London Rain

by Heather Nova from Siren

Right now I am typing this entry on a British Airways flight from 34000 feet over Baffin Island somewhere in the Arctic according to the in flight map. I will be actually posting this entry later when I get on the ground. As you can guess I have been traveling lately. I spent the past week in London because of work. I was running a study. The study was somewhat of a last minute affair but it, for the most part, went off fairly well. This was my second time in London, the first time being May 2007. The weather was better this time and it only rained one day. I spent most of the time, guess what, working. But I did manage to do some fun stuff. I saw Avenue Q in the West End. Now some of you (namely the one or two of you who still tune into this blog) may remember that I have fairly low opinion of musicals. Given how cheesy, melodramatic, over wrought many musicals are. As a former teacher of mine said many years ago, “Musicals are just songs with plot stuck in between.” But anyway, I got invited and hey, when else would I get to see a musical in the West end of London. I have to say that I quite enjoyed it. It definitely had a snarky and clever bite to it. Definitely one of the best, if not the best, musical I have seen. Surely better than the Zorro musical that was playing down the street. One quibble is that they have a character named Christmas Eve who is Japanese who earned two masters degree in social work yet still talks and sings with a massive stereotypical accent. That’s Broadway for yah.

In addition to seeing Avenue Q, I did stay an extra day to soak in some sights of London that I missed my first time. I went to the National Gallery, where I saw originals from Monet, Gaugin, Degas, Picasso, Van Gogh, Rembrant, and many other famous painters that I vaguely remember from my humanities class 10 years ago but have now pretty much forgotten. I ended up walking through London Chinatown which was a trip. I did go to the British Museum, which I have to say was a bit underwhelming. I saw the Rosetta Stone but other than that there was nothing special. Even the famous Egyptian wing was well ordinary. I have to say though to be able to be inches away from artifacts that are almost or over 1000 years old is pretty cool though. I ended the day by walking around Hyde Park, which is quite pleasant in the fall at sunset. I used to snicker when ex-East coasters who are now living in California say they miss seasons. But I now think they are onto to something. October in London is a really beautiful time. It was cool but not cold.. Leaves falling and all that jazz. I could definitely see myself living in London if it were not for the insane cost of living there. Another good thing about London is that there are Oasis fans. I was at a pub (or what they call “bars” there if you didn’t know), I ended up striking up a conversation with a couple of really drunken Brits. Turns out one of them was a huge Oasis fan who was convinced that more people associated Oasis with “Don’t Look Back in Anger” rather than “Wonderwall.” For the record, I am a “Live Forever” fan myself.

Oh yes and one more tiny thing I did in London. The Queen of England visited the Google office when I was there. And yes, I did see her. She walked past my desk and did her royal wave. I bowed my head slightly seeing that I tend not to know what to do when meeting royalty seeing that I have never encountered any other royal, unless you count the times I have been to Burger or Smoothie King. However, I did speak to the Queen’s husband, Prince Phillip, for about 10 seconds. I had a significant amount of food at my desk (it was breakfast food and that tends to be the better English meal food if you know what I mean) and the Prince pointed that out and asked if I was having lunch at my desk. I said no, that I was still having breakfast because I was from the US and hadn’t adjusted to the time difference. Needless to say it was an unforgettable conversation that I am sure neither myself or the Prince will ever forget.

Anyway that was my past week. Other notable events I have been to lately is that I finally checked out the De Young Museum in SF. So I guess I have become Erika like with my recent museum going. I also went to a Renaissance Fair a few weeks back with CWP$, DJC, Doris, and Carl. It was more like a Renaissance/medieval/pirate fair in Hollister of all places. We did see some cool stuff like a gigantic game of Jenga, and some pseudo jousting (real jousting was out of the question since it was raining). I haven’t really been to many events with what I call “dedicated enthusiasts.” You know things like Star Trek or Cosplay conventions where people really get into it with all the costumes. So the Ren Fair was a bit of a new experience for me. Lots of costumes, not al of them flattering. My main impression was that if the fair I went to was really reflective of the Renaissance, then the Renaissance must have been the golden age of cleavage. I mean some women were literally spilling out of their maiden dresses.

Of final note, two more of my friends have gotten engaged and/or got married. For a while there was a little lull in that whole marriage business but I guess it is re-starting. Which yet again, makes me feel old. But that’s a story for another time and when I am not 34000 feet off the ground. Until next time, peace.