Richmond Top 10

This will be my last blog entry for London Life. Amazing. It has been almost two years exactly since I joined Lenny in London. I moved here on August 8, 2008 and we are leaving on July 30, 2010. I truly thank all the amazing people who have shared this journey with us. I feel blessed to know you and I will cherish the wonderful memories we have together.

As a final hurrah, I thought I would do a little top 10 list. Is this a top 10 of my favorite things? A top 10 of the things I will miss the most? Hard to say. They feel very similar at the moment.

10. Wagammama. They have one in Heathrow if you are ever flying through. I will have to find a noodle house in San Francisco. I am sure we must have something like this. Yummy is all I have to say about that.

9. English Breakfast. Toast, fried egg, beans, mushrooms, & baked tomato. I have grown to love this and you are likely to see it if you come to stay with us! Lenny and I especially love getting English Breakfast at the little Red Café across the road from us.

8. Terrace Gardens. Terrace Gardens is like one huge hanging flower basket. It is beautiful, relaxing, and gives lots of room for Chula to run around after squirrels.

7. The Architecture of our street. Our street is lined with stunning Victorian houses. Many of them have been chopped up and made into several flats, but on the outside they still look at grand as ever! London architecture is beautiful. We don’t have anything like it in the states. I will miss all the brickwork ~ houses, walls, and pathways.

6. Public Footpaths. What a wonderful idea! Why don’t we have these little guys?? Public Footpaths wind all over England. I took one everyday to my bus stop. They remind me of secret short cuts that kids take through a neighbor’s yard ~ except that they were put there by the Queen!

5. The Richmond Bridge (including the waterfront area & little boats on the river)

4. Pubs (especially the Beer Garden in the Marlborough or having a pint on the Green) What makes pubs different from bars? I have been asking myself that since I got here. I still am not sure I can put it into words. It is an attitude difference. When you go into a pub, it is like you are going into a public living room in someone’s house. You might be offered a drink or something to eat, but you didn’t go there to drink… you went to be social. At the heart of a pub is a intermingling of people in a relaxed “at home” environment.

3. The view from the Roebuck. Thank goodness we were smart enough to buy a huge picture for our first anniversary present. The bend of the river, the grassy hill, the … hotel. I love you all and will miss this beauty.

2. Richmond Park. Breathtaking. If I ever find another place like this I will move there in a second. I will miss sunrise, sunset, and everything in-between in this mini Eden.

1. Friends. I can’t even begin to say enough here. You know who you are and you will be in our hearts for the rest of our lives. Please come and visit & we hope to do the same. xoxoxo

Mallorca - Puerta Pollenca

I grew up vacationing in Mexico. I have very stong memories of the pools and the fruity drinks. Without intending it, I now believe that sunny beaches, fruity drinks, and baking in the sun means "vacation".

For the past few years we have been taking "sight-see" vacations. We have been buzzing around Europe, England, Ireland, Scotland, etc... trying to make the most of our time here. These trips were wonderful. I am so glad we did them. But, they leave you feeling a bit exhausted!

As our final hurrah, Lenny booked us a wonderful holiday to Mallorca, Spain. We are staying at one hotel the whole time. We have breakfast and dinner right at the hotel. And most nights they even have post dinner entertainment on the side patio of the hotel. It is so relaxing I can't even begin to say enough for the experience!

Lenny has taken the opportunity to learn to kite surf! It is a really difficult sport to learn because you need to be very skilled with the kite before you start learning about what to do with your feet. I was proud as a peacock watching Lenny work so hard to become a Jedi Master of the kite!

As for myself, I can only say that I started one book.... decided it was not worth reading 900 pages... switched to a new book. :-) That is my big accomplishment of the week.

Today my agenda looks like this...... 1. put on suntan lotion 2. read by the ocean 3. take a swim when I get hot 4. nap... begin at step 1 again. Hope I can handle such a tough day!

Leaving Picnic

It would be ideal to get 1:1 time with everyone before leaving, but that just isn’t practical. It can be difficult to arrange a leaving-do. We were lucky to have expert advice from Karen White (a wonderful friend from ILOG) who has event planning in her background. She suggested a BYO picnic! Brilliant! Couldn’t have thought of anything better. We really lucked out and the finicky British weather cooperated. Looked like it would be a cold, wet day but then at the last minute the sun came out and really heated everyone up!

After a glorious day in Terrace Gardens, we moseyed over to the Marlborough Pub and sat in the beer garden for a few more hours. It was such a relaxed day and a wonderful way to get hours with the people we will miss most. Thanks to everyone who could make it to join us. We really appreciate you and your friendship.

Leaving BBQ at Ingrid's

Ingrid is one of my closest friends in London. Her friendship snuck up on me. It was one of my favorite surprises of the past two years. She is so generous and kind.

This year, 3 people are leaving the maths department at Orleans Park. Kevin and myself, after just a few years. And Clive is leaving after… 37 years!! Can you imagine? He worked at the school for 37 years… and that does not include the time he went to school there as a student! Yes, you heard that right.

As an end of the year party, Ingrid opened up her home and we all came over for a BBQ. It was pot luck. We brought a typical fruit salad (all melons this time ~ from the little vegetable stand across the way. Very delicious… and very hard to mess up!). Kevin was probably the culinary winner of the evening with some amazing pink bubbly and a salad to die for!

It was a really wonderful way to wrap up the year and we all felt like a little family. (At least for a few hours! He, he)

Wimbledon 2010

I got home from the Prom last night (funny to say that) and Lenny had a little surprise for me. He had managed to get us tickets to Wimbledon for the women’s finals and the men’s double’s finals at Center Court. How he does it, I will never know! This one seemed easy enough…. They release a certain number of tickets on Ticketmaster at 8:30 p.m. for the following day. The amazing part of this is that most Brits don’t even know about it!

Amazement aside, we got up the next day and headed off to Wimbledon! It was a really wonderful day. Not only was the weather amazing, but we got to enjoy all the best of the venue. The grounds at Wimbledon are amazing. They have gorgeous flower baskets hanging all over. It is hard to explain but it is just beautiful. Most of the women are wearing smart dresses and hats. Gentlemen have on button down shirts and pressed shorts or slacks. Everyone really looks like they are going to an event. I don’t feel like that happens very much anymore. (It used to be the theatre… but don’t get me started on people who wear jeans to the theatre nowadays!)

We were able to get a cool glass of Pims and settle into our seats just as Serena Williams and Vera Zvonareva headed into Center Court. I felt that the crowd was cheerleading for little Vera. And to be honest, it made me a bit mad. Lenny assured me that it was just their way of encouraging a good match. Well, maybe she needed it more because Serena whooped her cute little behind very quickly!

We headed out for some Strawberries and Cream and a bit of a stroll around the grounds. Good thing we headed back to Center Court quickly because basically the same thing happened again for the men’s doubles final. Melzer and Petzschner beat their opponents so quickly it didn’t feel like much of a fight.

But it was a really wonderful day and a great England experience.

Prom

When we go to Junior and Senior Prom we think it will be our only chance. I have been lucky enough to go two more times! Don’t worry! I went as a chaperone! Well, that is what I thought I was doing but once we got there most people seemed to get a drink and settle in for the show! We all line up to watch the kids arrive in limos or taxis and basically gawk at them. I took great pride to see my girls all gussied up and looking amazing! I even took a little pride in the boys (but don’t ever tell them that!) who also cleaned up very well and I really hope that they straighten up a bit and turn into wonderful young men. (But I won’t be holding my breath.)

As I was leaving for Prom, Lenny asked me if many of the kids are drunk there. In my blissful naivety I said, “I don’t really think so.” However, as Satveer declared how much she LOVED me for the 5th time and thanked me again for how much I helped her over the past two years I realized that I needed to change my answer for Lenny. As special as that moment was, all I was thinking was, “Is she about to get sick on me?!?”

Love aside, it was great to see all the kids having a fun night and enjoying themselves. This photo is of my girls - I taught them for 2 years.

(Cultural Note: The kids don’t come with dates/couples and they are not allowed to bring anyone from another school. I don’t know about your prom – but it was very different at my prom!)

Glastonbury 40th Anniversary

I don’t know many people who would say I am often at a loss for words. This is one of those times. For anyone who has never been to Glastonbury, I don’t know how to begin to describe it. Seriously. But, I will try so I can share this experience and record for prosperity the awe I felt my first time there. I sincerely hope it will not be my last time at Glastonbury.

Size:
For the few days that Glastonbury Music Festival happens, it becomes the largest town in England. There were 180,000 tickets sold this year (they sold out in a few hours!) and there are countless other people there as vendors, security, clean-up, etc. It is the most massive event I have ever seen and much more massive than I could have ever imagined. Online they said 200,000 people were there!

We were tremendously lucky to be going with Dave, Karrie, and Steve who are festival junkies. They have been to Glastonbury more times than they can count and they really know the ins and outs. They took off a full week (two days before the festival, festival, and two days of recovery after!) and left London at 4:30 a.m. to pitch the tent on the first day the grounds were open. To be fair, we had a great tent location! Close to the main stages, but not so close that we had people tripping over us.

Tent:
You want a tent that gives you a little bit of space for when you need down time. You want a tent that will be waterproof/mud resistant for the wet years and something that will give shade for the sunny years. But… we were told that you should not have a tent that is a space hog or you will never be able to find a spot to pitch it. You do want to make sure there is not a good pathway right by your tent or else Dave warns that late night drunk people fall into you! The result of this chaotic tent placement ~ a very difficult time getting from the path to tent and back!

Music:
Music starts about 10 a.m. each day and stops somewhere around 6 or 7 a.m. the next morning – then it starts back up again at 10! People told us there were something like 45 different stages and we thought they were exaggerating. I know think they probably underestimated. There are around 10 HUGE stages and another 6 BIG stages and then a whole bunch of other sizes. What I loved the most was the variety in music styles; they really have something for everyone.

Food:
There is food for everyone at Glastonbury! Meat lover, non-pork, lacto intolerant, vegan… not a problem! They have all types of food to match the variety of music. Once Karrie showed us where the ‘good’ food was, I was in heaven. I had an amazing crep with egg, chese, tomoatoe two days in a row because it was so tasty! I also loved a chicken and bre wrap that I had for lunch. Lenny tried some Ostrich and some curried goat. You never have to go hungry, that’s for sure!

Open Heart Surgery

We all have bad days or tough times. But I feel like I have been having a lot lately – more than my fare share. I don’t quite know what is keeping me in an eternal bad mood but I really hope it stops soon.

Let me start at the top:
I was upset about something or another. (To be honest, I can’t even remember what anymore. I am sure it was something silly.) I was rushing out the door to meet up with Ingrid for some coffee and a chat… when I tripped a little… AND let my laptop gently brush against the metal table. Well, I felt that it was just a gently brush. However, it would appear that my computer felt otherwise. The screen went black and we couldn’t see anything. Humm…. Serious problem.

In moments like this, you think about all that we do now a days on computer. We were lucky that all the guts were still in order and the computer worked when hooked up to an external screen. But that didn’t really feel like a solution.

While I was off brooding during my coffee with Ingrid, Lenny started to look up my computer model on the internet. He found a site that would explain step by step how to replace the screen. That was the start to my little green Dell’s open heart surgery. I won’t bore you all with the details (I thought it was very exciting!) but Lenny managed to get the computer all taken apart one evening and find the part we needed to order.


About 3 weeks later when we had the parts and the time, we finally replaced a small little orange bundle that lives at the place I dropped the computer. I can’t begin to explain my surprise when it turned on and worked!!! To be fair, we were both quite pleasantly surprised! I knew that Lenny was smart (or I wouldn’t have married him), I knew he was really smart when he was doing Diabolical Sudoku quickly, but now I know him to be the miracle man that he is! Thanks, honey!

Happisburgh Beer Festival

The Happisburgh (pronounced Haze-Boro. I don't see it either, but I promise that is really how people say it) Hill House Pub Beer Festival is an amazing four day treat! I never imagined myself at a beer festival... once I knew I was going, I certainly didn't think I would be saying that it was wonderful. But, wonderful it was!

Emily, Jayme, Becca, and Dave (and loads of other Norwich friends) were going camping in Happisburgh for the 10th annual beer festival. They said it would be fun- so off we went! This adorable little pub next to a camp site gets in about 60 different micro-brew beers and another 20 ciders. People just go up and order by number! I stuck to cider and had an amazing afternoon in the rain alongside our wonderful friends. The wind speed was so high we joked that we had 2 months of weather in 1 afternoon! It would be sunny one second, raining the next, and just cloudy a few minutes later. It was really amazing.

On Saturday night the forecast was for 30 mph winds. Our little HomeBase tent didn't even live through the first night. The peg hole broke apart and split in two before the sun came up at 5am. We knew we didn't stand a chance against 30 mph..... so, we moved in with Jayme and Emily! Who would have thought that we would end up in the 'guest room' of their tent!

I think my favorite part of the festival was seeing the variety

of people and ages there all enjoying their pint and the band. I could just picture my parents and about a dozen other people there with us & having a blast! I will really miss the fun, relaxed nature of the pub environment.

Becca is always ready for anything! Rain or shine!

Ireland

We had a long weekend to Ireland booked in April. But by the time I got back from California after the Iceland Volcano I put my foot down and refused to go anywhere! We decided to re-book that trip for the summer half-term.

It was quite a whirl wind trip, but we saw a few amazing spots. I am just going to do a brief highlights photo tour:

After a real scavenger hunt- we found a rather unknown little castle called Johnston Castle. We had a little majestic walk around a lake and ice cream next to some peacocks.

In Waterford, we hoped to see the factory and lots of sparky crystal things... but instead we just got the construction of the new complex! Bummer.

Some Blarney Stone luck for Maia....

And some for Lenny too!

Last stop - Cliffs of Moore. All I can say is ..... awesome.

Thanks, Ireland. Amazing trip and we look forward to coming back again!

Last Hurrah

People make jokes about 'when pigs fly'.... but I think they just might start flying in a few years because time seems to fly more and more every day!

Hedi and Bruce were in England for nearly 2 weeks but it felt more like 2 days! We had a little trip to France, a few days around London, Bruce and Hedi had a night in Cambridge, and then we all went to the Isle of Wight for the last weekend.

The Isle of Wight has a very strategic position between England and France and therefore many of the interesting sites are castles, battle stations, and other military defences. We enjoyed an afternoon at Carisbooke Castle. They have great videos to help explain the importance of the location and who lived there over the ages. Bruce couldn't get enough!

On Sunday, we went to the west coast of the island and visited one of the main tourist attractions called the Needles and the Needles Old Battery. We had a wonderful walk along the coast with views of the cliffs. At the top was the military battery and direct views of the chalk stakes (Needles) that rise out of the water. Amazing things in this little world of ours!

Bromberg visit part 2

We had only a few days in and around Richmond with Hedi and Bruce during their recent trip out here, but we made good use of the time that we did have.

1. Night out to dinner at Mama's Restaurant with Jayme, Emily & Becca. (Mamma's has turned into our celebration site and the place we go anytime there is a group together)

2. Evening of Indian food with Richard and Mary-Anne. Richard and Hedi have a special bond because Richard helped Hedi pull of a surprise party for Lenny around his 30th when ILOG went to Florida for a work conference.

3. A wonderful evening at Ivan and Corrine's house with a home cooked Salmon and delicious veg.

4. A quick spin through Isabella Plantation Garden in Richmond Park as we were heading to the Isle of Wight.

It is just so beautiful in and around Richmond that I love having the opportunity to share it with other people. This is the little Terrace Garden park that is just at the end of our street. Isn't it amazing?? Chula loves to run around the grass (off to the far right of the picture) and she is a skilled squirrel huntress! he, he

All that running around can tucker a Chula out... apparently even her head needed a bit of a rest!

The Brombergs arrive!

I know it has been way too long since I updated the blog. That volcano really threw a loop into normal life! How many times does a person get to say that?!? About 3 weeks after getting home, we had some visitors who have been promising to come for years.... Hedi and Bruce Bromberg! This is clearly worthy of several new blog posts!

Part One:

Only a few days after arriving, we jetted off to Paris for the weekend with a hope of attending the French Open for Lenny and Bruce. It was a really lovely weekend. The weather could not have been better~ sunny with a light breeze. If Hedi and Bruce ordered this.... I want the number for their travel agent! Amazing.

Nuts and Bolts: Eurostar! What a way to go. I met Lenny, Bruce, and Hedi at Richmond station. We caught the tube to King's Cross and then jumped on the Eurostar. Only 2 1/2 hours later.... Nous sommes arrivés à Paris! Parlez-vous français ? I sure don't! No worries~ Lenny and Hedi both had things coming back to them and I supplemented with my fluent use of ULP (Universal Language of Point- I just point at anything I want to order! Works great!)

Itinerary: We enjoyed Friday night out in the Latin Quarter. Saturday was a big day walking and seeing the Louvre. Please note this wonderful picture of Winged Victory ~ she is still my favorite work in the Louvre. Sunday was another day out walking and then into the Marais district where we enjoyed some Judaica shopping. Okay, you got me. That part was my request. But we all had fun!

This was our little breakfast place. The waiter was a hoot. He played up that he didn't know any English. As soon as we tried ULP and a little French... his English came back to him!

Such a wonderful and beautiful city. Au revoir Paris!

Cancelled

I had to call work today and leave a message that went something like this, "Hi. This is Maia. I am calling to let you know I can't make it into work because of the volcano." For real?? This can't be for real! But, oh yes! It is so very real.

Both Lenny and I were back in the states this past week to get ourselves ready to move back in the summer. We had a wonderful week visiting friends, looking at houses, and exploring the bay area in ways that we never have. On Thursday, we both went to visit our families before heading back to London on Saturday. But.... we are getting some extra time with them!

All flights have been canceled into Heathrow for over 4 days now. I have been told that the soonest I can get back is 10 days after my original flight. We have kids and teachers trapped in China. My head of department is trapped in Tibet. Thousands of flights have been canceled all around the world. They believe that 200,000 British people are stranded abroad. Lenny and I consider ourselves to be very lucky. We are with our families. We have wonderful beds and home cooked food. But, I am starting to get nervous about ever getting back to our little Chula. I just hope this volcano calms down long enough that we can get back home.





Over the past few years, we have had earthquakes, hurricanes, and now a volcanic eruption! Say what you will, but I claim this is just the start. Mother Nature is sending us a message.... she is seriously pissed off! On the other hand, my friend Ingrid said this is just Iceland's way of getting back at England for the way they handled things when Iceland had the financial collapse a few years ago. I guess we will have to wait and see who is right.

This is one of the few times that I hope I am not right.

Public Footpath

I am in love with public footpaths. What a wonderful idea... and... why don't we have these??

I take a short cut to my bus stop everyday when I am walking to work. Public footpaths go through cities, behind people's house, and in scenic areas. The one I take starts in the middle of the street, cuts through some back yards and comes out right at the bus stop. These handy little guys are everywhere! I looked it up and there are over 140,000 miles of footpaths in England & Wales. I don't think I'll get a chance to see them all before we move back, but I'll take any I see.

In Cornwall, there is a public footpath that follows the entire coast. You can walk all the way around the region of Cornwall on the coastal trail. Nobody with a huge estate or a historical old little cabin can say that you can't walk through their property. Isn't that wonderful?

We went a few miles along the coast from town to town. The views were truly stunning. It is such a beautiful part of the country.

This was one of the moments when I felt like we were in a movie. Breathtaking.