Local Colour

Well, in the end we had an eventful, joyous and tragic 2010. Astrid was born, but we also lost a close family member suddenly and shockingly just a few months later and our family seems so much smaller without him. There has been a lot to think about and try to process, so I don't have anything particularly pithy to write about the end of the old year and the beginning of the new one. But here are some things I've seen (fairly) recently:

We walk past the Gaff every time we go to the grocery store. It used to be a heavy metal pub. Back then, I'd always see anemic-looking mulletheads hanging around outside wearing t-shirts that read "Evil Death" or "Kill Me". They weren't scary; I felt sort of sorry for them. Then it had a revamp and emerged with a punk/rockabilly vibe. We haven't been, because Astrid never lets us do anything fun, but as you can see, they have lots of interesting sounding bands. Matthew had his birthday party there last year and was going to have it there again this year, but as of Sunday, it was closed and is being converted to a Costa Coffee. Boo hiss, indeed. I love the idea of naming a band UK Vomit - it's so simple yet so aggressive, and informative. Is that the band Vomit from Germany? No sir, this is the UK Vomit.

In October, I went with my book group on a tour of Highgate Cemetery. I'd been to the western side before, as Matthew took me there on our first date. (I asked him about this once. He said he thought I'd be impressed to see Karl Marx's grave. When I asked why, he said, "I don't know - but it worked, didn't it?") This time we toured the East Cemetery, which is beautiful but actually quite spooky. This is the Rossetti family grave. D.G. isn't there - he's buried in Kent, for some reason - but Lizzie Siddal and Christina Rossetti are. It kills me that Christina Rossetti, who was a very gifted poet, is almost literally a footnote on her own grave.

And this is something I saw the other day walking home from the shops. The sunset turned the con trail the same brilliant pink as the other, wispier clouds and it was just so very pretty. It just goes to show that, while it's important to watch where you're going (to avoid dog poo if nothing else), it pays to look up now and then.

Saturday at the V&A

Yesterday I went to the Victoria and Albert Museum with my friend Amy. We went specifically for a screening of Handmade Nation, a documentary about the DIY/indie craft movement in the US. It wasn't a cinematic tour de force, but it was really interesting and I came away with notes of people to look up and ideas of things to do.

While we were there we also saw the Telling Tales exhibition, which I thought was very good. Or, at least, very interesting. My favourite piece was probably the Linen Cupboard House, though the mole slippers were sort of lovely. (The micro-website is pretty good, so have an explore.) I think I like this little guy, too. It's hard to see, but he has golden grubs in his ears - which is disgusting but sort of beautiful.

The DIY ethos of the film inspired me, so when I got home, I hand-crafted some roasted vegetables and sausage, then resourcefully combined it with some spinach Matthew'd cooked earlier for my dinner. I must say, I was very pleased with my work!

Cabbages and Frocks

On Sunday, we went to the Marylebone Village Street Fair, which featured Cabbages and Frocks, a craft fair that normally takes place every Saturday in the churchyard of St Marylebone Parish Church. Almost every single thing was very, very cute! These are some of my favourites:

The theme for the day seemed to be bunting and cupcakes, and although these ladies didn't have actual cupcakes at their table, their items were so sweet, I almost went into a sugar coma anyway. As with all the vendors, I asked if they minded if I took a photograph; when I said it was for a blog, they said, "Oh, we love blogs!" Me too!

Unfortunately, I didn't get a card or web address for them and can't find anything Google-able in my photos, so I have no choice but to go back next weekend so I can link to them.

Linda of Handmade to Measure had a gorgeous table dominated by owls, but also featuring cats, cushions, little coin purses and a dachshund draft excluder. She uses vintage fabrics and some carefully chosen reproductions to make these really bright, beautiful designs. As I was taking these pictures, I heard a passerby say to her friend, "Didn't we make owls like that at school? With fabric and bits of felt for the face?" The friend murmured something vaguely affirmative, and the woman said, "Well, I know how to do that, then!" You may know how to do it, I thought, but you didn't do it. Linda did.

Oh, and there was a roast pig.

Stella James makes beautiful organic knits, mostly for little people. This booth actually made feel a little bit sad that I'd managed to buy and send my niece's birthday present (more or less) on time!

Tarts of Temptation are Cabbages and Frocks regulars. They have cupcakes, tarts, cake by the slice and cake-y things like candles, magnets and little knitted cake ornaments (or maybe pin cushions?)

Just a few tables down was Peggy's Cupcakes, which does what it says on the tin - all cupcakes and nothing but. I am sick with jealousy over her gorgeous, fluffy icing, having recently tested and rejected a new recipe for my 4th of July cupcakes.

I'm also quite jealous of her precious cake stands. I've got my eye on a rather different one on Amazon, but these are so sweet.

And it's probably rude to call Chelsea Pensioners sweet, considering that they are all former soldiers, so I asked these gentlemen if I could take their photo because they looked so resplendent. They couldn't refuse after that - who could?

I am a good person

An insane thing just happened to me on the tube home from school today. I got on a carriage and noticed a transvestite/transgendered person standing near the door. Sitting just on the other side of the plexiglass divider, literally inches away, was a group of teenagers falling about the place. Specifically there was a girl shrieking with laughter, looking at the person (who, as I mentioned, was standing about 3 inches away) and then shrieking again, saying, "Ohmigod, ohmigod, ohmigod!" Technically, her friends were more laughing at her but they were still carrying on and making a scene that was obviously focused on this person. I was listening to my iPod, so it took me a couple of seconds to clock what was going on. When I did, I turned off my Fresh Air podcast, went over to the girl and very calmly and non-confrontationally said, "Are you okay? Because you're making a lot of noise. Do you have a problem or something?" She just sort of sputtered a bit, obviously surprised and embarassed to be called out. Her friend looked really pointedly at her and said, "No, we're okay. She's just being childish," to which I replied, "Yes, she is." I went back to where I'd been standing near the person and said, "I guess they don't let them out very often."

I was pretty upset the rest of my journey and started thinking that I should have been more forceful, so there would be mistaking my disapproval of their behaviour. So as I was getting off the train, I went over to the girl again and said, "You should be ashamed of yourself. You have been very offensive and very rude." She seemed surprised at that, too, and it made me feel a bit better. The best thing, though, was that walking along the platform, I heard two guys talking about it. One said, "I can't believe those kids." And the other said, "Yeah, I'm so glad that woman said something."

It's been about an hour now, but I'm still feeling quite emotional. I am so angry at those horrible kids for thinking that they have the right to make someone feel bad like that. I feel proud of myself for standing up and trying to stop them. I feel pleased that other people noticed my little show of heroics, but I'm disappointed that no one else said anything to the kids. Mostly, I hope that girl is ashamed and that she never forgets how it felt to be embarassed in public.

It's all been a bit much; I'm going to drink some juice and have a lie-down.

Jan/Feb

Okay, maybe I can tear myself away from my studies long enough for one post a month. No guarantees, but I'll try.

January had its ups and downs. We both had birthdays, which were good. I had 4 deadlines for school assignments, which was really stressful and made me cry - not good. Obama was inaugurated - very good. I've been spending too much time on Facebook - neither intrinsically good nor bad, but quite time-sucky. At the moment I am on top of my assignments and feel cautiously optimistic that this semester will be less stressful than the last - probably good.

At the moment, though, the big deal is the snow! It's the heaviest snowfall in London in 20 years, but we've mostly experienced it by looking from the kitchen and conservatory into the back garden. Turns out, it's very cold out there! The first photo was taken around midnight last night - because of the cloud cover and snow in the atmosphere it was almost as bright as day (at least as bright as a typically overcast winter day).

The other photo is from around noon today. Brrrr!

Some Interesting Things I've Seen Lately

Morris dancers at the Regent Street Festival. Almost all English people consider Morris dancing unbelievably naff i.e. ridiculous, lame, silly-looking, uncool in the worst way. It was pretty impressive, though. Essentially, it was a group of older gentlemen (in their 50s and 60s), heavily be-jingle belled and jumping around waving handkerchiefs and hitting big sticks together. Their flyers invited people to join, saying Morris dancing "is healthful. It's social. It's English." Matthew is not interested. I predict that in the next 10 or 15 years we will see punk rock Morris dancing, as a certain generation ages and looks for ways to enjoy more traditional pursuits but with the punk attitude they seem so determined to preserve. It will be ironic, see?

A burning motorbike! We were on a walk last night around dusk and noticed a fire and huge plume of oily, black smoke in the distance. It's not Bonfire Night (5th of November, Guy Fawkes Day), so we went to check it out. It turned out to be a motorbike burning very robustly on the edge of a football pitch in the park. Neither of us had a phone, so we couldn't call it in, but after a few minutes a fire engine showed up, along with a gaggle of kids on bikes, the two 14-year-old girls who did call it in, and a woman and her daughter who were just walking by and, like us, were attracted by the spectacle. The firemen hosed it down, which sent up a massive cloud of smoke and steam (very bad smelling). The police man who came along shoo-ed the kids away, then summed up the situation by saying, "Moped. Kids." We continued our walk, then went home and ate pork chops. Exciting stuff all around.

A peregrine falcon at the art museum. Apparently, they also hang around the BT Tower, which is very close to my work (I can see it from the windows in the upstairs ladies room), though I have yet to see one there.

The Lady Vanishes. I think this is supposed to be suspenseful and intriguing, but I've never laughed so hard at a Hitchcock movie. It features very funny depictions of English people abroad, which say a lot about how they see themselves and their relationship with the rest of the world. From what I see every day, not much that has changed.

Oops!

It's been almost two weeks since I last posted. I don't have a very good excuse. It's mainly that I've been working and that has put me in a really foul mood. I know most people have to work almost every day - and I've been there, believe me - but it is so annoying!

My commute has been pretty challenging lately. I think we had two days last week of certifiable "transport chaos", which is what the papers call it when there are major problems on public transport. It took me almost two hours to get to work on Monday. Fortunately I have a well-stocked iPod and used the time to listen to almost two entire episodes of This American Life. The only problem is that their stories are either really funny, causing me to snigger or even laugh out loud, or quite emotional, in which case I get all teary-eyed. Either of these circumstances can be kind of embarassing on the Tube. But I heart Ira Glass. I miss NPR so much. It's right up there on the list of things I miss, with my family and Target and driving and 24-hour grocery stores and people who pronounce oREGano correctly. (English people pronounce the name of this herb oreGANo, which for some time I was convinced was a put-on but this seems increasingly unlikely, since the entire country would have had to get together before I arrived and decide on the joke. My annoyance is exacerbated by the fact that they pronounce the "h" in "herb" too, making any discussion of food flavourings completely maddening.)

Anyway, the point is I have been spending long hours working in a job that is alternately very boring and very stressful and, as a result, all I want to do when I finally do get home is eat dinner, watch television, and sleep. Ergo, no posts.

Another reason I haven't posted is that we haven't had a very happy week. One of Matthew's co-workers suddenly fell ill and died last week. He was younger than Matthew, and had three young children. Everyone was quite shaken. And, my uncle died yesterday. He had been ill with cancer for several years, but knowing that didn't make it any less shocking and distressing. I might write more about it later - it's prompted me to think a lot about family, mortality, love, the meaning of life, etc - but it will have to wait.

On the Tube

I ride the Tube almost every day. It's generally hot, crowded, loud and smells not so fresh, but I like it. It's very easy to navigate, you can get almost anywhere in town, and it feels wonderfully London-y to me.

These are pictures of our Tube station, Caledonian Road. It is small and, to be honest, not terribly way out, despite what the sign says. I like the tilework, though.

I saw this guy Friday night on my way home from having dinner with our friends Sean and Michelle. I love that he had rings on every finger (though just on the one hand) but was otherwise totally unremarkably dressed. Just jeans and a shirt. And a handful of crazy devil rings.

This is from the Art on the Underground series of posters, at Kings Cross. I see it every day and it almost always makes me want to pump my fist in the air.

It took me about an hour to get home last night instead of the usual 35 minutes or so. I got on the Circle line at Bayswater, but we only went 2 stops before stopping at Edgware Road. We sat there for a while, until there was an announcement that this particular train wasn't leaving for at least 5 more minutes (an eternity to a commuter) but there was another eastbound train arriving 2 platforms over. Everyone left the train, went up a flight of stairs, over the tracks, and down another flight of stairs just in time to see that train pulling away from the station. I was still on the stairs going down when the train started moving. Several people ahead of me just stopped on the steps, trying to decide what to do, but the people behind me kept coming. I had just been reading the day before about the Bethnal Green tragedy during WWII, when people seeking shelter in the Tube during an air raid were crushed when someone fell and there was a crush on the stairs. I freaked out a tiny bit and sort of squeaked, "Go!" to the man right in front of me, but there wasn't a stampede. We just all went back to our original train. When I changed trains at Kings Cross, I saw this sign. As far as I know, under a train is not a good place for a person to be, so that put my annoying commute in perspective...