Walk in Hyde Park

Thanks everyone for the great comments on the blog! Today I had a lot of great laughs as I read what everyone had to say. Keep them coming! :)

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Despite what they say about weather in London, it has been pretty sunny here over the last 2 months. Yesterday, I met up with Cameron (friend with the eye surgery) to eat lunch and walk around Hyde Park.



As we sat under a tree and ate lunch, we listened to performers doing sound checks on a huge stage set up in Hyde Park for Nelson Mandela's 90th birthday celebration going on today. I would love to go, but since the tickets are over $200, it was nice to hear some of it yesterday.

Here is Cameron in the park covering his bad eye. He will be in London for another 2 weeks waiting for his eye to heal before heading back to Africa. It has been nice having a friend from the states around.

And me standing in front of some lovely fountains.

You can see that I look like a tourist! Hard to believe that yesterday was my 2 month anniversary across the pond. Time has been flying by.

How are you feeling?

As I live in an English speaking country, I tend to forget that some things said, are not what they mean. I have been doing pretty well so far. I can understand everyone and they seem to understand me....sometimes.

My most difficult challenge came last week while in a pharmacy. I was looking for band aids. Simple enough. I walked the entire store and could not find them so I asked a clerk for help. "Can you tell me where you have band aids?" A look of confusion. Maybe they didn't hear me. "Band aids, do you have band aids?" Another look of confusion. Okay..... I then said "cut" and acted like I was cutting my hand. The clerk said "Oh" and held his hands about a foot a part. Dear god, that's a flesh wound....I would need a hospital not a band aid for something that big. I said "smaller" and smiled. He walked me to an area that had first aid items and I thanked him. Now wonder he was confused. They call a band aid a "plaster" in the UK. Never would have got that one.

I also had a similar issue with trying to locate a jacket. As it is in the low 60's here every day, I need a light weight jacket when I go out (yes, no summer here). I was in a store and the sales person looked at me like I was crazy when I asked if she had jackets. While it is the wrong season, I quickly remembered my Australian days and said I was looking for a "jumper". She quickly pointed me in the right direction. Funny enough, the jumper I bought had a tag on it that said jacket! Come on people.

My last name seems to be of confusion as well. They pronounce "z" as "zed". The other day, a women asked me 3 times how to say my last name because she was trying to put a "zed" at the end of Lipsitz. It sounded really funny.

I also still get confused with surname and forename. Who uses that! First and last name are so much easier to remember.

Last, "how are you feeling?" I have been asked this twice (talking to recruiting agencies). I was completely confused because I thought I did not sound okay. I said I was feeling fine. I have since been informed (by my American friends here)...this is the same as "how are you" or "what's up". So strange!

Visit to the Imperial War Museum

This weekend I got the chance to visit the Imperial War Museum. Now, I would have to say it was a museum that was never on my list of "must see" in the city. However, my friend Jess said the museum was very good so we meet up on Sunday to visit the place.

Inside, there were a number of different exhibits featuring different wars which Britain participated in (most of them). The museum also had many weapons, planes, and tanks you could look at. The U.S. Department of Energy has provided a replica of one of the bombs we dropped on Japan. How nice of them!

Almost all of our time was spent on two exhibits, genocide and the Holocaust. Talk about a downer! However, the exhibits were really good and while Jess and I were almost in tears by the time we left listening to video after video of horrific accounts, I was glad that I visited the museum.

After the museum, we walked around South London and I got to see the door of Bridget Jones! If you have seen the movies, she is featured coming out of this door (below) multiple times.

Shocking!

When I go out, I try to remember to bring my camera so I can document where I have been in London.

Yesterday, while standing in line at the ATM, I was shocked twice. While I was standing there, this man talking on a cell phone walked up to the grocery store with his dog. Without saying a word, he dropped the dog's leash and walked inside the store. The dog seemed confused and then just sat down. I thought it was crazy that one, he did not talk to the dog (probably because he was on the phone) to tell him to sit/stay, and two, that he did not tie his dog up. We were on a very busy street and the dog could go into traffic. Because the dog was not tied up, I had this impulse to steal the dog! Don't people steal dogs that are not tied up?

My second shock came when I took the photo. Do you see her outfit (below)? That's right, London fashion at its finest. Keena can attest to the bad British dressing behavior. So bad! Click on the photo to get the full effect.

And last, in the distance you can see the price of petrol. About $2.36 a litre! A picture is worth a thousand words.

Been to the Theatre!

I have had my first experience in seeing a London play. A friend of a friend had a free ticket to the theatre this past week so I got to see my first show in the city.

Besides all the big venues showing plays like The Lion King, Hairspray, etc, there are also tons of small play houses that show reasonably inexpensive shows (my ticket was $30.00). I was treated to a small 100 person theatre (they like to spell their "er" as "re") showing the Chalk Garden.

It is a story of a 16 year old girl who was raised by her grandmother. The show starts with the grandmother trying to find a governess to deal with the girl as she has chased everyone else off. The story evolves as a mysterious woman takes the job and the girl's mother comes back into the picture and wants to take her away from her grandmother.

First impression of London theatre...wow, there are really old people on stage. I know it sounds horrible, but it was my first impression. I don't know when I have seen a play in the states that had main characters over 75 years old. Don't get me wrong, I'm all about the elderly. I read in an article later that the main lead is 76 years old. And sure enough, she was the best part of the play.

Second impression....British English is hard to understand! I think I missed at least a third of the play due to accents, fast talking, and words I had never heard before. I think it would be good for me to get a tv so I can understand the language better! While I live in London, I very rarely hear the English accent since there are so many different ethnicities in the city.

Overall, it was great and I will definitely seek out other small play houses. They also have a number of places that sell half price tickets for some of the bigger shows so hopefully I will get to see some of the main productions in town. I will keep you posted.

End of the Trip - Oxford

Sorry for my lack of blogging over the last week. I have a friend who was working for the State Department in Africa and started to have problems with an eye. Within a few days he was flown to London where he had immediate eye surgery. As a result, he has had to lay on his side for a week. Thus, I spent a lot of time visiting him in the hospital (amazing private room for 3 days) and doing small things for him, like reading him the newspaper and going grocery shopping since he could not leave his apartment. He is now upright and feeling much better.

I also started my job search so I have very little to blog about since I spend most of my days looking at a computer!

Now, where were we...............

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Since it was raining on Sunday, we decided to do something low key before we left the Peak District. Someone in our party had read that there was a cave nearby that had a river in it that you could boat through. As we were trying to get out the door and check out of the cottage, no one really went back to read the details about the cave.

We found our way to the cave and since Rica was feeling much better, she was geared up for the adventure.

After going down some steep slippery steps, we came to a small boat, where we all got in.

Let's just say we should have done some more reading! What we did not know was....................this was not a "natural" cave. We soon found out we were floating through a lead mine! Can we say false advertisement! Here is a description I found on the internet of the "cave."

"Speedwell is unique in that visitors can travel through the caves by boat. In places the roof of the caves are so low that in the past, guides would propel the boat forward by using their feet on the roof of the passage! The boat journey brings you to the Bottomless Pit, a huge underground lake and chamber that has been compared to a subterranean cathedral."

This description is much more spectacular then the actual cave. After loading into the boat, we floated for about 7 minutes down a narrow tunnel that was used by the miners. During this exciting trip where we saw nothing except moths (they actually had a small box of moths that our guide pointed out), Rica became very scared and then proceeded to cry (children and dark places don't go well together).

At the end of our boat journey, we off loaded into a large cavern that had a small "lake" at the bottom. As it was not a natural cave, we really did not have much to look at. There, we waited for about 10 minutes until the boat came back to pick us up. The adventure was rather comical and the best part of the entire trip was our guide. He was in his early 20's, goth attire, and pretty much made fun of the pathetic tour we were all on. There were lots of laughs. Here is Keena trying to calm Rica down as she was not impressed either.

Outside the cave was a little more exciting. There was a bike race going on through the small hills.

We spent the rest of the day traveling back to Oxford where we dropped off Anna at the train station and explored Oxford a little. We mostly went on a 2 hour walk around the city.

We walked along a nice river that had people crewing in it.

We spent the evening at a local pub before heading back to Anders for our last night.

The next day we drove to the airport where Keena and Grigo set off for Romania. Overall, it was a great trip! I can't wait to see more of the UK!

The Peak District National Park

After staying in Brighton for 3 days, we headed north to Oxford to pick up another graduate school friend, Anders. From there, we drove 2 1/2 hours north, to the Peak District National Park, near Manchester.

For all of you in the states that complain about gas....complain no more. A gallon of gas in the UK costs over $8.50 a gallon! We filled the minivan during our trip and it cost us about $166 dollars! As Grigo said..."holy sh*t" after we put gas in the car.

Keena had located a cottage on line that we were to stay in for the weekend. Let's just say, don't rely on google maps when it comes to finding a needle in a haystack. Our adventure was rather comical as we had a number of missed turns, talked to a few strangers (one of them happen to be riding a horse), and at one point had Anders and Anna running in different directions down two different streets trying to find our cottage. In the end, we located our wonderful place to live for the weekend.

While it was a "cottage" it was very modern inside with all the high end appliances...including a dryer! This is the view from my room.

Despite the name, there are no peaks in the Peak District National Park. It is called "Peak" because a British tribe "the picts" once lived in the area (why is it not the Picts District?). According to my guide book, the park is the busiest in Europe and the second busiest in the world after Mt. Fuji. The park is covered with rolling hills, villages, caves, livestock, farmland, and stone fences.

After we arrived, we set out on our first walk/hike. Many of the trails go straight through people's private property. So you find yourself going through fields filled with sheep and cattle. The animals are extremely friendly as they are use to strangers walking by.

This trail connected to Monsal Trail, which was a converted railway line. The picture below is us walking through one of the old stations.

Grigo and Anders on our return walk back to the cottage.

That night, we decided to hit the pub in the village. It was only about a 5 min walk from our cottage and had excellent food. As Rica was still not feeling her best, Keena decided to take Rica home early. The rest of us stayed around for another round of drinks. The next morning we had one of our funnier moments on the trip. As we set out for another hike, we walked past the pub.

This happens to be our stroller that we left at the pub the night before. Apparently, Keena did not take it when she left early and we forgot to grab it on our way home. It must have looked funny to see a stroller parked outside the pub the entire night.

This is the next hike we did. We actually hiked down this hill, crossed the bridge that you see and then walked the valley below the bridge. Grigo carried Rica all the way down...and Keena carried her all the way back up.

A view on the hike.

Resting on the walk with cattle in the background.

Here is Keena carrying Rica back from the hike.

In the afternoon, Keena, Grigo, and I set out on another walk. This is Grigo and I climbing over one of the many stone walls. Many of the walls have built in stone steps so you walk over the fence. It was definitely one of the neat things on the trip.

On our return, it was about 7 pm at night and there were hot air balloons taking off in the distance.

We also discovered this beautiful horse.

More tomorrow on the last day of the trip.

And so it begins.....

Black farmers file new suit against USDA
By Ben Evans, Associated Press June 4, 2008

WASHINGTON (AP) -- More than 800 black farmers filed a new lawsuit against the Agriculture Department just two weeks after Congress reopened a 1999 settlement over past discrimination.

The plaintiffs wasted little time in taking advantage of a provision in the recently enacted farm bill that allows fresh claims from those who were denied damages after missing earlier deadlines.

Some 75,000 people could fall into that group. If their suits are successful, the case could cost the government several billion dollars on top of the $980 million in damages already paid under the original settlement.

The lawsuit, organized by the Virginia-based National Black Farmers Association, was filed Monday in U.S. District Court in Washington. Nearly all the 823 farmers who sued are from the South, mostly from Alabama and Mississippi.

John Boyd, a black farmer who founded the group, said he expects another 5,000 to join the lawsuit soon.

The suit is the latest development in the federal government's April 1999 settlement of a class-action lawsuit from black farmers who claimed they were systematically denied loans and other aid from local USDA offices. About two-thirds of the nearly 22,500 farmers who filed suit were awarded damages.

Those who filed late argued that their lawyers made mistakes or that they were not aware of the deadline.

The deadline was extended once for those who could show extraordinary circumstances. But federal courts repeatedly denied subsequent requests to reopen the settlement until Congress intervened with the farm bill.

The enacted bill permits plaintiffs to seek expedited claims of $50,000 under a lower threshold of proof than a typical civil case. Plaintiffs also can seek larger damages in court.

The USDA and the Justice Department declined to comment on the lawsuit.

Critics have charged that farmers had plenty of time to win claims and that reopening the case will reward questionable claimants who may not have suffered losses.

Copyright 2008 The Associated Press.

Travel to the English Channel

Monday started with a bang as Keena and Grigo were up all night as Rica became very ill. We decided to skip out on the day's activities and pick up the rental minivan early. Here is Keena with sick Rica as they walk to my place for their last meal in London.

We picked up the car and drove about 75 miles south of London to Brighton. The city of about 200,000 people is situated along the English Channel. We met up with Anna, a friend from graduate school who is a professor at the local university. Anna has a one bedroom apartment with a loft only two blocks from the beach. Here is a view from her balcony.

As Rica was sick our entire time in Brighton, we kept our adventures low key. We ventured out to the beach which is covered in rock rather than sand.

One of the famous landmarks in Brighton is the pier. It has tons of rides on it.

Unfortunately, Rica was too short to ride any of the rides (and to be honest...it would not have been pretty if she did), but we hung out on the pier for an hour or so sitting on candy-striped deck chairs as we ate fish and chips (I had a horrible sausage as I don't eat fish).

What makes the pier so famous is the Helter Skelter ride (below) made famous by the Beatles song. Surprisingly, we walked by it without even noticing it because it was rather unimpressive. It is a tall slide.

One day, Keena and I ventured out to visit a shopping area that had a lot of used bookstores. Here, all the non-profits are called charities and they have used stores that support them. Oxfam has stores everywhere. As I don't have a television, I am now buying used books whenever I can. Keena and I found some books at a nice Oxfam shop.

One the last day in Brighton, we visited the Royal Pavilion. It is a exotic palace that King George IV built. The Pavilion was not what I expected because the entire place is done in a Chinese-style. According to our audio tour, it was too far to travel to Asia, so the style of the house was decorated in "what people thought" the Orient looked like. Therefore, all the wood was carved to look like bamboo and there were dragons and other exotic things throughout the entire Pavilion. Unfortunately, they do not let you take photos inside, but here is a photo from outside.

From Brighton, we headed to Oxford to pick up another friend for our trip north. More tomorrow.

Family Hits London

I just got back from vacation with Keena, Grigo, and Rica. We had a great time exploring the UK. The trip was relaxing and a bit entertaining as Rica was sick most of the time. Do we have stories to tell her when she is older! Let's just say....she left her mark all over the UK. :)

Keena and Grigo stayed just around the corner from my place in Shoreditch which made things very easy in London. We did most meals at my place and took the bus to places to explore. On Saturday, we took a double decker bus (Rica really liked it) to Buckingham Palace to say "hi" to the Queen.

From there, we walked through St. James Park and had ice cream. It had amazing flowers as usual.

From there, we walked over to Parliament to look at Big Ben and Westminster Abbey.

By this time, Keena and Grigo were walking zombies as they were experiencing jet lag. We decided to head home.

On Sunday, since it was raining we took the bus to the Tate Modern museum. Rica had a wonderful time yelling at modern art. She was one of the toughest critics around. At the Tate, Grigo and Rica take a coffee/milk break.

And then Rica and I played around.

After the museum, we walked around London. Rica was able to get her first pub food in London.

In the end, however, it was just too much!

We ended Sunday on a high note making plans for Monday to hit the Tower of London. Unfortunately, Rica got very sick that night and we canceled everything for Monday. Instead, we picked up the rental car and headed to Brighton to meet up with K&G's friend, Anna.

More tomorrow on Brighton.