Crowds

I had a strange juxtaposition of experiences yesterday and today.

Yesterday I went to the Notting Hill Carnival, the 2nd biggest street festival in the world (Rio has the biggest). It's attended by about a million people and was started by the West Indian inhabitants of that section of London in the mid-60s and now is this huge event. It's pretty incredible - music, floats, food, and just loads of people dancing and drinking and having a great time!


My friend Odette from work (middle) and her son Cai and friend Sophie







Very interesting little section, which was set against this old church






Just one of about a million piles of "rubbish" - at 2pm! Imagine what it must have been like by night!






Today is a holiday in England, so my friend Seana and I both had the day off and took a tour of the Victorian Highgate Cemetery in North London. It's the burial place of Karl Marx, George Eliot, Douglas Adams, and lots of other famous people. Also lots of unfamous people - there's over 165,000 people remembered in this VERY overgrown and VERY packed (but beautiful) cemetery. I've never seen anything like it.




The entrance to the cemetery, Seana in front to the left







Seana and Karl Marx











Some beautiful pictures of the cemetery can be seen on Flickr -

http://www.flickr.com/search/?q=highgate%20cemetery&w=all

My fake English accent

I'm assisting two people at my company, one of whom is the new chairwoman, who needs me to set up lots of meetings as she starts out there.

So, turns out that no one can understand her name when I say it over the phone. I have to say it a million times and spell it and they are still lost. So in desperation, I've taken to saying her name in an English accent. So when I speak it's like American accent, American accent, ENGLISH ACCENT Joanne Shaw, American accent, American accent. It's pretty funny.


Also yesterday for some reason I mentioned "Harry Potter" and the whole office fell into hysterics because of how I pronounce it (which is, of course, the same way you pronounce it if you're American.)

I'm gonna make it after all

OK, maybe this is preemptive since I still am temping, but today I put down a deposit on a "flat" (that's the fancy England term for apartment) and I really am loving my job.

This one's for you, Auntie Nanette -

One for old time's sake

I've been accused lately of being less camera-shy because of this blog. I'm not - I still absolutely hate having my picture taken, but my mother taught us to put a person in a picture as often as possible so it's not too boring. (Too much scenery ...zzzzzzzzz.)

So it's for my mom, leave me alone.

I walk now

My Gordon staff friends will remember me for basically walking from my apartment to my car, and my car to Starbucks or Shop & Shop. The end.
Well now I obviously walk a bit more than before, and I've been trying to explore my area a bit when I'm in the mood.

Went for a walk tonite and ended up in Greenwich, which I hadn't been to yet. It was lovely and kind of surprising to stumble upon!



Greenwich Pier overlooks Canary Wharf, the highest point in London






Bumped into the Old Royal Naval College








It looks like something that should be in France or Italy. Not walking distance from my house.











I was out for almost three hours and it poured rain on me (the idiot with no umbrella).



I was annoyed with a bus driver who didn't wait the three seconds it would have taken me to get to him after which I had to wait 25 minutes in the cold wind for the next bus while I was soaked. HOWEVER, it was all worth it because I got to see this incredible rainbow. The whole semi-circular bow!








It was worth this.

I suppose it's time I worked

OK yeah, it's been months since I had a regular job but of course I've been looking. In the meantime, I started temping this week for a branch of the NHS (that's the National Health Service, the UK healthcare system). I kinda lucked out, thanks to my new best friend Pamela from Lifeline Personnel.
The job is relatively close to me, decent pay, and honestly the most beautiful view you can imagine. Located on the South Bank of the River Thames, here's the site from my desk. Bear in mind this window is the length of the open office, all the way left of me to the end of the office.


The building I work in


Southwark Bridge (as seen from my window) from an outside view

In England's green and pleasant land

I spent last weekend in the Worcestershire countryside, visiting my friend Pat's parents. Pat passed away in January, after which I became friends with his sister Seana and parents Sandra and John, who graciously insisted I come visit as soon as I could when I got to England.

We had a really relaxing and fun weekend. These people could easily be filmed as-is and put on TV as the best comedy the BBC ever put out, ever ever. Absolutely English, absolutely hysterical.

Slideshow below if you feel like it.

The title of this post comes from England's most patriotic song, "Jerusalem".
Here's a quirky video of it.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1_pZnHLwRsM