A new year - 2012

This is New Year's Greetings to all friends of the fly.  The flightdeck has been quiet, and flysprings and their friends have been buzzing around. No 1 has now gone off to have some time in Paris and then Spain.  No 2 leaves in a few days for home.

However, Alsace, which ALWAYS has White Christmases, did not manage it this year.  A light dusting on a couple of days, and since then some rain to wash it away again. It has been unseasonably warm, at which the locals are delighted of course. They do not care how long the snow holds off, although they know it will come.

It is only a week now before it is time to leave Alsace.  It is a magic place, but home is beckoning also!

Fly and Flyspring No 1 in the village of Ribeauville.

Fly and Flyspring Numbers 1 and 2 in the vineyards.

Haut-Koenigsbourg in the mists.

Christmas markets in Obernai

Freiburg, hot chocolate and apfel strudel.

Light snow in Eichhoffen.  The peugeot was not perturbed.

Roads ploughed

 Up on Mont St Odile again, - icy

Christmas greetings from the flight deck

This is Happy Christmas to all readers of the Gadflights blog.  Have a joyful festive season, and may we all enjoy good health and contentment in 2012. 

(Picture taken at the London Museum of Natural History - they have an ice-skating rink set up at the front of it for the Christmas Season.) 

More London

Thursday, we boated down the Thames to Greenwich, and had lunch in a good old pub. A very interesting afternoon at the Royal Observatory, including pictures standing on the 0.0.0 meridian.  Must read ‘Longitude’.   Boat back in the dark, though only 4.30pm.  The tube from Westminster to Oxford Circus, two stops, cost four pounds each.  Found Liberty’s and eventually found the floor with needle craft stuffs, as I wanted to buy a cross stitch.  I had good memories of Liberty’s from when I was living  in London quite some years ago.  But today’s experience was quite underwhelming.  The lifts did not work, no escalators, five floors of stairs to the top.  Found my cross stitch, went to a cash point, where a young woman was trying to purchase a coat.  The coat was marked £120, with a 20% discount. The cashier wanted to charge her £127.  She said that could not be right.  He rang it all up again, came to the same conclusion.  She objected again, explained why it could not be right.  He asked to borrow her iPhone to use as a calculator……  At that point I went off to another cash point, where, when I proffered my Visa card to pay, I was asked for ID.  I produced my passport, which the woman scanned, (very slowly) and wrote down the number.  I asked why this was, and she said the Banks required it.  I said I had been in Europe for months using the card and had never been asked for ID.  She came back saying that she really should have been calling the bank to authorise my expenditure of over 50 pounds.  I was speechless at that.  I’ve decided she must have been former staff called back to cope with the Christmas rush. 

We had very little time, and so had a snack at MacDonalds.  MacDonalds Oxford Street = Bedlam.  Nothing more to say.  

Finally found our way to the London Palladium where we saw The Wizard of Oz – Christmas present from Flyspring No 3.  We enjoyed it very much,  it was an energetic and colourful production.  But there also seemed to me to be an influence in the staging that was post -“Wicked”.  It had a flavour that lacked the innocence of the original Wizard film and book.  Cowardly Lion is portrayed as gay, and the scenes in the Wicked Witch’s castle/dungeon had a strong homosexual bondage character.  Children would not (maybe?) pick up on that, but it does jar with the overall feel of the show.  It is an Andrew Lloyd Webber production, and he and Tim Rice wrote a couple of extra numbers.  They fit in pretty well, musically.  Apparently there was a talent quest for the girl to play Dorothy.  We saw the runner-up a Welsh girl of seventeen, and she was really wonderful. Michael Crawford as the Wizard did not really have much to do.  It is Dorothy’s story of course, and a huge role – she is on stage the whole time. 

Friday

Tube Day.  Discovered there is a day ticket, which makes tube-usage not quite so astronomically expensive.  First to the Embankment and a walk along to the Houses of Parliament and Westminster Abbey.  Jeremy Irons does a very sexy commentary on the audio guides.  These are handed out “free”, but after you have paid £16 to go into the Abbey.  I found all my musicians and poets and novelists, and Flyspring found her scientists.  We noted on the tomb of David Livingstone that he was born in Blantyre, Lanarkshire.  Family interest there for us.  There were vergers everywhere, in red and green academic-looking gowns, and a couple of priests in the full soutane and clerical collar, leading tours. The place looks somewhat overcrowded to me.  How many more tombs can they really fit in?  The most recentt I saw was Ted Hughes, 1997.  I think it is not really surprising that Charles chose St Paul’s for his wedding, preferring its architecture.  And of course the big disadvantage of the Abbey is that the nave is completely screened off from the high altar and the quire where all the action is, so that members of the congregation cannot see anything.  For The Wedding, you would have been better off at home watching on TV.  One thing – if anyone remembers when Catherine walked up the aisle, she went around one spot on the floor – that was the tomb of the Unknown Soldier.  The bridal procession then proceeded to walk right over Sir Winston Churchill.  

We ate lunch in the cloisters (freezing).  But the hot spiced tomato soup and ham and piccalilli sandwich was very good. 

The Palace. You can only stand outside the gates.  Queenie had left, for Sandringham for Christmas probably; her standard had been taken down and the Union Jack was flying.  We saw one set of frozen soldiers replaced by another set.  They do have warm coats, but their feet must freeze just standing complete still for an hour. 

On through Green Park, along the Princess Diana Memorial Walk, fed a squirrel who fought off four pigeons to keep his bounty, and then took the tube to South Kensington to ‘do’ the museums. Flyspring went  into the Museum of Natural History (in front of which was another of the many ice skating rinks spotted around London for the Season) and Fly went to the V&A.  There were only a couple of hours left before closing, and after a bit of a wander, Fly felt overwhelmed, decided a week was needed  not a couple of hours, and sat down with a glass of pinot gris instead.  This was a good idea, as fortification was needed to tackle Harrods later on.  We bought a star (50% off) for the Christmas tree back in Eichhoffen.  

 At the Tower

Skating outside the Museum of Natural History

London still

Fly and Flyspring No 2 had a very full day, getting on and off the on-and-off bus and seeing something of London.  The traffic was pretty awful, so the buses moved very slowly, but that gives plenty of gawking around and photo opportunities.  Apparently traffic is extra bad because there are ongoing demonstrations – the Occupy London movement.  Near Saint Paul’s there is a tent city – they can have that, in this weather.  Traffic is being diverted around various points, - the guide on the bus said it has been going on for some months.  Late in the day the buses could not go along the route that has a stop near our hotel, so diverted along Oxford and Regent Streets.  We got out intending to get the tube from Oxford Circus, but could not get within coo-ee of the underground station.  There are two entrances to the underground either side of the road, and both were chock-a-block with stolid Brits waiting with impassive faces to get down the stairs to the tube.  They spilled out over the road and blocked traffic.  I asked a chap in a uniform with an Information badge if this was a regular occurrence, and he said yes, when the tube station gets full of people, they close it until some of the people get cleared off by trains coming through.  The waiting throng must stand on the stairs, on the surrounding roads etc. I did not ask how many cycles of opening-closing of the station a waiting person might expect to endure……  We walked back Euston Square….

But… a good slab of time during the day was spent at The Tower of London.  This is done very well, British thoroughness.  Very good presentations and commentaries.  There were plenty of people about, though not enough to slow down progress at any point;   probably it was good to be seeing it at this time of year rather than in full tourist season in the summer.  One of the several winter outdoor skating rinks around London has been set up by the Tower.  Another in Hyde Park, another in the courtyard of Somerset House.  Although experienced as a skater, being a former member of the well-known “Off-cuts”, Fly did not take to the ice.

Later in the afternoon, 4.30 pm but quite dark, we were disgorged from the bus back in Regent Street, the bus being unable to take the route which went reasonably near to hotel-home.  So we had a wonderful hour in Hamley’s – the oldest toy store in the world, so they claim.  It was magic - five floors of toys, with so much energy going.  Lots of young people demonstrating various current-season toys and generally having a very good time with each other and with customers.  Children, young and old, (including the two flies) wide-eyed with wonder.  Outside on the pavement, Santa’s elves dance and throw sweets at everyone they see.  And of course the cash registers were ringing.  A great retailing environment. Even the fly bought two toys for goodness’ sake!  Like I need toys!!! (I noticed yesterday too, that in contrast to our big department stores at home, where sometimes if takes an effort to find someone to take your money, Selfridges and Debenhams were dripping staff. Not sure what this says about our comparative economic situations.  One thing I have noticed is that items here have a price which I would think was appropriate at home, but it is pounds not Aus dollars.  So things are expensive.  

After Hamley’s we got lost trying to find Liberty’s, and then came the confrontation with Oxford Circus underground, and the crisp walk home as the alternative. 

 No pics - I forgot to bring the piece of electronic paraphernalia that allows downloading of pics from camera to computer.  

MIGs - I have managed to acquire for each of you, not a William and Kate tea-towel, but a fridge magnet which captures the magic moment of 'The Kiss' on the balcony of Buckingham Palace.  I know you will love them.

  

London

Monday 12^th December.  All day on the trains.  .

8.00am joined the children walking down the street in pitch darkness to school, but went on to the station.  Train into Strasbourg.  Train to Paris.  Admired a sleeping man in striped socks.  Walked from Gare l’Est to Gare du Nord – about 10 minutes.  Through the Eurostar terminal – passports etc.  I handed over my Australian passport, having decided to be Australian going into Britain.  The passport man got worried because there was no evidence in the passport of my having ever entered Europe.  Had I teleported in? So I had to produce the Irish passport.  That was fine.  Apparently people getting confused about which passport they are using is not unusual. 

They really push that Eurostar train along.  It is little more than two hours from Paris to London.  By car, 5.5 hours, including an expensive channel crossing, even using the tunnel.  The tunnel is hardly even noticed in the train.   I shared a four seat set-up – two facing two – with another woman my age and a couple .  The man was enormous.  He took up half of his wife’s seat, so that she was wedged up again the side wall. And his legs left little room for the woman opposite him, so she needed to come my way a bit.  He read from his kindle for a while, which he balanced on his stomach the way pregnant women can hold a plate there;  then he fell asleep.  The mouth fell open and the tongue lolled out and the chins all shuddered as he snored.  Wife took no notice, her gazed fixed on her kindle.  So one man’s comfort cost three women any enjoyment of their trips.

 

I was not aware of this when I booked the hotel for Flyspring and me, but it is less than a mile from St Pancras Station, where the Eurostar comes in.   I welcomed the walk in the fresh, if cold, air to Euston Square, wondering if every evening is as frenetic both on the road and on the pavements, or if that is the regular routine.  I will know by the end of the week.  It seemed that half the vehicles on the road were London cabs, but they are not all black any more.  Many are almost totally covered with advertising.  Another icon subverted.  Half of the remaining vehicles were buses, and then some cars and (exceptionally foolhardy) cyclists.  A generous sprinkling of ambulance, fire engines and police cars, all with lights flashing and sirens (different) wailing.  I thought something momentous must have happened, but no-one took any notice.  Must be a regular occurrence.

The hotel is just off Euston Square, and is adequately comfortable.  I hit the restaurant straight away, being hungry after a long fast, and was delighted to find bangers and mash on the menu, with onion gravy .  Perfect.   My enjoyment of this English favourite was somewhat tempered when I realised that a group in a nook nearby, who had workbooks and pens etc, and whom I had assumed were poor beggars on a management training exercise, turned out to be a French class.  And here was I looking forward to the dulcet tones of my native language.  I am also a bit challenged in understanding the English of the all-Indian staff of the hotel.  

I can understand the TV however.  The weather man on BBC1 has advised that this is going to be a week of big storms and winds – just my luck!  But I am now watching a Christmas cooking program, don’t know who the chap is, but he has just done his Christmas dinner dessert – nut tart and celeriac ice-cream.  Not what you would expect, even he admitted. 

And of course London is in the grip of the Olympic run-up.  First thing to be seen when you get off the train at St Pancras is an enormous set of Olympic rings suspended from the high arch of the ceiling.  And already I have seen a bit of a programme with people worrying about the readiness of the Olympic facilities and what is going to become of them after the games.  Sounds familiar.  But they have nothing to compete with Clark and Dawe and Gina Riley and “The Games” I would be sure of that.

Tuesday

Very cold.   Icy winds.  Clear blue skies. 

Walked down (up?) Gower Street to Oxford Street and did the length of it.  It was a bit ho-hum really, although there are thirty-four shoe shops, there is only one bar.   There are lights suspended across the street for Christmas, but very few businesses have made any effort at all.  Selfridges did have a series of quite bizarre window tableaux, but when I saw strikingly similar presentations in the windows of Harrods later in the day, I decided they must both be the work of the current designer-of-the –month.  By the time I got to Hyde Park, I had had enough of walking in the winds, so bought a ticket for one of the hop-on-hop-off tours, and spent the afternoon seeing London from the top of a bus, with a very good commentary as well.  A bonus, the ticket is good for 48 hours, so I can do it again tomorrow and the next day, or just use the buses – they go every 10 minutes from numerous points, to get where I want to go – they do all the main places.  

MIG friends will be so disappointed to know that I could not get you each a Will and Kate wedding tea-towel.  The place where I saw one and thought how you would like it did not have enough in stock.  So sorry for your disappointment.  But I still have three more days, so you never know:  I will do my best to find them.