Random notes from the UK, part 2

[magid]

• The most advertising in the tube (and elsewhere) is to "Back the Bid" for having a London Olympics in 2012.
  
• favorite traffic signs so far: "Part time lights," "Humps 450 yards" (there have been other distances, but 450 yards is the longest I've seen yet), "Give way" (I think that's it, at the zillions of roundabouts). Not quite a traffic sign, but related: the "Look left" or "Look right" stenciled at lots of pedestrian crossings, downtown especially.
  
• Escalators start earlier and end later, having more distance where they're flat.
  
• I love that there are kosher sandwiches at a number of the chain food stores downtown; it's incredibly convenient. Yesterday I tried tuna and sweetcorn, on whole wheat, and hummus and roasted veggies on sundried tomato bread. Yum.
  
• I don't understand the fascination with mayo as a condiment. With tuna or eggsalad, sure, but with cheese? Shredded cheese, particularly? Not my cup of tea.
  
• There are more women in (Muslim) headscarves than I've seen in a long time.
  
• A quick stop at the British Museum (which no longer has the British Library on site): a walk through an outdoor African sculpture garden (both art and flora labeled), including a baobab made of wicker, a thorny acacia (amazingly thorny, actually), a crocodile made of ex-munitions, banana trees, and more. Inside, a stop at the Rosetta Stone, and admiring the light in the main rotunda; I don't expect to need sunglasses indoors.
  
• The British Library is wonderful. How could anyone not be awed by a gallery including such things as
  
  • the original hand-written Alice, including illustrations (it was open to the page where she grows incredibly tall; the "Eat Me" was done in a different font, too)
    
  • the manuscript of Persuasion on Jane's own writing desk
    
  • a map by Mercator
    
  • Magna Carta
    
  • some gorgeously illustrated Bibles, siddurim, Haggadot, and holy works from other traditions
    
  • a letter by Florence Nightingale
  
  And much more, including music, too. There's also a nice temporary exhibit about Hans Christian Andersen.
  
• Walking under the Thames to Greenwich, I kept thinking about one of the later Dido Twite books, where there's a plot to kill the king and replace him while parading through the new tunnel. This tunnel isn't nearly wide enough for a parade, though, much less passing parades.
  
• I was befuddled seeing the 24-hour clock at Greenwich, since it's on a regular clock face, not digital; the hands weren't in the places I expected, given what I knew of the current time. Alas, for my befuddlement over time meant missing the last admission of the day.
  
• I didn't want to see a big name production (well, one that had a name I recognized), so ended up at a new play by Brian Friel, The Home Place.
  
• Frustration is... the half-hourly local train becoming an express, so the trip back from the theater took longer than the almost-two-hour play did.
  
• One can buy ice cream during the interval, and eat it in the theatre!

Overcast and intermittent rain projected for today; alas that we didn't get to the Eye yesterday. Still, it's apparently much nicer than the weather at home...

Comments

[bfo.livejournal.com]

glad you had a fun day, pity about todays weather, but as you found out yesterday there are plenty of things to do indoors.

[magid.livejournal.com]

True, and I haven't yet done any shopping (books or food). It's sometimes hard to get out of the house with it so overcast, and a nice book partly-read calling my name...

And it's turned out a good thing I've been such a slug this morning: I just got a call that the things I'd thought lost at the hotel have been retrieved! Jillian is going to bring them round today :-).

[estherchaya.livejournal.com]

ah the joys of readily available kosher food.

And I despise mayonnaise, so I'm with you on that one. ICK. (I like it just fine in tuna salad, or egg salad, or chicken salad...)

[magid.livejournal.com]

It's odd, though, with food: the sandwiches and such are readily available downtown (not near where I'm staying, unfortunately), but using the kosher guide book is actually kind of annoying. The categories are not necessarily what I'd think of them being named, and many things are unknown. At least it's an adventure...

I don't hate mayonnaise in the right place, but there are a lot fewer right places to me than the average Briton, apparently. Egg salad is called egg mayonnaise, which gives the condiment far too much prominence to my mind, making it much less appealing to my mental mouth.

[scholargipsy.livejournal.com]

When I visited the British Library, they were hosting an amazing exhibit called "Chapter and Verse: One Thousand Years of British Literature," which included the Bronte sisters' old writing table when they were growing up and inventing Angria, Gondal, etc. I found this thrilling beyond my ability to explain, and was especially charmed that Anne apparently had a favorite seat at the table; she carved her initials and a warning against anyone stealing her chair into the wood.

I also know what you mean re: the mayonnaise. In Japan it's an independent flavoring, not a condiment, leading to such culinary travesties as whitebread bun slathered with mayonnaise studded with kernels of corn. *shudder*

[magid.livejournal.com]

There's still an exhibit of the Brontes' works, some in incredibly small writing. It didn't give me the thrill like Jane Austen's desk, because I've never really appreciated the Brontes' writings, unfortunately.

Mayonnaise and corn sandwiches? *shudder*
I'm still surprised to find that 'tuna and sweetcorn' seems to be a staple combination; I've not seen it before.

buy the olympic stuff

[cthulhia]

I didn't get an Athens 96 promo shirt when I was in Greece.
When 96 was awarded to Atlanta instead, the Athens 96 gear became collectible.

Re: buy the olympic stuff

[magid.livejournal.com]

I haven't seen any stuff, just the signs, though I haven't gone looking, either.
(I haven't yet managed to buy any non-consumables yet...)

Re: buy the olympic stuff

[danger-chick.livejournal.com]

Well, then just steal a sign.

Re: buy the olympic stuff

[magid.livejournal.com]

Hee!

Actually, most of what I've seen is posters and bumperstickers, hard to peel off whole...

Re: buy the olympic stuff

[pling.livejournal.com]

One of the train stations I went through on my last trip to London someone had had a good go at removing one of the Back the Bid signs. Not whole though, just most of the letters and bits of the Olympic circles ...