Wednesday, October 17: The Globe and Random Odd Musings

The pace of this week is certainly much more relaxed than the last. Once again we didn't make it out until noon, but this time we were back by 4:00. I was tempted to cross the "Wobbly" Bridge, aka Millenium Bridge, and press on to Temple Court or St. Paul's Cathedral but it was a bit on the cold side and frankly all I wanted to do was hide in my bedroom from the children. Which is exactly where I am now.

I took the boys to lunch at Nando's and then hopped on the underground to Southwark and a quick walk to the recreation of The Globe theatre. We lucked onto a tour just starting. Liam found it interesting, I found it fascinating and Colin found most of it sailing right over his seven year old head. For those who are curious, the movie "Shakespeare in Love" was not filmed here, but the director did visit to get ideas. The set recreation was quite good.

When it came time for picture taking I offered to take a photo together of at least five couples who were photographing one another in turn. They all accepted gratefully....yet not a single person offered to respond in kind and photograph me with Liam and Colin. Okay then. The exhibition hall isn't really all that impressive, but the tour was informative and entertaining. Plan on no more than an hour for the entire thing. I would recommend it for children 10 and up. Be sure to fill them in on who exactly Shakespeare was before going though. And if you have your own favorite theory assuming he was not the man from Stratford-on-Avon, discuss that with your kids before or after the tour. I did not get the impression they were going to relish any sort of debate on the subject. For the record, I favor the Edward de Vere, Seventeenth Earl of Oxford theory myself. Debate me on that later.

Now for some random commentary:

I was rather surprised to see an article in the paper the other day about the growing concern...oh please do pardon the pun...about obesity in England as one of the first things I noticed was how fit the Londoners are compared to Americans. I realize full well I am seeing a very small proportion of the British citizenry, but given the pub culture and the cuisine the people I am seeing are by and large....whoops, another horrific pun...more svelte than Americans. No offense to my fellow countrymen, but we are simply staggeringly huge by comparison.

Colin has developed two traveling habits that can be either endearing or maddening depending upon the mood or level of fatigue of the adult accompanying him. He absolutely must be the first of the family on any escalator, up or down. And heaven help you if you try to stand on the step immediately behind him. You must be at least one full empty step back. The other is to climb on anything climbable within reach. Items that can be both climbed and leap-frogged are particularly prized. I do not exaggerate when I estimate I will have at least fifty photographs of this child perched on some kind of pole, fence or whatever the heck those things are just sticking out of a sidewalk. He insists his photo be taken each time.

Who knew how long it would take to find sunglasses, a mobile phone charging cord or a pair of socks in a four room flat. Liam started our with four pairs of underwear and I swear I can only find two now. How exactly do you lose things when there is nowhere for them to go?

I think I have figured out why so many elderly Londoners are walking around the city muttering to themselves. They raised their children in small flats such as this. Only a parent will understand the following statement. All others will think me a monster. I love my children with all my heart and soul. I would die for them. But at the moment I do not like them very much.

It is a good thing I do not live permanently in London or care much for being fashionable. From what I can tell, the current styles would look positively hideous on me and I question whether they should be worn by more than 5% of the female population anywhere. Thick colored tights and baby-doll dresses just don't do it for me. Suits and jeans are worn at least one to two sizes too small...which given my laundry situation has landed me right in the midst of the highly fashionable. Jewelry, particularly rings, look like bling on steroids. I quite like that actually. I go with the adage, it's only gaudy when it's on someone else's hand.

What do you get when you boil four pans of water, heat up two instant-hot tea kettles, microwave two teapots and two large bowls of water in the microwave? A barely lukewarm bath. AGGHHH!

And lastly, American media fascination with the sensationally mundane at the expense of politically and socially meaningful is alive and well here as well. More's the pity. Lest I sound overly critical, I do believe I would move here in a nano second provided I could find a nice quiet village akin to Dibley.