At Home in London
Mar. 18th, 2002 09:38 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
lillibetAfter a busy end of the week, our weekend was fairly quiet.
A bunch of friends (John, Mike, Dave, Larissa and Mags) came through London
for a couple of days on their way to Italy. We got together with them at
their hotel on Thursday afternoon and then Jason went to dinner with them at
a southern Indian vegetarian restaurant near Picadilly while I went home and
watched the Gerard Depardieu mini-series of _The Count of Monte Cristo_.
It's always interesting to me how much better an actor he is in French than
in English. Having watched this eight-hour treatment of the novel, I'm
intrigued to see how they're going to compress it into ~2hrs. for the
theatrical release that's out now.
On Friday I went back over to the Four Seasons in the afternoon for tea with
the whole gang, plus Mags' boyfriend, Dan, who'd come up the evening before
from his home in Bristol. They had some of the best scones I've tasted,
with clotted cream and this banana-and-something preserve that turned
everything it touched into banana bread--yummy! Their tea was fine--I was
amused that they described Earl Grey as "an unusual mix of..." since it
seems pretty "usual" to me by now--but rather than leaving us with pots, the
waitress came around to refill again and again, which led to a feeling of
being fussed at and she had a hard time keeping our orders straight. Sadly,
the sandwiches were disappointing. The bread was dry and none of the
fillings were very exciting. The turkey sandwich on cranberry bread was the
best of show. The cakes at the end were very good--I had a small thick
walnut cake, almost like pecan pie, and a delicious custard-based cake
topped with raspberry gelatin and berries.
Everyone else went off to their own rooms, while I stayed with John & Mike
and caught up on news and gossip. Mags came by to say goodbye, as she and
Dan had scored tickets to _My Fair Lady_. Dave Brigham came in and we all
hopped in a cab over to YMing, where Jason met us for one of their standard,
delicious dinners. After a lovely time together, we popped the others in a
cab and headed home on the tube.
Saturday was our eighteen-month anniversary. It was a lovely morning, so we
took the bus over to Holloway Road and walked up to Highgate Cemetery. By
the time we got there it was overcast, creating the perfect ambience for
strolling through a Gothic graveyard, with angels looming through the brush
on all sides. The site is on a steep hill, split by a road. The eastern
section is open to the public (on payment of a fee) for wandering, so we
went in there, saw Karl Marx' grave and the attendant graves of the heads of
various communist parties of the world. The western section is only open
for guided tours and there was one at 3pm, so we joined that. It was led by
Judith, a Friend of Highgate Cemetery in her 70's, who was full of tales of
the early days of the Friends' management of the place. They still do
funerals, she'd want you to know. We saw some of the more unusual and
interesting areas of the 17 acre site (20 more in the eastern section).
Just as we were finishing up, it began to rain, which was fine. As we began
our walk back to the Upper Holloway Silverlink station, it began to pour.
Not so fine, but Jason had his brolly and I was wearing a jacket with a
hood, so we were okay. We caught the train, which brought us right back to
Haringay (the stop is just past the McDonalds). I made fried chicken for
dinner and then we played Trivial Pursuit and watched an episode of CSI.
On Sunday we got out of the house in time to have breakfast at McDonalds on
our way to Sainsburys. UK trading laws don't allow them to open "for
business" until 11am on Sundays, but they open at 10:30am "for browsing."
So we filled our cart and checked out when the cashiers opened at eleven.
As we were unpacking the groceries, Barbara called, as arranged, to say that
she was up and about and I should come over whenever I liked. I got there
about 1:30pm and stayed until almost 6pm, during which time we managed to
excavate her desk completely, throw away a couple of bags of stuff, and get
a filing system set up for the rest. A good day's work.
She gave me some things Leah had left, so I can get them into the post, and
it was more than I felt like hauling on the tube, so I hopped in a cab.
That was a mistake. Traffic was awful and I don't know if I was getting
motion sickness or if there was carbon monoxide leaking into the cab, but by
the time I got home I felt all woozy and nauseated. I napped on the couch
for an hour or so and by the time Jason woke me, I felt just fine. We
ordered pizza and watched more CSI and then I went to sleep early.
Like I said, quiet. As will this list be for the next couple of weeks while
we're in Spain. We're leaving this Thursday and won't be back until April
3rd.
A bunch of friends (John, Mike, Dave, Larissa and Mags) came through London
for a couple of days on their way to Italy. We got together with them at
their hotel on Thursday afternoon and then Jason went to dinner with them at
a southern Indian vegetarian restaurant near Picadilly while I went home and
watched the Gerard Depardieu mini-series of _The Count of Monte Cristo_.
It's always interesting to me how much better an actor he is in French than
in English. Having watched this eight-hour treatment of the novel, I'm
intrigued to see how they're going to compress it into ~2hrs. for the
theatrical release that's out now.
On Friday I went back over to the Four Seasons in the afternoon for tea with
the whole gang, plus Mags' boyfriend, Dan, who'd come up the evening before
from his home in Bristol. They had some of the best scones I've tasted,
with clotted cream and this banana-and-something preserve that turned
everything it touched into banana bread--yummy! Their tea was fine--I was
amused that they described Earl Grey as "an unusual mix of..." since it
seems pretty "usual" to me by now--but rather than leaving us with pots, the
waitress came around to refill again and again, which led to a feeling of
being fussed at and she had a hard time keeping our orders straight. Sadly,
the sandwiches were disappointing. The bread was dry and none of the
fillings were very exciting. The turkey sandwich on cranberry bread was the
best of show. The cakes at the end were very good--I had a small thick
walnut cake, almost like pecan pie, and a delicious custard-based cake
topped with raspberry gelatin and berries.
Everyone else went off to their own rooms, while I stayed with John & Mike
and caught up on news and gossip. Mags came by to say goodbye, as she and
Dan had scored tickets to _My Fair Lady_. Dave Brigham came in and we all
hopped in a cab over to YMing, where Jason met us for one of their standard,
delicious dinners. After a lovely time together, we popped the others in a
cab and headed home on the tube.
Saturday was our eighteen-month anniversary. It was a lovely morning, so we
took the bus over to Holloway Road and walked up to Highgate Cemetery. By
the time we got there it was overcast, creating the perfect ambience for
strolling through a Gothic graveyard, with angels looming through the brush
on all sides. The site is on a steep hill, split by a road. The eastern
section is open to the public (on payment of a fee) for wandering, so we
went in there, saw Karl Marx' grave and the attendant graves of the heads of
various communist parties of the world. The western section is only open
for guided tours and there was one at 3pm, so we joined that. It was led by
Judith, a Friend of Highgate Cemetery in her 70's, who was full of tales of
the early days of the Friends' management of the place. They still do
funerals, she'd want you to know. We saw some of the more unusual and
interesting areas of the 17 acre site (20 more in the eastern section).
Just as we were finishing up, it began to rain, which was fine. As we began
our walk back to the Upper Holloway Silverlink station, it began to pour.
Not so fine, but Jason had his brolly and I was wearing a jacket with a
hood, so we were okay. We caught the train, which brought us right back to
Haringay (the stop is just past the McDonalds). I made fried chicken for
dinner and then we played Trivial Pursuit and watched an episode of CSI.
On Sunday we got out of the house in time to have breakfast at McDonalds on
our way to Sainsburys. UK trading laws don't allow them to open "for
business" until 11am on Sundays, but they open at 10:30am "for browsing."
So we filled our cart and checked out when the cashiers opened at eleven.
As we were unpacking the groceries, Barbara called, as arranged, to say that
she was up and about and I should come over whenever I liked. I got there
about 1:30pm and stayed until almost 6pm, during which time we managed to
excavate her desk completely, throw away a couple of bags of stuff, and get
a filing system set up for the rest. A good day's work.
She gave me some things Leah had left, so I can get them into the post, and
it was more than I felt like hauling on the tube, so I hopped in a cab.
That was a mistake. Traffic was awful and I don't know if I was getting
motion sickness or if there was carbon monoxide leaking into the cab, but by
the time I got home I felt all woozy and nauseated. I napped on the couch
for an hour or so and by the time Jason woke me, I felt just fine. We
ordered pizza and watched more CSI and then I went to sleep early.
Like I said, quiet. As will this list be for the next couple of weeks while
we're in Spain. We're leaving this Thursday and won't be back until April
3rd.
