British Cuisine - part 2

Fiona surprised me tonight with another stab at British cuisine - chicken and leek pie. It ... was ... fabulous! I put it up there with my top comfort foods - Fiona's lasagna and my mother's pea soup.

I like these additions to our collective kitchen repertoires. The food here is not fancy or complicated, but it suits the climate and makes you feel good. The days have been kind of rainy the last two weeks, so a nice warm pie definitely hits the spot.

Another trip to the beach with Casey tonight - although the tide was high and there wasn't much beach to run on.

Bangers, Mash and Jelly

Just a quick note as an exciting day on the Tour is wrapping up on TV.

Fiona's been practicing her British cooking and came up aces with sausage and mash the other day. Perfect mash. Great sausage. And a perfect onion gravy. I think we'll be seeing that more often on the weekly menu.

We went to the beach tonight to take Casey for a walk. The tide was very low and the beach was enormous. It was also littered with some of the biggest jellyfish I have ever seen. There was also a large assortment of trawlers and tugs anchored just outside the harbour. There must have been more than a dozen. Wonder what was going on ...

London - Day 3

No fire alarms on this day, so we were a little late in getting day 3 underway. No problem, though, we had worked our way through most of the big touristy things and had settled on a quiet day of shopping and Hyde Park. I think the full English breakfast had a hand in slowing me down ...

We took a quick tube ride down to Kensington/Chelsea and set our sights on the Harrods, the tourist trap disguised as a venerable department store institution. This part of London had us thinking that a move into the city wouldn't be too bad, until we saw the prices of some of the flats. What we thought were incredibly pricey monthly rents were, on closer inspection, weekly rents. Nice place though, with green areas, shops, museums (the Victoria and Albert Museum will be on our list for a future visit) and open boulevards.

Harrods was a temple of excess, with floor upon floor of high end and luxury goods that nobody really needs but most people want. We made it through relatively unscathed with only some new sunglasses and a few cigars, and a long conversation justifying our actual need for those items.

After Harrods we ducked into Hyde Park, which was relatively busy. The long ponds were full of boats and ducks, and people were spread out all over the grassy fields taking in the sunshine. It's a nice place to walk around, but we found St. James' Park in front of Buckingham Palace more scenic.

After a quick stop at the hotel we made our way back into the West End for some dinner. This time we were more prepared and had a good local guide. Our friends in Aberdeen had introduced us to Darren, who kindly offered to show us a good place before our show that evening. As he expertly guided us through the maze of West End London, we received the kind of tips that only locals can give: don't eat at any restaurant with the words "bella" or "steakhouse" in them, etc ... He took us to a great Irish bar called Waxy O'Connor's. The inside of this pub was interestingly decorated with a large tree, lots of carved wood and gnomes hiding in the corners. It was pretty authentic, serving only Irish beverages and with real Irish bartenders. We had a really good time - many thanks to Darren!

Our last show of the weekend was Fiona's old favorite - Les Miserables. Unfortunately, of the three shows we saw this weekend, it was the most disappointing. The theatre, Queen's, was small and warm. We felt it was undersized for the production. The show was good, but it felt a little mechanical, lacking in soul. We kind of had the feeling that maybe after 24 years, it was starting to show its age. Even with all this, we still had a good time.

We had another chatty cab driver on the way back to the hotel. We continue to be impressed with the London cabs. Efficient and plentiful, and relatively cheap to boot. It also represented one of the few service industries in London still worked by Englishmen. Without a word of a lie, our entire hotel was staffed by Eastern Europeans. Eating establishments and most stores were similarly staffed. Plenty of complaints about immigrants in the paper and on radio, but, just like in Houston, the entire society seems to be built on the work these immigrants are doing.

London - Day 2

We had a little trouble getting up in the morning, the bed in our hotel was probably the most comfortable we had been in since we gave up our new mattress in the move to Aberdeen. The hotel was kind enough to help us out, though, with a fire alarm at 6:42 am. Apparently some knucklehead had been smoking in a non-smoking room. The alarm would go off, scaring the bejeesus out of us, and just as you got around to going out the door it would stop. 30 seconds later it would go again. They eventually got it sorted.

We had a pretty nice start to the day weather-wise. Blue sky with a few clouds on the horizon. We crossed the street from our hotel and were at the Tower of London, which we found to be one of the most fascinating historical places we have been to on our recent travels. The place was huge, and under different circumstances I think we could have spent the entire day wandering around. We latched onto a tour given by one of the Yeoman Warders that actually live in the Tower. These are the "Beefeaters" that everyone is most likely familiar with from the gin bottle. The tour was fun and interesting - a reflection of the genial guide (ours was Colin and he liked to complain about his wife). We saw the many different sections of the Tower, drank in the history full of intrigue, conspiracy, politics and murder. My favorite place was the Beauchamp Tower (pronounced Beachem for some reason) where old prisoners had left elaborate graffiti on the walls. Fiona particularly enjoyed the Tudor apartments and the memorial on Tower Green. The Crown Jewels made an impression as well, although perhaps not as much as certain aspects of Henry VIII's armour!

We managed to avoid the worst of the rain while we were inside the White Tower, and made it back to our hotel in good order. We changed into our theatre clothes and hopped a tube for the West End. We made a quick stop in Trafalgar Square to see Canada House (the Canadian Embassy in London) and the various goings on. One of the cooler things is the "4th Plinth". It turns out that they have four large plinths in the square, three of which have statues of various generals and monarchs and the fourth of which is, and has been, empty. They've decided to give up the fourth plinth to ordinary people for 1 hour at a time, 24 hours a day. So you can sign up, and if chosen, stand up on the plinth and do whatever it is you want to do. When we were passing through a beekeeper had taken up residence and was showing the crowd how to handle an unwanted hive of bees. Pretty cool idea.

After a quick dinner we made our way to the Dominion Theatre, where we had tickets for "We Will Rock You" - a musical based on the music from Queen. We had a great time, keeping it classy with a couple of plastic cups of champagne, waving our glowstick and doing our best to encourage those around us to sing along as loud as we did. It was really the only disappointing part of the evening - that the crowd didn't really get into it until the very end when "We Will Rock You" and "Bohemian Rhapsody" were played. We had a great time, though, and would thoroughly recommend it to anyone that enjoys Queen.

Saw the Queen on day 1, saw a Queen musical on day 2, what does day 3 have in store ...

London - Day 1

We've come to London for a long weekend of playing tourist and going to the theatre. So it was a 4:30 am wake up call and a taxi to the airport yesterday. Breakfast at the airport - which I can now recommend - and an uneventful flight. A short train ride into to town and we were at our hotel, just across the street from the Tower of London. We had a little trouble checking-in (goodbye Expedia - that's one too many problems) but eventually got settled.

We hopped a tube to Westminster to start the sight-seeing with Parliament and Big Ben. We contemplated a trip on the Eye, but the line was too long. It is still something we'd like to do, though. Fiona has promised that if I start to freak out, she'll "take care of it".

Big Ben was impressive and we got to hear him chime soon after we arrived, although at 1pm it wasn't too exciting. With the exception of the building material and the size, Parliament reminded us of Marischal College back in Aberdeen.

Our main goal was Westminster Abbey, which we hoped looked better on the inside than the outside. It was actually really interesting, especially as a history buff. The place is actually more like an elaborately bedecked cemetery than a church - it is jam-packed with all sorts of memorials. Kings, Queens, inventors, explorers, military officers, politicians and aristocrats. In some places you have a mixture of all of these, one on top of the other. I could start naming names, but I'd be here for the rest of the day. Interesting to see the sarcophagus of Edward I, who labeled himself simply as "the Hammer of the Scots". Even with all the dead people, the church had a light and airy feel, lots of light and light colored walls that reminded us of the Grote Kerk in Breda. We're not quite sure where to rank Westminster Abbey in our tour of great churches: the Grote Kerk, Notre Dame, Sacre Coeur, Saint Giles (Edinburgh) and Westminster.

We walked a little further towards Buckingham Palace, past the Institution for Mechanical Engineers - I guess if we had ever succeeded in driving my dad crazy when we were children, that's where he would have gone.

Buckingham was closed, as Lizzy and Phil were at home, but we wandered around and got the requisite pictures, including me guarding the Canada gate. At some point we noted that they were stopping some traffic in certain lanes, so we sidled up the barricades around the traffic circle to see what would happen. A couple of Jaguars drove past, one with an old grey haired lady and a small old man, not more than 15 feet from us. Pretty cool to be seeing your head of state like that. Cooler still to later notice snipers on the roof of Buckingham Palace.

We wandered a little further to the Wellington Arch. It puts on a good front, with an impressive statue on top and fabulous iron gates, put it looks like they spent all their money on that, with no carvings or plaques on the sides of the arch. I think Wellington deserved at least as much as Napoleon.

The stroll from there to Picadilly Circus was interesting. Quaint old hotels, including one with a vertical garden that was very impressive. Some of the crossings between the arch and St. James's Park had lights for horse and rider - not something you see every day.

The last stop was Trafalgar Square and Nelson's column, although we were misled once by another larger column to think we had already reached our destination. This city is so full of statues and monuments that it can get a little confusing. But we eventually found or way through the naval arch and to the square. A good cap to an interesting day.

After a quick dinner we took a taxi to the restored Globe Theatre for a night of Shakespeare. What an experience. The theatre is open air, with the ground floor mostly taken up by standing room. I (wisely) had chosen seats in the covered second deck, and although the seats were small, hard pine benches, at least we could rent cushions. When the heavens opened up sometime in the second act, everyone standing in front of the stage had no choice but to endure a thorough soaking. The play, Troilus and Cressida, was fantastic. I think we especially enjoyed a very Welsh Achillies.

As the rain had let up towards the end of the play, we wandered along the banks of the Thames towards home. Just shy of the Tower Bridge the heavens opened up again and we sheltered under one of the Towers until we could hail a cab.

Our first impressions of London are pretty good. The transport is easy and rather uncomplicated, there is definitely lots to see and we're really enjoying an eclectic mix of architecture - from classic to gothic to contemporary and modern. A little like Holland, but a little less extreme. We're looking forward to the rest of the weekend.

Bonus points to any readers who can guess which shows we will be seeing the next two nights ...

I think Kellogs owes me some money ...

We went to the grocery store this morning after our golf lesson, looking for a nice roast for this evening. On our way out we walked past the cereal aisle and eagle-eyed Fiona spotted the following Kellogs product: Ricicles. She claims "Captain Rik" on the front of the box looks too much like me to be a coincidence.

I haven't tried them yet, but sugar coated Rice Krispies can't be that bad, can they?

Our New Life

I guess one of the things we didn't really think hard enough about when we left Houston and decided to take up the ex-pat life is not just our own transience, but that of those around us as well. When you decide to move to a foreign country, and commit to continue moving around in the future, you can count on leaving some friends behind. It's hard and you definitely put it into the "cons" column, but you always look forward to making new friends in new places. What you don't count on is that the easiest people to meet are also ex-pats, who get moved around too. It's happened to us again, in that friends we have met here in Aberdeen are being shipped off somewhere else. It makes you want to pull inward a little - what's the point if everyone is just going to move away once you get to know them - but that's an urge we have to fight.

I spoke to my sister, Linda, the other day. She's starting a mini-expat experience of her own, doing 6 months of research in Holland for her PhD. We had a good chat and I think we've already organized a couple of visits, including a possible Christmas visit. We wish her, Mark and Adele all the best in their adventure.

For those who are interested, Australia are 479 for 5 in their first innings, after England went a respectable 435 all out. The English bowlers are having real trouble getting wickets and it looks like Australia could bat all day. The guys at work were hoping for rain, which would call off the remainder of the match and give an "honorable" draw for the first test.

We also are getting back into the Tour de France. I thought I would have to retract my statement about Lance not finishing this year, but it looks like Contador put his stamp on the race yesterday. If Lance can't pull back the time in the rest of the Pyrenees, I don't see him being content with second fiddle and working to protect a teammate's lead. I can imagine a withdrawal sometime in the last week. I was hoping Astana would get 5 guys in the top 5 positions and then, on the second last day, just let them go at each other up Mont Ventoux. Oh well.

We went out again last night in what is becoming our routine Friday night walk on the beach with Casey. The wind was blowing and the surf was up, so there were a few more surfers in the water than last time. Casey loves it - chasing birds, running in the water, playing with other dogs and little people. She comes home exhausted. It works out well for us too. A little bit of exercise and fresh air, get to watch the big boats leaving the harbour and, if we deserve it, some soft-serve ice cream.

Hot as Hades

It's been blinking hot the last few days - pushing 28 degrees. For a city with no air conditioning, that's pretty hot. We had a hard time getting to sleep last night. Opening the windows doesn't help because there's too much light out. We've decided to try moving down one floor and sleeping in the guest room. Hopefully it goes a little better.

We had a nice weekend, too. We spent the whole of Saturday outside, buying some new flowers for the garden, puttering around outside and having a BBQ. We wandered across the road to the neighbours house as well, for some impromptu drinks. Their garden was in full bloom and is absolutely amazing. The kind of place I would like the time to develop if we should ever put down roots somewhere. We finished the night with a few Mojitos and a nice fire in the chimenea.

We had a nice Canada Day yesterday, too. We got together for a BBQ with Canadian Association of Aberdeen. Big Sugar was played, the anthem was sung and hockey trades were discussed. All in glorious sunshine. It doesn't get better than that.

We're dog-sitting, as well. Friends of ours that have dog-sat Casey in the past dropped off a little Pomeranian named Pogo. He's a decent little dog, although his hair is starting to get to Fiona's allergies. I don't think Casey is too thrilled about sharing her parents, either.

We're watching the team introductions for the Tour de France, which starts for real on Saturday. I don't think we've picked our favorites or a winner yet, but we're both certain that it won't be Lance in yellow on the Champs. Personally, I would be very surprised if he finishes.

The other big sporting event going on right now is Wimbledon, of course. The entire UK is getting behind Andy Murray. It's all roses and sunshine when he's winning, then he is an example of a great British athlete. When he loses, though, he inevitably becomes Scottish again. Funny how that works ....