Bar-B-Que in London

On Thursday last week I got an email from DT in Atlanta which went something like this... "Just got back from Harold's on the southside -- QUE!"

This translates to, "We've just returned from the ancient southside Atlanta BBQ joint located right next to the the Federal Penitentiary, and the food was great." Of course then the gauntlet was thrown down - could I find BBQ in London? I was wondering around Spittlefields Market near Liverpool Station in London on Sunday. Another ancient market, like Borough but this one was mostly clothes and accessories; the sign said, in business since 1849. The market was packed to the gills.

However, in the very back, buried behind endless rows of tat (I think that means junk) was Bubba's Cafe -- a surprise BBQ joint. Unfortunately, they were not open for business so early on a Sunday; I will have to go back and check out the "QUE!!"

Manchester Vending Machine

Not much to say about this post, really. This is a vending machine in a coffee shop (!) in Manchester. To be honest it was in the dark back alley between the male and female toilets. The funny thing about it was a couple of months ago MG sat next to a woman on a plane who's big idea was basically this. She felt it was something that would go over big in San Francisco. Probably right.

My morning Park

I walk through this park some mornings when I take the bus to the soon-to-be-old office in Islington. The bus is a big double decker and it lumbers from London Bridge Station up through the city to Upper Street in Islington.

The park is beautiful and lush its hard to believe its just about to be November, there are hardly any leaves on the ground and I can still stop at this bench and drink my coffee before entering the mad house.

The UK Llewellyns

On Sunday I went to Sandhurst to visit some family - My father's brother, Roger, his wife June and my cousin James. My other cousin, Rhian, was off starting up a new job, with a trip to Nice - can't wait to hear that story.

June and Rog invited me for Sunday dinner and it was lovely. I took the train out on a rainy, chilly day and spent the afternoon tucked inside smelling the lamb roast and drinking buckets of coffee. This picture is of June, James and his fiance, Annabelle. Roger and his cousin Wee David were in the living room (AKA reception)watching Formula One racing.

Don't fence me in

This is the iron work that surrounds one of the many castles or estates I have seen on my rambles around the city. pretty aggressively telling you that you should want to climb that wall. You would also have to have been pretty wealthy to afford that kind of iron work, however even on more modest buildings I have seen some amazing ironwork. Very different from the scroll-y stuff there is in Florida and San Francisco.

I am very amazed at the different levels of construction here in the UK, on the one hand they have some very modern buildings and construction methods on the other hand, I've seen guys laying tile on steps of major public building in a very old school way. So, iron work security bars to old school construction methods - you a get a bit of everything with this blog...

250 years of Borough Market

Saturday was the 250 year of the Borrough Market near London Bridge. In celebration of 250 years, they asked people to dress as they would have 250 years ago. That led to the above sighting of two ladies chatting next to normal shoppers who looked remarkably slovenly. The market was HEAVING with people but I went in anyway just to get the feel.



Once you are inside you see things like this display of prize winning apples in the national Fruit-off--I'm joking but it did have a name like that. The notice tells you the best things about the prize winning Egremont Apple such as it was first recorded in 1872 and it has "rather dry flesh with a rich nutty flavor."

Its true what they say about London

It is grey and it rains. This is the view from the top of the 43 bus snaking its way through London. I am testing out all modes of transportation and I discovered that this bus leads to another bus which leads to the RV1 bus, which is THE tourist bus. It takes you from Covent Garden past the BBC "Bush House" (coincidence?) across the river to The London Eye around a couple more spots and ends up at crossing Tower Bridge. It happens to also go quite near my temporary digs. The moral of this tale is sometimes just get on a bus and see where it takes you. and... yes, it rains in London.

Red Ferrari

Believe it or not, this is a knitted Ferrari. It was a featured piece at the knit and stitch show at the Alexander Palace (aka "Ally Pally"). I went to the show, with a friend from my London office, another knitter. The demographics of the show were fairly predictable lots and lots of older white haired ladies. It was kind of hilarious when we stood up to get off the train and were engulfed by a elderly women all desperate to get to the Palace to feel some yarn.

Back to the Ferrari, it was pretty cool - some people obviously have way too much time on their hands. Still its is quite a piece of work

Bangers - cheap as chips

I love the British sense of humor. This sign was outside of Burroughs Market in Southwark (pronounced "suthuk" not "south-wark") in a pub across from a butcher. I almost stopped in because I wondered how posh bangers would taste. The gents leaning on the sign are smoking and talking, the usual outside of pub behaviors, at least they weren't yelling into cell phones. I'll have to try again some other time, because there was just too much else to see.

This is a cereal box

There are some great design things in the UK. This is a cereal box. I cannot believe that CEREAL boxes look so good. Of course they also have some crap cereal boxes but this one is quite beautiful, don't you think?

Green Park is really green

Very jet-lagged, I decided to go for a walk on the first day I have in London. I walked to London Bridge tube station and took the Jubilee line to Green Park. May be I wanted to checkand see if it was really green. This is a picture of the park, and I can confirm that it is green.

Remember conferences?

Just to remind you this is what the vast majority of conferences are really like. You sit in those silly chairs which they hook together for maximum un-comfort in a darkened room, listening to people talk. In the case of this photo, it is the Mayor of Portland and he is welcoming up to his lovely city. Turns out the weather is lovely (read: not raining) but we don't really know that since we are below the surface in the bowels of the Portland Hilton Hotel and Conference Center.

The only saving grace for conferences is all that free coffee AND in this case, the fabulous folks who are members and staff of the International Downtown Association. They are so welcoming and GREAT at throwing parties that you almost for get the hours you've sat listening to folks tell you stories about "clean, safe, and inviting downtowns."

I'm only being harsh on conferences in general, the IDA is great and my hotel (I booked to late for the Hilton) really rocked. If ever you are in Portland go a little out of your way and stay at the DeLuxe Hotel. Its all glammed up and just across the interstate from downtown.

Plus, as an extra bonus I got to visit with a Development Group staffer who is working remotely up here in Portland. Liz and I met for a little drink on Monday evening and caught up - it was great.

Back on a plane -- again

Now for the final plane trip (in the month of October) between SFO and LON. Not a bad flight but, boy, am I tired of United food and bad bad coffee.

So its official, with this flight I used my new work permit visa and I guess that means I am officially a Londoner. Hmmm.

Half price for hybrids

Another planner piece. I saw this sign in Portland when I was there for the IDA conference. Parking is half price in close in parking lots for hybrids. Now this might induce people to buy hybrids but doesn't it also induce people to drive in town to get that cheap parking? In a city like Portland with semi-decent mass transit, isn't that a shame?

Leaving San Francisco, again..

This morning, I am taking off for three days in Portland, then finally headed to London for real. I am enjoying my coffee and listening to Henry coo and giggle. Its the best -- well much better than yesterday's crying jags. OK, really that was me. I had a last dentist appointment to get the final touch on the "fear of British Dentistry" campaign. Yay! The crown fit and just for good measure Negvesky, the Dentist, gave them a good scrub and my teeth are glowing. California teeth hitting London on October 11.

This picture was taken by a co-worker, Todd Kholi, at dawn in SF while we were on a conference call on October 4. Bob was in London and I was in a cab trying to get on the call at 15.00, Todd was in SF and Aki was in Lake Tahoe at 7.00, meanwhile Chris was in Hong Kong at 22.00. This was what was happening on the Marin Headlands

Another plane seat

Another ticket, believe it or not I am headed back to San Francisco, its been five days since my "soft start" in London. I haven't even finished the book I bought for the first flight on October 1. So I took another picture, of another ticket stub just to prove how silly my life is right now.

In another five days, its back on the plane to London, at that time its really going to be home.

Boring planner blog

This is a warning to all non-planners reading this blog, you may find this installment boring.

If you've gotten this far then I am going to assume you know who Sir Ebenezer Howard was. If not you can probably guess by reading the sign pictured, that he was the "father of garden city movement." What is really funny/ironic about this lovely, fired and glazed plaque is that it is imbedded in a highrise on the south side of the Barbican Centre in London.

This is a picture of the northwest side of the Barbican Centre. It is a concrete, brutalist structure built east of Smithfield market begining in teh late 1950s in an area that had been basically destroyed by bombing in the Blitz. It is a complex that only John Portman could really love--a confusing maze of levels with very strong horizontal and vertical building elements, totallu cut off from the surrounding fabric. In essence, its the complete opposite of what old Ebenezer was shooting for in his garden city movement.

Having said that, Barbican Centre is also weirdly cool in a retro kind of way. That's enough planning talk for the day.

Day three

Much better start to the day - kept upright and standing all morning. A credit to my upbringing. However, I do have some very lovely technicolor bruises, pictures of which I will spare you.

I found a temporary place to live, in Bermondsey (spelled that way?) at the corner of Tower Bridge Road and Tanner Street. Really looking forward to unpacking for the 36 days I will spend there. The hopefully my stuff will arrive and I'll be Hampstead bound.

Must go to work.

Day two

This day started badly. As I was leaving the hotel, I missed a step and fell headlong onto the carpet in the lobby. Luckily, it was 8am and the lobby of my fancy hotel was practically empty. Unfortunately, my new workmates got to see the spectacular spill, since they were meeting me for breakfast. Of course there was the usual fuss (I fall a lot) and humiliation. I can see I need to pay more attention to walking in London, lots of steps here and the sidewalks are never even. Dangerous territory for those with bad ankles and absentminded folks.

So note to self, "watch where you are going."

In the seat on the plane...

Luckily, I got an upgraded seat in business class. While sitting there I realized that my ticket had the name of the blog on it (sort of) "from San Francisco to LON/Heathro." Too long for a blog but quite catchy.

The trip was completely uneventful and the luggage was there when I got off the plane. Amazing start to my British adventure.

Henry says goodbye

I spent my last two days in San Francisco at Henry's house. He and his parents had a party for me on Saturday night, along with just-about-to-be-new mother Amanda.

We all had a fabulous time, chatting in the lovely backgarden and eating the catering of "Good Fricken Chicken," a mediteranean restaurant in the Mission. Strange name but good "fricken" chicken and hummus. So many friends, it was great.

But finally it was Sunday morning and I had to go, luckily I had a little down time with Henry on Saturday before the party and I got him to say goodbye in that Henry way.