18/12/10-IKEA hell

        People here lie.  Everyone lies.  Everybody tells you what you want to hear even though it's all a far cry from the truth.  I know I have to catch up on Barcelona but I want to write about today first while the emotions are still fresh and freely flowing.  Sean and I slept in today or at least tried to.  I woke up with another headache and neck cramp from the awful bed and Sean can't understand why he's still tired after being in bed for nine hours.  It's a simple answer.  We have a bad bed.  I have stressed this before that a good mattress on which you can get a solid night's sleep makes ALL the difference in the world.  It's worth the money.
       We woke up to snow falling heavily in big wet fluffy flakes.  It accumulated quickly and we guessed that the city was shutting down.  We had planned to go to IKEA once again to pick out a bed, dresser and some other much needed organizational goods.  Sean checked the London transportation website and it looked like all the lines we needed were running smoothly.  We watched the roads from our flat and saw buses pass by so we thought hey maybe the city really does NOT shut done completely with snow.  After lunch we headed out and made our way to IKEA.
        I can now understand why things shut down here with even an inch of snow.  There are no snow plows, no salt trucks, no snow shovels.  Everything quickly turns to a slick icy sleety mixture on the packed roads.  Instead of shovelling sidewalks, businesses use push brooms to clear the snow which really, all it's doing is creating a nice smooth glassy surface.  Sean and I had a hard time walking to the tube stop.  Even in my boots I thought I was going to slip and bite it.  I ducked into Starbucks to grab a peppermint mocha and then stopped in the green to take a photo of the snow.  It really was pretty and it's funny how everyone comes out to build a snowman.  We saw so many snowmen today. So many! They were everywhere; parking lots, greens, sidewalks.

Turnham Green turned white

Turnham Green

       We slowly made our way shuffling to the tube.  The attendants said everything was running as usual but it wasn't.  They lied.  Just tell us the truth! Let us know there's a 30 minute delay.  We stood on the platform and waited for our train.  Poor Sean forgot to pack boots for London and was wearing sneakers.  His toes were already frozen.  We waited and waited and waited and to be honest, at that moment I knew that we should have turned around and gone home.  This was a bad idea.  Then I thought, hey we're going to IKEA and it can't be THAT hard.  Deep down though I knew we should go home.  Finally, the train came after 25 minutes of waiting.  Usually it comes within 5 minutes or less.
      Last time we went to IKEA we took the underground the whole way there then walked over a mile to the store.  It was about an hour trip total.  This time we took Oge's advice and took the train west to catch a bus which went right to IKEA.  It took him 50 minutes and he didn't have a long walk.  Today we tried Oge's route.  We failed.  It failed because people lie here.  We got on the train and slowly headed west where we then hit the road and tried to find the 112 bus.  There was one stopped on the side of the road on his lunch break and he said he'd probably be leaving in 30 minutes to pick people up.  We headed down the hill and stood with the rest of the crowd waiting for the red bus.  We waited and waited and waited.  Finally it came and everyone SHOVED to get on.  Sean and I apparently did not shove hard enough because the driver shut the door before we could get on.  The bus was full.  The driver yelled to the rest of us on the street that the next bus was only 3 to 4 minutes behind him.  Ok. That's not so bad. We'll wait for the next bus.  We waited and waited and waited.  It was not 3 to 4 minutes.  More like 20.  The bus came.  We shoved to get on.  A little kid tried to get on in front of Sean and honest to God, I saw Sean shove a kid and push him out of the way.  In Sean's defense though the kid was a brat and was super annoying the whole bus ride.  I'm glad he pushed him. He didn't push him hard. No harm was done.
      Awesome, we were on the 112 bus and we'd be at IKEA in about 20 minutes.  Not bad.  But then the bus sat in traffic.  We sat and didn't move.  I feel asleep on Sean's shoulder and woke up to us not moving.  The brat was sitting behind us and squaking about something.  We had gone about a tenth of a mile from where the bus picked us up when all of a sudden the bus pulls over, turns the lights off then announces that the bus is terminating here.  Seriously? Really? We just paid, went 20 feet in 30 minutes and now we have to get off??? The bus driver told us another bus was 3 to 4 minutes behind. Yeah right! That's what the LAST bus driver said!  Sean looked up on his iphone that it would about a 3 mile walk to IKEA.  Fine, we're walking, at least we may be able to warm up.  We didn't walk, we did a little semi trot/jog through the few inches of snow and unshovelled sidewalks.  Every now and then we peered over our shoulder to see if another 112 bus was coming up behind us but nothing.  We passed through the oddest of neighborhoods.  It was all leather furniture outlet stores and weird Chinese food markets.  I was relieved that it was still semi light out because I don't know if that was the safest of places.  About two thirds of the way there and 30 minutes into our mini jog the 112 bus pulled up and we sprinted to catch it.  Sean had to pee and so did I.  Our toes were frozen.  Sean forgot his gloves and I just wished we had stayed home in our cozy little kitchen all nice and warm watching movies, eating left over mac and cheese and lounging around.
      We rode the bus about half a mile then got off in front of IKEA.  FINALLY!!!! Three hours later and we had made it.  It was dark out now and the parking lot was empty of cars but full of snow.  Everyone else knew it was a bad idea to leave the house in a London "snowstorm."  We wanted the rest of our furniture and nothing was going to stop us.  Our first stop in IKEA was the bathrooms.  I met back up with Sean at the info booth where a guy was saying that IKEA was probably going to close soon due to weather.  Oh convienent.  We ran to the bedroom section and started laying down on the mattresses.  How odd they all were.  The ones labelled firm were incredibly soft and the ones labelled soft were hard.  Sean even asked the sales girl how long the beds had been out on display.  If people had been laying on these things for the past year then sure, the firm were broken in to a soft.  They couldn't answer our questions.  They were useless. They lied.  But within 10 minutes we found a mattress we liked and rationalized that if it was firmer than what was on the floor then it wouldn't be so bad.  We got the numbers, sizes and found a foundation to fit it and all within budget.  The pressure to shop quickly!
    Next it was off to find a dresser.  Sean picked out a really expensive ugly one.  I found the bigger, cheaper, nice looking one.  Back to the beds to find some night stands since we were still under budget.  Quick quick two nightstands onto the list of boxes we needed to find in the warehouse.  Furniture was done and the store hadn't closed yet!
    Downstairs is my favorite part of IKEA.  We grabbed a cart and filled it with pillows, much needed mixing bowls (Ooooooo I have needed mixing bowls!!!!!!), storage containers, clothes rack, $2 fleece blanket, more pillows, more bathroom storage racks, and even some picture frames for some of my newest watercolors.  While Sean wasn't looking I threw in some red straw Christmas ornaments.  This was truly retail therapy for the both of us.  We found the bigger items in the warehouse section of the store and had two more flat bed carts of our boxes.  The only thing we couldn't get was the bed frame and the mattress.  They would get those for us when we checked out.
    The check out lines were non-existant.  No one was in IKEA today.  We made it through in record time then headed to the pick up/delivery corner.  Sean ordered us a delivery for the mattress, a cab home then we both waited for the rest of our big items to come out.  They called our number and wheeled out our cart and told us the bad news that the mattress we paid for was out of stock.  Um. What? This is not right.  We paid for it, you told us you had it, you said you were getting it and were going to put in on our cart, and Sean already paid for the next day delivery.  If it's sold out tell us it's sold out!  WHy would you lie to us???? We could have picked out another mattress! We didn't have to go through the headache of figuring out delivery. How can we pay for something that you don't have?????  They said they were getting another shipment of the mattresses in within the next week or two but even then it's first come first serve even though we already paid for it.  I was so confused.  We paid for it, but we may not get it. We paid for delivery but there's nothing to be delivered.  I want to go home.   The cab driver loaded what we did have into his mini van and I sat with the rest of our bags while Sean went to customer service to sort it all out.  I don't know what happened during those 40 minutes he was gone but I can only imagine.  IKEA you lied to us.  You told us you had those nice plush mattresses.  You let us pay for one.  You let us set up delivery for one. You lied.  YOU LIED TO US!!! IKEA I loved you once! You betrayed me!
        Sean was gone a really long time but finally he reappeared and announced that he got his refund and we would go home with what we had in hand and order the bed online or find something else.  He was frustrated, I could tell because his face was beet red.   We jumped into the cabby's van. This guy looked familiar and I asked if he drove us home from IKEA before.  He had! This time we were not dealing with traffic and burning cars but dealing with snow, ice and unplowed roads.  Sean sat up front with him and chatted about EVERYTHING.  We told him about the terrible day we were having, our problems with customer service and how everyone lies here.  Our driver's name was Akim and he did not lie to us.  He told us it may be a slippery ride home and that things may get ugly. We trusted him and his outdated minivan.  He didn't sugarcoat things and tell us we'd be home in five minutes.  It may take a while.   We learned a lot about Akim on that second trip home with him.  He told us how he is originally from Somalia and how he came to London about 12 years ago to study computer science only to be drawn back to his native land to save his family.  Somalia was in the throws of a civil war and Akim had to go back to guide his five children, his mother and aunt to safety.  He brought them to London and never looked back.  Now he drives cabs from IKEA but at least his family is safe (and his house is entirely furnished with IKEA goods).  We asked him about Somalia and if he'd been back, if he'd ever go back home, but he wouldn't, it's not safe, he'd be robbed and killed within minutes. Wow.  Here we were planning on going home within days but poor Akim hasn't seen his childhood home in over a decade. The rest of the ride we talked about sports, the weather and his thoughts on London.  It was such a nice short and safe ride home, maybe 15 minutes tops.  He told us where to catch a local cricket or rugby game and how he liked American basketball.   Akim helped us unload all our boxes into our snowy alley.  We got his business card and hopefully we'll see him again.  We were his only business today in this snow.
     That was a humbling ride home.  Here I was almost in tears because my big toe was frozen and then they didn't have the mattress we wanted.  At least I wasn't fleeing for safety from civil unrest in my homeland.  I wasn't yanked from my schooling.  I can go home to where I grew up and not fear for my life.  I was upset the 112 bus kicked us off and took our two pounds.  There are much bigger problems in the world and I'm glad that I get those little moments that bring me back to reality that really we have it good.  We need to be thankful and count our blessings.  Or bad days are nothing compared to what others are going through.   Things aren't so bad and maybe we'll go back to IKEA just to get a cab ride home from our friend Akim.  In the meantime we'll enjoy our new IKEA goods and count down the days till we get to go home!!!

12/12/10 Barcelona: Day 1

          Taking an early flight out of London seemed like a good idea at the time of booking.  It would give us an extra day of sightseeing and exploring but then waking up at 3:30am was not a good idea.  We had a cab pick us up at 4 am then drive us 45 minutes to Gatwick airport.  They call Gatwick London's airport but it seems like it's no where near London.  We got to the airport nice and early and getting through security was a joke.  This was our first experience flying Easy Jet and what an experience it was!  Easy Jet is a really cheap, bare bones airline company but with the cheapness  you sacrifice some other features like assigned seating.  You also aren't assigned a gate till last minute so you have to be constantly watching the tv screen.  Once they announce the gate everyone runs to stand in line to get their first pick of seats.  Sean bought us something called "speedy boarding" which meant we could move to the front of the line with the other speedy boarders.  Airports make me nervous enough, I'm always so anxious about missing flights, so these added unknowns made the morning even tougher to get through.  I could've fallen asleep standing up in that line.  We got on the plane and were quickly grateful that the flight was only about 90 minutes long.  The seats were really uncomfortable and Sean barely fit in them.  There were no frills with this flight.  Just a plane taking us to Spain.  I fell asleep against the window but woke up here and there to catch views of the Pyrenees and then Barcelona spread out below along the sea.
        We landed and moved quickly through immigration then grabbed the first cab we saw.  The sun was out and the weather was warm enough to barely need a jacket.  The cab driver tried to be a tour guide and point out buildings, monuments and major roads but we didn't have the heart to tell him we didn't speak the language.  We got to the hotel around 11 and were lucky that they let us check in early.  After dumping our bags in the room our first stop was the top level of the hotel where there was supposedly a great view of the city.  There was also a nice pool and lounge area which is probably awesome in the summer.  Here's the view from the top:

The view from our hotel roof. 

         It was a gorgeous day out so we set off to do some walking and exploring.  What a city! The Cathedral was right across from our hotel and I somehow managed not to take any photos of it.  It did look like it was being renovated or cleaned and was covered in netting so maybe that just didn't appeal to me.  There was so much to look at while we walked.  All the buildings were masterpieces and there were scooters flying everywhere.  Even the sidewalks were tiled with flower motifs and Gaudi styled hexagons.  Sean and I quickly got lost and needed some food.  Nothing seemed to be open on a Sunday afternoon so we settled for the first little bar/cafe we found.  I won't comment on that meal.  Let's just say we watched them microwave our food. It was also a bit of a shock to see people smoking indoors. Now that we had a little bit of food and a new plan of attack we wove our way through the streets and headed towards La Rambla.  La Rambla is huge street running down the center of town filled with food, souvenir stands, and street performers.  It was alive and jumping even on a Sunday afternoon.  The most interesting vendor was the one selling birds, turtles, hamsters and fish. Hmmmm...interesting.

The start of La Rambla.

Cactus for sale! There were lots of gorgeous flower shops along the street. 

         Sean and I stopped to get some gelato then walked on.  We found ourselves standing in front of Guadi's  fluid Casa Mila.  You could take a tour of the interior but we opted out of the crowds and stayed on the street staring up at the wavey lines of this apartment building.

Casa Mila.  When you see photos of it in books they leave out
the construction vehicles parked around the corner.

My attempt to capture some of the details. 

The sidewalks on the main streets were paved
with these hexagons designed by Guadi.  I loved them. 

        A little more walking and we came across our next Gaudi building: Casa Batllo which was designed to represent St. George defeating the dragon.  I have discovered that it's quite hard to take photos of buildings when you're a short 5 foot 4 person standing on the street. 

   

Not my photo, I pulled it off the internet but I wanted to show
the details of the roof top which is to resemble the scaley back of
dragon.  I just love the colors of the ceramic tiles. 

  
        We spent the rest of Sunday walking and walking and walking.  Sean and I were both pretty quiet during our walk.  We were exhausted from waking up so early then walking for hours and trying to take it all in.  We headed back to the hotel for a nap before dinner.

Scooters and palms.  In the left hand corner you can see
some of the bikes you can rent all around town.  

Just some fabulous architecture.

Just some more fabulous architecture.

Even more fabulous architecture.  So much detail to take in.

We walked and walked.  I didn't want to take too many
photos. I just wanted to soak it all up. 

       Exhausted we slept for an hour or two then decided to head out for dinner.  Oge and Snowflake suggested a tapas restaurant so we looked it up and headed out.  Things here don't open till late which is quite an adjustment for us.  Eating dinner at 9pm? That's our bedtime!  We got to Tapas 24 and found that it was closed on Sundays.  We had plenty of other places to choose from and quickly sat down to paellas, tapas and bread with tomato.  Feeling refreshed from our naps and tasty dinner, we walked around enjoying the lights and Christmas decorations.  It was a long first day in Barcelona and getting two hours of sleep the night before flying out was probably the worst idea ever.  I had the day planned out for Monday even though Sean wouldn't be joining me.  His schedule was even more packed than what he had thought.  Work in Barcelona!?? but I guess that was the real reason we came out here.

They love their decorations here!

Sean enjoying the night lights.

16/12/10 We have dial tone!

      Hello! Before I get into my long winded recap of our Barcelona trip I wanted to share the good news that we have a dial tone now!  Sean and I have both caught some kind of bug and I had plans to stay in bed all day sleeping it off.  Sean left early for a bunch of meetings downtown and I was left with a quiet house until 9:30 when someone was knocking on our door.  It took me a couple of minutes to wake up and make my way downstairs.  Oge was out in the alley with two BT guys discussing the phone situation.  They had good news! They could fix it!  I wasn't really up for standing around in the cold so I went back inside, left my door unlocked and sat on the couch with my book.  All morning long these BT guys came and went, testing wires, hooking up wires outside on their ladders, calling in another guy to help.  Even our landlord showed up!  The wiring situation really confused the BT engineers and luckily Fergal, the landlord was there to help.  It turns out our place was wired to the outside but the interior was not connected to anything.  So, the BT guy hooked up as much as he could and we now have a dial tone in the laundry room!  Early tomorrow morning the electrical engineer will be down to finish wiring up the house. Oge's flat had a little more completed wiring job so our flat was the tough one. How silly that someone wouldn't wire up these flats! But hooray!!!!!!!!! Internet! Phone! And it all came quicker than we thought! What a great early Christmas present!!!

11/12/10 Updates

         Money, tickets, passports! Money, tickets, passports!  It's 11 pm here, or I should say 23:00, and we have to be up in about 4 hours to get ready to leave for Barcelona.  Our bags are packed, my guidebooks are weighing down my purse and my camera is charging.  I can't wait!  Unfortunately Sean told me that he has to do more work than planned while we are there so now we'll REALLY have to be strategic with what we see.  I don't want to see any of the really good stuff without him. Although it all seems like good stuff!   We are both excited to see Sagrada Familia, Guadi's basilica that's been in the making for the past 128 years (I think it's something like that) with hopes of it being finished by 2026.  It reminds me of reading 'Brunelleschi's Dome' then getting the opportunity to climb to the top of his masterpiece.  Or walking through St. Peter's in Rome and being just blown away by that grand, massive, Holy space.  I am sure Guadi will not let me down.  I can feel it.   There's something about these giant churches and their feats of architecture that just wildly tickle my soul.  They make me giddy.
       It's a two and half hour plane ride from Gatwick airport to Barcelona and I think we'll spend that time flipping through the books together, picking out the places we need to hit in our short visit. I have my good walking Pumas packed and I've been trying to study Google maps to get a feel for the layout of the city streets.
     Sean was gone the past two days to do more cases in Southampton.  I did some much needed painting and drawing.  Warming up for Barcelona ;)  Last night, Friday night, hooligan night, was actually really quiet. I was only woken up once at 3 am by someone knocking REALLY loudly on the building next door. I thought someone was at MY door.  Come to find out Oge thought someone was knocking on their door too.  It was a loud knock that shook the 303 flats.   All in all though, a quiet night.
       This morning, a guy from BT stopped to look at our phone lines!  Jerry checked every phone jack, looked in our closets and hooked up all his fancy instruments to every exposed wire.  What he found was dead dead dead wires.  I showed him the lines out in the alley that were sticking out of the ground. He tested those. Those were dead too. He told me they weren't phone lines but I think he was lying.  I'm pretty sure they're phone lines.  Even I know they're not for cable tele Jerry!  But anyways, we both explored the alley trying to figure out if there were any more phone lines. They're weren't.  The whole time he had that look on his face, the look that reads "you're F'ed, you're screwed".  Squatting down in the corner with his little meter readers he made the comment "you Americans and Japanese, you like you're phone lines". What? Yes, yes we do Jerry.  We also think it's silly that some Irish guy would rebuild four flats and just bury the phone lines somewhere deep in the ground and say "screw it".  So anyways.  We made a plan of action.  Jerry was going to put in an order to BT to get a surveyor out to see how lines could be run to our place. Yeah, that sounds like it won't take long at all. Then once they figure out how to run lines they'll get someone to come out and run them.  THEN we'll be hooked up.  Oh ok, sounds easy.  I asked if running new lines would be easy and Jerry replied, with that same look on his face "yeah, they'll probably just have to dig up a trench in that alley and lay new ones". Easy peasey.  Jerry and I  made a plan of action, I took notes so I could tell Sean what happened, he even tried to call the landlord to find out more info about what was going on with these little stupid wires in these four flats.  My heart sank.  We NEED internet and a phone. Sean NEEDS internet and a phone line.  Gahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!!!!!!!!!!! So, what I'm hoping is that Jerry, who just happened to be in the neighborhood, doesn't really know what he's doing, and the next BT guy will just see the wires out in the alley and just hook them right up.  Jerry was really nice though, he asked me lots of questions about New York City and Macys and American sports.  He may not have fixed our phone lines, and he may have crushed any hope we had, but at least he was a pleasant Londoner.
       Sean came home and I gave him the news.  He called one of the landlords who said "oh yes, oh yes, we'll get this sorted I'll call you tomorrow". ugh.  Our hopes of getting internet by the new year is melting quickly, seeping out to meet with the churning muddy waters of the Thames, washed out to sea then sucked back in by murky tide waters.  Two steps forward, one step back.
       Trying to push this bad news behind us we headed to a late yoga class. I am HOOKED on this sweaty, 90 minute retreat into hellish heat.  For 90 minutes you push your muscles and tendons, staring yourself in the eyes in the mirror and focusing. Focusing. You are tempted to gaze out to Turnham Green and the buses passing by but instead you stare straight ahead and ignore the gallons of sweat dripping off the tip of your nose.  You kick your leg back harder, stretch your spine, coax your shoulders down away from your ears, open up, breathe deep, sweat,  and forget about Jerry and his mumble jumble of phone lines.  Bikram yoga is the same 26 poses every class which may sound boring at first but it's a good way to challenge yourself to go an inch further than what you did last class.  It's easy to set goals when you know what pose is coming up next.  I love it even though I have always been skeptical of hot yoga classes and pushing those strong tendons and muscles to their breaking point.  But it's not like that.  It's focusing and listening to your body and what it can do and what it wants to do.  It's loosening up your joints and your fascia and melting away all those stuck spots while your heart beats against the heat in the room, the blood flowing into all those open spaces you've just created.  I love it. Sean looks like he's a bright pink candle melting but he says he loves it too.
       We came home and started packing.  I think Barcelona will be a little warmer than what London is.  But I just threw whatever I could in the bag.  Sean was out doing some errands and decided to head into "Ochre" the Lebonese restaurant directly across from us.  We had been thinking that this place is just a front but really, it's a night club.  It's busiest days are Friday and Saturday.  AHA!  That is where the hooligans are coming from.  That is why we never ever see people in the street level restaurant!  The owner, Shaw, was very nice and gave Sean a tour of the place.  Apparently there's a whole basement night club where he packs a hundred or so party people into.  He also explained how the toilets back up and if Shaw doesn't fix them asap they cause our toilets to back up.  There was a water truck out front fixing the sewers tonight.  Awesome. But at least we're aware now.  It was probably a good plan to meet the owner of this nightclub and discuss the shenanigans that have been going on in our alley. He seemed more than happy to make amends and promised to keep the noise down.  I'm sorry, I'd love to believe this guy, but everyone we've met here has just blown smoke up our asses. Told us exactly what we wanted to hear to shut us up then never follow through. I'll believe this Shaw guy when I get a good Friday night's sleep.  On the other hand, it may be fun to go out on a Friday night and check out this club.  If you can't beat them, join them. Right?
        Oge and Snowflake stopped by later in the night and we updated them on our BT visit.  I think this will work better if we form a big army of angry Americans who want internet!  Again, we had a nice visit and we neighbors shared more stories of what we've discovered that week and made plans of attack.  We've got an army of four now, with alliances with Shaw and Jerry.  All we want for Christmas is a working phone line.  That's all.
      Ok, so things aren't going as smoothly as they could be going.  We've discovered that the idea of  customer service here is a joke.   Whether its dealing with someone from Dell or a landlord.  These guys over here have become experts at blowing smoke up people's asses and making them feel like everything is going to be ok.  Then a week later you realize nothing has happened and that they all lied.
     But, we need to stay positive!  Hey, we're going to Barcelona! We have awesome neighbors and a great city at our fingertips.  I've busted out my art supplies and I feel inspired.  We've discovered Bikram yoga which is less than a five minute walk from our flat.  Sean and I discussed making a date every week where we go out exploring into the city, trying new restaurants and cafes, just getting out for the evening and peeling him away from work for the night.  We've both been stressed and it's been such a challenge to try to keep each other calm.  At times I feel like we need to remind each other where we are.  When we sit all cramped up in our flat it feels like we never left Boston.  Then we say hey we're in LONDON! Let's get out there!
        I tired to get tickets to see James.  They were playing Thursday night in Hammersmith which is the bourough next door.  I probably could have walked to the venue. It was sold out. Of course.  But I tried and he's been the soundtrack to my days lately. My fascia and muscles are nice and loose and I can dance like he does.
     Oh boy. I need to be awake in 3 hours.  It's an hour cab ride to the airport though.  I will guarantee that I sleep the whole way.  Cheers! Goodnight! I will try to blog from Barcelona!!!! ooooohhhhhhhhh I CAN NOT WAIT!!!!!  I will leave you with a James video from youtube. Makes me want to dance.  Getting Away With It

9/12/10 Winter Wonderland

          Well today was nothing too special.  I went to yoga and almost died and Sean worked.  The day seemed to fly by so quickly.  After dinner Sean suggested we go out and do some sightseeing but instead going to see Big Ben at night like we had planned we headed down to Hyde Park and got lost in the Winter Wonderland.  We thought it was just a little Christmas village set up for the kiddies but were quickly proven wrong as soon as we entered.  Every five feet there was a little stand selling mulled wine, beer, spiked coffees, and if you didn't want any of those you could just order a shot of whatever.  There was booze everywhere.  I mean everywhere. We bought ourselves some hot mulled wine, which is actually really good, and strolled through the park.
           A few weeks ago Sean and I visited Hyde Park and saw them setting up this huge affair.  We were impressed that they were hammering shingles onto these make shift pubs.  When I think of a fair I think of stands that can be pulled behind your van and rickety rides set up in an afternoon.  This was an actual village, constructed and overflowing with alcohol, candy, sausages, and all those good bad foods.  In one section there was all food and drink, then crafts, then the rides and amusements.  But, in between all the rides and amusements were more booze shacks.  Am I making it clear how much alcohol there was? We did a loop through and after two glasses each of mulled wine and a belgian waffle smothered in powdered sugar we headed home frozen and sleepy and a little closer to feeling that Christmas cheer.

The entrance to the Wonderland.

Some of the huts where you could grab some drinks.
They had high tables set up so you could stand and drink and hang out.

This booth sold wooden dragons. Obviously.

Aw a Christmas fairy.

The lighthouse thing was a slide.  It actually looked pretty fun.

A view down one of the little streets.  I think this was the craft section.

Balloons and the giant ferris wheel!

Sean, Santa,  mulled wine.

When I think of Christmas I think of pirates and sharks and haunted houses. 

This ride had a creepy feeling to it.

Sean in line for our second helping of mulled wine.
The cups got smaller at this end of the park.

Merry-go-round ferris wheel.

Sean in front of the giant talking tree.  The tree told jokes and welcomed you
to Hyde Park but it looked like it wanted to kill you. 

The ice rink. 

Really long pieces of candy.  So much candy there. Candy and booze. 

Sean buying my sweet tooth a waffle ;)

    

8/12/10

A view from our bedroom window. I think I was pretty much hanging out the window.  It's looking right deep into the alley.  To the left out of view is the entrance.

Sean in front of our place. 303D.  

Our telephone cables dying in the ground.

Sean hard at work in our kitchen/reception room/office. 

          It was a gloomy day in Chiswick today.  Sean woke up too sore to go to yoga and I found myself with a splitting headache.  He spent the day at his computer knocking off work and putting his new office to good use.  I sat back and started writing out postcards. Finally!  The charity next door was busy moving out so we watched the movers fill the alley with boxes and computer chairs.  I only ever saw three people at that place but they had at least a dozen rolly chairs out there. Where did they come from?
      Around 2pm the sun came out and our whole alley was lit up with the setting sun.  I grabbed my camera and went downstairs and dragged Sean away from his work.  We needed to get out and go for a walk.  With Sean's iPhone guiding us we zigzagged through the neighborhood and made our way to the riverside.  We had to walk fast though, it seems the sun sets instantly here.  I'm glad I had my camera but I wish we had left earlier.  I don't have much to write about the walk so here are some photos instead!

Just a house. I loved the light here and the contrasting planes of the building,
the silhouettes of the chimneys against the blue sky. 

Another house that caught my eye.  I didn't want to waste time stopping though.
The sun was setting and we needed to get to the water. 

Here is where we met up with the River and began our short walk.
I love the little battered row boats just out of reach from the edge.  

A little further down the path heading West.
Notice to the right the houses with their cute brick walls.  

Here is Sean standing by one of the pubs.
I think this one was something like "River Barge Pub".
Not a very attractive name.  You can see how
muddy the pathway is.  I suppose when the
River floods or during some really high tides the
water comes up and all the way to the houses.
The pub had a big steel door they shut to keep water out.
It was pretty slippery and now I understand why a lot
 of the little kids wear rain boots down here.  

Stone stairs, a dingy and a train.

A cautionary word outside one of the other pubs.
A good reminder to the drunks who can't swim.  

Sean in deep thought,  pondering at the shore of the mighty River Thames.
Questioning life and mysteries that swirl under the surface.
I think he was really just watching a boat or a duck.  

The houseboat Sean was watching.

They are missing half of their door.  You can see the water line against the black paint.
It would be neat to see the River that high. 

Waterfowl.  They drift quickly.
The current was quite strong.

A willow tree.

All packed up for the winter.  I wonder what sailing on this River is like?
The current seems pretty strong at times and there's a lot of bridge.

          Well there is a little peak into our short walk tonight.  It got dark and cold quickly.  We almost stopped at a pub for a beer but power walked home instead.  I checked the weather and I think it will be mostly sunny for the rest of the week.  I need to take my camera out to practice for Barcelona!