Tuesday, September 05, 2006
Tuesday 5 September
Yahoo Blog readers!...I've caught up! It's Tuesday night and I'm writing about Tuesday....
Now I'm going to tell you why people LOVE London. What a bustling, bright, alive city. It never sleeps, you can shop, eat, do theatre, etc til you drop. I hit Trafalgar Square this evening about 4.30pm on a late Summer day of about 25c (again), the sky was clear, the sun was soft and warm, there were crowds enjoying the fountains, statues standing out in the clear air framing the spires of Westminster and Big Ben at the end of Whithall Road. Honking black taxis, a liquorice alsorts collection of people and cultures, incredible!...The architecture, a mix of pre-victorian, Victorian, Edwardian and Modern, people pouring into and out of tube station 'holes'...WOW
London has a community PR campaign happening at the moment - probably the result of the bombings last year - very clever. There are light pole banners EVERYWHERE that declare 'We are Londoners' - or otherwise read as 'We are one'. Nothing stops them. I spoke to a guy who commutes into London each day and the only thing that has chaged for him and his colleagues is that they don't commute daily anymore they concentrate their need to be in London and work from home the other days - their companies support this as it keeps them off the trains, tube, and streets - so they have benefited from these bombs and have better lives for it.
I must say though, I can't understand the logic of anyone that their God or any God would think it is good to kill people - bombed, terrorised (or in war for that matter). They seem to hurt their own people more that the targets. Here in London or in Bali it is the same...
Went to Kew Gardens and Palace today. I could live in Kew. What a lovely place - obviously the Royal family thought so too. Had a quick look in a real estate window - 3 bed unit in an Edwardian house - sit down - £595,000. Holy Dooley....
Took stacks of photos at the gardens. There was about 1/2 acre of rose gardens. Boy can the English grow roses. I wish I could capture the smell - devine. There is not much that grows in Britain that we don't grow somewhere in Oz. I did get some very interesting shots of miniture pine cones and what I think might be immature chestnuts.
Also visited Kew Palace. 400+ years old and literally closed up for the last 200 years after George 3 died. Only opened to the public for the first time from last April after massive restoration. But the interesting thing was how they had left parts unrestored and other parts taken back to 1600's version, some 1700's and some 1800's. Fascinating to see how this stately home had changed over the centuries. The next stage is to restore the kitchens and start using them again cooking authentic period foods. Would love to try that...
Kew had follies, peacocks, flowering holly, hibiscus, everlasting daisies, bananas (ooohhh I wanted to steal one...)
London is incredibly costly to live in and because of this the diet has been very stodgy here - lots of bread, and dairy. Even the Chinese and Indian food is protein based and I'm sure MSG. And - you can still smoke in restaurants here! Could kill for some fresh veges. Hope to rediscover these once out of London. My YHA bed includes breakfast so I've been having hard boiled egg on toast and yogurt and coffee for bfast and taking extra bread, cheese, muffin and apple away with me for lunch and snacks. And dinners in the £5 bracket are stodgy. Maccas you can get a cheese burger for £1, a steakhouse steak is about £14 and a counter meal in a pub about £8. Multiply by 2.5 for $ and you can see why it's expensive. The tube is £5/day - which is pretty good value if you use it as your main mode of transport.
Yahoo Blog readers!...I've caught up! It's Tuesday night and I'm writing about Tuesday....
Now I'm going to tell you why people LOVE London. What a bustling, bright, alive city. It never sleeps, you can shop, eat, do theatre, etc til you drop. I hit Trafalgar Square this evening about 4.30pm on a late Summer day of about 25c (again), the sky was clear, the sun was soft and warm, there were crowds enjoying the fountains, statues standing out in the clear air framing the spires of Westminster and Big Ben at the end of Whithall Road. Honking black taxis, a liquorice alsorts collection of people and cultures, incredible!...The architecture, a mix of pre-victorian, Victorian, Edwardian and Modern, people pouring into and out of tube station 'holes'...WOW
London has a community PR campaign happening at the moment - probably the result of the bombings last year - very clever. There are light pole banners EVERYWHERE that declare 'We are Londoners' - or otherwise read as 'We are one'. Nothing stops them. I spoke to a guy who commutes into London each day and the only thing that has chaged for him and his colleagues is that they don't commute daily anymore they concentrate their need to be in London and work from home the other days - their companies support this as it keeps them off the trains, tube, and streets - so they have benefited from these bombs and have better lives for it.
I must say though, I can't understand the logic of anyone that their God or any God would think it is good to kill people - bombed, terrorised (or in war for that matter). They seem to hurt their own people more that the targets. Here in London or in Bali it is the same...
Went to Kew Gardens and Palace today. I could live in Kew. What a lovely place - obviously the Royal family thought so too. Had a quick look in a real estate window - 3 bed unit in an Edwardian house - sit down - £595,000. Holy Dooley....
Took stacks of photos at the gardens. There was about 1/2 acre of rose gardens. Boy can the English grow roses. I wish I could capture the smell - devine. There is not much that grows in Britain that we don't grow somewhere in Oz. I did get some very interesting shots of miniture pine cones and what I think might be immature chestnuts.
Also visited Kew Palace. 400+ years old and literally closed up for the last 200 years after George 3 died. Only opened to the public for the first time from last April after massive restoration. But the interesting thing was how they had left parts unrestored and other parts taken back to 1600's version, some 1700's and some 1800's. Fascinating to see how this stately home had changed over the centuries. The next stage is to restore the kitchens and start using them again cooking authentic period foods. Would love to try that...
Kew had follies, peacocks, flowering holly, hibiscus, everlasting daisies, bananas (ooohhh I wanted to steal one...)
London is incredibly costly to live in and because of this the diet has been very stodgy here - lots of bread, and dairy. Even the Chinese and Indian food is protein based and I'm sure MSG. And - you can still smoke in restaurants here! Could kill for some fresh veges. Hope to rediscover these once out of London. My YHA bed includes breakfast so I've been having hard boiled egg on toast and yogurt and coffee for bfast and taking extra bread, cheese, muffin and apple away with me for lunch and snacks. And dinners in the £5 bracket are stodgy. Maccas you can get a cheese burger for £1, a steakhouse steak is about £14 and a counter meal in a pub about £8. Multiply by 2.5 for $ and you can see why it's expensive. The tube is £5/day - which is pretty good value if you use it as your main mode of transport.
# posted by The Essence of Good Taste @ 12:52 PM 
