Lots Road to Westminster

Yesterday morning was misty and gray, much like my poor, mildly hung-over brain. But I wanted to get a walk in this weekend, so despite feeling like a squashed toad I hopped on the bus and went down to Chelsea to resume my walk along the Thames Path.

I started at Lots Road, where you may remember I left off way back in early October. The good thing about walking the Thames Path through the city is you don't even really need a map. The path runs pretty consistently along the shore and when it doesn't, it's easy to figure out where you need to be.

That's the Battersea Bridge, above, behind a line of houseboats that have been stranded by the river's low water levels. (Seems like that would be hard on the structure of the boats!)

There are some fine old houses and apartment blocks along the Chelsea Embankment and Cheyne Walk, with windows overlooking the river.

After passing the Albert Bridge I could see across the river to Battersea Park and the Peace Pagoda, hazy in the morning mist.

I passed Sir Christoper Wren's Royal Hospital Chelsea, a retirement home for the veterans known as the "Chelsea Pensioners." This is where the annual Chelsea Flower Show is held, on the grassy lawn in the foreground.

I diverted over the Chelsea Bridge to the south bank of the Thames in order to visit the refurbished and newly reopened Battersea Power Station, now a complex of housing, shopping and restaurants. I have quite a few pictures from there, so I'll share them in a separate post tomorrow.

Then I continued along the river's north bank, past Pimlico Gardens (above) and the small paved triangle of land where I packed in with a zillion other people to watch the Queen's Jubilee Flotilla way back in 2012. That seems so long ago!

I stopped for lunch at a little cafe overlooking the river, and had scrambled eggs on toast with a view of the Vauxhall Bridge and the headquarters for MI6, the British foreign intelligence service. (James Bond's office would be there -- or Miss Moneypenny's, anyway.)

I ate my very un-Bondian lunch and continued along Millbank past the Tate Britain and into Victoria Gardens, near the Palace of Westminster.

The bells at Westminster Abbey were pealing, and I took a little video so you could hear them. You'll see the Victoria Tower of Westminster Palace and Rodin's sculpture of the Burghers of Calais, followed by a little stroll along a path (sorry about the close-ups of the shrubbery) to look across the street toward the Abbey.

I had planned to catch the tube at Westminster, which proved to be a bit of a kerfuffle because the Remembrance Sunday ceremonies had just taken place along Whitehall and there were crowds and barricades all over the place. But I eventually made it to the train and came home, and by this time, having gotten out and about, I felt much better. A long walk is a hangover cure!

Birthday Dinner

Dave and I were finally able to have my slightly delayed birthday dinner last night at La Dame de Pic, a French restaurant in the Four Seasons Hotel near the Tower of London. (It was supposed to be last week but we had to postpone because of Dave's strep throat.)

I took some photos, but unfortunately none of the food because I was busy eating! That's the domed ceiling of the hotel bar above, where we had a drink before our meal.

The rose on our table looked a little tired. Some of the dishes were better than others, but I particularly enjoyed a langoustine course and the main, which for us was venison. (Or "fallow deer," as it was called on the menu. As I said to Dave, "Why don't they call the veal 'baby cow'?")

We also had wine pairings, and I am moving a bit slowly this morning.

It's an unusual space -- tiles and hard surfaces predominate.

My special birthday pastry!

We checked in on Olga during the meal via "dog cam." She was awake on the couch awaiting our return. (That's a maidenhair fern hanging over the table in the foreground. The picture is taken with infrared light, I believe, so there's no flash but there is a click, which she probably heard.)

Anyway, it was a fun evening but now I'm going back to bed.

Farewell to Lillie

The Lillie Langtry Pub, which I've written about a couple of times and once visited with some friends from work, appears to have breathed its last. It closed in September and the brutalist block of flats where it is housed is due to be demolished. I'm not sure how soon that's supposed to happen, but I hope someone saves the sign, which isn't that old. In fact the whole place went through a facelift just a few years ago.

People often think the British are so good at preserving their heritage, but the fact is, like Americans, they don't particularly like a lot of their modernist architecture of the '60s and '70s. I would agree that these particular housing blocks aren't a huge loss, but some of that Brutalist stuff is pretty interesting.

At any rate, so long, Lillie Langtry. (Who was an actress and royal paramour of the late Victorian and Edwardian eras.)

Yesterday was Remembrance Day in the UK, and as usual, we had a two-minute moment of silence in school following a partial reading of the poem "In Flanders Fields" over the PA system (or "Tannoy," as it's known in Britain, even though it may not actually be of that brand). I reminded the kids in the library to be silent, but a table of juniors and seniors in a back corner persisted in talking through the entire silent time. I got quite upset -- I was surprised how upset I got, actually, given that I am not a flag-waver and have minimal military connections myself. I told them afterwards that I was disappointed in their behavior and that two minutes of silence was not a big ask for something so important. One of them apologized, but the others simply endured my scolding (silently, for a change).

Honestly, by the time you're in 11th and 12th grade, you ought to have some sense of decorum. As Dave said, if you can't have respect for Remembrance Day and the sweeping human tragedies that it stands for, what do you respect?

Remember when I had my DNA tested to explore my genetic makeup? Well, the analysis keeps evolving as Ancestry gets more and more information from test participants, and this is what it looks like now. A sliver of Norwegian DNA has been added to the mix, and as you can see, that mysterious African connection is still there.

What I can tell now is which DNA came from which parent. The Norwegian and the African DNA both come from my dad's side of the family, which is interesting. (These are my Arkansas and Missouri ancestors.) My mom's side, meanwhile, has a tiny sliver of Swedish and/or Danish, but is otherwise British Isles all the way. (These are my North Carolina and Pennsylvania relatives.)

Pretty interesting, right?!

Protest Graffiti

I took the bus home earlier this week, which isn't something I usually do, and as I rode along I saw a whole lot of graffiti in Arabic script up and down Abbey Road. I went back the next day to take some pictures.

I was curious what it said -- as are many people. As I took the picture above a guy leaned out of a passing car and yelled to me, "What's it say, mate?"

A clue comes from the hashtagged "Iran" and the name "Mahsa Amini." Amini is the woman who was arrested in September by Iran's morality police for improperly wearing a hijab and subsequently died while in police custody. Her death has triggered protests across the country and around the world.

Apparently the graffiti is critical of the Iranian government and its leaders. I know this because I took it to someone I work with who speaks Farsi, and she translated it for me. The writing above says "Death to the Islamic Republic; Death to Khameini."

And this says something like, "We are after our rights, hand in hand until downfall. You can't wash away blood with anything."

I've also seen similar graffiti on Finchley Road. Whoever wrote all this was very busy.

We had a tube strike yesterday so I had to walk both to and from work (which isn't any different from what I do many days). It's good that we live close enough to make that an option. Tube strikes are a huge problem for many people. Dave, who is not a fan of walking, rode the buses each way and said they were packed.

We've also been told there will be more rail strikes later this month, and civil servants are the newest group to vote for strikes, joining nurses, ambulance workers and potentially teachers. As I wrote the other day, it's going to be an interesting autumn and winter.

Oh, and yes -- Olga was at the vet for a checkup on Monday. I mentioned this in passing in yesterday's post but didn't give any more information, and that's because, frankly, there's not much to give. We took her in to get her anti-inflammatory medication extended, and to have the vet look at the area where her tooth was removed in September. The fistula is still there, which makes me wonder if there's not still some level of infection, but the vet doesn't want to re-start Olga on antibiotics. Since she doesn't seem to be in any discomfort, we'll just keep an eye on things.

Replacement Lizards

Our Thanksgiving cacti are flowering more and more, as you can see above. The pink ones are pretty much at peak bloom, I think.

They are a nice color. The one at work -- the parent plant to these -- is also blooming.

The salmon cactus is now in bloom as well...

...but the white one still just has buds, and I'm not sure the buds are growing. I think this one may hold back flowering again this year. We'll see. (As you can tell, some other stuff has taken root in its pot, a fern and another plant -- a violet? I've allowed them to remain but maybe they're part of the problem. Some repotting may be in order.)

Do you remember the lizard bookmark? (Probably not, but click back on that link and you will be reminded.) I've kept it hanging on the back of my computer at work, facing the kids as they check out books, for five years now. They are endlessly fascinated by it. One in particular has been asking me for years if he could have it. He started in 5th Grade and he's now in 7th. I've resisted all this time, but finally yesterday I relented and gave it to him. The end of an era!

(As I was typing this, though, I discovered I can order another one on Amazon. So never mind -- I'll get a replacement and keep the kids happy.)

Someone yesterday asked me why I haven't been responding to comments lately. I KNOW, I KNOW -- I am very behind. A thousand apologies. I will do my best to catch up. Frankly I'm never sure people go back and read responses, so they're the first thing I let slide when I get pressed for time, and with Dave ill and Olga at the vet on Monday and work and blah blah blah I just haven't had a chance. I've only read nine more pages of "Great Expectations" since Sunday! At this rate, my expectation is that I'll be finished on Valentine's Day!

Almost Airborne

I almost wound up flying to St. Louis today! Some journalism students were heading there for a conference and one of their chaperones dropped out at the last minute because of illness. The school sent out a desperate e-mail to faculty and staff looking for a replacement. I was ambivalent about volunteering, but I didn't want the trip to be jeopardized and I do have a journalism background, so I talked to Dave about it and then raised my hand. But I made clear to the dean that I'd never chaperoned an overnight trip before, and in the end, they found another teacher who was able to go. It's just as well.

The other teacher is a woman, as is the chaperone who dropped out, and I know they try to maintain a certain balance of men and women on these trips, so in addition to her experience that might have given her an edge.

I've just taken a quick look at the election results in the states. It looks like Fetterman pulled off a win for Pennsylvania's seat in the Senate, so that's good -- and Warnock is ahead in Georgia, though the race is tight. It doesn't look like the Republican "red wave" nightmare some were predicting, though it still astonishes me that so many people voted for Herschel Walker or Dr. Oz. And many races are still up in the air. Overall, things look positive at this early hour.

Of course my votes in Florida against "DeSanctimonious" and Rubio went nowhere, but I expected that. I'm usually on the losing side in Forida races, where Republicans dominate.

Dave's strep culture came back positive yesterday, so he did have strep throat. He feels better now, though. His doctor prescribed a few more days of antibiotics to be on the safe side, and I picked up that prescription for him last night. He's going back to work today.

When I told my co-workers about Dave's diagnosis, one said, "Strep! That's so contagious!" I read about it and sure enough, apparently it is quite contagious, and ever since I've been hypervigilantly monitoring my own throat for signs of scratchiness. Maybe it's just as well I didn't fly off to St. Louis! So far I feel fine, though.

(Photos: A fallen leaf near school, and a Waterlogue version of the same photo.)

'Revolver' at Abbey Road

After I picked up Dave's prescriptions in St. John's Wood on Saturday, I walked home past Abbey Road Studios. The walls along the street were decorated with images from the Beatles' "Revolver" album, which of course (like many Beatles albums) was recorded there.

At first I couldn't figure out why -- "Revolver" is 56 years old, so it's not like this year is a big anniversary. But apparently a boxed set of the album just came out, featuring some new mixes and demo tracks and other stuff.



This area is often thronged with Beatles fans taking pictures of the studios (where it's considered acceptable to scrawl graffiti on the external walls) and the crosswalk made famous by the "Abbey Road" album cover.

I always thought the "Revolver" cover art was a little creepy. Those eyes!

It's a very good album -- in fact, "Eleanor Rigby" was one of the first singles I ever bought -- but I don't think I need a boxed set.

By the way, there's a live webcam of the Abbey Road crosswalk that you can check out any time, in case you're curious what's going on there. On sunny days you'll see people holding up traffic by re-creating the famous album cover. (If you're a motorist or a city bus driver you need the patience of a saint to get through this area.)

The webcam is mounted outside the recording studio -- you can barely see it in the photo above, on a pole to the right of the tree and above the hands of the woman in the red coat.

There's also a gift shop, which (surprisingly) I have never been in. Like the rest of the studio walls, its sign is considered fair game for graffiti. (And stickers, apparently!)