CHRISTMAS IN LONDON

"TWO COUNTRIES SEPARATED BY A COMMON LANGUAGE" G. B. Shaw

The holidays are over, Connor and Brynne returned to the US, and Robin and I continue our homeless journey.  So the blog goes on.

While in Strasbourg the three of us got tested at an outdoor pop-up site and within 15 minutes received negative results.  This was efficiently logged on our EU app that also had our vaccination status for convenient access at the airport.  

Bill being swabbed at Pop-up testing facility 

We breezed through both airports and arrived at Paddington Station on the Heathrow Express after dark. (London is about the latitude of Ketchikan, AK so it was dark about 15:50 in mid-December.)  At Paddington Teigan headed north on the Tube to her flat near Camden Market and we went SW to ours in Fulham. Our Day-2 PCR tests ordered in advance arrived, so we took them and mailed the swabs to NHS for a 48 hour turn-around.  Of course, we didn't get our negative results back for a week.

Our flat was one level up from the street and then three levels.  The top floor was a kitchen and dining room over-looking the living room.  The main bedroom was in back of the living room, and the lowest level was the second bedroom and bath.

Living room from Kitchen Loft

While we've been to London many times for business and travel we usually stay in Central London.  Staying in Fulham impressed us with how HUGE London's footprint is. London's 32 boroughs and New York City's five are approximately equal in population: 8.9 m to 8.4 m respectively, but London is over twice the area at 607 sq. miles.  While the Tube is quite fast there are only about half the miles of track in London compared to NYC, or one quarter per sq. mile serviced.  Their double deck busses are quite prolific, and make excellent less crowded rides, and you get to watch the city go by.  However, if traffic is bad  it can take quite a bit longer than the Tube.

City of London's 32 boroughs.  
The map below is inside the central ring road above.

While not exactly Arrondissements like Paris, London is surprisingly defined by neighborhoods, each with their own character.  For context, Fulham is on the Thames SW of Chelsea, which is SW of Westminster and Big Ben.  It's defined by a couple of trendy shopping streets; E-W Fulham Road and Kings Road, and N-S Wandsworth Bridge Road, where our flat was located. 

Central London.  Fulham is above the river bend in the lower left.  Camden, Teigan's flat, is an hour away at the NW corner of Regent Park, the green circular area in the upper left 1/3.  The London Eye (Ferris Wheel) is in the center just right of the Thames and across the river from Big Ben.

 Within a week we found our favorite bakery (Born and Bread), cleaners, "off-license"  (convenience) store, pubs, and a lovely small restaurant serving their ubiquitous Sunday roasts with Yorkshire pudding.  With few exceptions, the Brits really don't have a cocktail culture.  On several occasions Bill offered to go behind the bar and show how to make Dry Martinis or Perfect Manhattans.  The staff were delightfully appreciative and fun.  

Robin in local restaurant for happy hour

We quickly began our habit of walking walking and more walking around The City.  One such trek was over ten miles from Fulham in the SW to Southwick in S Central, where our favorite open-air market is spread under a canopy of rail tracks.  You really get a feel for a city at that pace. All London residences are row-houses with rare exceptions.

Classic London neighborhood row-houses

Bill in outdoor Borough's Market

London began as a Roman outpost called Londinium.  As it grew it absorbed nearby towns a horsecart-ride away.  The former cities of Westminster, Chelsea and Fulham are now Boroughs of London, and the roads connecting them mostly follow these ancient wandering paths.  Because of this as you meander the road suddenly changes name or the road you wanted veered off.  Also, if you ask someone for directions you might not understand them: Leicester Square is pronounced lester square; Hautbois is hobbiss; Wymondham is win-dum; Costessey is cozy; and our market in Southwick is suth-uk.  

Trying to understand our own language is a study in humility.  Apartments are flats, the first floor is ground level and the second is the first floor; and you take the lift, not the elevator, to get there.  When you take a break, it's a holiday, and in the afternoon you'll have a biscuit with your tea, not a cookie.  If you think that's a good idea it's brilliant, but if it's dumb it's rubbish.  Even cussing has its variants. While they say "for fuck's sake" it's as offensive as us saying "for goodness sake", but when they want to swear they'll say "bloody hell".  And if a man is a jerk and you want to call him a male appendage, he's a knob, not a dick.  And then there's the spelling.  We'd write a check, but here it's a cheque, we'll have a dialog, but they will dialogue, and if you think their opinion is bullshit, it's bollocks.  Driving to a pub, not a bar, we might get a flat tire but it will be their tyre.  Once there, we'd order a draft beer, but they'll have a draught; and when we've had too much we'll be drunk but they'll be pissed.  And if they are obnoxious they're not an ass, but an arse.  I could go on and on.  Truly separated by a common language.  (For a humorous, American perspective on the Brits, and accurate according to the Brits themselves, read Bill Bryson's "Notes From a Small Island" or "The Road to Little Dribbling".)

Connor and Brynne arrived after a week, and dutifully took their Day-2 test.  They also didn't get results back for a week.  Not the most efficient.  Teigan, a cognoscenti of anejo and reposado tequila, passed on all her NYC contacts to Brynne when she moved there.  She (Teigan) spent the past couple of years searching for new establishments in London.  With her discoveries she took us all on her Teigan Tequila Tour.  Maybe not the most typical Christmas drink, but this was all new and fun, and we got to explore the city.  

Flights on "Teigan's Tequila Tour" for the Holiday's

To fill our heads with something better, the next day we all went to the British Museum and spent most of the afternoon in the ancient world.  What a fabulous museum - even if most of it was expropriated from their empire's "possessions". 

British Museum Central Court

Rosette Stone transliterating three languages

Egyptian Statue of a Pharaoh 

 
After a few hours in the museum, we walked to Oxford Street and other shopping High Streets to see the holiday lights and bustle.  A few streets were so densely crowded with unmasked shoppers jostling we all felt uncomfortable and turned away, but the atmosphere was just lovely.  

Angles flying over double-deck busses and holiday shoppers.

Robin and I decided the young-ins needed a day/night to hang on their own - only later realized they probably would talk about us - but we reciprocated HA!. We encouraged them to see the Churchill War Museum - and surprisingly they did.  If you haven't seen it, visit next time.  The movie Darkest Hour, about Churchill's first weeks of Premiership, was filmed in the actual war room.  Great movie and performance by Oldman. 

Mannequin re-enactment in actual War Room left as it was.

Our Christmas Eve was the most low-key, in terms of gifts and decorations, we have had.  Robin loves the holiday, and usually goes over the top to make it special for everyone.  Our trees have typically been 12' tall covered with a collection of eclectic ornaments we each have accumulated over decades (unfortunately my family history of tinsel was quickly quashed after we met).  Our deck was festooned with glittering holiday lights dripping like icicles from the railing. With five people giving two - three gifts to each (do the math) the tree was surrounded by an avalanche of boxes, paper and bows, and the morning after was like a tornado touched down - sparing the house, but littering the neighborhood with debris.  

This year we had a four foot tree perched on a side table for height, sparsely decorated with new ornaments from Strasbourg, and lit with a single strand. With four people traveling after the holiday we agreed on no gifts.  However, at the last minute Bill decided there should still be some unwrapping mess or it wouldn't be the same. So he bought six packable kitchen gadgets and each budding household got to choose two - and negotiating trades after opening was encouraged.  The night was topped off with the tradition of Teigan's excellent, and potent, scratch eggnog.  Great evening.

Traditional Christmas Eve; Teigan and Brynne put together a puzzle,
while holiday movies play in the background.

 For Christmas Day dinner, instead of our typical PNW oysters and cioppino or other seafood, Bill went all-in Brit and made Roast Beast and Yorkshire pudding.  (The Brit Christmas dinner is like our Thanksgiving - Turkey and all the fixin's.

Bill carving roast with Yorkshire Pudding puffed-up fresh from the oven.

Amazing how fast time flies now.  After ten days together it was time for two to leave.  Connor and Brynne got another round of tests before they returned to Seattle and NYC.  After our two month road trip across the US, two transatlantic flights for us, another month through Greece and France, two more flights from the US for the kids, and being together in the UK, all five of us remained Covid free.

Next Post:  Luck runs out, and Train to Cornwall.