From The Times

I thought this seemed typical British that we think of in the United States. From The Times Nature Notes:

An American robin has arrived in a back garden in West Yorkshire, and was still in Bingley yesterday. Last year at this time one was found in Peckham, South London, and three appeared in Britain in the winter of 1003-004, one of which was eaten by a sparrowhawk.
They only cross the Atlantic very rarely, but in America they are familiar birds in parks and backyards, and in spring and summer they hop around on the grass among the joggers in Central park, New York. Actually they are in North America all year round, but in the winter they tend to gather in large flocks and disappear in to swampy forests.
Because they have an orange-red breast and are trusting of humans, the early English settlers in America immediately called them robins, but in fact the are much more like blackbirds in their size and general demeanour. Both sexes have the red breast and greyish upper parts; the makes have a blacker head, especially in summer. Their carolling song has something of the timbre of our blackbirds' song, but with a more cheerful air about it.

Three most common brands

The three US businesses that you see everywhere are
Starbucks
Subway
KFC

They are everywhere.

British Museum

This morning I went started off searching for a nice breakfast place. I ended up heading down this street behind the hotel because I'd seen a pub on the map. The pub was a comedy club and closed. I kept walking and ended up at Camden Market.

It is this huge daily market that is partly indoors (a former stable) and outdoors and along the street and along the canal (Camden Lock) and and and. It was really huge and guess what? Really crowded.

There was a vendor with the most incredible donuts which I just had to have. That was it for breakfast food except a crepe vendor but he seemed to not want to serve me even though I stood there and stared at him for several minutes. He deliberately didn't pay me any mind.

I ended up going to the Mexican place because I had been wanting a burrito. It wasn't that great. Can't say that I've had a burrito with green beans and peas before.

My goal today was to get to the British Museum. I've got the Underground down. Oh, and by the way, I've also got the look left/look right thing down when crossing the street.

So, here's this week's "where's Jeff" picture.

I'm in front of the British Museum. The museum is really big. The center courtyard is beautiful. I guess the glass and steel roof is new (2000) but I don't know what it was before.

I did the famous permanent exhibits of ancient Egypt, Greece and Rome. Most of the pieces are out in the open and very accessible unlike US museums that keep so much out of reach.

The Greek Parthenon pieces are beautiful and kind of complete my trip to Greece this past fall. The Roman pieces weren't quite as invocative for me.

The stairs to the upper Greek/Roman exhibits have some absolutely beautiful mosaics.

I exited out the back door of the museum and had my weekly call with Mom. Then headed to get some coffee and muffin.

I left the coffee shop and considered heading back to the hotel when I passed St. George's Church with a sign that there was going to be an organ recital. So I went in. What a charming little church. The church had been designated a World Monuments Fund endangered site. A restoration funded by that organization along with a big donation from Paul Mellon has put the church back to its original configuration and color. It is truly beautiful.

The organ was not a pipe organ or anything special but it sure was nice just to sit and listen and enjoy. The church's website is www.stgeorgesbloomsbury.org.uk.

I did make it to the Freud Museum yesterday by the way. An eerie interesting place. Freud's analysis couch for his famous patients and his chair where sat are there. Along with his collection of antiqueties.

There was also an exhibition called 'Paranoia' set up throughout the museum/home. Some odd choices. Some disturbing.

A normal day

Thought I'd spend kind of a normal, non-tourist day so my big agenda was to get a haircut and buy a shirt.

I was going to label this entry 'going out to eat.' Getting something to eat while travelling is not the same as going out to eat as a social thing. Because I'm living in hotels and I'm by myself, going out to eat simply means getting a something to eat for the most part. There isn't really much of anythi social about it except occasionally.

I decided to have breakfast at the hotel. The hotel has kind of two levels and I got sat below an American couple. I did not want the buffet and it took forever for a waiter to come by to take an order.

I had brought reading material and had coffee so just sat and read. The wife basically read the entire newspaper to her husband and commented on every story. I think he may have said three words the entire time. I began to feel like I was the husband and had been married to this woman for 25 years.

I had seen on the hotel's map that the Freud Museum was in the neighborhood saw figured I would go there before heading downtown for haircut and shopping. The museum is in a residential area because it is in the house he lived in the last year of his life. I found it but it doesn't open until noon.

I decided to hop on a double-decker bus to get downtown. These things are great for site seeing and only cost £1 with my Oyster card. I had seen some men's barbershops near my first hotel and thought that would be the easiest.

Getting my haircut was the best therapy. It meant I was living here. I had been feeling so much out of tune and for some reason this made things click.

I then headed to Selfridges to buy a shirt with the gift certificates from Marlin. What an amazing store! It is a full block long. And a very long block. It is also 4 or 5 stories tall. I'm not much of a shopper but this store is beautiful. Every brand you could imagine and many I had never heard of are there.

I didn't last too long though. I had read that service in stores is not the same as back in the States. That could not be truer. You have to approach the service people. They do not approach you.

I debated about eating at Selfridges. There are more eating places inside the store than most food courts in an American mall. Instead I headed outside to find a pub or something. Ran into Cock and Lion pub. Had a delicious game pie with pies and chips (french fries). Also, two beers, of course.

The bartenders were nice and one was chatty. I don't know why but everyone knows I'm American right away! :-)

Update

My UK work permit arrived the other week. In order to activate it I have to leave the country and re-enter. So I'm going home for a day next week. I fly home on Friday and back on Sunday.

I miss my Frankie and Uno so it will so nice to see them. I also don't have enough shirts and it will probably be cheaper to fly to the United States and bring more of my own shirts back than buy them here. The sad part is that may be true with the exchange rate continuing to go down the tubes.

Second bit of news. I've located a flat to stay in and gotten agreement that I can. It is what is called a serviced-flat. In the US we would call it a furnished apartment. It also comes with cleaning service (once a week) -- or at least I think it does.

It is in a wonderful part of town and has big windows and has a modern design.

That's it for now. Tired. Been working working working.

Snow!!!!

It snowed last night. And enough to coat the trees, grass and even the sidewalks and streets a bit. I guess it is pretty rare these days for it to actually snow in London. There are palm trees in the courtyard of the hotel and they were covered in snow. It was great.

I switched hotels -- think I mentioned that. So it means I have a different "home" tube stop. I'm now at Swiss Cottage on the Jubilee Line. Turns out there is a Ye Olde Swiss Cottage restaurant/pub/bar/club at the station stop.

Went there for dinner tonight. Had a pork and apple cider caserole. It mentioned yorkshire pudding in the description but didn't seem at all pudding-like. It was kind of like a pot pie with the crust on the bottom instead of top. It was pretty good. I think it would make a Minnesotan happy.

Nothing really happened - finally

Pretty much a 'normal' day. So I'll share some pics I've taken.

Now here is how to park.Is this kinder than 'Yield' sign?

British television is all aglow over all the British actors and films that nominated for Oscars.