We love a parade ....

Actually we hate a parade.  Tend to be a bit boring and overcrowded, but that didn't stop of from attending one a few weeks ago! (We accidentally walked into it.  Our first reactions was "Shit, now how are we going to get around this?")

So we did the next best thing.  Made fun of it.

  I was hoping none of the Reinactors got mad that she was kind of mocking them with her over zealous march.  They were carrying weapons, you know.

I got more nervous when Jen yelled out "The British are coming and the Yanks still aren't worried...."

 The Belgians had sweet uniforms.  And they do not discriminate against the vertically challenged (check out the pocket size of the drummer)

"You're missing my point, Woodcock.  I do not understand why we group Isaac Newton and John Locke together when talking about Enlightenment philosophers.  Locke was a pillock, a total .......  hang on!  That bird is completely starkers!  Do you see her in that window, Woodcock?!  What a lovely pair of baps, Woodcock.  Indeed..."

 The Queen's Assistant in the City of Westminster.

 Ate a decadent lunch at E.Mishkin.  Sliders, hotdogs, mac and cheese...yum.  We should have packed the musket with a vanilla milk shake but we were worried about the ramifications of not having an emergency loo to visit while roaming about in London.

 Speaking of which, the line outside Five Guys burger joint was mystifying.  The Brits love a queue.

Jen could use a little Mojo

Bill and I went to see Mojo on Friday night.  What is Mojo you ask?  A  play starring several of our favorites….Ben Whishaw, Rupert Grint (HP's Ron Weasley) and Brendan Coyle (Downton Abbey's Bates).  What's it about?  Well….we still aren't sure.  The basic plot was obvious but there seemed to be an awful lot of details that we couldn't figure out.   Questions like "Why did Baby hang Silver Johnny from his ankles in chains for 15 minutes during the third act?" plagued us the whole way home.

Happy theater-goers.

At the interval things started to get good - not on stage but in the theater - when I spotted a couple of familiar faces heading to get ice cream.  I was NOT cool.  No one else seemed to be looking at them as they took their hoodsies into a corner for a chat but I kept hovering like a fruit fly.  Despite the quality of this photo I can tell you that this is Mr Carson (from Downton) and Imelda Staunton (from many things but I'll use HP's Dolores Umbridge since I'm sure she was here to see Rupert on stage.)  They really are great actors because they pretended not to notice me as I spent 15 minutes walking back and forth around them. 

Sadly, this is our best final bow picture.  Ben is cut off on the left, Bates is cut off on the right and Rupert (left wearing tie) is completely fuzzy.

Then it occurred to me to go check out the stage door.  Just before Bill took this picture Rupert was hustled into the back of a hired car with his hoodie up.  I got there just as the door closed but he was nice enough to reciprocate my giant grin and wave as he was whisked off.

Time to head home.  All night Bill kept trying to tell me to be cool.  Act like you've been there before. "The Brits don't act like this, " he told me while I was making circles around Mr. Carson.  "The Brits also don't have 3/4s of a roast beef sandwich in their pocket at the theater!  I can only assimilate so much!"  This is me trying to eat my dinner (said sandwich) as fast as I could before the curtain went up.    That sandwich eventually went to a homeless guy so I guess it was just as well that I didn't get to eat it all in the theater.

But wait…as we were walking to the tube I realized that the man on the sidewalk next to me is Brendan Coyle (Bates)!!!  He must have left the theater from another door and no one recognized him with his cap pulled down. I was on a little island in the middle of the busy road waiting to cross with him and he looked at me and smiled.  

"Hello.  You were great tonight."  (The words came out of my mouth before I could really think about them.  I sounded like the morning after in a B-level rom com.)

"Thank you."

We crossed the street and he went on his way.

What a tree lighting must have been like in 1940

It was light switch on night in Eton.

Light switch on.  The Brits say it like it is.  No frills.

Mind the gap.

 Santa came with two of his B Team reindeer.

Storm and Blizzard were called up from the minors to fill in for the night.  It must be frustrating for the second tier reindeer to crack this lineup.  Rudolph and team never get hurt or miss a game.

 I like how Santa has an accent to fit every region he visits.  Santa with a cockney accent is kind of fun.

But I bet when Santa visits the middle east and speaks in Arabic it is something special.

 Jennie and I broke off from the crowd to have a cupcake.

It was delicious.  

 Then it was time for the tree switch on.

This is the mayor.  I have to give Eton credit.  

Voting in a Hitler look a like takes a leap of faith.

"LIGHT ZE TREE! SCHNELL!"

 The actual tree switch on was a bit anti-climatic after the rousing speech from the Fuhrer. 

Professional Photos by Bill

I took this picture the other day while in Richmond.  I love this picture.  I was eating my burger and having a pint when the couple next to me posed.  I wish I had asked them for an email address so I could send it to them.  I hate thinking of these things after the fact.

Besides being a nice scene isn't the quality great for an iPhone photo?

With these camera phones having more pixels with every release and the photo editing software online it is making it harder to justify bringing the larger digital camera everywhere you go.

Scottish Leftovers

I'm back in Eton but I'm still thinking of Edinburgh.  And, according to this sign, Fletch is all for a return to the north! 

I spent Saturday morning and afternoon wandering around the city - doing my usual bookshop, tea, lunch, shopping kind of day.  Here I am at elevenses (the UK's term for mid morning snack).  This was a lovely moment until a toddler sitting behind me projectile vomited on it's mother.  

In 2011 an anonymous artist created book sculptures for the City of Edinburgh (plus one for local mystery writer Ian Rankin)  and left them in various literary places starting with the Scottish Poetry Library.  I think more have been created since then but the artist remains anonymous.  A few of these are on display so I went to see them for myself.  Amazing!  I first heard about these on Facebook (because I'm friends with the Scottish Book Trust - who isn't? - who posted these) but I also bought a book that talked about the details of each sculpture.  I was reading about it when the Stand By Me barf-o-rama started at the cafe so I figured it was the perfect time to go check them out. (If you want to see more of these, check out this Guardian slide show HERE)

Every post of Edinburgh should have a few majestic castle pictures.

In closing - an Eton update.  This sign was posted on the Long Walk.   Filming in the deer park - squeeeeeee! Could Colin Firth be in town?  

Too Many of Them

The Eton-Windsor version of Jets vs. Sharks broke out when the Swans took on the Geese in a rumble in the Thames.  As you know, I hate the swans.  But I wouldn't bet against them in this battle.  They are dirty cheaters.

Another thing I hate is any living thing en mass.  Obviously large groups of ants and rats give me the shivers.  My uncomfortableness covers large groups of anything.

A bunch of babies - don't like them

A batch of birds - makes me think Hitchcock

A pack of puppies - there is such a thing as too-cute

A ring of little rabbits - I'd think about all the poo they produce

A crowd of kittens - I had to think hard on this one.  I could do seven kittens.  After that they become cliche and overwhelming

A division of ducklings - hmmm... maybe duckings I could put up with

Yes.  I'll give you ducklings ....

Brussels Jazz

Katia took me to a jazz club last week in Brussels.  It was advertised as gypsy jazz, but Katia felt it was more traditional French jazz.  Whatever it was, I liked it.  The lead singer had a good energy and was always into the music, even when he wasn't singing.  He would close his eyes when the violinist had an intricate solo, head bobbing, lost in the music.

It made me think of Joe Jackson and a Van Morrison.  Both musicians I really like but I've heard their concerts are void of any interaction with the audience.  They get on stage, do not acknowledge anyone, and walk off silently when done.  How hard is it to have a minimal of stage presence?

This guy reminded me of a Three Stooges character.

 See his presence?  He's singing to me!

 Katia and I.  She's the best host.

 I'm trying to smoke in as many countries as possible.

 The wall of famous Jazz performers.  I recognized one or two.

 My favorite audience member.  I like a big guy who goes full shaved head.  Then when he laughed and sang along he seemed to be having more fun than anyone else.

 This picture makes it seem like their was a smokey room, the only thing missing from this lovely evening.

London Quiz

Regular readers will recognize from the pictures below that I was in London.

Can you tell where?

I will give you clues.

 Artistic graffiti.  You've seen that before.

I particularly liked Zorro Carrot.

 Bands on the street.  This one had a particularly Eastern European flavour.

 Bohemian hipsters strolling the streets.

 Aha... a market.  It's not a flower market, so you know it is not Columbia Market.

It's not a food market.  That rules out the Borough Market.

 More bohemian musicians.  Russian hat.  Accordian and violin.  Again, the Eastern Euro slant.

 I love the architecture of this building.  Note there isn't a store front sign in the front.  It seems residential, but the small sandwich sign simply says that collared shirts are required.  It's only until you see the neon sign on the side of the building that say "Striptease" do you get a sense of the purpose.

 Tight passage ways with indie retail stores and trendy pubs.

 Any ideas yet?

 I ended my day in London at this pub watching England lose to the All Blacks in rugby.

Any guesses? 

OK, I'll tell you.

I started the day at the Broadway Market in Hackney.  Afterwards I strolled over to Spitalfield.

I love east London.  I probably have said that before.  It has vintage shops, crazy art on the sides of buildings, plenty of opportunities to find taxidermied foxes and bugs, and street food that is worth the journey.  Jen wants to live in Edinburgh, which is an excellent choice.  But east London, in my opinion, is a worthy second option.