The following commentary was written during my trip to London and later uploaded with minor editing. All photos and videos captured using a Canon PowerShot SD110 "Digital Elph" with a 1GB postage stamp size SD memory card. Photos were selected from about a thousand taken during the trip and edited for format at about the same time as the accompanying text. Hand coded HTML using the ultimate in high-tech: notepad.exe; photo editing done using Jasc Paintshop Pro 9 (not Adobe Photoshop).
Monday Feb 21, 2005 11:00PM
Happy Days Express
Tuesday Feb 22, 2005 5:30PM
Snow, Sudan 1, Plugging In and the Tourist Traps
I slept--amazingly with the rumbling of the lorries all night long--until about 10:30AM this morning after calling it a night at about 11PM. I feel a lot more alive today. Despite the bitter cold and the snow I walked quite a distance today. I started off with a mocha near my hotel then walked through Hyde Park through to the South and on to Buckingham Palace, finally heading back North a bit to Soho, through Chinatown, making my way to Tottenham Court Road where I ended up last night and then back toward Oxford Circus, at which point the snow storms really picked up so I made for the Tube back toward Westminster (Lancaster Gate station) where it was still snowing hard when I got off: Click here for an 8 second video clip of me in this lovely weather.
I've got my power needs situated. The bathroom has a shaver plug suitable for plugging in an American electric shaver, and evidently my camera's battery charger. I got a plug adapter for the laptop which does not convert voltage, which is smart and thankfully the kind folks at the electronics store pointed me toward the right (cheaper) adapter which only converts the plug type, noting correctly that my Dell laptop would automatically convert the voltage. It does, and I'm now wired up. I can charge my portable music player through USB on my laptop. All set! Now I just need the Internet...
Not much of a desk to speak of, but functional for my brief stay. Besides, if I loop the television around on its stand I can watch TV in the mirror whilst working on my laptop at the desk. Perfectly fine as far as I'm concerned: watching TV backward.
There's been a food scare here in England which is a recurrence of an incident some two or three years ago. Some chilli peppers produced in India--(Guatam Export Co. who sold it to East Anglian Food Ingredient and then to market products)--were treated with a food dye which is a banned carcinogen (Sudan 1). I'm not terribly concerned, however: it turns out that about half the products these chilli peppers ended up in were McDonald's products (salad dressings, dipping sauces, etc.) For the American Tourist who believes they are safer by eating at a "Trusted American Food Chain" over the local eateries: think again. Fish and Chips, Sausage and Mash thus far have been my fare. Turns out these chilli peppers were produced some three years ago, and there was a recall in 2003. That went largely unnoticed because they weren't common food products. McDonald's: that's a bit more common. There's as many American food chains here as there are in America. Subway is as dominant as Starbucks on the West Coast of the USA. Quiznos, KFC, Burger King, McDonald's: also here in abundance. I'll pass on all that, thank you.
I've been here working the laptop, including delving a bit into .Net Studio which I haven't had much time for (or patience for considering half my day job is of similar ilk). Taking it easy tonight. I figure when I'm done with the computer fun I'll go out and get enough beer to keep me asleep until breakfast, which I plan not to sleep through again (since it's included in the price of my room). Tomorrow is another day. It's a bit too cold to go venturing for me again at the moment since I was out all day in the cold and snow. There's some nice pubs around for food and drink but not much to speak of for clubs in the immediate vicinity, excepting one entitled "Steam" described by Zagat's 2005 Nightlife Guide as "A place to let off steam, this 'vast, stylish' venue at the Hilton Paddington is a 'trendy and fun spot to have a drink before boarding your train home' ... convenient if you're in the area' but find 'no atmosphere', wondering 'why would anyone drink here if they weren't a guest of the hotel?'" ... which sounds about as appealing as Glen Park Station: The Bar.
More photos from Day #2 (click photo for larger image):
Hyde Park: The Old Police Station |
Hyde Park: The Dell1 |
Knightsbridge: Clock Shoppe Window |
Wellington Arch |
Buckingham Palace Guards |
Buckingham Palace Plaza Statue |
Buckingham Palace |
Guards Museum Display |
Westminster Abbey - West Entrance |
Westminster Abbey - North Entrance |
Saint Margaret's Cathedral2 |
Big Ben |
St. Martin-in-the-Fields |
Golden Jubilee Bridge |
Chinatown |
Snowstorm near Lancaster Gate Tube Stop |
|
|
1 The Dell is at the end of the Long Water in Hyde Park. The Long Water and Serpentine were constructed 1727-1731 for Queen Caroline, wife of George II.
2 The clocks on these towers display Apparent, Sundial Time which at the time of this photo was about at the peak of fast inaccuracy (~15 minutes fast). In November, it will be about 16-17 minutes slow.
| 
Oxford Circus in the snow; some lucky commuter decided to bike it
The London Eye Ferris Wheel with Parliament and Big Ben shadowed in the distance
The Evening Standard February 22, 2005: Snow, Food Scare, etc.
The Writing Desk: All juiced up and ready to type!
Fountain at Trafalgar Square
Square Meal: Bangers & Mash at Sawyer's Arms (Near Paddington)
|
Wednesday Feb 23, 2005 5:00PM
The Sold Out Ukulele Orchestra and the Tate Modern
Managed to get up and going at a reasonable hour, having apparently adjusted to the new time zone. Bought a weekly travelcard for £21.40 which is good for zones 1 and 2 and should keep me set until I leave. With this, tube travel is limitless so I made more short trips today. I also picked up the weekly listing guide "Time Out" to help sort out events and happenings.
Took the tube down to St. Paul's to start the day off and then wandered back down to the Thames, across the Millenium Bridge and this time spent a few hours in the Tate Modern.
The snow flurries resumed again by early afternoon. 11:00PM
Well, an interesting evening. I was smart enough to pick up the "Time Out" listing, and found what seemed like an ideal show: The Ukulele Orchestra of Great Britain. It was a semi-long tube ride to the Putney Bridge Station made longer by a lot of delays in the rail service. This line is presently under reconstruction. In any event, the route to the club I was headed to was straight forward but off the map. Lost. Not so lost I couldn't back track. After two hours I found the Half Moon. Show: sold out. Buggers! So I slammed a Stella, mostly to warm up, then backtracked, taking the opportunity to check out the time exposure features of my new camera.
By the time I was back at Paddington it was after 10:00PM. I wandered into aforementioned Steam. I take my earlier comment back: Glen Park Station is Heaven. This place was so pretentious and vacant and pretentious (did I mention pretentious). As soon as I walked in I surveyed the beer taps: Heineken, Heineken, Heineken ... and Heineken were the varieties available (along with a white ale which disagrees with my taste buds). By the time I made it to the last tap Sir Three Piece Suit and Tie with Hilton nametag and security radio asked me if I needed help. I asked for the rest room (explaining I was going to get a drink -- I lied) after relief I went kitty-corner to The Pride of Paddinton which featured Football (the game played with feet) and Rugby highlights on the tv and very loud classic rock; oh: and actual, real beer on tap. Sold. Closing time is 11PM though for most pubs, this one included, so I did not yet order myself a t-shirt, but this will be my pre-KJ stop tomorrow for both dinner and a drink.
Follow-up on earlier comment: 90% of London is Westminster. I don't think I've found London yet.
More photos from Day #3 (click photo for larger image):
The Blitz: Firefighters Memorial (near St. Paul's) |
St. Paul's Cathedral |
St. Paul's Cathedral |
Big Ben from Across the Thames |
The Tate Modern |
Millenium Bridge with St. Paul's in the distance |
Night Shot along the Thames near Putney Bridge |
Footpath at Night near Putney |
Self-Shot along the Thames River |
Hungerford Railway Bridge |
Hungerford Foot Bridge |
Golden Jubilee Bridge |
| 
St. Paul's Cathedral
St. Paul's Cathedral
The Millenium Bridge crossing the Thames River
Down in the Tube
|
Thursday Feb 24, 2005 11:45PM
California Dreaming, Public Transit on Display, Bush: and the Killing Joke*
* The name Killing Joke refers to the military; yes I made a pun. haha.
I slept in again this morning. The slamming of the lift door awoke me at 7:30 but I went back to sleep. When I finally got going I went for breakfast to The Bagel Factory for some food I'm accustomed to. Interestingly, as I took my seat I noted they were playing The Mamas and Papas California Dreaming on the radio. Go figure. There are no leaves to be brown, but the skies still are grey. Then I took a walk on a winter's day down to the tube again and made my way to the London Transit Museum, which was the bulk of my adventure before heading to Shepherd's Bush for the Killing Joke concert.
At the concert I managed to get there early enough to claim a standing spot directly in front of the stage. A lot of people up there had digital cameras, I kinda wished I had brought mine but one man was so busy taking snapshots during the entire performance I wondered if he was even listening. It was just as well. They filmed it, and will film again tomorrow, so I will get the DVD when it's released and I'll almost definitely be in there somewhere due to my proximity.
More photos from Day #4 (click photo for larger image):
Display in the London Transit Museum |
Display in the London Transit Museum |
Display in the London Transit Museum |
Display in the London Transit Museum |
Display in the London Transit Museum |
Display in the London Transit Museum |
Display in the London Transit Museum |
Display in the London Transit Museum |
Display in the London Transit Museum |
|
Entrance to the London Transit Museum
Tim in the London Transit Museum
|
Friday Feb 25, 2005 Round 'Bout Midnight
Bush and the Killing Joke pt. 2, Highgate, Hampstead, Graffiti and Keats (yesterday killed me)
This morning made a timely start and selected the longest walk from my Walking Tours book which also took me to *gasp* the city of London. I took the tube to the outskirts of Zone 2 to Archway station and did the scenic walk from Highgate through to Hampstead. Wisely, I bought myself a hat before I embarked and was thankful when I got to Parliament Hill in a rather heavy snow flurry.
The walk continued out of the Park, past the house of John Keats, and up into Hampstead which is a hilly district with an awkward blend of historic architecture and modern commerce. McDonald's occupies what looks very much like an old tavern. The Gap, Body Shop and other well known stores occupy historic buildings. Going up the hill a bit from the Hampstead tube stop are many hotels and mansions once occupied by well known authors, poets, actors and musicians. Wandering about these neighborhoods I thought this must be where the rainbow ends because surely this is a pot of gold.
Finally I managed to find Church Row where St. Mary's and St. John's and their accompanying overcrowded and somewhat shambled cemeteries are located. Among other things here are the tomb of John Harrison credited for creating the Time Keeper for ascertaining Longitude at Sea.
Finally to wrap up the afternoon I got back on the Tube and down to London Bridge station where I had another helping of sausage and mash along the waterfront then back to the hotel to dump the memory card on the camera and charge the battery. Tonight I'm bringing the camera.
The show tonight was a much better experience. Last night was a lot of fun as well, but the set was shorter, and being all the way up front being mashed against the security fence for two hours both the sound and comfort were severely compromised. Tonight I again arrived early but had third level, not ground level seating and claimed a dead center spot in the front of the balcony. This provided both a better overall view, a much better sonic experience, and a great deal more comfort as the people on either side of me and behind me went the entire performance without elbowing, rump grinding or kicking me in the head. I even managed to jot down the set list which I had intended to do the night before but it was nearly impossible to reach for a pen let alone try to write anything.
The show went a full two hours rather than 90 minutes the night before. Except for some feedback troubles during one song and some obvious unfamiliarity with some material on behalf of the drummer the show was a great performance. Some highlights I thought were the opener Communion, Requiem, Blood On Your Hands, Complications (which was one not played last night) and the final two songs Love Like Blood and Pandemonium. The show ended with a birthday cake being brought out and the band blowing out the candles and the audience singing "Happy Birthday". I don't think I ever heard a more hearty chorus sing that.
More photos from Day #5 (click photo for larger image):
KJ: Wardance |
KJ: Stage Panorama |
KJ: Stage Panorama |
KJ: Stage Panorama |
KJ: Jaz and Geordie |
Old Crown Tavern in Highgate |
Lauderdale House: Highgate |
Duck Pond in Waterlow Park (Highgate/Camden) |
Pond Square: Highgate/Camden |
The Parish Church of St. Michael's Highgate |
Graffiti in Hampstead Heath |
Cemetery on Church Row, Hampstead |
|
Graffiti in Hampstead Heath
Inscription on Park Bench in Hampstead Heath by Parviz Owsia - Iranian Writer
i was born tomorrow / today i live / yesterday killed me
Outside the Shepherd's Bush Empire
Killing Joke on stage Feb 25, 2005 at Shepherd's Bush Empire
|
Saturday Feb 26, 2005 8:00PM
What is wrong with you stupid Americans? Rugby is where it's at!
Chill out day. Slept in again but eventually got motivated to do another walk, this time through Islington. Not really much going on to speak of there, a lot of antiques which don't hold much interest to me. So mostly just snapping more photos of churches. The whole bit was complicated by no Southbound platform access all weekend on the Northern tube line which entailed tracking down a proper bus and delayed my whole start an hour at least. A little warmer today than it has been which wasn't necessarily a good thing either as the snow turned to rain. A very dark day. It's probably just as well since my knees are still complaining about being mashed against the security gates Thursday night. A bathtub would be nice right about now, but this hotel room came only with a shower stall that I barely fit in. I can't imagine what a large sized person must go through trying to wash their feet in such a stall.
After my walk I came back to Paddington and finally returned to the Pride of Paddington for dinner where there was France vs Wales Rugby on tv at the time. Rugby: I can't understand why Americans don't embrace this. The game is great. It's everything American Football should be. It's the reverse lateral scrimmage line QB sneak trick play for the entire game. I could get into this game. Following that game I stuck around--feeling rather sporty and probably at this point looking very much a local to the other tourists coming into the pub--for the Manchester United vs Portsmouth football game (the game played with feet). Both Wales and Manchester won. Being part Welsh I was partial to Wales. I could have cared less about the football match but the bulk of the bar patrons seemed to be pulling for Manchester United so I went along. Both were very good, exciting, and close games that came down to the end. When I first got to the pub Wales was down 15-3 and ended up winning 21-18 while Manchester won 2-1 with a goal scored in the last ten minutes of play.
I have pretty much given up on coffee here, sticking mostly to tea so by my third Guinness at the pub I called it an early night. So it's Saturday. Who cares? There's a lot of late night events happening and I almost put my shoes back on to go back at it but I'm here watching stupid movies and shows on TV and generally feeling red-eyed and blurry. Maybe I can make an early start tomorrow.
No more photos to speak of from today. The weather made most of them rather poor quality, and it's just a bunch of more parks and churches ... hoorah!
|
On the bus in Islington
An establishment with such a name would not be found in America ...
|
Sunday Feb 27, 2005 11:30PM
Get your money's worth: 6 bands for £10 and the bicycle recycle
The sun came out today and this turned out to be a nasty hoax. By 5:00PM or so it was colder than it's been yet. I bought a "souvenir" fleece just for sheer warmth.
For £10 I took in six musical acts today running a gamut of diversity. It started out with an out of the way trek down to Lewisham Arthouse where Jeff Cloke and Sylvia Hallet performed electronic manipulations, bowed bicycle wheel, saw, violin, and sarangi. That was pretty fringe experimental. Great stuff for abstract film work. Following that I had to navigate via bus and tube back to Shepherd's Bush to Bush Hall (different establishment than where KJ played). There I took in the "Five New Bands" night which had an incredible variety. The final act of that Astraken Collective was somewhat reminiscent of Zappa's Yellow Shark Ensemble. Amazing stuff.
Before all that I took in the Design Museum and Tower Bridge and the like. That's about the point where I bought the fleece.
Good News! The lift is broken in the hotel. That means I can sleep tonight without that incessent slamming of the lift door. I should have broken the damned thing days ago. (No: I didn't break it myself but it was often tempting).
More photos from Day #6 (click photo for larger image):
H.M.S. Belfast & The Tower Bridge |
Southwark Crown Court |
Southwark Crown Court |
The Tower Bridge |
Da Vinci inspired Sculpture near Design Museum |
Perspective: New Concord Wharf |
Tower of London |
Track End at Tower Hill Underground Station |
White Chapel Underground Station |
|
Astraken Collective at Bush Hall
Sylvia Hallett performing on Bowed Bicycle Wheel
|
Monday Feb 28, 2005 11:30PM
Dvořák and Müm
The Bagel Factory must recognize me by now, they gave me a frequent buyer card. On the other hand I blew £25 on a steak dinner before heading back to the Shepherd's Bush Empire (remember the 2:1 ratio -- $50 is a lot for dinner, to me anyway). But I'm getting ahead of myself.
Some sun again this morning, but it's still an awful paradox. The sunnier it gets the colder it gets. I'm now going about with five layers and it's still bitter. San Francisco, the newspaper tells me, is a balmy 57ºF and they're probably bitching about the cold. Come to London!
It's hard to believe tomorrow is my last day. Originally I had wished that I could have arranged a shorter trip, now I'm thinking I'm a general idiot and should have stuck it out a full two weeks. There's so much to do and so little time I'm realizing, despite the cold, despite the snow, there's a lot of good reasons to come back to London. It may become a regular cultural recharge for me in the future. I'm getting really good at getting around and finding everything easily here. I could almost be a tour guide I think. Yesterday coming back from the first gig (the bicycle wheel thing) I got way lost and going the wrong way on a bus but I was so accustomed to the transit layout at this point I flagged a bus and was back on track in less than five minutes after getting off the wrong bus. I know all the tube stops well, and they are so well dispersed that it's now almost impossible to actually be really lost. I am feeling very much at home now.
So this afternoon I went to church. St. Anne's and St. Agnes Lutheran Church to be exact. There the Stamford Piano Quartet (that's piano, violin, viola and cello) performed Dvořák's Piano Quartet in Eb Major Op.87. A free concert with a requested £3 donation. I dropped a £5 bill in the envelope (hey, I paid £5 for the bicycle wheel which frankly wasn't really worth it and £5 for the five new bands which was a bargain just for the first and last bands). It was a nice performance and a nice rounder to the eclectic diversity of my musical experience here.
Foregoing most sightseeing I trucked back to the hotel and chilled out for a few hours before going out for my £25 steak dinner (good food, frankly nothing is worth $50 for a meal but I need to spend my remaining £s, it was almost a deliberate waste of money).
So tonight I went back to the Empire in Shepherd's Bush for a band called Müm who hail from Iceland. A nice electronic avante garde act that would sound a lot better with a competent sound engineer. Opening for them was a band called Hood who hail from Leeds and I only imagine there must be several hundred American hip-hop acts with the same name. If they were half decent I would advise them to register a service mark. As it is, I couldn't muster the energy for applause. Again, the sound engineer is probably largely to blame. Poor lads tried, I guess.
One interesting note of the Müm show was meeting a guy from New Hampshire in the smoking area. We had a nice chat, mostly about Killing Joke (which I casually mentioned sounded 100x better mix wise than Müm). Never heard Müm before, but I guess I'll seek a CD to find out what they really sound like under better circumstances.
Phew! So it's almost over. Damn! Tomorrow's agenda is more church in the afternoon for Ravel and Shostakovich and the Royal Festival Hall for the grand climax with Beethoven and Elgar. Sights seen, I guess the clock winds down gracefully now.
More good news! The lift is still broken. Good night, indeed!
|
Müm at Shepherd's Bush Empire
The Priory Church of Saint Bartholomew the Great
London Wall Remains
|
Tuesday Mar 1, 2005 10:30PM
Shostakovich, Ravel, Elgar & Beethoven
Still cold and a bit rainy today. I headed down near Trafalgar Square for a lunchtime concert at Saint Martin-in-the-Fields featuring The Chimera String Quartet performing Ravel's String Quartet in F Minor and Shostakovich's String Quartet No. 8 in C Minor Op.110. This was a gorgeous performance. Unfortunately during the last movement of the last piece an elderly lady seated in the pew directly behind me collapsed apparently from an alergic reaction. The performance concluded but it seemed to be a call for an ambulance in order. A sad affair to dampen an otherwise beautiful afternoon. I felt bad not only for the poor woman and the man she was with but also for the four young women who were performing. Not only must it have been a horrible distraction during their performance but it probably also caused some additional emotional conundrums for them. Fortunately everyone respectfully cleared out and let the people in charge perform their duty without rubbernecking.
Back to the hotel for a short bit before heading back out to the Royal Festival Hall for Philharmonia (resident orchestra) conducted by Vladimir Ashkenazy featuring Till Fellner on piano. They performed Beethoven's Overture, Egmont and Piano Concerto No. 4 and Elgar's Enigma Variations. The conductor says of the Enigma Variations "Trying to sort out all the connections in the Enigma Variations is something by which I have always been fascinated. It is really one of my favorite works - the final section, which is written with such spontaneity and generosity, absolutely takes me and I feel part of the whole piece. As a work it inspires me to a degree which not so many others do." Whilst Elgar himself wrote to his friend August Jaeger "I've sketched a set of variations on an original theme ... I've labeled 'em with the nicknames of my particular friends - you are Nimrod. That is to say I've written the mood of the 'party' writing the variation him (or her) self would have written - if they were asses enough to compose. It's a quaint idea but it won't affect the hearer who 'nose nuffin'." The performance was beautiful and the Elgar Enigma program notes once again prove humor does belong in music.
After the performance at Royal Festival Hall I wandered back around taking a few night shots with my camera then back to the hotel. I guess this is this.
Thanks y'all for sharing my experience with me.
-Tim
|
Philharmonia at Royal Festival Hall
Sphinx at "Cleopatra's Needle"
|
