I'm baaaack!!!

Well, I'm finally sufficiently recovered from my recent trip to London to get back into a normal routine. With all those steps I climbed, it would seem I would lose weight, but no such luck . . . I did, of course, do some shopping for books and DVDs. I had to restrain myself from buying more, after my last trip to London (when I arrived at the check-in counter, the agent told me my suitcase was overweight and I would have to pay a $25 fee. I said, "Fine" and tried to hand her the cash. She recoiled in horror and exclaimed, "I can't take money here!" She finally told me, "Just go on." Still, I didn't want to risk another "international incident" caused by a heavy bag . . .). I did make note of many ISBNs that are now at the top of my Amazon Wish List.

The books were all purchased because they looked very interesting, but I'm afraid my DVD choices were strictly on a "bargain" basis -- except for "The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency," which I had been anxious to see for some time. I'm excited to read and watch everything!

Some observations from my recent trip:

1. There doesn't seem to be any recession going on in London. I'd never seen such frantic activity -- jackhammering, scaffolding, and construction was going on all over. How much of that was "general progress" and how much was in preparation for the 2012 Olympics, I'm not sure. Still, it was reassuring to see so much improvement going on.

2. London is a multi-cultural city. Part of what makes it so vibrant and exciting is the mix of people and cultures from all over the world. However, Transport for London does have the unfortunate habit of putting people who just stepped off the boat yesterday in charge of the loudspeakers. Nearly every day, I would be waiting for an Underground train when there would be a notice that an "important announcement" was coming up. This would be followed by a volley of gibberish. Rather defeats the purpose of making an announcement when no one can understand it, wouldn't you say??

Finally, I had to comment on an amusing story that I read in the Mail on Sunday. There was an article about how the police can keep a DNA sample on file for up to 12 years, even if no charges were filed against the person in question. The article went on to say, "This doesn't happen in other countries, not even in Scotland." I thought that was hilarious, but somewhat strange. It was as if the author was searching her mind for the most barbaric, backward, out-of-touch country in the world to use for comparison, and the worst place she could come up with was Scotland. I had never heard that Scotland was such a model of depravity!

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London Landscape TV

While looking for good stuff to download onto my newly acquired iPod, I discovered a great site, London Landscape TV. This site features impressive videos of London. There are 5 episodes so far, each less than 10 minutes long. The videos are shot in high definition and the sound is either ambient sound or music -- there's no narration or voice overs. The videos are beautiful, and it really gives you the feeling of being there. Gorgeous!

It appears that you need to watch the videos through iTunes, but they are free, and it's free to download the iTunes player if necessary. I really enjoyed the beautiful videos. The most recent one was shot last Tuesday, so it's very timely. Head on over and look at the lovely London scenery!

Update: I obviously didn't explore the site well enough! There are tons of videos posted, and they play just fine on Windows Media Player. The link to descriptions and downloads is here.

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The countdown begins!

Woo Hoo! I just booked my flight and hotel for a London vacation next year. If no major disasters occur (and it would take a major disaster to keep me away), I'll be there from April 29-May 15. I had to go a bit earlier in the year than I would have liked, because I was using frequent flier miles and I had to complete my trip by May 15. I've booked a hotel at £56.00 per night, but I'm on the lookout for a better deal. This weekend, I thought I'd stumbled upon just that. A hotel near Victoria Station was offering single rooms for £35.00. There was a shared bathroom with another single room, but I would have gladly done that to save nearly 40% off the bill. Of course, when I contacted them (nearly 8 months out), they claimed that they would be undergoing refurbishment in January and couldn't guarantee the single room would still be available. Waaah! I briefly thought I'd found the deal of the century there. Oh well, I still have plenty of time to find a great bargain.

We've had guests from overseas the past few weeks, so I've been sadly remiss in my reading and DVD watching. I have been listening to the audio book of The Sunday Philosophy Club by Alexander McCall Smith, and while it's much better than Portuguese Irregular Verbs, it's still not a patch on The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency series that he wrote. I also must admit that, while this most recent audio book wasn't especially holding my interest, I did "take agin" it when the author had one of his characters state quite boldly, "Cats are sociopaths." Rather unnecessary to malign the poor moggies, I thought, especially when there are no cats in the story.

The story concerns Isabel Dalhousie, the editor of the journal the Review of Applied Ethics -- and that is where the problems start. Isabel has to take every thought which enters her head and ponder it from every angle to discover the moral or ethical implications. For instance, she dislikes her niece's new boyfriend, and has repeated fantasies of the young man perishing in an avalanche. Every time the thought comes up, she has to go round and round with herself about what an uncharitable and immoral thought this is. This makes for lots of talk, hand wringing and "philosophical discussion", but very little action.

On another note, I was interested to see Russell Brand hosting the MTV video awards this week. I watched his monologue and wasn't surprised by it, although I saw that it would cause some controversy. I first learned about him on a trip to England last year when I was arrested by his photograph in the Guardian, where he had written a funny column. When I got back to the states, I researched him and discovered he hosted his own radio program. I tuned in, but must admit I was somewhat taken aback by his accent. Somehow, it wasn't what I had been expecting, but maybe I just haven't been exposed to the Essex accent enough to appreciate its nuances. Still, I'm glad to see that he's attempting to make a name for himself in the U.S. as a presenter and actor. I have to wonder, though, how many films call for the role of a pirate. I would have thought Johnny Depp had the market cornered on that particular genre, anyway . . .

Final Verdict for The Sunday Philosophy Club: 2 Gherkins, for lovely descriptions of Edinburgh, but action that drags

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Catching up with Netflix

I have tons of British series just now in my Netflix queue, but sometimes my husband will go in and move something he wants to see to the top (the nerve!). This weekend we watched one of his selections, The Bank Job. Now, I must have been living under a rock, because I don't remember hearing anything about this film. So I asked him, "What's it about?" He started reading off the overview on the little sleeve the disk came in, and he said the two magic words: "London" and "Jason Statham" (well, technically, that's three words, but two concepts -- so I'll count it as two words). I was anxious to see any sightings of London, but the film was set in 1971, so aside from some shots of various underground stations (with the old style gray trains) and Paddington Station, there wasn't really much to show the film was actually set in London. I guess the city has changed so much since 1971 that there really wasn't anywhere to film that would be realistic.

The movie had a lot of plot twists that made it somewhat hard to follow. A high-profile black activist was arrested on some charge (I forget what now), but the government refused to prosecute him because he was holding some naughty photos showing a member of the royal family. The MI5 or 6 (or maybe both, it was difficult to tell -- and what's the dif, anyway?) hatched a plot to steal the photos from the bank safe deposit box where they were being held. A model attempting to enter the country with drugs was detained and given the opportunity to have her charges dropped if she could arrange the robbery of the bank vault. She gets together a gang of small-time criminals to rob the vault, but doesn't reveal the true motive (to get the royal nasties) behind the robbery to the gang of thieves.

So the gang successfully robs the vault and makes off with millions in jewels and cash. However, numerous bad guys and gals had stashed THEIR blackmailing materials in the safe deposit boxes as well, so those people immediately became involved in trying to track down the people responsible for the robbery.

So you have: the robbers after cash (so they think), various and sundry blackmailers wanting their documentation back, government agencies wanting the whole thing solved and swept under the rug, corrupt police trying to protect themselves from exposure, and honest police (greatly outnumbered) trying to solve the whole thing. It was very confusing as to who was after what and why, and there was a lot of beating and killing going on.

Well, on the bright side, Jason Statham did look as gorgeous as ever, and this was, I suppose, one of his "typical" roles. Fans of his will not be disappointed!

Final Verdict for The Bank Job: Two Gherkins, for London atmosphere (if not scenery) and Jason Statham!

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