White Spring

OK, I'll stop but boy oh boy am I glad its spring here.

Purple Spring

All three of this weeks photos have been taken on my walk to the tube in the morning. These gates are usually closed so I got a great flowering picture and a view into the little courtyard. The longer I live with out a car, the more amazed I am at how much space they take up in our daily lives. I could have cropped out the car but its just such an interesting juxtaposition quaint little house draped in purple with a car nestled in for the night.

Pink Spring

As this tree loses its blossoms, the ground is covered with tiny pink petals. It looks like a carpet of spring.

Yellow Spring

I know its looks like I've gone all bonkers and garden-y but you cannot imagine the joy to walk around in London right now. Its sunny and everything is blooming. I think for at least a week this blog is gonna be about flowering things. We will get back to the silly signs later.

Polite Notice

This was new to me, the phrase "polite notice." IN the US, I think we would say "Warning" or "Attention" and then go on to say that if you put your bike here we are going to cut off the lock and haul it away. Some how this seems so civilized. The best part is that this sign is on a fence across from St. Paul's Cathedral, so politeness was probably required. I also wondered since the sign is dated, that if you had left your bike there prior to 21 January 2002 it would have remained there unmolested?

British Sandwiches

British Sandwiches, they are nothing to write home about but they are cheap, fast and everywhere. The fact that there is an British Sandwich Industry Award will improve the situation, I'm sure.

Special Greeting on the Celebration of my Birth

I have a history of REALLY celebrating my birthday... for a week. My friend Suz once accused me of making it the whole month. So I'm scaling back to just the week. But its a big week because its my parents wedding anniversary, my birthday, Queen Elizabeth's birthday, then my father's birthday - all in one week! So, of course, there is celebrating and phoning across the Atlantic, and singing into message machines the "Happy Birthday" song as terribly off key as you possibly can. I wonder if the Queen feels left out? Perhaps her relatives do the same thing.

Now that I think of it, I have been know as the queen of the world - QOTW for short - so perhaps I should have a special day all of my own which my subjects will celebrate as they will. Its good to be the queen.

No. No. No. No.

This pub was very sure of itself becasue the sign it has posted on the street says (can you read it?) "No Smoking, No Credit Cards, No Mobile Phones, No Cameras, No Backpackers."

I ignored the no cameras, no phones bit and took a picture of the sign. When I went inside with my friends, I discovered where Bennigans and other US faux pubs get their decor ideas from. This pub was an original, if-you-like-something-hang- it-on-the-wall-pub. It was reputed to be very unfriendly to non-regulars. Hence, the warnings I suppose. But they did serve good drink.

Went to Cornwall for Easter Hols

These Brits do holidays (vacation days) right. At Easter, we take off Good Friday and Easter Monday. I can remember trying to get through the vacation desert beginning of the year in the US with nothing from MLK Day to Memorial Day all the way in May! Not so here, in February and March many folks went skiing and now there's two days holiday at Easter yippee.

So for my first slew of holiday days, I talked a friend of mine into traveling. My companion of the road suggested Cornwall and driving around just to see things. It was excellent and I didn't take one picture. Oh, I'm sure I can dig up some links to pictures and places but the scenery was so great and the driving so perilous that I ignored the pictures and just enjoyed. Rugged cliffs, crashing seas, lambs gamboling across newly green fields, spiky hedgerows, unexpected daffodils, churches and villages; it was like being in an Agatha Christie novel without the dead bodies. I expected Tommy and Tuppence to attempt to pass us on those tight hedgerow roads. It was a visual feast and not one I could be bothered to try and capture.

London Lion Scarf

Lion Scarf - small
Originally uploaded by beagleskin.

Raising money for cancer research, the London stitch n' bitch knitting group knit giant scarves for the 4 lions at Trafalgar Square. Pretty cool, huh?

London certainly is a good place to be a knitter - perhaps because its so chilly or because pubs can be a great place to knit? There is a great Yahoo Group called Handknit UK and more than a few knitting groups. Since I've been here all I've been able to concentrate on is scarves and the occaisional baby sweater. Perhaps its time to get something a little more challenging going.

Remember the knitting in the dark pub headlamps? or what about the knitted Ferrari?

Florida Gators again

Breaking news...reporter-Mum sends an email to SFO-to-LON HQ to report that the University of Florida Gators (one of my Alma Mater Studiorum) have once again achieved some level of sports authority...

...(since you missed out on the Gators winning the football national championship) I'm here to tell you they won the (basketball) Final Four - March Madness - whatever - championship last night, and the strange thing is they beat Ohio State again. I bet there's a serious anti Florida feeling in Columbus today. Can a Waterford basketball be far behind??

- Mum

Please note that even my Mum knows that I have trouble with the seasons in sport and clearly points out that they have just one a basketball tournament. Pretty important distinction for someone like me who is still trying to figure out why they call it cricket anyway.