Wee Snippets

 

Musicians can get licenses to perform for tips in the Underground. The license is free--it just takes an audition "to prove you're mad enough to play all day in a tube station," according to this guy. His saxophone is a 1959 Selmer Mark VI alto--almost identical to the 1962 horn that has been played by my daughter, my mother, and me.
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Our flat did not come equipped with paper towels, dish detergent ("washing up liquid" in the local parlance), or soap. So I bought one of the cheapest bars I could find. Just 65p and it was transparent! (How posh!) Pears Soap turns out to be a true London original, first produced and sold in 1789. In fact, Pears Soap was the world's first registered brand and is therefore the world's oldest continuously existing brand. Cool, right? Also, you should know that it does not smell like pears.
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Tower Bridge, NOT London Bridge

You would think a girl from Bridgetown would be able to keep her river crossings straight, wouldn't you? But I've been calling the Tower Bridge by the wrong name all along. The London Bridge is one span up (or down?) the Thames. The famous rhyme is thought to have been inspired by an episode in 1014: "Tradition states that the bridge was pulled down by the Norwegian prince Olaf in 1014, to assist the Anglo-Saxon King Aethelred to divide the forces of the Danes who held the walled City of London and Southwark, on either side of the river; thus regaining London." Thanks Wikipedia.
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I didn't go inside the Tower of London, but I did walk all the way around it today.

Study in contrasts: the Tower of London and the Gherkin.

Everything you need to play knight and princess dress-up.

Need to escape from the Tower?

There's an app for that.

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 Maternity dress in the window of Harrods

I need to remember the sunscreen!

The Anglophile Explores

This is a bit of news for me, something I didn't realize before: I'm an Anglophile. I could blame it on high school BFF, Becky, who came to Oregon from the island of Guernsey when she was fifteen. She introduced me to my all time favorite music (80s Brit pop) and made it more likely that I would jump at the chance to spend a week in London a few years later.

But it actually goes back farther. Many kids pretend that they are being mistakenly raised by people who are not their real parents (King Arthur Syndrome perhaps?). I used to play that Queen Elizabeth II was my mother and my big brother Prince Edward and I were best friends. (Although I always say I was fine with being an only child, I did have a long and varied succession of imaginary siblings.)

And get this. As an adult, my two biggest expenses of the past couple of years: three weeks in London and a bright red Mini Cooper.

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Today we spent a full day in the classroom, talking about upcoming excursions, assignments, and Web 2.0 technology. I'm going to get the opportunity to try a lot of different things which I know will make me a better blogger, publisher, and librarian.

Our group activity today was a fish & chips dinner at The Marlborough Arms. Claire, our waitress was really cute and friendly. I also had a pint of Strongbow cider.

I left the pub to explore on my own. There is so much within walking distance of our Study Center and flats. I wandered a lot, finally making it to Piccadilly Circus, where I caught some street performers, including a limbo dancer.

Limbo - slide show made with Kizoa