September 7, 2003

We've had a busy month since we last wrote. Nothing too exciting, but plenty to tell you about. The month started with some ordinary social things and then got more interesting. We went out bowling with some friends (Sharon and the gang of 6). This is 10-pin bowling, with the big bowling balls - none of those New England small bowling balls over here! I bowled a 137, and then a spectacular 198. Don't ask me how, it comes out of nowhere and rarely happens. Toby did well too, with a score in the high 130s (a record for her). Then off to a great pub (restaurant) dinner that was delicious. That's where Toby affirmed her enjoyment of Pimm's and Lemonade, the classic English summer drink. Pimm's is a gin-based drink, a summer drink served with lemonade (like 7-Up) and cut up fruit and vegetables, like cucumber, strawberries, mint leaves. Sort of like Sangria only better. Sounds interesting, tastes great. (She's also developed a taste for gin and tonics, but we'll not talk of that here…)

The occasional webcam

We had our second annual garden party here at Dove House Close (our little apartment complex). Very nice time, and we met some new neighbors - a younger couple from Kansas. He just finished his PhD at Oxford and is doing a post doc at Cambridge, she works for Oxfam (the charity). Nice folks. They even have their car here with Iowa plates! The license plates look very out of place, but make us smile when we walk by since they remind of us home.

We also hauled down to Chichester with Sharon and Steve. Chicester is near Portsmouth, on the coast, about 1.5 hours away. We went down to go to a Hot Chili Pepper Festival. Chilies everywhere. We bought 3 chili pepper plants - one ornamental (not hot at all), two hot (really HOT). Don't know what we'll do with all these peppers as they are all ripe now, but we'll figure something out. We'll dry them anyway, but there are still too many for us. Got any suggestions? On that same trip, we went to Portsmouth and walked along the sea. Saw the hovercraft come in from the Isle of Wight and enjoyed the sunshine. That was the day London set its new high temperature record, so it was nice to be at the beach, even for just a little while. Some pics below.

Click on a photo to see the big version
Chili pepper plants waiting to be bought	The hovercraft coming in from the Isle of Wight	The hovercraft up close	Toby, Tom and Steve dipping their toes in the ocean

British summer is not complete without going to a proms concert. The Proms is a series of concerts founded by Sir Henry Wood in 1895, now promoted every summer by the BBC. Our concert wasn't sponsored by the BBC, but it was outside at Blenheim Palace (you remember that place, 6 miles from us, where Churchill was born). There's nothing like a palace at sunset. A beautiful night, classic tunes and fireworks to boot. For us, it was a mini version of being with the Boston Pops on the Esplanade on July 4th --- with a few exceptions. Firstly, these Brits know how to picnic. Serious picnickers. Tables (even some real wooden ones), chairs, lanterns, tablecloths, proper dishes, wine, strawberries, cream…you get the idea. There were also people like us, who sat on a 'rug' and ate out of Tupperware. But plenty of true picnickers. While much of the music was the same, we don't play God Save the Queen (for us, the tune is My Country 'Tis of Thee), Rule Britannia, Pomp & Circumstance (there are words to this one!), and wave British flags. They do. We did too! The icing on the cake was the fireworks, fired off to the 1812 Overture. If that isn't 4th of July Boston, I don't know what is. As for the picture of hay on the right, it has nothing to do with the concert but we didn't know where else to put it. I guess it's just an end-of-summer thing, but that is one of the fields near us where they had just harvested the hay and rolled it up for storage. Very scenic (click the picture for a bigger version).

News

Other news of interest includes the important fact that my work permit and visa were successfully extended. Next step is to get Toby's extended as well, which we will do in the coming weeks. We don't expect any problems with that. How far extended you ask? Well, officially they were extended two more years (until January 2006), but we are planning on coming back to Boston next fall (2004).

Toby has officially switched gyms, dropping out of the one close to our house to join the one in the office park at work. Truth be told we weren't using the local gym, and it was silly to pay for it. Now she can go before/after work, and has co-workers to motivate her. Keep your fingers crossed!

We also had a proper heatwave here. Temperatures in the mid/hi 90s, even touching 100º, the highest temperature in England on record. The humidity wasn't as bad as you might get in Boston, but it was still hot. We enjoyed it - while I wouldn't want it all the time, it was a nice (temporary) change from 75º days. We sought refuge in air conditioning every once in a while, at least when we could find it; it's just not that prevalent here. The movie theatre downtown doesn't have it, so we traveled to another one 30 minutes away for the air conditioning and the buttered popcorn (which they also don't have downtown). That brings us to the topic of movies. Our list this month includes

• Terminator 3 (enjoyable summer entertainment)
• The Whale Rider (excellent)
• Snatch (on video, good)
• Gangs of New York (video, pretty good)
• Captain Corelli's Mandolin (video, not as bad as expected)
• The Importance of Being Earnest (video, not as good as expected)
• The Insider (video, very good)

We even chalked up a few plays too. Some in Oxford, some in London:

• The Master Builder, in London with Patrick Stewart - very good
• Betrayal, in Oxford, enjoyable
• The Reduced Shakespeare Company doing the entire works of Shakespeare (37 plays in 97 minutes), in London, very funny (it's an American trio - very talented)

And lastly got to see Chris Smither at his concert in London to celebrate the release of his new CD, which, in my humble opinion, is excellent.

(Toby) Ginger (my college friend) has been our only visitor this summer. Here for a reunion of sorts (with other people), we got her for 4 days before she went off to see her other friends. Unfortunately, she was here Tuesday - Friday, but I did take two ½ days of work so we could play. We sent her off to Stratford Upon Avon and the Cotswolds by herself, but I got to do new touristy things with her.

The first place we went was Sulgrave Manor - the home of George Washington's ancestors. Lawrence Washington (George's great great great great great grandfather?) bought the house from Henry VIII in 1539. Now it is the only piece of property in England owned jointly by the US and Britain. I thought it would be kind of cheesy, but it was really very interesting. We learned a lot not only about Tudor times in England, but also some stuff about the George and the US. Did you know that the design for the US flag came from the Washington family crest? Well, it did. It has stars and stripes on it too (even though they represented battle victories and fields of blood….). Plus we learned where a lot of words and expressions come from like threshold, chairman of the board, sideboard, turning the tables on someone and more. Ask me sometime, I'll tell you. Highly recommended. Unfortunately, I have no pictures of the place but you can check it out here.

Click on a photo to see the big version
Just past the entrance to Hampton Court Palace	Courtyard at Hampton Court Palace	Clock tower at Hampton Court Palace	Ginger and Toby	Kitchen at the Palace

The other place we went to was Hampton Court Palace - the place where we went to see the Jools Holland concert. It was the home of Henry VIII and is full of history. And it is very large. We took a couple of interesting tours which always help you get a feel for the period. Hard to imagine cooking dinner for 600 in any age - but they did it there. The kitchen picture above is only part of the kitchen (one of the rooms). A pretty amazing place. In the gift shop I bought a postcard listing all the kings and queens of England up to and including Queen Elizabeth I. Here they are (just to help you with your British history):

Willie, Willie, Harry, Steve,
Harry, Dick, John, Harry Three,
Edward One, Two, Three, Dick Two,
Henry Four, Five, Six then who?
Edward Four, Five, Dick the Bad,
Harrys twain and Ned, the lad.
Mary, Lizzie, James, the Vain,
Charlie, Charlie, James again.
William and Mary, Anne O'Gloria,
Four Georges, William and Victoria.
Edward Seven, Georgie Five,
Edward, George and Liz (still alive).

Got that? And no, I didn't make it up!

Trips

We've taken a few trips too. Our version of Labor Day, which falls on the last Monday in August, is called the 'August Bank Holiday' (you see where it gets it's name). We chose not to fight the crowds rushing to the countryside and headed for London instead. We booked a hotel in Trafalgar Square (thanks Priceline for a good deal!) and stayed in the capital for 3 days and played tourist. Our tourist adventures included

• National Portrait Gallery (excellent - Toby wants to go back)
• Tate Modern (eh, not rushing back - not as funky as hoped)
• Globe Theatre (copy of Shakespeare's theatre - way cool, and interesting too)
• Millenium Bridge (kinda cool) leading to…
• St. Paul's Cathedral (big beautiful church)
• Cabinet War Rooms (where Churchill hung out during war; excellent)
• Westminster Abbey (somewhat interesting, Toby was not so impressed)
• Victoria & Albert Museum (humongous, what we saw was excellent)
• The Whale Rider (movie, excellent)
• Reduced Shakespeare Company (theatre, very entertaining)
• Harrods (has to be seen to be believed, amazing)
• Covent Gardens (nice place to shop and people-watch)

It was a fun weekend and we got see things in London we haven't managed to get to yet. Of course, we blame that on all of you, for either coming to visit and wanting to see Oxford and surrounds instead of us meeting you in London, or for you not yet coming for a visit (hint, hint). Pictures below.

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Outside the Globe Theatre	Inside the theatre	Panorama (big) of the inside	Westminster Abbey
A briefing at the Cabinet War Rooms. Live actors did a great job of telling us what it was like.	The map room at the Cabinet War Rooms (where all the action took place) Wax figures this time.	Mrs. Churchill's room underground	Inflatable Sculpture in front of the Tate Modern Gallery
Pretty victorian furniture at the Victoria and Albert Museum	Admiral Lord Nelson atop his Column in Trafalgar Square	Toby at Trafalgar Square	The famous Millenium Bridge

We also took a last minute weekend trip a few days ago to Paris. We met up with our friend Celeste who was going there for a meeting. Celeste came with her sister (Lauren), and her sister's 2-month old son, Toby (aka Toby II). Not too much confusion with two Tobys, since one of them doesn't speak or answer to his name yet. We had a great time, even though it was very brief. Some pictures of the big landmarks in Paris below. Eiffel Tower (by the peace monument), Louvre, Arc de Triomphe, Notre Dame...what a great city. (Toby says: I'd forgotten how beautiful Paris was. Wow.)

Click on a photo to see the big version
Tom and Toby, Eiffel Tower	Toby,Celeste,Lauren, Little Toby at the famous café Les Deux Magots	Toby and Celeste, Eiffel Tower	Marathon runners from the World Athletics Competition. One of the green guys won.
Artistic shot of the Eiffel Tower	Celeste,Lauren,Little Toby at the Arc de Triomphe	Tom and Toby there too	Panorama (big) looking at the Louvre
Toby, smiling in Paris	Famous pyramid entrance to the Louvre	Toby, Tom and Celeste in front of Notre Dame

As an added bonus, on returning to Heathrow Airport, we were heading to the long-stay car park on the shuttle bus, and saw a bunch of people on the side of the road with cameras. Plane-spotters, we figured, but why? Turns out the Concorde was about to taxi and take off and we got to see it. LOUD. But cool to watch. Especially since soon it will not fly anymore.

Bits & Bobs:

• Apparently, when you buy cigarettes in this country, you ask the person behind the counter for 20 cigarettes, as opposed to a pack. (One of my employees was laughed at on a Carribean Island for doing the same.) Can you buy 5 cigarettes? I don't think so. Silly Brits.
• Hard sucking candies (with no filling) here are called 'boiled sweets'.
• An expression that I've (Toby) heard often recently is Demob Happy. One official definition is ‘That state of mind found at the end of a long period of (usually) military service, in which euphoria elevates the pleasurable successes and grosses over the inevitable failures.’ But it's more commonly used to describe the way people feel their last day of work before going on holiday (that would be Allison), or the way they feel their last week of work at a particular job (see the picture of Alex and Luiz both of whom, sadly, left Akzo recently). It sort of implies a sense of freedom is just around the corner.
  

  Alex and Luiz

And there you have it for this report.

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