been wide spread flooding and really bad gales this weekn in Scotland.  Subsequently there have been road closures and delayed or suspended ferry crossings.  All of this would impact our ability to get around the country quite substantially. I will hope for the best.  At the least, Eric and I can buy a bottle of scotch and find ourselves a nice fire to sit in front of for the evening. Honestly that sounds fine to me. I am looking forward to a proper holiday as I haven’t had one in ages.  A holiday where I don’t have a dissertation looming over my head or any other major commitments.  I think it’s been about 14 months.  So yes, to say the least I can’t wait to go somewhere and not have to think about anything else but being on holiday and enjoying the journey.

This past week I’ve had a visit from Kelly and Jerry from Chi-town.  They came in for the day to see my pretty face. We completed a whirlwind tour of London.  Managed to sneak in a trip to Harrods and visit a couple pubs.  I think it was a successful trip.  But the kids were pretty jet lagged and had an early start the next morning, so we had an early night.  Hopefully I can convince them to visit again sometime remotely soon as I miss them dearly.  As much as you can talk to people on the phone or skype, it’s just not the same as being there in person with someone.

As earlier mentioned, I went to Fenton House on Saturday.  It was an absolutely fantastic Fall day on Saturday with warm temperatures and not a cloud in the sky. Jess and I and company went to see a map exhibit by Steven Walter there.  I saw the full map at an exhibit at the British Library last year, but this one broke the map up by boroughs which I found made it more approachable.  The intricacy of the maps is truly remarkable. You can see the map here and really see how ridiculously awesome it is.

After Fenton we wandered around Hampstead a bit and spotted a small food vendor that was keeping a steady line of

Two of us are happy with our crepes. The other two are tres boring.

people lined up for it on the High Street.  It ended up being a crepes trailer and I couldn’t say no to it, even though I don’t really have much of a sweet tooth.  I got a hazelnut chocolate crunch crepe (something like that)  and it was packed with chocolate and deliciousness.  There were loads of French people lined up to get a crepe and the crepes were being made by people who were French, so you know it was legit.  I’m looking forward to a repeat visit to thecrepe trailer in the near future.

Besides all this I’ve come to the conclusion that I’m not writing or walking enough in my life.  These things I hope to address quickly.  I’ll be finishing my current job next Wednesday looking for greener pastures.  Really just pastures that interest me more than anything. My heart is not into my current occupation and I have no desire to continue in a field where I am not feeling satisfied. So I say ttyl, landscaping.  And I will crack on with the arboricultural field here in London.

Ok, I should finish my beer before it gets any warmer.  Let’s all hope for an update before I go to Scotland.  Unsure yet whether the laptop will be coming up to Scotland or not.  If it is, I will update from there as well.  Cheers all.