London Calling... again

I had to travel to the UK on a short notice last week and, because I got there too late in the evening, I ended up staying with my friend K, instead of going to a hotel in a London suburb where my meeting was the next day. I woke up super early the next morning, and walked down a very empty Gloucester Road - I almost had the street to myself and I was struck by how lovely and clean it was. This is a street that I pounded on daily while last living in London - but I never saw it like that morning - calm, clean, glistening wet from the recent rain. It strangely lifted my spirits.

It got me thinking about England, and more particularly, things that are just so particularly English. One train of thought I had involved people's names. There are some names that are just very English, as in, while they are very commonplace in England, you would be hard-pressed to find people with such names in the US. For example:

Graham
Nigel
Simon
Colin
Liam
Ian
Duncan
Alfie
Jasper
Rupert
Sadie
Fiona

I wonder why that is? And they are mostly boys' names. Hmmm.

And some expressions remain resolutely English. Like if you have done something well, they would say to you "good on you!" - or when you thank someone for holding the door for you, they would reply "that's ok" instead of "you're welcome".

It also felt good to be in an English speaking country again - it's been months - and seeing many familiar but missing-in-France-outside-Paris shops like Starbucks and the Bagel Factory and Krispy Kreme. Yum!

Alas, this post ends on a critical note (being a critical person that I am) - one thing that used to annoy me living in London was the poor spelling of the locals. In newspapers, in flyers, in office memos - and I'm not talking about UK spelling protocols vs. American protocols - I mean, pure spelling mistakes. Here is one I caught at the airport on the way back - see if you can spot what I'm talking about:

Cheerios!

London Calling

Took the girls to London for 6 days - visiting old friends and old haunts, and it honestly left me wondering why I was in such a hurry to leave the place both times I lived there (1995-1999, and again from 2004-2007). In hindsight, I think for both stints it was the fact that I was working at a job that I did not enjoy - funny that both times it was PeeWee who rescued me out of London - the first time to go to La Reunion for a year, and the second time to move to Rennes.

The girls had a blast. Manolee has no real memory of London other than what she sees in pictures, but she was able to appreciate the double decker buses and the Princess Diana Playground in Kensington Gardens (on the one day that it did not rain during our stay). Twice we enjoyed lovely Thai food at the best pub in London, Churchill Arms, where we were welcomed with hugs and kisses (it helped that we used to go there at least once a week when we lived there) and I introduced the girls to Indian food (Hana loved it, Manolee hated it). Hana got to catch up with a number of her friends and even got to go back to the Lycee where her 1st grade teacher recognized her right away and was very happy to see her.



I was getting grumpy towards the 4th day because I had done nothing for myself, just chauffering the kids around from one place to the next. Then our good friend K (in whose place we were squatting btw) took me and Manolee to Westfield, supposedly the biggest shopping mall in Europe - and my mood lifted considerably. The mall itself is very American and very well done - and best of all, Manolee behaved impeccably, letting me try on shoes and browse for nearly one whole hour.

Now we are back in Rennes, back in rain...!!

Goodbye London.. Goodbye Churchill Arms...

What would I really miss about London?

It's not such a long list. But Churchill Arms would probably figure in the top 3 (non-people category), if not the very first rank. We went there virtually once every week since August 2004. Ann, Jack (who has since moved back to Thailand), Vanda (who since moved to NY), Jane, Tom, Di, Nam, David... and more... they greeted us each and every time as though we were family. They were always so good to Hanaya, and then also to Manolee when she came along. The reliably delicious food is the draw, of course, but these people are not far behind. The pic above shows all the portraits that Hana has done of the staff over time - they had posted them on the door to the restaurant section of the pub...

Churchill Arms Thai Kitchen - we will miss you!