Jan's and John's Peripatetic Adventure

Sunny Day

The weather seems to have finally shifted in the last two weeks and is now warmer and often sunny, yay!

The flowers on the table are from our friends Stephen Gottlieb and Jane Dorner, who came to our first movie night, last night. First we had a delicious dinner cooked by chef John. Then we went downstairs to the projection screen room and watched... are you ready? Mary Poppins! I was the only one who had seen it and since the show in London is so successful I thought it would be fun to see the movie. I was 10 when it came out and I loved it although seeing it now I realize I didn't understand a lot of what was going on then. I just loved all the magic. It's really a lot of fun and visually amazing considering the year it was made. A very enjoyable evening.

Harpsichord Quest

When I met harpsichordist Sophie Yates back in November I had asked her about harpsichord builders in England. My virginal is nice but I love having a full-size harpsichord in California so I really want to have one in London too.

So she very kindly arranged for me to meet harpsichord builder Andrew Garlick and today we went to see and play a couple of his instruments in London. We started in a private home in Marylebone, whose owner kindly let me visit to play his Garlick harpsichord. It's gorgeous (first photo) and sounds amazing. But the biggest feature, for me, was the touch. It has the most gentle and elegant touch I've ever experienced on a harpsichord. Extraordinarily lovely.

Then we drove to Mortlake where another harpsichord owner graciously allowed us to visit and play her instrument which was also completely wonderful (see photos). Look at the painting on the lid! Andrew's work is gorgeous so he's a definite possibilty for my London harpsichord.

One additionally fabulous benefit of the morning was getting to hear Sophie play both harpsichords. Delicious! I am such a fan but it's also great when I meet some of the musicians I enjoy and they turn out to be generous, kind and fun people. Thanks, Sophie! And thanks, Andrew!

Total Eclipse

Today there was a total solar eclipse that was partially visible in Europe!

I watched the whole thing online which San Francisco's Exploratorium broadcast live from Turkey, where they experienced the totality. It was amazing!

They showed various ways to safely see the eclipse, one of which was through a tiny hole in a piece of paper. So I tried it and, omg, it worked! You can see my shadow holding up the paper and there in the center is the partial eclipse. It's the first time I tried that and I was stunned. I love that stuff.

The Historic Horn

Today, Anneke Scott came over to do a test recording with John to try out the room. John is planning to do a recording with her and fortepiano (not my Steinway) and she will also be giving a house concert here in May. She's very talented and plays with The English Concert as well as other ensembles. She's also very nice so we enjoy knowing her!

Farewell to Muenchen

We're back in London!

This morning we got up and packed, had breakfast and were at the train by 9:15. The subway entrance was in the Marianplatz right in front of the Rathaus. We had a little difficulty buying a ticket because there were no ticket windows with people, just machines. And, of course, they were all in German. And the machines wouldn't take credit cards or 20 euro bills. So, note that if you want to buy a ticket for the Schnellbahnnetz you need 5 and 10 euro bills or many 1 euro coins. We changed a 20 at the information window and then bought our ticket from the machine. It is amazing that there are no turnstiles for the train/subway. It's an honour system. You punch your ticket into a little machine to validate it but there are no gates or anything. We've been told that they check on the trains from time to time and penalties for cheaters are high so don't even think about cheating.

Again, the train was very fast and amazingly quiet considering how crowded it was. The flight was slightly delayed because of wind conditions at Heathrow but it was once again easy and fast.

My impression of Germany after this first visit is very positive. Everyone speaks English; from the hotel staff to the waitresses in restaurants to the cashiers in drug stores. It's amazing. The people are extremely polite and everything is clean and organized. I loved it. Once Germany gets rid of its smoking problem I think it's going to be a frequent destination for us.

A Little Morning Music

We're in Munich continues: Ok, now we're caught up to Sunday!

In the morning we went to the Stadtmuseum because John had read they had a concert at 11 a.m. We arrived around 10:30 and looked at their impressive collection of various old musical instruments. As the concert approached it became evident it was a student violin recital so we chose two seats near the back in case we needed to make a hasty retreat. It was packed. The concert started and these adorable little girls (around 8-10 years old) came out, one at a time, and each played some Vivaldi that was... incredible! Very impressive. We didn't stay for the whole thing because we had other things we wanted to see but I'm really glad we got to see these kids play so well.

The rest of the museum has an extensive puppet collection which we really enjoyed. After lunch (again at the exquisite Alter Hof) I was exhausted so I went back to the hotel to our smelly room to take a nap and read my book. John went to a couple more art museums and said they were excellent.

Lunch at the Ratskeller

We're in Munich continues:

Then on Saturday we had lunch with Matthias Koehler and Oezlem Gunay who had contacted John about Magnatune last week. We went to the Ratskeller for lunch and it was great. Matthias and Oezlem are fabulous! John and I really enjoyed their company. Matthias was busy after lunch so Oezlem walked around Munich with us and showed us various sights, as well as taking us to an incredible wine bar later in the afternoon where we had Bollinger. Yummy! She's so nice, we had a great afternoon and are really glad we've met her and Mattias.

Toys and Teddies

We're in Munich continues:

Yesterday (Saturday) morning we went to the Spielzeugmuseum. It doesn't have a lot so it's a quickie. But it does have old toys and a large collection of adorable teddy bears. It was really adorable.

Royal Opulence

After that we went to The Residenz Museum. The photos of the destruction during WW2 were shocking but the painstaking restoration is impressive. It was beautiful but outrageously opulent.

The New Lute

Ok, for Dr. Dave here are some photos of John's new lute. For everyone else's info because Dr. Dave knows all...

The lute was the main reason we're visiting Munich. The builder is Andreas Holst. John walked over and picked it up on Thursday. It's a beautiful instrument and John says it plays loudly which will be really good for playing with gambas. In fact, he's playing it right now!

The Quiet Upgrade

We're in Munich continues:

We came back from a fun afternoon which I will blog later but the truck is still outside the window making a lot of noise. So, they're relocating us (and upgrading, yay) to another suite and we have to pack right now. I hope the internet there is as good as here because I took a lot of photos today.

UPDATE: Horray, they moved us around the corner and down the hall away from the noise. It turns out the noise is a refrigeration truck because the restaurant in the street behind the hotel is having refrigeration problems and they need to use the truck instead. Clever, but noisy.

The suite they moved us to is much larger but wow is it ugly. And smelly. It may be a non-smoking suite now but it obviously didn't used to be once upon a time (like maybe last week.) But it has a sofa which the other one didn't so that's good. As much as I don't really care for the hotel and the ugly rooms, they scored major points for how they handled the noisy truck problem, with extreme courtesy, keeping us informed and having a new room ready for us when we got back from our afternoon out.

No more blogging for tonight, I'm tired. Tomorrow I'll blog about today's excursions and the fun new people we met. BTW, tonight is daylight saving time in Europe which isn't for another week in the U.S. So we're springing forward tonight!

Sleep Deprivation

We're in Munich continues:

There has been construction outside the hotel since we got here which makes it a little noisy during the day but since we're out most of the time it's not a big deal. However, last night there was the sound of a loud running machine all night. It was one of the worst nights of non-sleep ever. The machine itself woke me up several times, as well as some kind of musical chiming thing that goes on somewhere even in the middle of the night, plus the most uncomfortable pillow I've ever slept on in my life, plus the people in the room next door coming in at 3 a.m. and talking as if they are the only people in the universe. Damn I'm tired. We complained about the machine noise at the front desk this morning and they said it was a truck that was left on overnight and if it doesn't leave this morning they will move us to another room. As much as I don't want to pack/unpack/repack I would like to be able to sleep at night.

So! Yesterday:

We walked down Ludwigstrasse to the Neue PinaKothek, a lovely art museum. It's not a spectacular museum but it's nicely layed out and the art is very nice. Not too many paintings of angels with effing virgin mary's which I've had enough of for the rest of my life. Be sure to click on the link for the museum and then click "tour" because it shows you literally the whole collection online. At the cafe in the museum we stopped for some refreshment. I had a tiny teenie little cappucino and John had an effing ice caffe (ice cream and espresso). There he is trying to look innocent as I cursed him for getting something so huge and delicious.

Eating without Breathing

Warning: Germany has a smoking problem. I thought England was bad. Germany is worse. There were ashtrays on the counter at the hotel reception. Ew.

In restaurants the non-smoking sections are non-existent or often not separated so it's pretty awful. So, we're always hunting for minimal smoking situations in restaurants. Sometimes we luck out, sometimes we fail. Yesterday was good.

For lunch today we went to an incredible restaurant called Alter Hof. It was austere and lovely (see photo) and delicious. We had sparking rose wine and I started with a salad that had bacon in it (see photo). BTW, in Europe bacon is a vegetable. The front room is nicely non-smoking and all smoking was restricted to the back room.

Then back at the hotel John found a web site that lists all the non-smoking restaurants in Munich, yay. So last night we had dinner at Prinz Myshkin a wonderful vegetarian and non-smoking restaurant. The restaurant was non-smoking but some smoke came in from the lounge/bar next door. It was pretty minimal and we enjoyed the restaurant a lot. It's amazing vegatarian, not overcooked tofu and sprouts on everything. They had pasta, pizza, samosas, salads, lots of delicious stuff. I couldn't stand it anymore so I had dessert: Afogato (hazelnut ice cream, covered in chocolate power and then you pour espresso over it. OMG.) Sorry, no photos of dinner!

A Little Stuck

We're in Munich continues:

It's a sunny day today, yay! Still cold but not as bitter as yesterday and each day is supposed to be warmer.

Yesterday we met Gisela Strauss who had emailed John last year about Magnatune so we decided to get together. She is delightful and it was a really fun afternoon. She knows all about Munich and took us to Villa Stuck (see photo) which was amazing. We wouldn't have known about it otherwise and we're so happy she suggested it. And we took a tram to get there! Very exciting. It was only a few stops away with one transfer and was very easy, the public transportation in Munich is really impressive. We spent about 3 hours with Gisela and then I had to go back to the hotel and crash because I was exhausted from walking around most of the day. There's a photo of Gisela next to John on the tram and she kindly took a photo of us together on our way back to the hotel where we said our goodbyes. Thanks, Gisela, for a fabulous afternoon, it was a pleasure meeting you!

We had dinner in the hotel last night because I was too tired to walk anywhere. It was semi-posh but the menu was a strange combination of things, including tripe (omg, ew). I had veal and John had lamb and it was pretty good. No photos of the food, sorry Glenda, but it was pretty ordinary looking. No pretzels at the table but we discovered that they actually charge you for the pretzels in the basket and they charge you for the bread basket, which I've never experienced anywhere else. I think they charge you whether you eat it or not so I ate a lot just to be on the safe side. There is scale in the bathroom but it's in kg so I'm safely clueless for now.

John is out picking up his lute right now so more later...

The Ultimate Museum

Jan and John in Munich continues:

The Deutsche Museum is the best museum we've seen ever. It's beautifully maintained and organised and the exhibits are incredible, like nothing I've seen anywhere. The aeronautics section makes the Smithsonian look like a joke. My favorite part of the museum was the section describing how bridges are built. It had a small actual suspension bridge built across the room that you could walk over. But the best part was the incredible miniature scenes of bridge construction that showed amazing detail. The printing section also had fabulous miniature mockups of the printing factories, etc. My other favorite was the musical instruments section. They even had a harpsichord that looks exactly like mine in California. The whole museum was the best collection of exhibits with explanations we've ever seen. We had a great time. Oh yea, I had a pretzel for lunch.

Walking in Munich

Here are some photos of our walking through Munich today on our way to the Deutsche Museum. It's a very clean and surprisingly quiet city, for all the activity. The large pedestrial zone is terrific. Here's a close up photo of the Rathaus-Glockenspiel and a statue near the hotel that has an optical illusion that looks like tv screen lines when you look at it. Then on to the large and amazing food market. I've never seen anything like it in the U.S. or in London. The weather is more wintery here than in London and is grey and very cold and actually started to snow flurry on our way back. Brrr.... Pretty! Brrr....

Schnellbahnnetz

We're here in Munich! The flight was easy and only an hour and twenty minutes in the air. Then we took the Schnellbahnnetz to downtown Munich and it let us off 3 blocks from the hotel. The train was really nice; very fast, quiet and clean.

I can blog because the hotel has dsl in the room, yay. But... the room! It's like a parody of Bavarian design only it's real. I'll have a panorama of the whole suite later but here's a photo of the bed in the meantime. John loves it. It feels a little Disneylandish to me.

When we got off the train and went up the stairs to the street there was the Rathaus. Spectacular. Then while walking to the hotel we passed a guy playing the accordian. It's like we're in another country!

My First German Meal

So, last night we had dinner at one of the hotel restaurants and it was such a dive that I was kind of upset. John said that it's meant to be that way; it's imitating a Bavarian beer hall. Um..... ok. Well, I hate beer but the food looked good. One thing they did have which was amazing was... soft pretzels! Ever since I lived in Philadelphia I've adored soft pretzels and not a lot of places have them. This restaurant had a basket of them on the table in place of bread. OMG. I somehow managed not to eat the whole thing. Here's a photo of John's pork. Keyword: heavy. I had something similar and it was delicious.

Munchin' in Munich

Today we are going to Munich, Germany for a few days. We're going primarily to pick up a new lute John had built for himself and then also to sightsee and eat a lot.

It's my first visit to Germany so I'm really excited! John's been there many times (ho hum) and even lived in Berlin for a while. Thankfully, his bit of German will come in handy.

Whether or not I blog from Germany depends on the internet availability in the hotel but it doesn't look promising. Grrrr. Otherwise I'll blog when I get back on Monday. I will definitely take lots of photos. I will not be weighing myself.

The Incomprehensible 90 Minutes

Last night we saw The Cut at the Donmar Warehouse Theatre. It starred Ian McKellen, which is always exciting, and the wonderful Deborah Findlay, who we saw in the excellent The House of Bernarda Alba last year at the National Theatre.

Unfortunately The Cut was completely incomprehensible and was the longest 90 minutes without an intermission we've ever sat through. Ouch. Oh well.

The Giant Pudding

Last night we went to dinner at one of our favorite restaurants ever, Rules. We got the rib of beef with yorkshire pudding (serves two). It's this enormous pastry puff that they cut in half and put on each of your plates. Hilarious and yummy. For starters we had their amazing mushroom soup, it's truly fabulous. Sadly, we did not have pudding (dessert) because we were too stuffed. They have great desserts including an incredible sticky toffee pudding, one of my favorite desserts on the planet ever.

The panorama photo stitching software did a great job joining together two photos John took of me. You really get an idea of what the restaurant interior is like. Yea, we take pictures of each other at restaurants '-)

Tubing to Yum-Yum

Last night we went to a dinner party at Doris's house. It was an exceptionally fun evening with delicious home-cooked food and lively and intelligent conversation. As always, I was happy to be able to play with her cat, Yum-Yum, who hung out with everyone and followed us from room to room. She's adorable and let me scratch her head.

After we got off the tube to walk the rest of the way I swear I saw Matt Lucas from Little Britain standing on a street corner. I pointed him out and John said he didn't look fat enough. I was sure it was him. Later at dinner I made a Little Britain joke and one of the other guests said they saw Matt Lucas on the street on the way there. I knew it! It was him! Damn, I missed an opportunity. Then again, I'm not sure I want to be one of those crazed fans that interrupts famous people in their daily lives. But it would have been cool. Sigh.

The Elephant and the Castle

Today John went on a Ramblers walk with our new found friends Charlie and his wife, Will. Today's walk was the Elephant and Castle area of Southwark. It's a mix of squalor and redevelopment; with some blocks of lovely houses, graffiti, vandalism, historic churches and a particularly gruesome highrise referred to as "Workers' Utopia." There's even a (slightly vandalised) Henry Moore sculpture.

It was one of the most beautiful days we've had in a while, as you can see the blue sky in the photos, and an exhausting but interesting walk with fun people.

Visiting Viols

Yesterday, while I was searching for lightbulbs, John was in Oxford with our new found fun friend Esha for a Viola Da Gamba Society meeting.

They also visited the Ashmolean Museum which has original viols on display. John enjoyed seeing the original viol (see photo) which the viol he bought recently was based on. The detailing is so beautiful and John's instrument is virtually identical.

He brought back a pile of music he bought for us to play together on lute and harpsichord and viol and harpsichord so I'm really looking forward to that.

How many Jan's does it take to change a lightbulb?

We're going out to dinner tonight with friends visiting from California so I decided to tidy up the house since they're seeing it for the first time.

This includes replacing some light bulbs that have burnt out. Of course, none of the bulbs are normal, everything is halogen and high-tech. The fixtures are all recessed into the ceilings and floors (yes, floors) and although the ceiling ones are fairly easy (but some are too high for me to reach even standing on a chair), the ones in the floors are difficult to remove.

I finally figured out how to pry the fixture from the floor and remove the bulb. Now I'm off to the Ironmonger's to find replacements.

My Kingdom for a Lightbulb

I went to the Ironmonger and they did not have the little 20w halogen bulb I needed. They had plenty of the normal size 50w bulb and said they could order the 20w ones for me which was very helpful and nice of them but I really wanted these bulbs today.

I had two more ideas for bulb sources that were on Shaftesbury Avenue. The walk from St. Martin's Lane to Shaftesbury Avenue was windy and bitter cold. I thought to myself jeezus I'm freezing to death for an effing lightbulb.

On Shaftesbury Avenue I went to Leyland and they didn't have the bulbs and are incredibly rude (as always) so I don't know why I even bother ever going there.

So then I went to the lighting store on Shaftesbury Avenue that we've been walking past for years making fun of the orange leather dining table in the window. Since they sell lighting I had my hopes up they would sell bulbs. Success! And they were very, very nice. I bought 4 bulbs.

Blue Men

Last night we saw Blue Man Group!

It was amazing; very funny and often ingenious. We were sitting far enough away from the stage so we didn't get selected for audience participation. Whew! John said it is very similar to when he saw them in New York many many years ago but there are new things too. It was amazing.

It was our first time to The New London Theatre in Drury Lane and it's nice. The design is very different for central London, more like The National Theatre. Afterward there were members of the Blue Man team on the stairway landings including... one of the Blue Men! He was posing for photos with people, it was hilarious seeing him so close up. The show is a must-see.

More Gambas and... Video!

This afternoon our friend Esha came over with some friends to play gambas with John. Different people than last time. Such fun!

I took a little one-minute Quicktime video of them playing, click here to see it. Note: it's 13 MB so it will take a few minutes to download.

More Parcels of Deliciousness

Today we had lunch at one of John's favorite restaurants: Yauatcha, in Soho.

It's another posh dim sum restaurant like Ping Pong only the decor is more futuristic. Also completely non-smoking, yay.

As long as I stay away from the dumplings and seafood I'm fine with dim sum. Yauatcha has an amazing thinly-sliced beef over roasted onions dish that is beautiful (see photo) and delicious and is also £35. WTF.

We ate in the upstairs tea room which I like because the windows make it brighter. The downstairs is gorgeous too but darker. It's a popular place and quite busy. Very enjoyable food, we'll be going there often.

Pillows and Pizza

Today John went with me back to John Lewis to get another pillow because he likes it so much he wants to take one back to California. We walked my usual route up Regent Street. It's a nice day, chilly but sunny. Sunny!

Notice in the photos the department at John Lewis called Haberdashery. What a wonderful word! It means different things in the U.S. and Europe so click on it. I didn't see any mousetraps or crucifixes though. Another photo is for the lifts, which are the elevators (everyone knows that), and then the notorious Pillow Department.

We had decided that after shopping we wanted to have lunch at the Pizza Express in Bloomsbury which is just a 15 minute walk on Oxford Street from Oxford Circus to Tottenham Court Road and then onward toward the British Museum. We liked it more than the one in Covent Garden because it wasn't hectic and at noon was completely empty.

While walking down Oxford Street we noticed some guys with a camera and microphone interviewing people (see photo) and a couple blocks away were stopped and asked to answer a few quick questions for the BBC. Sure. The question was something like given the hectic pace of London would you slow down your life if you had the chance. We are totally the wrong people to ask this question to because our lifestyle is not typical and not at all hectic. Basically, we live here because there is so much to do. But we did our best to answer and we said we find London hectic, yes, but mostly we find it exciting and since we're from California, London feels like an adventure. So, the BBC may show me babbling on Oxford Street about how much fun I think London is. Thankfully, I don't have television.

Livin' the Lo-Cal Life in London

One of the best things about living in London is the food. There are so many amazing restaurants with incredible food. But, as my friends know, I have a very difficult time staying thin. I did so-so while John was away but: he's back.

Yesterday we had a scrumptious lunch at The Grocer on Warwick. I had chicken in green curry with green beans. But, unfortunately, I ate the rice. All of it. Then last night we had dinner at the stunning Moti Mahal. I didn't have anything particularly huge, and nothing with sauce, but it was a very very delicious meal and I ate all of it.

Then today I got up and weighed 3 lbs. more than I did on Sunday. So now I'm back to lo-cal lunches from Marks and Spencer; melon is only 50 calories (see photo), and when I go out to restaurants I have to stick with the sensible choices. Lots of seared tuna, no sauces, no potatoes and no dessert.

Yea, I'm livin' the life in London. The lo-cal life.

Feeding My Addiction Part 2

I have been addicted to General Foods International Coffee beverage for... since it was invented.

I don't like all the flavours but my favorite is French Vanilla Nut, with the French Vanilla Cafe a close second. Ok, I know that there is nothing French about this coffee. There isn't even anything very coffee about this coffee. I just find it delicious and irresistible. I think it might be like coffiest.

The problem is that these allegedly "international" coffees are only available in the U.S. Therefore, I usually bring several cans with me each trip. I recently ran out (c'est tragique) so I asked our friend Mary to bring me some when she was visiting this week. Yay, 2 cans of French Vanilla Cafe! The French Vanilla Nut is hard to find, even in California, so I'm happy to have anything. Yummy.

BTW, John likes the pillow! The smell diminished somewhat after airing out on the roof, but it's not entirely gone. He said he doesn't really notice it and the pillow is comfortable. Yay!

Vicarious Visitors

Since I'm probably never going to go to Malaga, and neither are you, I thought I'd post the photos John took on his recent visit there.

It looks lovely. He said the weather was gorgeous; sunny and warm. Bastard. He said it is one of those places where everyone does not speak English and even his French was of no use. The conference provided a translator/guide for some of the time so that helped. But he was mostly on his own. He did find some great restaurants which is always a high priority for us. It's great having him back in London! Now we can watch the spectacular season finale of Battlestar Galactica!

The Smelly Pillow

The pillow smells.

It's latex, rather than foam. I have no idea what the difference between them is except this pillow smells like model glue and my foam pillow does not smell at all. I didn't want to sleep on it last night because, well, it smelled. And I wonder if you can get brain damage from a smelly pillow, like from smelling glue? Better not take a chance.

So this morning I put it up on the deck on the roof to air out. While I was up on the roof another of those annoying helicopers flew in and hovered. Bastards. Noisy but thankfully it didn't stay long.

We'll see if leaving the pillow on the roof gets the smell out so I can try it tonight. Otherwise, the search for the ultimate pillow will continue.

The Long Walk

Today was the first day this week that I woke up and the streets were not wet so I decided today is the day: I'm going out.

	My favorite time to shop is first-thing in the morning on Saturday because many stores open at 9:30 and the streets are nearly empty (no rush hour). The rest of Saturday is insane so it's important to start out early. It's a 1/2 hour walk to John Lewis so I bundled up and was out the door at 9:15. My prefered route is through Leicester Square onward through Piccadilly Circus (see panorama photo) and up Regent Street to Oxford Circus. Whew! Regent Street seems to never be finished; there is yet more construction there now (see photo). Previously there was an entire block of construction on the east side that I swear was there for 2 years. Now the west side is a mess. But happily some of the construction is a new Habitat store, which will be nice to have on Regent Street. Notice the photo of the bar called Cheers on Regent Street. It appears to actually be licensed from Paramount. Uh, no thanks.
	Then here we are at John Lewis. Of course, they no longer have the pillow that I got just a few months ago so I can't buy more. Bastards. This always happens and everyone complains about it all the time, and rightly so. Whenever you find something you like it gets discontinued. No wonder so many companies can't make a profit; they're run by idiots. They did have another type of foam pillow but I decided to go to Selfridges which also used to have the pillow I like.
	There you see Selfridges. It's enormous, much larger than John Lewis. But the bastards didn't have my pillow either and tried to talk me into some new high-tech pillow that felt too squishy to me. So, back to John Lewis to buy the foam pillow I saw earlier. If we love it I'm going back this week to buy 2 more to take back to California because comfortable pillows are really hard to find. I have never been able to find the lifts (elevators) in Selfridges. I know they must have them so next time I'm going to ask. I did find the bathroom which was much nicer than the one at John Lewis.
	When I got back to Piccadilly Circus the sun actually came out. For 10 minutes. By the time I got home it was dark and grey and drizzling slightly. I did not go into the Virgin Megastore there on the corner even though I'm genetically predisposed to search for new music whenever the opportunity presents itself. It was a struggle of self-control but I know I'm not going to find anything I want there. Besides, I was carrying the fairly large pillow which would have made further shopping somewhat inconvenient.
	This is a photo of one of the queues of people at one of those ticket places off Leicester Square. I don't know if those places are actually "official" or even "half price" but they are popular. For tourists and last-minute theatre they're probably the best method although I just go to the theatre box office for the show I want to see and they often have great seats available.
	So, that was my long walk. I'm tired. But I got my pillow. We'll see tonight if it's the one.

Sunny and Warm

But not in London. John emailed me some photos he took in Malaga, Spain. He called again and says it's really lovely, warm and sunny. Bastard.

He'll be back in London on Sunday, yay!

Homebody

Yea, that's me.

It's been raining since Tuesday so today I decided I can't stand it anymore and thought I'd go to John Lewis and Selfridges in search of another of the wonderfully comfortable pillow I bought a few months ago. This may be the first time that I've bought something here that I want to take back to California instead of vice versa.

Ok: temperature 43 F (6 C), some people have umbrellas and the tree on our roof terrace is trashing in the wind. Hmmmm... cold, wet and windy. Not my favorite. So I bundled up in my boiled wool coat, scarf and iPod, ready to walk to Oxford Circus/John Lewis. I didn't want to take the tube because it required a transfer and is too full during rush hour. I was really really in the mood for a long walk.

But by the time I got to the corner I wimped out. It really was cold, wet and windy. So I changed my mind and just went to the grocery store and got Crunchy Combo Mix (packing on the pounds, I know) and glass cleaner. I'm so adventurous.

Yesterday, John called from Malaga where it's gorgeous, sunny and 70. Bastard.

Sticky Label Remover

I actually had to leave the house today. OMG.

Tuesday and Wednesday it rained, heavy at times. Thankfully I had enough food in the house so I didn't have to go out at all. Today it's not raining but grey with patches of blue which is fine with me. And it's much warmer. Yay.

Tonight I'm going to dinner at Nancy's. At lunch the other day she mentioned that she can't find the stuff that removes sticky stuff from labels. I told her I knew where to find it and would get her some. So this morning I braved the weather and went to Ryman on The Strand.

First the friendly but non-English-speaking salesperson took me to the spray adhesive section. Close, so I said, "No, I need the stuff that removes the sticky, not puts it on." I think she understood. We went to another salesperson who said they didn't carry it anymore (um... and why would that be?) but to try Robert Dyas on St Martin's Lane.

Robert Dyas turns out to be an Ironmonger which is Brit-speak for a hardware store. I never knew there was an Ironmonger on St Martin's Lane, I thought it was all theatres and that awful hotel.

Wow, they had everything! I got the sticky label remover stuff and even found it without having to ask. Take a look at the label design on the can, it looks like something from 1955. Hilarious. Yes, they had vacuum dust bags but not for mine. Of course not.

So tonight's hostess gift is a can of Sticky Label Remover. Yea, I'm posh.

More Windows

Today the window company came to finish the window project.

Phase 2 is putting in the interior windows (called secondary glazing) where previously we had doors (photo on the bottom left). Yea, it's a long and complicated project. Why the architect put doors to the outside in the bedrooms is a mystery, especially since the little pretend balconies outside the bedrooms are, well, little pretend balconies. So we had the doors replaced with windows, by a different company, of course. Then we were away for two months. So now the project can proceed.

Next, when they installed Phase 1 in December several windows didn't fit, like the one missing panel you see in the large bedroom window below (photo on the right). And the second floor windows were not airtight so they have to replace the crossbars with something stronger to keep them from bending. However, one of the new windows doesn't fit. A different one this time. So they have to come back. Again.

The interior windows make a huge difference in blocking traffic noise and the exhaust fans from the restaurants behind us. Ah, silence.

Hoovering

While the guys were installing the windows the doorbell rang and it was a delivery. I couldn't think what it must be and was delighted to find it was the bags and attachments for my vacuum cleaner! BTW, Brit-speak for a vacuum cleaner is a Hoover. It's a "Hoover" regardless of the brand and the verb is "hoovering." I'm hoovering the stairs. That is so cute.

A couple days ago I went hunting for vacuum cleaner bags and had no luck. How can I live in one of the largest cities in the world and not be able to buy vacuum cleaner bags? I was afraid I might have another plastic hanger situation but I went to the manufacturer's website and was able to order them online. Yay! And a couple attachments that looked nicer than the ones that came with it. But I didn't expect them to come right away! Fabulous. Of course, now I have to do the hoovering...

Champagne and Star Trek Go Really Well Together

Ok so here's the thing: We don't d