A Short Break

Don't panic! (You know who I'm talking to ;) 

I'm taking a brief hiatus from blogging to visit my brand new nephew, Lloyd Benjamin:

Is he not the most squishy baby you've ever seen? I guess I'm partial to his cuteness as his favourite Auntie (I'm sure he'll agree as soon as we meet.) 

I would gladly get back on a plane to the States just to give hugs and kisses to him, his amazing parents, proud big sis and beaming grandparents.

Kew Gardens

It's hard to believe-- when looking out the window today at the cold, gloom and rain-- that just two days ago I was basking in the sun while strolling through the beautiful Kew Gardens. I even had lunch outside... with my sunglasses on! Argh and ugh. At least I have my memories. And pictures. Hundreds of pictures.

I've wanted to visit Kew Gardens ever since my first trip to London. While a trip never quite made the itinerary before, we live seriously close now and I knew that I'd eventually get there. I've been biding my time, waiting for the right day to go as the admission 

price is a tad expensive I didn't want to waste a trip by just meandering without a purpose. Finally, that purpose came around: the spring orchid show. I had read glowing reviews so, I just HAD to see them for myself. And, it was unbelievably impressive. Literally, thousands of orchids were staged in the Princess of Wales Conservatory. It was like a Georgia O'Keefe explosion.  

I have to admit, I'm a bit obsessed with greenhouses and conservatories; when I was a child (and perhaps still now) I found their warm, dewy environments magical. So maybe, I got swept up in the moment. Maybe I, along with numerous groups of cotton-top pensioners and uniformed school children, clicked my shutter one too many times, used the macro-setting more than I should have.  BUT, I couldn't stop! It was intoxicating.

You're probably tired of hearing me say this about places I visit, but I would return to Kew over and over. I know I have one trip planned in May with H & E (don't worry, I only saw a fraction- and definitely not the parts we want to experience together!) By then, the main attraction will be the park itself, not just the indoor parts. And the flora and fauna will be at full tilt. I may just have to bring my camera along.

DISCLAIMER : This will get gratuitous. My apologies.

they're called "living stones" but I think they look like brains

proof I lunched outside, with my sunglasses ;)

Richmond Park

On Sunday, I was invited to a puppy play date by a couple I think I can call my first friends in London! How exciting!! Of course, it was actually Chewie who made friends first and he can keep Jonah, but I'm co-opting the humans ;)  So little Chews and I boarded a bus to take us to Richmond Park to meet our new friends mid-afternoon (he will be such a seasoned traveller by the time we leave England!) No one batted an eyelash to a dog getting on the bus, we sat on the upper deck and I think he quite enjoyed the view from the top. It amazes me how fast the ride is to Richmond- so fast we got to the park a half hour before our scheduled meeting time.  That gave us a few minutes to explore a public footpath that goes from the park to the Thames. It would be a very nice walk in much nicer weather.. Richmond is a beautiful town to explore seeing as how fancy the homes are.

Back to Richmond Park though- it really is an amazing place.  It's positively massive in it's size and it was more hilly than I imagined it to be.  There are marshlands and ponds and small forests and glens.  The park is kept well, but definitely not manicured- it seems to be a true wild area in the midst of an enormous city. There are even trees 500 years old!  It was King Henry VIII's hunting grounds and there are still deer roaming... we didn't see any however ;)

We did see many ducks, geese and other dogs. Needless to say, Chewie greeted every dog.  He is still relatively new to walking off the lead and he did pretty well.  He runs off like a little bullet anytime he sees a new dog, but comes back after he's had his fun... as long as there is a treat reward. Unfortunately, I had forgotten his treats so it became a group effort to get him back to us a few times.  And there were a few other times that I just kept him on the lead because its just so much easier. In a very quintessential British way, one of my companions remarked, "Chewie is a bit of free spirit, isn't he? Perhaps he should have a passport." We joked that he was acting as a park ambassador surveying all visitors we came across.  But, I think he had the time of his life.

After our walk in the park, we had tea at the nearby Petersham Nurseries.  It's a tea house, garden center, retail shop and newly Michelin-starred restaurant all in one complex. And it's perfectly gorgeous!  They allow dogs in the tea house portion and the boys were happy to join us, especially since it was warm and cozy in the greenhouse.  It was a lovely afternoon despite the typical London weather (cloudy, cold, off-and-on rain, etc...) and I'm looking forward to returning to Richmond Park and Petersham Nurseries both with my new friends and old!

Mick Jagger lives in that row of homes...

Jonah and Chewie.. which one is which? I can't tell!

Chewie acrobatting from a fallen tree...

not the best pic of the tea house, but cute place, right??

At the Cinema

I've done something (twice!!) in the last week I thought I'd never do: go to the cinema alone.  And I'll admit, it's not as bad an experience as I always imagined it to be.  I'm not sure why I hadn't ever seen a film by myself... perhaps it has something to do with thinking I'd be wasting time.  However, I do believe the British weather compels you to spend as much time as you can, indoors! 

Around this time every year, I feel as though I should see some Oscar contenders. Luckily this year, most of the nominees interest me AND I've got loads of free time on my hands.  Thus the impetus to head into Leicester Square to find an independent cinema, the Prince Charles, that had an afternoon showing of The Kids Are Alright. The theatre was easy to find, the seats were comfortable and the matinee price was right- not to mention the movie was fantastic.  It was a great way to spend a dreary midday and walking around the Square so near Piccadilly and Trafalgar always adds a spring to my step.   

Next up, I decided to see Black Swan, which I thought was completely over the top, but still more or less enjoyable.  This time I went to a massive modern cinema in the massive modern Westfield Mall. There weren't as many people in the theatre as the Prince Charles but more than I thought there would be at 11:00 a.m. One of the patrons actually had to tell the theatre attendant to start the film which added 15 minutes of waiting to the entire run time. But the sound was EXTREME!!! Seriously, I had to plug my ears during a few parts... Yep, I'm a cranky old bitty. ;)

Now, if only the Brits could make the salty, buttery popcorn I'm used to getting with Gavin, the experience would be complete.

walking around Leicester Square, which is under renovation
for the Summer Olympics

the Price Charles Cinema

swanky reception area outside the theatre

Brrrrrrr....

I really don't like to complain about random setbacks we have in London.  It feels wrong to disparage this experience of living in one of the world's greatest cities with so many interesting and engaging sights to see.  Which is why I don't talk about the annoying bits on this blog.  However, I will make one exception this time ;)

We've been having issues with our boiler which heats both our water and the registers throughout the house.  Since late last fall, the boiler couldn't keep any pressure.  We had plumbers come out at least four times to jog the system back into working order. It took another couple visits to diagnose the actual problem, get approval from our landlord and fix the issue.  Thankfully, we now have new hardware on all the registers in all the rooms (installed two weeks ago) and the pressure has been maintaining.  

Though we thought the problem resolved, we were disappointed then, to wake up last Saturday morning to no heat anywhere!  I think we probably lost it sometime Friday night, even. The worst part about losing heat was that we knew we couldn't contact our rental management company until Monday morning- we had learned over Christmas break that this "wasn't an emergency." Luckily, the weather turned out okay on Saturday; it was about 55 degrees, but extremely windy.  Sunday, we didn't fare as well: we spent our day at coffee shop, pub, coffee shop, pub (LOVE those pub fireplaces!) just to not sit around a frigid home.  Chewie was mostly unaffected, but did spend a bit more time under his blankets... 

Monday, after NUMEROUS phone calls back and forth between the management company and the plumber, the plumbers got here around 2 p.m. By 2:30, the problem was diagnosed, but they had to travel about a half hour away to find the new replacement part.  Not to mention, they were trying to get approval from our landlord for the fix... who is out of the country.  The plumber was nice enough to take pity on a frozen Nellie and agree to replace the part anyway.  Once found, the part was installed by 4:30 p.m. and heat was finally on it's way!  The issue had something to do with the pilot light misfiring and I took a picture of the part that needed replacing.  It looks totally scary, but the plumber assured me that we wouldn't have exploded ;)  

yikes, right?!? i just had to share this pic!

I really hate being cold, it's one of my biggest pet peeves. Sunday night, I actually wore a scarf to bed... go ahead and laugh ;)  But, I will say though we were uncomfortable, the situation was tolerable- annoying, but tolerable.  We got creative in keeping clean using water boiled on the stove, I drank lots of tea and cuddled under blankets. And now the heat is back, I took a scalding shower last night and all's well that ends well. 

Signs of Spring?

It hasn't been very warm here. That's why I think some of the vegetation around here is confused.  I mean, I knew spring arrived earlier here than I am used to, but end of January/beginning of February? We've only had one serious snow in December; I just refuse to believe that's all the snow they get here.

I took these shots on the usual route to the park.  I just hope when spring actually has sprung, there are a few flowers left to bloom!

As Seen From the Bus

What exactly is this business selling? Accounting advice and ultrasounds??

if you can squint, you can see the VERY pregnant lady on the right...
yikes!