Tag: London

Humor, Life, London, Work

More of the Same

“Even boredom has its crises.”
– Mason Cooley

There’s been more than the usual amount of radio silence here at Small Dog Enterprises.  We’ve had a few shifts around at work which has meant short (if any) lunch breaks and coming in early/staying late.  And as lunch is when I do a good portion of my writing, you can see how this leads to a general problem.  Never fear, this is (supposedly) a limited issue and hopefully a replacement will be found for the cad who’s departure left us in the lurch – looking at you, Off. Lampost!

The long and short of it is that I’ve taken on all police front desk area work so my workload has at least doubled.  The irony of it.  I’ve been asking for more things to do since about the time I started here four years ago (Sidenote- gack!  Four years!  Time to go) and I’m sure there are any number of quotes to the effect that Providence punishes people by giving them exactly what they ask for.

But also, as per usual for this time of year, I’m feeling stuck again.  I think Autumn is so wrapped up in my head with new changes, projects and challenges that when it rolls around and nothing changes significantly, I start to get antsy.

I am ready to move on.  I’ve come to appreciate this job, as much as I like to grouse about it, because it has taught me to work.  I thought I knew what work was when I graduated university – four years later I look back on my younger self with a headshake and a, “Oh, honey, just you wait.”  But now that I have some applicable skills under my belt, I want to do something with them besides just answering phones and puncturing helicopter parents when they start to swell up because their beloved child got in trouble.  I’m nervous to look for work again, but oddly excited too.

I am ready to live somewhere new.  I grew up moving so much that staying in one place for too long makes me claustrophobic, and I’ve now been in this corner of the world for longer than I’ve lived anywhere.  It would be going too far to say that I hate it here, but it’s not an exaggeration that I could never set foot here again and be perfectly happy.  I stayed for J., and I’ve never regretted it for one moment, but that doesn’t mean I won’t gleefully drive away and never look back.

I am so ready for us to be a two income family (apparently the term for that is DINK – dual income, no kids.  I’m not sure I’ll categorize myself as such, though) and not stuck in this quasi-student exsistence.

I cannot wait to be back in London, where you can’t be bored or stiffled if you tried.  The weather may be terrible, the rent may be high, the practicalities of life might weigh, but there is always somewhere to go, something to do, places to just be.  You’ll never run into the same person twice (as opposed to where we are now where the vast majority of the population seem to be clones of one another, albeit in a more futile than frigtening way).  And there is always something to explore.

I am ready for change, ducklings, and so these days, with their oppresive Sameness are just a bit more smothering than usual.

So!  How do you get through the boring bits?  Clearly this isn’t a life skill I’ve properly developed, which is why it’s such a handy thing to have lovely minions to interrogate.  Share your thoughts and recommendations, Aunty C. needs them.

Jupiter Ammon! My worst fear incarnated!
Humor, Linkstorm, London, Travel, Weekend

Friday Links XXVI: Olympics Editions (sort of)

“Go where we may, rest where we will,
Eternal London haunts us still.”
― Thomas Moore

I never got around to telling you about our last two days in London, kittens, partly because one of those days was spent cleaning the house J. lived in and the other (which was a fantastic morning at the Portobello Road Market) I failed utterly to take pictures of.  Between the vintage shops, the paper goods, and the ancient Roman and Egyptian antiquities, I did a lot of fantasy shopping in my head.  J. indulged me with a swing by a favorite bookshop, before we hopped on some buses (certain tube stations being closed for maintenance) and rode around the city for a while.  We had one last swing through Covent Garden to check out the markets and street performers, indulge in J. in a pair of Paul Smith shoes to replace two pairs that took a beating this winter, and grab me a truly fantastic blazer from Zara (I love sale season in Europe!).

The Olympics kick off officially today, so I can at least catch a few glimpses of London skyline here and there on the telly.  In the meantime, here are your links, minions and let me know what fun things you’re doing for the weekend.

Tumblr find of the week: remember those “choose your own adventure” novels?  Well, it wasn’t inevitable that you’d always make wise decisions.

Made any mistakes lately?  I have.  Nothing major, but I tend to beat myself up over them just the same – but it could always be worse.

Oh good grief.  Can’t we all just agree you’ve gone mainstream and violated your own ideals already?

What?  You’re in the Louvre too?!

The real Olympics are kicking off today and I’m missing London so here’s a bit of Brit love for your home.  A phone, a mat, something a bit more personal.

Also, the real Olympics aren’t always glamorous.

And as for Brit labels, we’ve been dropping some serious coin on J. these days, getting his work wardrobe finished up and making sure he’s ready to look the part of a City man.  So, it’s absolutely my turn, right, minions?

Creepy, Victorians.  Just creepy.

It really does take a village.  It shocks me how quickly people forget (or fail to actually learn) that they are usually the product of a lot of other people’s goodwill, success, or work.

Clean energy technology development: pretty nifty!

The weekly sheep returns in smug, cute glory.

Books, Family, Humor, London, Shopping

Treasure: Silly Old Bear

“When you see someone putting on his Big Boots, you can be pretty sure that an Adventure is going to happen.”
― A.A. Milne, Winnie-the-Pooh

J. and I have been married for three years now and according to an increasing number of people, we’re supposed to start having kids.  Preferably we’re supposed to already have one and  be ready to pop out another.

This casual attitude towards our personal choices, from a few close friends and relations but mostly perfect strangers, gives me more angst and headaches than I can successfully convey, but that’s another post entirely.  Needless to say, it gets me riled up.  These talks, whether instigated by friends, family, or total strangers, leave me feeling very misunderstood, very talked-down-to, and very angry.  J.’s aware of this and luckily he and I are on the same page when it come to the timing of such things.

So you can imagine the heights reached by my left eyebrow when glancing through all the treasure to be found in Cecil Court, J. suddenly froze, pointed to a shop’s (Marchpane) displayed wares and declared, “We need that for Stormageddon’s room.”

Stormaggedon being the nickname we use when discussing our future child.*

“Did I miss a very critical conversation?” I demanded.
“Look,” he insisted excitedly.
I looked, and beheld some original, hand colored prints from the 1926 first edition of Winnie-the-Pooh.

This tale only makes sense if you understand that J. loves Winnie-the-Pooh.  It was his favorite character as a child, his favorite movies, you name it.  My six foot, broad shouldered, grown man, all-American husband loves Pooh.  And here were original prints from £15 a piece.

We bought three.

Stormageddon may be years off yet, but he is going to have a fabulous nursery when he shows up.  Courtesy of his father.

*Fellow Whovians know why.  And how he’ll look at the world.

Humor, London, Shopping, Travel

London Gems: Cecil Court

“Thank God!  Cecil Court remains Cecil Court…”
– Graham Greene

Literally just around the corner from the Leicester Square tube station is a short street connecting St. Martin’s Lane and Charing Cross Road that’s devoid of traffic and lined on either side with shops that haven’t had a facelift in over a hundred years.  This is Cecil Court and it’s a print lover’s paradise.

Banknotes, antique books, maps, prints from books and magazines, movie and theatre posters, and even a couple of specialty collectors’ shops for models or antiques.  You can find massive Early Modern folios or tiny penny post stamps and all well priced.

The shops themselves, while mostly Victorian in the front, have been around for several centuries.  One owner talked with us a bit about her space – apparently Mozart lived (and had his hair cut) in it as a boy while lodging with a barber who sold tickets for the young prodigy’s concerts out of his shop.  The Foyles brothers had their first book shop here before moving to their current and most recent location in the early 20th century.  T.S. Elliot lived in a flat above the shops in the Court at one point, and William Hogarth’s mother died in one of them as well.

J. originally caught sight of the Court while wandering around and knew that I’d love it, and so insisted we visit when I was in town.  Naturally enough we went back a couple of times looking for treasure,  especially antique maps because I love them and plan on having a wall in our someday house decorated with one from every place we have lived.  Maybe another one with every place we visit.  We didn’t find any that we loved in our price range, but we did come away with treasure, which I’ll tell you about tomorrow.

If you want a small slice of London intelligentsia, unique history, that’s crammed to bursting with interesting things, and a quiet place to rest from the bustle of Leicester Square, stop by Cecil Court.  There are plenty of places to eat around it, it’s incredibly easy to get to, and you may just come away with something priceless.

Cecil Court in a cloud burst. I had a minor heart attack thinking of all those magnificent paper wares in the wet, but clearly the shop keepers are savvy about their work because anything on display outside is wrapped in plastic and perfectly safe. Whew!

* Photo mine.

Humor, London, Shopping, Travel

London Gems: Jermyn Street

“I saw someone peeing in Jermyn Street the other day.  I thought, is this the end of civilization as we know it?  Or is it simply someone peeing in Jermyn Street?”
– Alan Bennett

Halfway between Piccadilly Circus and Green Park tube stations runs a fascinating road.  Jermyn Street is traditionally known as for its mens’ shops, specializing in tailoring, outfitting, and grooming London gentlemen for a couple hundred years now, as well as Britain’s oldest cheese shop, and Beretta, gunmakers since the 16th century.  But I’m in a girly mood, kittens, so I’m going to tell you a couple of my girliest indulgence to be found along this London road.

Fortnum and Mason started as an upscale Enlightenment grocery store and went on supplying basic home goods and luxuries to the present day.  Queen Victoria ordered food from it, it supplied troops during the Napoleonic wars, and claims the honor of being the first place in Britain to stock canned beans.  Today its ground floor stocks gourmet teas, coffees, biscuits, liquors, candies, and other taste sensations, all of which make excellent presents (I bought some unusual jams for the girls) for decent prices.  The upper floors, though are the real treats, stocking everything from nice kitchenware and home goods, china and hampers, ladies cosmetics, children’s’ traditional toys, and a truly fantastic men’s shop – which may have given J. some fearful ideas for future birthdays and anniversaries.  The Piccadilly store also has a lovely tea shop that is a great place to go for a treat, as well as four other restaurants to feed you at any time of day.

Floris is a perfumery that has been at this address since the 18th century.  Mary Shelley, Beau Brummell,Winston Churchill, and James Bond (the fictional character, he wore No 89) have all been customers and the shop preserves a lot of old fashioned shopping customs.  For example, it used to be considered vulgar to hand money to customers so to this day if you get change, a shop attendant will pass it to you on a velvet pad.  This place is, understandably, more expensive but worth it if you want a lovely present, or just want to treat yourself.  Many of their concoctions are centuries old, I bought my little sister her birthday present here, a fragrance originally crafted for Queen Victoria on the occasion of her marriage, and was re-released this year in honor of Elizabeth II’s jubilee.  There’s also a men’s fragrance originally developed for a Russian count that’s still sold today!  If you’re really up to dropping some cash, you can have a custom scent created for you – which, I’m not going to lie, I’d love to do some day.

So, if you’re in the mood for a touch of high end shopping, check out Jermyn Street, kittens.

Food, Humor, London, Travel

London’s Hidden Gems: Cheese

“Cheese – milk’s leap towards immortality.”
– Clifton Paul Fadiman

One of the places I showed J. was Neal’s Yard in Covent Garden, a hidden street only a short walk from his usual stomping ground but that he’d never heard of.  London is stuffed with places like this, it’s probably why I love it so much.  Neal’s Yard used to be just an old, unused area behind some buildings on Neal Street and Monmouth Street.  In the 1970’s Nicholas Saunders opened a series of businesses that soon attracted other shops and venues.  Today you can find homeopathic snuggled up alongside major brands, boutiques and pop up shops, and tons of character in every last one of them.

Walking into the yard proper is fun because the brick walls and windows are all painted bright colors, there are quirky shops specializing in everything from astrology to frozen yogurt, and you get the idea that you’ve walked into a big, confetti colored secret.  J. took a look around and declared, “You lead me into wardrobes,” which may be one of the cutest compliments ever uttered, as far as I’m concerned.

The point of our visit was that I wanted to glance through the Neal’s Yard Dairy, one of the best cheese shops in London and one of the places that has such a fun ambiance that you want to kidnap tourists from the normal places they’re herded into and show them an off-the-beaten-path good time.

Again, like most shops, it’s tiny but crammed to the brim with good stuff.  There are massive rounds of cheese stored along every wall, and a staff eager to slice off samples of their wares.

J. and I tried a few samples for the fun of it.  If ever you have sinus problems, let me recommend the Stinking Bishop – it’s about as potent as wasabi!

Each cheese is labeled by name, and more uniquely, the farm it was made at.  No processed stuff here, if you please!  This is an artisan’s shop, stocked by independent and family farms from all over Europe.  We got half a round of Tunworth, a Hampshire soft cheese which is (a staff member informed me) often referred to as an English Camembert.  It is delicious with gala apples.

It’s a fun treat place if you’re throwing a party and need a cheese platter, if you’re in the mood to experiment with gourmet grilled cheese sandwiches, or if you just want to snag something to treat yourself with an alternate to sugar.

Neal’s Yard, minions.  Check it out.

*All photos mine.

Humor, London, Travel

Never Take History Seriously

“Why, ” said the Dodo, “the best way to explain it is to do it.”
– Lewis Carroll

I have a deep love of British museum placards, they often go for funny.  Once, in the North, my family went to a museum about Roman Britain along Hadrian’s Wall.  There was a skull on showcase there that once belonged to a Celt who had been decapitated by the Roman garrison.  The placard read something to the effect “remains of one of the revolting northern tribes.”  To this day I haven’t figured out if that was meant to be a political or personal description.

Humor, Husband, London, Travel, Work

Room With A View

“I have no use for body guards, but I have very specific use for two highly trained certified public accountants.”
– Elvis Presley

This is the office where J. will be working next year:

And this is the view out of the front door of said building:

Why, yes, that is the Tower.

Now, minions, I need to find an equally impressive job, or at least one with an equally impressive scenery.

Humor, Husband, London, School, Travel, University

London Day Four: Gowns and Graduation

“At commencement you wear your square-shaped mortarboards.  My hope is that from time to time you will let your minds be bold, and wear sombreros.”
~ Paul Freund

This was our day to be Very Serious, kittens, since it was sort of the point of the whole trip.  We spent almost the whole day in Covent Garden with only a few meanderings into Soho.

Getting dressed for the occasion.
The director offers a few words of last minute advice.
Done.

I’m unbelievably proud of that guy.  He worked incredibly hard, and it wasn’t a fun nine months, but it paid off.

Humor, London, Travel

London Day Three: Markets and Murder

“It is my belief, Watson, founded upon my experience, that the lowest and vilest alleys in London do not present a more dreadful record of sin than does the smiling and beautiful countryside.”
― Arthur Conan Doyle, Sherlock Holmes: The Complete Novels and Stories, Volume I

On our third day in London (my true love gave to me..) we spent most of the day in Southwark before taking in a museum and celebrating our anniversary a couple weeks late with dinner and another show.

We did Borough Market, which everyone really should check out if they get the chance.  It can be a bit touristy, but the quality of goods sold there (to say nothing of the ambiance) is worth it.  You’ll get produce that most places don’t stock (such as cilantro and plain black beans,  necessities in the Small Dog household), plus any number of artisan goods.

For me, the breakfast of champions.
J. required a bit more…
…alright, a lot more. Yes, that is an entirely separate sandwich.

Borough Market really can be summed up best in pictures so here’s a few more for you to drool over, minions:

Hungry yet?  So were we.  We grabbed some quick bites and wandered through Southwark along the Thames, past shops, and generally enjoyed ourselves before heading off to the Imperial War Museum and wandering through Lambeth.

This is another freebie, but again, I encourage donations.  The front hall of the museum is a wanna-be soldier’s dream, stuffed with aircraft, artillery, and transports from the major wars of this century.  There are all sorts of rotating exhibits, we took in one that chronicled a single family’s experience with WWII and the blitz, and another about MI5 and MI6 and other secret operatives from the 20th century.  Great stuff!

We rounded off the night with an anniversary dinner at Kopapa in Covent Garden, which is definitely worth a look in if your around for a show.  They have a great pre-theatre menu, but their normal menu is incredibly good.  It’s a small plates restaurant, so you order several dishes and tuck in.  Psst!  Order the Crema Catalana for desert!

For our show we saw The 39 Steps, an comedic adaptation of Hitchcock’s film where 130 speaking roles are performed by only four actors.  Check out the trailer on the site to get a taste of how they managed to pull this off, because it’s absolutely brilliant!  Simple but hilarious special effects, classic British stiff upper lip, puns and allusions to other Hitchcock works, and even a cameo by Hitchcock (wouldn’t you like to know how they manage that!), this is a definite must see.   Hysterically funny!

The show was at the Criterion Theatre, right on Piccadilly Circus itself and just steps away from the tube station.  It was built in the 1870 and is an underground theatre, which during its construction was problematic as theatres of the day were lit by gas and let off toxic fumes.  Luckily electricity showed up in the 1880s.

*All photos mine