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Published: August 8th 2007
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We are doing well and rising to the challenge we have set ourselves. It has not been a smooth ride but certainly adventurous, worthwhile and never dull. The best thing about Londonfor me, without even pausing to think is the history here. It is everywhere, in every street and positively seeps out of the walls. I love this aspect as I come from a relative baby of a country. If you are planning to come over, "London" by Edward Rutherfurd is a great read.
Bad? British bureaucracy! Would drive me mad to be Englsih.That English seeming acceptance of everything is a little better explained with this perspective. The local council are extremely intrusive into your life and tell you how to live constantly. They like to keep tabs, fine you for any small misdemeanor and are constantly harassing you over one thing or another. Seems unreal.
Tower of London
Yesterday we visited the Tower of London, that quintessential British fortress with more history per square inch than anything else I have visited anywhere in the world. Truly amazing and thought provoking: the wonder of a cities development, the tangibility of life and death and the
Girls with beefeaters
Here are the girls inside the Tower of London with a beefeater. fleeting transformative power of men and women. What horrors and hypocrisy there was in Britain's history. But for the first time I saw the true intricate beauty of chain mail and a shining coat of armour. I appreciated the austerity of a coat of arms and was awed (and chilled) to see the rusted remains of enormous and terrifying weapons . I imagined myself held in the dungeon where people were tortured and whose wall carvings you can see in the prison keep.I imagined myself as Queen Elizabeth floating silently in a barge through the Traitors Gate and wondered what she would have been thinking. And I saw the place where Anne Boleyn, that ill fated second wife of Henry the VIII who was in fact Elizabeth's mother. I am reminded of that quote "men are remembered despite their flaws, women are remembered because of them"
Henry's first wife Katherine failed to provide him with a son (just one daughter, Mary who did become Queen for a short time but stuffed it up by being overly zealous in the killing department :thus the title:Bloody Mary) and the Catholic Church refused to grant him an annulment, so Henry, with the kind
of arrogance and sense of self-serving that only absolute monarchs possess, created his own church, the Church of England, and divorced Katherine to marry a court girl, Boleyn. When Anne herself failed to give Henry the son he so desired - instead only another (useless) daughter - and refused to grant him a quiet annulment, Henry had her beheaded, and moved onto wife number three, Jane Seymour, who had the good sense to give him his precious son. Part of the reason Anne refused an annulment was the implication that their daughter, Elizabeth, would then be branded illegitimate. She faced the executioner's axe so Elizabeth might one day be queen. That shows an incredible strength of character I think.
Our local area: Kensington High Street
Kensignton High Street is a very nice street with all the major shops (and the ubiquitous Starbucks with the famous third a cup of coffee and the rest froth.) and we live a very short bus ride away (or a 20 minute walk) The transport here is phenomenal. I've heard alot of grumbling about the tube here but I think it's truly amazing. I'm amazed there are not many accidents (actually there was
Here is our beefeater tour guide
These guys actually live here. They are extremely entertaining and it is well worth taking the free tour. only this week but not in London)
Zoo
The zoo was fun. There was a small enclosure for the kangaroos but we couldn't see any. Don;t know what the story was. There is a new gorilla area that the zoo is making a big deal of. The best part of the whole zoo by far was the otter enclosure. Their antics are hilarious and we spent about an hour watching them..seriously, an hour!
Disco
The girls went of to a school (P and F) school disco in their school hall. They were both very excited but especialy Christine. Actually Lauren said she didn;t want to go at one stage but we kept encouraging her so she went in the end. Christine danced all night but there was also games. We went out to a local pub (our first English pub experience) and ended up having Thai (really good too) ...hasn't the world changed. I had my first Guiness...delicious!
Cost of living in London, food and drink
You know, London is not as expensive as we were lead to believe. You can, in fact spend very little if you are careful, as long as you are
The great duel in the gift shop, Tower of London
As in all tourist places, you don't get out without a pass through the shop...but what fun! earning the pounds. It depends on what you do and where you shop. In general many interesting things here are free and clothes are cheap (check out PRIMEARK!) and food is also not very expensive. I've heard it said here that you can live cheaply if you are young and buy mostly commodity items land basically 'things' which have actually decreased in price compared to inflation , but it has never been more expensive to be rich. By this they mean that property, entertainment and luxury items are very expensive indeed. Our rent is relatively cheap considering where we are staying (I have since realised we came at a very good time because you just can't get a something similar price now.) We have stopped turning everything into Australian dollar equivalents as , besides being depressing, it is actually a fact that 30 pounds in London can buy as much as 30 Aus dollars in Australia can. (if you know what I mean).
There is one thing of note here that is very different from home. There are so many sirens all through the night. Police and Ambulance. I noticed this when I stayed in New York too. Just
On to the disco!
This was the first school event: a disco organised by the P and F. They loved it and Christine apparently danced all night.
another big city thing.
I tell you what, the British sure can drink. This may be rich coming from an Australian as the British see Australians as beer drinking yobs, but really, they work so hard and then all drink beer in the evenings. It seems the pub is the absolute main social place of gathering and you can watch a soccer math, drink and chat and meet people. All very cosy in the colder, darker months and very inviting. The wine here is mostly Australian (and also French) and the lamb is all from New Zealand (really good) there is very little fish as the Europeans have depleted the ocean,s wealth of fish.You can't even buy a good fish and chips easily although that may just be London and probably will be different along the coast.
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Thanks for the blog,keep them coming .I love them.I have other info. Not sure Ican use this spot so i will use an old email