The Great Flat Search

In June, I will finally move out of the dorm I live in now. I can't wait. Séverine and I have started looking for flats. There is a craigslist for London, but everyone here uses Gumtree.

Fortunately, most flats seem to come at least partially furnished. It's a bit strange to move into a furnished place, but I don't have the time, money or inclination to purchase furniture while I'm here.

We went for the first time to look at a flat this morning near Archway. It was ok. It had pros and cons, but, being our first flat, we weren't inclined to jump on it. Tomorrow we have four viewings lined up. Two are really close to where we are now, one is near Kings Cross and one near Islington.

Kings Cross and Borough (which is where we are now) seem like the best possibilities for places that are affordable and still within walking distance (for me, anyway) of central London (where I work). So I'm hoping we can find something in one of these areas. If we fall in love with some place further out, then I'll just have to join everyone else in this city and become a regular tube user.

London Eye

Kate sent me some photos from their visit. Here's one she might consider entering in the London Eye photo contest:



For that matter, she might enter this one of Flat Stanley and Thin Lizzy:



Still waiting for the prints from her Holga.

Persillade

I've been making Pommes Persillade, from a recipe stolen (as recommended on the previous link) from the cookbook "Jacques Pepin's Table". I say 'stolen' because I don't actually own the cookbook, I just used Amazon's "Search Inside" feature. Anyway, it's yummy and easy and quick, though the first time I made it, I didn't cut the potatoes small enough and I think I also didn't use quite enough oil.

Pommes Persillade

• 2 large potatoes, peeled


• 2 Tbsp canola oil


• 3 cloves garlic, peeled


• 1/4 cup (loose) fresh parsley leaves


• 1 tsp. salt


• 1 tsp. freshly ground black pepper

Cut the potatoes into 3/8 inch cubes. Rinse well and cover with water so they don't turn brown.

Heat the oil in a large skillet. Drain the potatoes and pat dry with paper towels. Saute the potatoes over high heat until browned on all sides.

While the potatoes are cooking, chop the garlic and parsley together (together is key) until finely minced. Add the persillade along with the salt and pepper to the potatoes and serve immediately.

Last Day for my First Visitors

I stand corrected: It's Thin Lizzy with a y, like the band.

My visitors have (presumably) left by this point. It was great to have them here and sad to see them go. I'm sure Flat Stanley will miss having Thin Lizzy around too. Here they are with Matt in front of the Tower Bridge.

We had several aborted sightseeing attempts yesterday. We went down to the Tower Bridge and Tower of London, but decided not to go into either. Then we thought we'd see if we could go up in the 30 St. Mary Axe building, but they wouldn't let us. From there we headed to St. Paul's, but decided the admission price was too high (unless you're there for a service, you can't even go in and walk around without paying first) for that late in the day.

So we ended up at the British Museum. I love just walking into the British Museum. It's so beautiful. Here, Flat Stanley and Thin Lizzy (with some support from Matt) check out the Rosetta Stone. I learned that the Egyptian hieroglyphs consist of some phonetic components, followed by a picture. They had an example -- the word for cat is three phonetic symbols (which, together, make a sound like meow) followed by a picture of a cat.

After browsing through the Parthenon galleries, (this horse's head reminds me of The Godfather) we went to Chinatown for dinner before our second attempt to see some theatre in London. We were not plagued by power failure this time and had no trouble with our visit to the Criterion Theatre to see "The 39 Steps". Everyone enjoyed it, so I think it was a good choice after all.

After a week of beautiful weather in England (Briana was disappointed that she didn't get a chance to wear her new rain coat), the New Yorkers are heading home to a mid-April winter storm.

Introducing... Thin Lizzie!

Flat Stanley has a visitor too, and her name is Thin Lizzie. (Grandma keeps calling them Fat Stanley and Tin Lizzie.) Here they are, showing off their tickets to "Guys and Dolls". Unfortunately, we saw neither guys nor dolls.

The gang had spent the afternoon exploring the Tower of London. They had rushed out ("we didn't even get to see the Bloody Tower!") to grab some dinner before the show started at 7:30. I met up with them at a little Italian restaurant next door to the theatre.

We were hurriedly eating our dinner when the lights in our restaurant flickered and the power went out. It came right back on, but then we heard the faint ringing of an alarm, coming from the direction of the theatre. We laughed a bit nervously and hoped it wasn't a problem at the theatre.

Grandma started warning us that it was bad form on Broadway to show up late, so Barbara gulped down the tea she had just ordered and we got the check. A crowd was starting to gather outside, though it didn't look like an organized queue for the theatre. We went out and waited with everyone else to be let in. Standing in front of an Indian restaurant, we chatted unconcernedly. There was no way we would have known this milling crowd was unusual until the proprietor of the restaurant came to the door and asked if someone famous was nearby. When he heard that we were just waiting to get into the theatre, he said he had never seen this before. That's when we got worried.

Not long afterward, someone from the theatre came out and called for everyone's attention. It was hard to hear him in the open street, especially when he turned to face the other parts of the crowd. We heard him say something about a power loss. He was apparently pretty funny, as everyone kept laughing. They were going to try to put the show on, but it would be delayed; everyone should stay nearby and he'd come back and update us. Naturally a rush for the pub across the street ensued. We opted instead to return to our little Italian restaurant for dessert.

So we relaxed and enjoyed our dessert and waited for the inevitable. A little while later the same guy came out and apologized: They had to cancel the show.

Disappointed, we headed to Trafalgar Square. Here's a picture of Kate with Flat and Thin at this cool statue along the way. We decided it was reminiscent of the scene in the Lord of the Rings when Arwen gets the river to flood like a stampede of horses, trampling the Ring Wraiths. (This statue is actually a fountain, and is even more suggestive of this scene when the fountain is running.)

After hanging out in Trafalgar Square for a bit, we did as any good English person would. We went to a pub.

Slides!

Today we finally got to go down the slides at the Tate Modern. I've been wanting to do this since I came to London and they're only up for another week. It was awesome. There's talk of a return trip tomorrow. Barbara was the first from our group to go down the 5th floor slide (the highest one). She screamed (in a happy, enjoying herself way) the whole way down. The slides are bumpy which gives a staccato effect to your screams. I tried to scream the whole way down too, but it kept making me laugh.

The slides were quite fast. When we started down the 3rd floor slide (which we did before the 5th floor slide), you push yourself off but then you really take off at the first turn and it's absolutely delightful.

The crew is off to the Cabinet War Rooms this afternoon, which I think is one of the coolest things to see in London. Hopefully they'll agree. Tonight, Blue Man Group is a possibility, or perhaps Indian food in Brick Lane.

Yesterday, after a late start, they visited Westminster Abbey and then we had fish & chips for dinner (except Bri, who doesn't eat fish).

New Yorkers Visit London

Barbara, Matt, Briana, Kate and Grandma arrived yesterday! After getting settled in at their hotel, we had a late lunch in Chinatown and then walked around a bit. We walked through Leicester Square and Trafalgar Square and then over one of the pedestrian bridges across the Thames. We took a ride on a carousel by the river, underneath the London Eye and with views of Big Ben and the Houses of Parliament. Many pictures of Flat Stanley were taken, but apparently not on my camera, so you'll have to wait for those.

The New Yorkers were out of their element, and had to translate everything back into a language they understood. We decided to take the tube from the airport. ("They don't call it the subway?") I tried to explain that they should buy Oyster cards for the tube, because they can reuse them and it's much cheaper than buying tickets every time. (They all looked completely baffled until someone said, "Oh! Like the Metrocard!") On the tube, we discussed which trains to take. (Grandma: "It's like taking the A train to 42nd St." Everyone nods sagely.) They're staying in a hotel by Hyde Park. ("Like Central Park!")

Easter Vigil at St. Paul's

I took Flat Stanley to the Easter Vigil service at St. Paul's Cathedral last night. We got there a few minutes early to get some pictures. The service started outside and here you can see folks starting to gather on the steps outside the cathedral.





Here's Flat Stanley with the famous dome of the cathedral in the background.






This is the back of the Queen Anne statue, where the service started. They had speakers set up so that, though those reading were standing in front of you, their voices came from over your shoulder and then reverberated around the enclave created by the surrounding buildings following the curves of the streets. The buses charging past and the tourists with their cell phone cameras detracted from the atmosphere. Fortunately, as we moved inside, folks were asked to put their cameras away. So, no photos of Flat Stanley taking part in the service.

The language of the service struck me as disturbingly militant. Outside, everyone gathers around a bonfire (well, a charcoal patio grill gone out of control) and listens to a reading of the story of Moses parting the Red Sea, "I will sing to the Lord, for he has triumphed gloriously;/ horse and rider he has thrown into the sea... The Lord is a warrior;/ the Lord is his name." Later, the bishop said to the newly baptized, "Fight valiantly as a disciple of Christ against sin, the world and the devil". In his address (which was blessedly short, perhaps bearing in mind the unending line of confirmees to come), the bishop spoke of those joining the church as "being called up into action". It felt like an encouragement of this frightening "us against them" mentality, made even more potentially dangerous by leaving "us" and "them" open to interpretation.


Being a fan of Captain Aubrey and everything related, I was delighted to find myself sitting next to a statue with the above commemorative words chiseled underneath it.

Flat Stanley visits Scotland

Apparently, Eleni had a great time posing with Flat Stanley.


Here they are hanging out with some sheep on a Scottish plain in front of an old and crusty castle.


Stan shows off this great view of Edinburgh.


Eleni and Flat, enjoying Edinburgh castle.


Stanley's no different from any other tourist in Europe. He can visit churches with the best of them.


Here's my favourite. Flat scopes out some new duds.

Kudos and many thanks to Severine, who has again been an excellent tour guide for my little paper visitor.

Go Seigen vs. Inoue Kohei -- 11/25/1927

My Go is more or less on hold for the moment, as I try to spend all my time on maths in hopes of someday finishing my thesis. I still take a few minutes every day to do some problems and review a pro game though. For the past week or so, instead of looking at a recent game or an old Lee Sedol game, I've been studying this 1927 Go Seigen game.



















It is the second game in the "Grand Masters" series on Guo Juan's Audio Lessons site. I love the pro game reviews on her site, but I find that I get a lot more out of them if I memorize the game first. I have this game memorized now, but I'll continue reviewing it every day until I get a chance to watch both of the lectures on it.

These lectures (in the "Grand Masters" series) are done by Jujo Jiang 9p. His style is very different from Guo Juan's, but I really enjoy his lessons as well. Go Seigen's games are beautiful and worth studying in their own right, but one of the things that I especially like about these lectures is that you get to hear stories about the players and the games that, as westerners, we would probably never hear otherwise.

Volume 2

Last night I bought volume 2 of my Chinese text book, "Chinese in Steps". We're on break between terms now, but when classes start up again at the end of April, we'll do the last chapter in volume 1 of our text and then move on to volume 2.

I think the textbook is really good, but there are a few obvious improvements they can make. In particular, the two CDs that accompany volume 1 each have only one track. So in my book I have to note down the time that each dialogue in each chapter starts so that I can skip to the part I'm currently studying. For volume 2 they've at least managed to break it into separate tracks for each chapter, though they still haven't split it up into dialogues, listening practices and whatnot.

The book is clearly meant for use in England (though it also seems to favor France, which turns up in our vocabulary and dialogues on a regular basis). I've heard that others consider it even London-centric. Living in London, I hadn't really thought of it that way, but I'm sure it's true. It does talk about 论敦 quite a bit.