They Ruined My Looks For the Old Main Drag

This is my LAST post with pictures from England - if you thought they were boring, wait 'til I continue with photos depicting the minutiae of my life in Bulgaria. And I will try to be more consistent with my posting - how else can I expect to rocket to the top of the blogosphere?

OK these are some pretty pictures that I took my last few days in London.

Chinatown, Soho, at dusk:



The Union Jack as seen through the glass dome of the British Museum:



"Oxford Man" by a sculptor from Benin(?):




Caroline and Mike looking at an installation of contemporary African art:

Where Taxi Drivers Never Stop Talking

It's been announced that they are closing schools in my area today because of the bitter cold that is descending on us from the north. We will be out of school until the thirtieth, so I thought I should try to get one more update in (we'll see if the school internet connection cooperates).

Back to the holiday pictures.

For New Year's Eve, Dave, Chris and I went to a little nightclub / cinema place with a hippie vibe in Bristol called The Cube.

The DJ was from Mexico (I forget his name) doing laptop ambient stuff - I thought for sure that he was playing solitaire the whole time:




Which one of these guys is the sober one? (Hint - the camera adds three beers)



People getting down:



Note to the children: don't mix champagne and absinthe




Later that evening, at the kebab stand, a fixture of British culture:




Good NYT editorial decrying the fascination with American Idol - that shining example of the vapidity of US pop culture. (I do kind of like that one Kelly Clarkson song, however).

In the Desert of the Heart

After Christmas met Dave back in London and spent a night downing pints with him, after which we went to Bristol to celebrate the New Years and eat sausages and mash and drink cider.

Dave's flatmate's name is Chris who was also on JET in Nagasaki-ken.

Dave and Chris on the motorway:



On New Year's Eve we drove to South Wales to see Tintern Abbey and Chepstow Castle. There's a Wordsworth poem with Tintern Abbey in the title, but if you read it you'll see that nowhere in the poem does he actually mention the abbey itself. Regardless, it's a beautiful place, and as we were approaching the clouds broke and a rainbow shone down directly on the ruins:



Walking around the ruins of the abbey put me in a pensive mood, (here lost in contemplation):




While Dave and Chris were merely gobsmacked:




Next post: microdancing and armchair raving!!

A Very Whitby Christmas

Rode up to Whitby (via Cambridge) on Christmas with Dr. Finn, a friend of Llew's who I met in Okinawa. Whitby is in north Yorkshire on the east coast of England, facing the north sea.

On Christmas day we had turkey, Christmas crackers and loads of dynamic action from Llew on the piano.

Llew and Futaba slaving over the Christmas meal:



For Boxing Day, we went round Llew's aunt and uncle's place where is extended family had gathered for more great food, conversation, beer:



On the 27th we took a walk up to the abbey and along the dramatic seacliffs from Whitby to another little town further south called Robin Hood's Bay.

Whitby Abbey and graveyard:



View of Whitby from above:



Llew and Fu on the sea cliff, with the Abbey in the background:

A Dream Can Mean Anything

I also made the obligatory trip down to the Embankment to get some shots of Big Ben and Parliament, fighting the hordes of Chinese tourists all the while.



Finally went to the Tate Modern as well: it's impressively housed in an old power station on the southern shore of the Thames, almost directly across the river from the City and St. Paul's Cathedral. As in the old Tate, the curators keep a big installation in the main hall, this one by Turner Prize winner Rachel Whiteread:



These boxes represent a box she found in her grandmother's attic, and painting them white is supposed to evoke a sense of mystery as to their contents. The whiteness and the kids running around in between them made me think of a penguin ice factory. My first impression was "nice gimmick", as I think that with such a huge space it's hard not to make something that's visually impressive. Looking back at my photos, and the scale of the piles of boxes next to the patrons in the museum, I wouldn't be surprised if this image isn't lodged deep in my subconscious somewhere.

It was also somewhat ironic that the museum, or NatWest, had installed an ice slide for the kiddies right outside the main entrance of the gallery:



Finally, here's a shot of St. Paul's and the new pedestrian bridge that connects the City to the Tate Modern: old London meets new London?

Holiday Wrapup Part 1

Hi everyone, or anyone, I'm back safe and sound in Velingrad. Had a really wonderful time in England - special thanks go out to Llew, Caroline and Dave and their significant others Fu, Mike and Chris, for the hospitality and light entertainment.

When I first arrived in London I had a couple of days to reacquaint myself with the city - here are some of my old haunts:

This is my former place of business:




My former street, York Terrace East:




And my former doorway, number 17.




My street was very posh, my apartment somewhat less so.

On wednesday, internet gods willing, more sightseeing pics! I know you can't wait!