An oasis in London

 I have talked about nooks and crannies and mews and alleyways. Hidden treasures. Yesterday I set out to find one: Neal’s Yard. It is a very small alley with shops and restaurants. It’s cute but I didn’t think it was anything special.

So M was getting his hair cut and I would meet him in a couple hours. So after Neal’s Yard, I  decided to just wonder around the area and I wandered into a hidden place that was really cool.

It was called Phoenix park. It is a small community garden with trees and flowers and benches. There are winding path. It is a little oasis in a busy city. 

The park was started by community members who still take care of it. There is a small building where they hold events. 

I sat there for a while just enjoying the greenery and listened to a church bell toll. There were pretty flowers and the usual pigeons walking around. London has thousands of pigeons and they are everywhere.

If was so relaxing. 

Met up with M and we decided to go to Borough market to have a really good street taco there. They were closing! We didnt get one one.

I went here on my own the first time and loved the taco. We went back the day after the tube strike last week and the whole market was closed. So this was a second try!  

I guess I wasn’t meant to have another one…too bad. Best food I’ve had here. Goodbye Taco Parde.

You won’t forget Camden Town

 Camden town,, oh Camden town. I still see your garbage blowin’. Glen Campbell anyone?

So natch I looked up funky hippy neighborhoods to go to and near the top of list was Camden town. So off we go. We come up from the station and it’s like we are in a carnival. 

A storefront with  a gigantic dragon on the front of an all you can eat restaurant. A gothic tattoo shop named Dark Angel that has a woman depicting the crucifixion wrapped in black straps with a crown of thorns. A candy shop that has a ferris wheel on the front that is revolving. That’s probably my favorite.

We have entered the land of oz. It is  very crowded. It’s a big tourist attraction. People have to be herded like cattle out of the tube station. Hard to believe because it’s pretty edgy. I can imagine the Sex Pistols playing music here.

It’s one weird store front after another. There’s a guy with his hair shaped into very tall horns playing the guitar and trying his best to look threatening.

There were a group of young people hanging out on a small that have edgy punk look down pat. They were hanging off a light pole and dancing in the street. It’s like this is a big movie set.

One of the big attractions here is Camden Yards. It’s a maze of shops selling jewelry, clothes, trinkets. On the ground level outside is a good area with street food from around the world.

It’s also on a canal. It’s very gritty and dirty. It gives New York a run for its money.

It was great! A lot of fun. Like nothing I have ever seen.

London heat wave

 We take the central line tube every day. It’s hot as hell, always crowded. (Complaint department officially open)

So today it gets up to 91. Apparently there is one heat wave a summer and this is it.That should be fun. People stuffed in like clowns in a tube car, sweat pools forming on the floor. Slippery conditions. Yuck.

Fights may break out today in the race to get that one remaining seat. Those Instagram worthy makeup jobs will melt into a ghoul face. 

 A couple of edgy young men will still have their puffer jackets. I may have to slap one of them. I am unpredictable in hot weather. 

So off we went. M and I were going to different places. It was late morning so not as many people. Stuffy, but not as bad as expected. As usual, very few shorts, some sweaters sweatpants. I give up. It’s a cultural quirk. 

So we decided to meet up at the Westfield mall to cool off before going home. No one has air conditioning here. Had something to eat. I had Mexican. M had Nandos, a very popular ?Potugese fast food place.

How was the Mexican? They had the basics down but not nearly spicy enough.

This is a giant mall like the Mall of America. It was part of a redevelopment along with a huge park next to it,  for the 2012 Olympics. Apparently it was a run down area beforehand.. The park was where track and field, soccer events took place. There is a huge aquatics center where swimming events were held. The stadium that was built is now home of West ham soccer club. (SOCCER,SOCCER,SOCCER)

The area is now home to multiple high rise condos. Very expensive looking.

The mall is like something out of the U.S. 1980’s. It’s obvious young people come here to be seen. They all look like Instagram models. Everything from women in hijabs to midriff baring tops to athletic wear. If people are wearing it , it's on display here. Hair is sharp. Clothes are sharp. Looking good at the mall.

We head out.Standing on the tube platform and there’s a young man in jeans, shirtless. It’s obvious he works out. He is strutting back and forth like a peacock. “Hey ladies look at this!” I guess you can be shirtless in malls and on tube trains.

Only one stop to our stop Yeah.

London is old, very very old

This blog will sometimes jump back and forth in time

We took the tube from Heathrow to Leytonstone. The first thing that struck me is how old everything looked. Everything is made of brick. The majority of houses are row houses. Lots of brick with white trim.

They were made in rows so more people could fit in an area. Most have the same design: 1st floor has living room and kitchen, 2nd floor two beds and bathroom.

In Leytonstone* there is a back garden. In front is an area for your car to be parked in front of the house. I don’t know if this is true in other neighborhoods. 

The street signs are weird here. It’s weird, they appear at random places on walls. At least in my neighborhood.

The row houses are old. Most around here were built 1870 to 1910. The condo building building I stay in is old. One of the locks requires a skeleton key. The other is one I remember from my childhood.

There is also a lot of very modern housing here. Tall apartment and condo buildings in different places. There seems to be a housing boom here with this kind of housing.I’m sure they are very expensive. It reminds me of all the expensive apts they keep building in downtown mpls. only these are way fancier and taller.

*This picture looks exactly like the houses in my neighborhood.

Stranger in a strange land.

 Let’s get serious folks. (Dramatic pause) 

Adjusting to all this tomfoolery(!) I’ve got myself into hasn’t been easy. Just getting here was, shall we say, challenging..

Then living in someone else’s place with someone’s else’s stuff is just weird. Especially for a whole month. It’s not my place, not my stuff and that kind throws you off. It’s not like being in a hotel. 

So the refrigerator has stuff (food) in it. One of the cupboards has stuff in it. Are you supposed to use that? Who knows? I’m not using it because there’s nothing I want to use.  Plus it feels weird to use it. (Lots of weirdness going on on my part)

We are living in a five condo building. We hear and see the other peoples lives. There is a little baby in one unit we hear crying. There are kids in a couple places. They play outside.

We have turned our lives upside down in every way you can. Left our home. Left our stuff. Left our neighborhood and city(and country).  Left our family and friends. 

We fit what would be a years worth of our lives into a carryon suitcase and a backpack. What did I pack? Mostly clothes of course. Short sleeve shirts, long sleeve shirts, shorts, jeans, sweatpants, undies. It will be in the forties some places we go. I brought a Jean jacket. Figure I can layer. Three pairs of shoes. Meds, small amount of toiletries, tablet, phone, chargers. That’s about it.

Passports, vaccination cards, credit cards (2). In my research I found out that schwab checking/debit card (I’m sure there are others) is the best one for me. No foreign transaction fees of any kind.  

Bought international health care insurance. None of my Medicare/VA/supplement works here. I will have to refill meds here. Haven’t had to figure that out yet. I did bring letter from doctor. 

Getting back to the mental, emotional part. I thought this would be similar to U.S., English speaking, similar culture, etc. It’s not. People here are different. They are stoic, polite, neat, they don’t do much laughing and cavorting in public. Nobody is showy. People don’t wear bright colors. 

We have found if you say hello to a stranger walking down the street, they won’t say hello back. However, it is easy to strike up a conversation with people.

Perhaps it is my naive observation but people here don’t seem to fear each other like the U.S. They definitely have a problem with stabbings here. It pales in comparison to the U.S. violence, shootings. There is no mass violence. 

There are so many different cultures here. It feels like more people here speak another language than English. It’s weird to hear all these different languages. It’s fun though. 

We’ve had to figure out an elaborate public transport system with underground, overground, trains, buses. We bought a monthly card. Really expensive. We’ve managed it pretty well because it’s pretty easy to understand. 

Changing tube lines can be easy or elaborate. Sometimes the next tube you want is close. Sometimes in the bigger stations with more lines you are going up and down steep escalators, walking  up and down several flights of stairs. 

London is an enormous city with many neighborhoods. You couldn’t possibly visit them all. The biggest lesson so far is you really have to pace yourself. Sit down a lot, Take days off. Relax. 

To think it will be a new place, culture, people every month is kind of overwhelming but so exciting!

. 

We ain’t in Kansas anymore

 So it’s day 3 after we got here and even though we’re still exhausted, we can’t hold back any longer. We have to go into central London! 

We decide to get the”just kill me now” ridiculously expensive monthly travel card. That HURT but it makes travel easy. The line we live on goes across London and stops throughout central London. 

So we are official tube riders. Down the corridor, scan the card, upstairs to the platform and voila(!), we’re on the train..

Turns out this is one of the busiest lines so it’s often crowded. When the train door opens, there’s a scramble for empty seats. It’s a dog eat dog, snooze you lose, situation. 

On the train are ordinary people of all shapes and sizes dressed in their understated black, beige, brown English clothes. Little color. It’s in the upper 60’s but there are no shorts. Some people have on winter coats. OK…

Nobody is yelling. Nobody is talking to themselves. Nobody looks too threatening. Just minding their own business. This isn’t what I’m used to in Mpls. where if someone isn’t a complete wack job every time you get on, there is something wrong. 

So off we go to dazzling downtown. We come up from the oxford circus station and are blown away. Magnificent beautiful old buildings surround us. 

It immediately strikes me that we are in a city that is thousands of years old and it’s right in front of me. 

To quote a clique, we ain’t in Kansas anymore.

Almost homeless in London

 On the 3rd night things take a dramatic turn. 

I always ordered my groceries for delivery at home. So I thought I’d try it here. So I order it just like usual, pick a time slot for delivery. Everything’s cool.

Get a message saying they are behind. Okay, that’s alright. Time goes by.  I had ordered a evening delivery and it’s getting late. I had told them ring the buzzer and I’ll come down and get it. So I thought maybe they had just left it at the door. So we thought we’d go to check.

So we went out to the hall to go downstairs. The door shuts behind us. We go downstairs. It’s not there. Come upstairs and discover THE DOOR IS LOCKED! Do we have the key? Ah no…we were just going 50 feet down to the door. The lock is from the 1920s or something and automatically locks.

So we are staying in a five unit condo building. We are on the second floor. WHAT THE HELL ARE WE GOING TO DO NOW?! Remember I told you the owner is in France? Neither one of us had our phones with us to call anybody.

I am picturing us spending the night on the street, homeless in London. I’m picturing the police breaking down the door.

So we think- hey maybe there’s a sort of caretaker in the building who has e very one’s keys or something…So we knock next door. No answer. Okay go downstairs.

Door #2: Guy offered to help us force the door open. Ah no…Door #3 The guy knew the owner and had her number! He said he’d call her. I fell at his feet to worship him. Har.

So he calls and comes out to tell us her parents will be there ion 10 minutes to let us in. Hallejulah!

She comes. We apologize profusely. We go in. I superglue the key to my hand. (!) All is well. Another crisis averted

Fox in the henhouse, except there are no hens

So it’s our first night at the airbnb. I am in a blissful deep sleep when I am startled awake by some snarling sounds. There is some kind of wild animal outside! It goes on for about a minute. 

Naturally I yell to my son: What’s that?!! He thinks it’s some drunk guy outside! I tell him no human makes that that sound. It’s some kind of animal. So it stops and we are so tired we go back to sleep. We are so tired that as long as it went away, who cares? After all, it ain’t comin’ in here.

Earlier that evening we had had an interesting experience. There was a fox in the front yard. What???!!! A fox wandering around in a city neighborhood? 

Well it turns out London has a population of 10,000 foxes! So not an uncommon sight. We heard it a couple nights after that (though not sounding nearly as mad as first night- har), but haven’t heard it sense. I kind of miss it.

Murphys law

 We got to the airbnb and I was done. I was distraught. I started to think I had made the biggest mistake of my life. I was questioning everything. It was really something. I was mentally, physically and emotionally exhausted. 

An hour later I crashed.  Five PM. I slept until 10 pm. Got up for a short time and went back to bed and slept til 9 am the next day. Fifteen hours. I felt better but was still exhausted. That was May 26.

That day we discovered we hadthe wrong electric converter for the wall sockets. I had bought a European one and the UK has a different configuration (of course they do). So we walked down to the business street in Leytonstone and bought the right one. It didn’t work. We couldnt get any of the sockets to work. M went down to the electronics store to get an iPhone charger that went directly into the socket. Nope. WTF??!!

So we ended up calling the airbnb owner. She was in France it turns out. After talking it through, she had us look at the fuse box and some dumb idiot had turned off the sockets. We turned them back on and life was copacetic.

Walked to the grocery store to get a few things and spent the rest of the time in the apartment that day.

Oh, I forget to tell you what happened during the first night. Something woke us up outside and it definitely wasn’t human.

I melt down

After going through customs at Heathrow, we decided to just take

the train to Leytonstone where we were gonna be. 

Customs is easy for Americans. Basically you get in a line that winds around for half a mile. Then at the end you put your passport straight down on a scanner and a picture is taken of you. Then voila! You are let loose in England.  

We get a SIM card for the phone at the airport(probably a mistake).

So by now it’s 8 am. We find the tube and start the trip to Leytonstone. My back pack is so heavy, almost unmanageable for me. We take the Piccadilly line to Holton street and change to the central line. We go down stairs, up escalators, through halls all while dragging the bags. 

We arrive in Leytonstone and leave the tube station and we are in a small business district. We immediately sit on a bench. We made it! We are here! We’re in England!

Now we have to figure out how to stay awake for the next 8 hours til the airbnb is ready. We sit there and realize that most people around us speak different languages. This is a very diverse area. It’s great! 

So we go to Subway of all places, our first meal in England is at an American fast food place.

 Now what? What are we gonna do for the next 7 hours? This business area is only two streets. We go to a coffee shop, a library, sit on various benches, end up at McDonald’s. Sit there a couple hours til 3:30.

We are in a state of desperation at this point. It is Wednesday afternoon. We killed ourselves moving the apartment Monday. Slept very little Monday night. Spent 8 hours in JFK.on Tuesday. We were already exhausted. Got no sleep Tuesday night. Now we had to stay awake for 8 hours Monday. 

By the time we arrived at the Airbnb we (shall I say I) were on the edge of losing it completely. 

After we got the keys, that’s exactly what happened: I had a complete meltdown.

On the plane to London

Jet Blue did an absolutely fantastic job on the NYC to London flight. I’ve never been on an overnight commercial flight so had no idea what it would be like. Left at 6pm.

We get to our seats and there is a blanket, sleep mask, socks, earphones, ear plugs, champagne, caviar (OK just kidding on those last two). Soon after takeoff, drinks and snacks. Should have downed a couple of vodka shots to sleep, but alas, did not.Not too long after that, a meal was served that was pretty good.

So it’s about 8 pm now and everybody settles in to sleep. Except me and Mike. We can’t sleep. Two hours later. Lights come up a little bit. Water is given out. About an hour later drinks. Land at 6 am. We actually only spent six hours on the flight but we are six hours ahead so it’s 6 am. It’s midnight back home. 

Our second night with little to no sleep. We will have to stay awake until 4 pm when we can go to our air bnb.