Return of the 80's (again)

The 80s are here again and they have been screaming for their leggings (I want them to take them back, too. Enough leggings already!). ANd now they want their Air Jordans, too. If I could go back and raid my 5th grade closet, I would be very in style.

We've seen these before:


Every other woman in London is wearing these (not an 80's look):


I caved and bought Converse again (for the third time in my life. This time,when they go out of style, I'm boxing them up and saving them until the next time they become popular.) Jim definitely is scoping the Vans.

It's on...again

Last weekend we got new tennis rackets AND discovered that we have some really nice tennis courts very close to our house. This is where we walk to get to the Tennis Courts (Maida Vale Road):


And here is Jim, just before beating me 6-4 on sythetic grass courts. I blame the courts. And the new racket. And...it looked like it was going to rain.

Summer Solstice

Today is the longest day of the year. Here we'll have daylight until about 10:30 pm! On my run home from work (with massive backpack on back...not fun. I'm not sure how often I'll be doing that...) I noticed that there were lots of celebrations going on in Regent's Park. Near my work was the first night of Taste of London--a showcase of restaurants from around London. There were people streaming in! Thursdays are a pretty big night for going out here and things seem to be getting pretty festive now that the days are long and the weather is nice (mostly).

Last weekend, the weather wasn't so nice and Jim was drowning in work, so Aurelie and I decided to forgo our planned country walk and walk around London instead. We chose to join this guy:

a self proclaimed Beatles expert on a stroll through The Beatles' turf (which also happens to be the area where we work...and the area where I live...so nothing too new and exciting really).

Our tour guide is the author of several Beatles books and also the owner of a Beatles coffee shop, where Beatles paraphernalia is sold. I can't really describe his tone and style of talking without doing it, but it was very rehearsed sounding and went from a lower pitch to a higher pitch with carefully timed laughing following his jokes. I think that either he relaxed or I got used to his voice because I only really noticed his lilting style in the beginning of the walk.

We began our walk outside of Marylebone Station, which is where the first scene of that famous Beatles movie, A Hard Day's Night, took place (you know, the one where they were running down the street with screaming fans chasing them). The guy who stuck his head in the picture was from California and was quite annoying. His girlfriend was from Quebec and overwhelmed Aurelie with personal information in French. The guy, used to having to translate for his girlfriend, insisted on repeating everything that the tour guide was saying, slowly, to me. Instead of reminding him that I, too, speak English, Aurelie and I just edged away:


Needless to say, most of the people on the Beatles tour were American. And more than a few of them were total weirdos.

Here is where Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr got married. Here is also where our tour guide got married. Aurelie was feeling sorry for his wife, but we came to the conclusion that to be married to such a Beatles fanatic, you would have to be somewhat interested yourself.


This was the scandalous picture of John Lennon and Yoko Ono (minus the newspaper covering their nether regions), which led to a drug bust and eventual legal issues later down the line. Behind the tour guide (and also featured in the first picture) is an apartment that Ringo Starr owned and where John Lennon and Yoko lived AFTER Jimi Hendrix and his girlfriend lived there. Many of the people in our group flocked to the steps for a picture. I felt sorry for the people who live there now.


Here is where the Apple Store used to be. I spaced out during part of this explanation, but it used to have psychedelic graffiti art all over it (not approved by the council so it had to be removed) and they also used to sell clothes there,on which the silk tags cost more than the actual clothing. People also regularly stole clothes from the store and eventually the Beatles just opened it up to whoever wanted to take clothes and shut it down. (apparently, they were not the savviest of business men when it came to selling clothes. Mostly they were doing it for the "art.")


Finally we got to the famous Abbey Road Crossing!!!!!!!! We live about 10 minutes from it and I walk past it twice a day every day on my way to work. There are always people flocked around there, taking pictures of each other as they walk across (and dodging traffic). Here is Aurelie with the crosswalk! (it started pouring at that point)


And here is Aurelie in front of Abbey Road Studios, where, if I remember correctly, many famous musicians are currently working on a remake of Sergeant Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band.



At this point, we ditched the rest of those yahoos and walked back to our house to have a sandwich and regale Jim with our new found Beatles knowledge. Alas, he was out getting fish and chips and, when he got back, was more interested in taking a nap than hearing interesting Beatles trivia.

Camera phone memories

This morning on my way to work, I saw about fifty horses being moved from one place to another--this time right outside of Regent's park. It's a pretty awesome sight to see all those beautiful horses stopping traffic in the middle of London and it's something I've seen a few times now...but I never have my camera.

Well, it turns out that I DID have a camera: my camera phone. And even though I didn't remember that at the time, I still can share some pictures from times past.

At first Jim didn't really like the camera phone that much. This was the first picture I took with my camera phone!


When we had a hell night on the tube and I broke out the camera, I got a lot of negative vibes from him....


But the key was really to let him be the photographer for a few minutes:


And before I could say, "I love the tube!" Jim was POLE DANCING for the cell phone!


On this night we were standing under Big Ben when it tolled at 9:45.


Sometimes the camera phone takes arty pictures. It's not so good at moving subjects:


And sometimes there are pictures on the camera phone that you just wish had never been taken (Dan, I hope you are reading this blog because this picture proves once and for all that I don't only put unflattering pictures of other people):


The tube seems to be the best place for taking camera phone pictures. Waiting for the tube + Saturday night + a little boredom = INSPIRATION and DANCE!

Not sure what I was looking at in this picture...


Maybe I was looking at Jim...

On smart cars and commuting

Today, as I left work and headed out on my walk home, my co-worker and I discussed the probability of getting run over by a crazed London driver (high) and the respect we have for cities that don't allow people to drive in the center.

I've decided that, along with it's environmental merits, the smart car would be my choice of car in a pedestrian/car collision. I guess a scooter would be ok, too. But, mostly likely, if I get run over in London it's going to be by a black cab. They do stop when they have to (like at cross walks and stop signs), but the rest of the time they are getting where they are going and nothing is going to stop them. Especially not a pedestrian.

Me vs. the Smart Car. Who would win?


There are good points to a three mile each way pedestrian commute, though. Today some of my highlights were:
-2 paddle boats full of women in burkas, racing and laughing hysterically
-4 men in suits, shoes off, kicking a football in the park
-6 little geese following their Mom and being corralled by their Dad when they got out of line.

And we've been married 3 years today. That's the biggest highlight of them all!

Pizza and Little Venice (and Ikea)

This weekend was a pretty mellow weekend and we forgot to take the camera, so all the pictures on this blog were taken by someone else.

On Friday, we went over to Meg and Dan's for homemade pizza and The History Boys. I almost fell asleep, but the movie was actually very good and the pizza was delicious.

Saturday, we explored several new parts of town. I was running the other day and discovered that we have an awesome, if small, park near us: Queen's Park. So Jim and I took a stroll to another part of our neck of the woods. Queen's Park is definitely a family place, with lots of kids and their parents running around everywhere. They also have pitch and putt and tennis courts. If we ever find our rackets/get new ones, we will go play there.

Saturday night, Jim took me on a date to Little Venice, which is also not far from where we live. I've never been to the real Venice, but Little Venice in London defintely reminds me of Amsterdam with its canals and houseboats. We started the evening off in a funky bar near the canals and then walked down to a place called Riverfront (or something like that), where we had dinner. It was actually quite the meat market and we were wedged in at a small table on the edge of all the action. Despite the fact that most of the people there were about our age, we felt very old. I guess it's because we are just so mature. Little Venice was fun, though, even though we weren't part of the "scene."

Here is a picture of Little Venice, which I did not take:


One thing that was very interesting is that once you got along the canal a ways, it became a private drive. And that was where all the fancy schmancy houseboats were. Some looked like floating trailers and some were very ornate. Houseboat culture is something I know nothing about, but it seems kind of bohemian and romantic. And I bet it's a lot cheaper than living in a flat around here.

And finally, today we went to Ikea. I don't really need to go into what Ikea was like because now I know that Ikea is Ikea no matter where in the world you are.

Hopefully we'll have more exciting things to post next time!

oh the drama

So, yesterday they launched the new London 2012 logo. And, of course, everyone hated it. All the papers were full of criticism and derision. Then, today they announced that the moving, flashing version of the logo sets off epileptic seizures. It always seems to go from bad to worse when it comes to the Olympics.

It would be hard to be in charge of anything major in this country because there is always more criticism than support. The more I see it, the more I like this little lego style, 80's flashback logo. Especially in neon green and orange!