London Calling

Christmas trees, presents, and beaches...

After an intense 2-3 months we have earned a well deserved break, and where better to kick up our heels and relax with a bottle or two of Red Stripe but the Caribbean.

So at 6AM tomorrow morning your favorite ex-pats will take the following journey...
--1 hour to Heathrow airport
--3 hours waiting for flight
--10 hour flight
--4 hour layover
--3 hour flight
--10 days doing not a damn thing except relaxing
in a place not all that different from this...


Just like Warner Wolf (who?), let's look at the top stories from the past 2-3 months. Let's go to the video tape...

10. Eating Ghanian food in London Fields market, hot cider in Borough market, olives in Spitafield's market...
9. Becoming proficient at the 2 finger salute - and learning where it comes from
8. Finally getting TV (after 2 months) and watching the Bears clinch home-field advantage
7. Blind dates with other ex-pat couples
6. Creating a home
5. Learning that we need to avoid the spicy Thai place down the road
4. The ongoing search to find our local
3. First European trip to Ireland - the mother land (at least for one of us)
2. First Thanksgiving as Mr. and Mrs. and in the UK - Turkey and stuffing with the Hill siblings
1. Re-uniting after 5 weeks apart (not a chapter in the newlywed book)

Until 2007 we remain, your favorite ex-pats. Happy Christmas, have a safe and merry new year.

--Brian and Kirsten

posted by Brian and Kirsten Hennigan @ Wednesday, December 20, 2006 0 comments

2 BR, 1 BA, Great View, Price just reduced...

Ummm, this is only supposed to happen in areas desnely populated with trailer parks...

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/in_pictures/6217898.stm
(not sure how long that link will work)

posted by Brian and Kirsten Hennigan @ Thursday, December 07, 2006 0 comments

November 18/19 - Weekend 2 of 4 to update...

A job?!?!?!?!? Doesn’t marriage = bride immediately quits job, stays at home, and becomes a lady of leisure? Unfortunately, not in 2006. Ho hum. Yes indeedy, Kirsten had her first job interview in almost 4 ½ years. Frustrated and fed up with her quest to get her nursing licenses sorted before 2007, she decided to rejoin the world of retail. (At holiday time nonetheless.) On Friday, she dressed in her new jumper and a smart pair of trousers before heading to an interview with the HR director for a small retail company called Oliver Bonas. After ranting and raving about how customer service is far superior in America, she was offered a full-time job. Go figure. A start date was set for after Thanksgiving.

On Saturday we broke out our trusty tour book and searched for another guided city walk. The page that we chose took us back to Chelsea for a stroll through the Royal Hospital grounds and Battersea Park. Due to some “engineering work” on the tube, we had to get off one stop early and make our way to Sloane Square. Here we headed south towards the grounds of the Royal Hospital. As far as we understand it, the term “hospital” is actually a misnomer. Instead, “retirement home” may be more appropriate. It is home to several hundred pensioners who once served in the military. (“Pensioner” simply refers to anyone over the age of 65.) These folks are perhaps best known for their military-esque red topcoats and caps. We had the pleasure of greeting a pensioner in traditional garb while we strolled through the grounds. The Royal Hospital is also famous for hosting the annual Chelsea Flower Show. Brian quickly jotted down the dates for May, 2007. We all know how he appreciates a good rose display - especially when they are well-conditioned.

From the Royal Hospital we walked across the Thames and entered Battersea Park. Our first notable landmark was the Peace Pagoda. It was built in 1985 by Buddhist nuns and monks. We’re not exactly sure why they built it (aside from the obvious symbolism), but apparently we’re not alone. The folks who wrote our tour book barely commented on it and there weren’t any markers to be found. Just a big ol’ gold Buddha on a stage with some oranges placed as an offering. Nonetheless it was neat-o. From there we meandered in to the center of the park where various groups were engaging in afternoon sport. Kirsten was particularly excited to stop at a field hockey game. Even though it was Kirsten who spent nearly a decade committed to this sport, it was Brian who needed to be pried away from the game. Hmmm – sweaty high school girls in skirts bent over with sticks.

Our next stop in Battersea was the Old English Garden. It was cute and well-manicured, but more importantly it was where we met SCARY squirrel woman. She meandered on the path with a bag of peanuts in hand. Approximately 10-15 squirrels followed her closely and occasionally hopped on to their hind legs, tucked their paws under their chins, and begged like little terriers! We were completely captivated, until… they started following us around. Then we scurried out and slammed the gate behind us.

Ahhh, Sunday the 19th of November. The day that Kirsten’s mom calls to remind her of the labor and delivery that she endured back in ‘77. To celebrate her 29th, Kirsten was treated to a homemade breakfast of bacon, egg, and cheese sandwiches. Completely full and satisfied we then walked a block to our local farmer’s market. Fresh veg, weekly provisions, non-refrigerated meats, and unpastuerized cheeses were a plenty. Yum, yum, yum. We made our purchases and dropped them back at the flat before heading up to Hampstead. AKA “Land of the Posh”. The cobblestone side streets were bustling with folks out enjoying the sunny day. Kirsten was allowed to pop in to any shop she wanted (birthdays only come once a year!), and she happily did so.

After an hour or so we left the busy town and walked in to the enormous and absolutely lovely royal park referred to as “The Heath”. It has a unique character that draws thousands of visitors each weekend. We meandered through the woods and ended up at one of the bathing ponds where people can pay a small price to swim. This happened to be the coed pond, but there are lady-only and gentleman-only ponds. Our next stop in the Heath was Parliament Hill. Remember Guy Fawkes? Well, rumor has it that his mates were going to watch him work over Parliament from this hill. Too bad the plot was foiled and the fireworks never happened. Instead, Parliament Hill is now mostly known for it’s amazing view of downtown London. We stopped to take in the view and to gaze at the many kites being flown.

As the birthday was coming to an end we decided to head back to The Polar Bear, a pub in Hampstead that had caught our eye earlier in the day. We found cozy seats at the bar and challenged each other to Connect Four as we waited for our Sunday roasts.

Ahhh – 29 is going to be good.

posted by Brian and Kirsten Hennigan @ Thursday, December 07, 2006 0 comments

November 11/12 - Weekend 1 of 4 to update...

What can we say? We’ve been very busy and in the list of priorities the blog went to the bottom. Based on feedback we clearly understand that our priorities should go as follows: blog, spouse, weekend time, jobs. So without further ado we present…

November 11/12
Always up for a parade we went down to the Lord Mayor’s Show. It’s an annual parade that dates back almost 800 years. Each year a new Lord Mayor is appointed. During the course of his (always a male, sorry lasses) term, he chooses a charity to promote. His official responsibilities are basically to promote the city and raise awareness and funds for the charity. Did we mention that he proceeds along the parade route in a 250 year-old gilded coach, the only time it is ever out of the museum.

After fighting through the crowds along the parade route we popped down to the Borough Market. It’s a relatively small area stuffed with food stalls covering fresh oysters, butchers, cheese stalls, ethnic foods and so on and so forth. If you don’t like crowds then avoid this place on the weekends, Brian wanted to chew his own arms off it was so difficult to get through and around the market. We enjoyed our time there and promised ourselves we’d come back; early in the morning to do our fruit, veg and meat shopping.

After hours of wading through the masses off we went to Richmond and Kew Gardens. We went on a 3 mile walk suggested by one of our guide books. It was nice to have information about the many things we saw as we strolled along the river including historical royalty dwellings, 400 year old churches and more. Perhaps the best part of the whole walk was ending up in Strand-on-Green at one of the oldest pubs in the Richmond area, the City Barge.

We finished up the evening by celebrating the 30th birthday of our friend Amy. It was a small group but a good one, we had a really nice meal in Richmond. Afterwards we decided to head home, it had been a long day and going out on the piss until all hours was just not in the cards. As if we needed any support of this decision, on the walk back to the tube we watched an extremely drunk 40 something year old man skipping down the sidewalk with his mates when he caught his feet and fell face first onto the pavement. With the night ending in bloodshed we headed home for some much needed sleep. To all you 40+ year olds reading this blog a word to the wise, don’t get really drunk and skip down the street, nothing good can come of it…

Compared to Saturday, Sunday was completely uneventful. We had a bit of a lie in, as you do cheeky buggers. We paid a visit to a friend of Brian’s from his last stint in London. Wayne and his recent fiancée Clare live out in Windsor, home to the Queen’s favorite residence, Windsor Castle. We walked around the town for a bit to get the lay of the land, popped into a couple of retail shops (Brian’s idea of course) and took some photos of the outside of the Castle, we promised to return when we had more time. We then headed to Wayne’s local for a few pints and a game or two of darts. True to form Brian’s mouth was going better than his actual ability to play darts, it certainly didn’t help matters that Wayne plays in a pub darts league. Final score: Wayne 5 – Brian 0.

Deciding to make it an early evening we hopped on the train and went back into London. Rather than deal with the hassle of making dinner we sampled some of the finest Thai food on offer in Islington. Hmmmm, how best to describe this particular meal, tasty, sumptuous, well presented, nay how about HOT!!! This particular meal was face meltingly, intestinally torching, spouse preferring to sleep in another room spicy hot. So when you all come to visit and we suggest Thai? It’s because you’ve wronged us in the past and this is payback…and so another weekend comes to a close.

posted by Brian and Kirsten Hennigan @ Wednesday, December 06, 2006 0 comments

Message received loud and clear...

Who knew we had so many people hanging on our every post? Rest assured we have been appropriately reprimanded and shamed into quickly adding posts from the previous 3 weeks (doh!). To whet your appetite, here's what's in store (this is a bit like TV Guide), tell your friends:

Nov 11/12
--The Lord Mayor's Show - big parade, lots of gilded coaches
--Borough market - lots of food, lots of trinkets, lots of people
--Richmond and Kew Gardens - long walk, pints in an old pub, friend's 30th bday dinner
--Windsor - the castle and getting embarrased at darts, and really really spicy Thai food

Nov 18/19
--Chelsea and Battersea park - begging squirrels, the Peace Pagoda and Field Hockey
--Someone's bday!!!!
--Farmer's Mkt, Hampstead Heath, Parliament Hill, Kites, a Polar Bear and Connect4

Thanksgiving week
--Hill invasion
--SkyTV 1: Hennigans 0
--Thanksgiving Dinner and Von
--Borough market - still crowded, still lots to offer, Tate Modern, Covent Garden, Wagamama's (please note some of us had to work during these adventures, ahem!)
--SoHo, the Brazilian Club, and a new friend named Tom
--Chelsea (again)
--Victoria and Albert Musem
--White Horse Ale Festival (lots of warm flat beer, blech)
--High Stakes Texas Hold 'em Tournament
--Farmer's Mkt and rain, serious rain, like really heavy rain (some of us were still in bed, tee hee)
--Spitalfield's Mkt (there's a pattern here) and a new bag for someone
--Hampstead Heath, a Polar Bear and Connect4 (again)
--Man U 1: Chelsea 1 (bastards)
--Turkey sammys and the Dangerous Lives of Altar Boys

(Still reading???)

After getting through all that we still have to talk about:
--It's raining Flaiz
--Brian gets his name in an industry magazine (not that kind of industry, sicko)
--New job for the K-dawg
--Canal walks, Ghanian food and Quinoa

posted by Brian and Kirsten Hennigan @ Saturday, December 02, 2006 0 comments