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THE LONDON CHRONICLES


Chapter I
February 2000: Getting Settled

Chapter 2
March 2000: Merchant Taylor Hall, Brighton, Cambridge, Guildhall, Brussels

Chapter 3
April 2000

Chapter 4
May/June 2000


Chapter 4
May/June 2000

As I prepared to leave for the states, everybody on the mews was preparing summer plantings apace! Pots and tubs are full of growing things, and the greenery and flowers alongside the doorways is wonderful to see! There are lilacs and rhododendrons in the parks now, and yet more flowering trees. We went to the Clifton St. nursery to buy tomatoes and bedding flowers Sunday morning. Beth and Bob have three new pots to replace the stolen ones, and Kathy started us some sweet peas in a pot. They should run up the poles we put in for them. I can hardly wait to return to see how things are growing.

Have you seen BBC¹s Father Ted on television? It¹s a wacky irreverent comedy about a tall graying priest on a remote Irish island. He¹s saddled with a bug-eyed clueless young assistant Dougall and vicious Father Jack, the pastor, usually snarling ³drink!² from his armchair or sleeping off a bender. He¹s even been drinking furniture polish after the liquor cabinet ran dry. The fathers are cared for by a devoted housekeeper, dim and humorless Mrs. Dugan. She may pipe, ³Have a sandwigge now!² On refusal, eyebrows skyward, ³.... They¹re diii-agonal!² Their accents, asides, and peppering with ³feck² and ³fur th¹ luvva Chroist² as they mess up simple tasks or are foolishly caught in fibs amazes us that it plays without causing riots! In one scene, the bishop slips into a bath tub full of bubbles and a sweet young thing. I read that it¹s one of the favorite two shows of the Archbishop of Canterbury. It seems to be in reruns, so we don¹t know if it¹s been around for awhile.

London¹s election for mayor is on, and the colorful Livingston will win. He is far left, called ³Red Ken² in the past for communist leanings, and was part of the London council that Maggie Thatcher abolished. This city, the banking capitol of Europe, yet run by a mayor outspoken on the evils of capitalism, should be interesting. (This is different from the Lord Mayor, the chief executive of The City, the mile-sized banking and financial area of London, run by the corporation and guilds. Even the Queen must ask permission before entering the City.) Livingston broke from his party after he was displeased by Tony Blair¹s choice of another Laborite, who has awakened only electorate yawns, and who last week married his roommate of 5 years. (Much of England today eschews marriage.) Quaint Victorian London doesn¹t exist: a quarter of the city is black or Asian, political correctness is de rigeur, and television programming leaves little to the imagination. A C of E minister is heading for a sex change operation, supported by his bishop, parish, and two past wives. Another change: London¹s pea soup fogs have lifted, thanks to the demise of coal fires and leaded petrol. Air is cleaner and buildings are no longer veiled in black grime. However, open the windows and immediately everything inside is covered with a fine layer of sooty grit.

I have mentioned it¹s difficult to establish newspaper delivery or phone service. Newcomers need yello pages to help arrange all the moving in. We got yellow pages the last week of June, promised for April, which for new residents (i.e. us) is really irritating. We¹d been told they¹d run out, and the new ones weren¹t yet printed. When I called BT, April being past, I was told they didn¹t actually send the books, but was given another number. Since it was a bank holiday, no one answered, nor was there a message machine. Everyone¹s phone number is changed systemwide anyway, the third time in ten years for London, so numbers in guidebooks and brochures no longer work.

Our garbage disposal was on order for 2 weeks when a simple trip to a home store could¹ve solved the problem. The TV cable broke after we played a tape, and I was told they¹d send a new remote. When I inquired about the delay, I learned they were awaiting a shipment of remotes. We got two remotes, finally, but the repairman came anyway to fix the cable, since remotes weren¹t the problem after all. I¹m refusing to pay the cable people. AOL people here are also a headache. Tech aid is in Dublin, and their web pages and method of doing business are ponderous. I marvel that the empire has lasted this long and have new respect for muddling through.

June 2000

I¹m back from the US having visited kids, grandkids, and my mom in five different states, and painting for a week in St. Michael¹s MD with artist friends. I was so busy I¹m not sure if it was a vacation or marathon, and I missed doing many things I¹d planned, but it was wonderful. I dragged a friend at midnight to hear Pat and his band, The Stingers, on Austin¹s Sixth St. at the Black Cat. I golfed, lunched, and visited, In DC I shopped, read to grands (one of my favorite things), and babysat. I attended a Pokeman sixth birthday for Tim in Bethesda, (did face painting and decorated a cake a la Pokeman) and in Rochester I visited Mom, attended a graduation party for nurse practitioner niece Katie. When I left Austin I was teary, as usual, because I really love the city and the people in it. Our house looks less loved and needs yard care, but otherwise is OK, with tenants. In Atlanta, I met Mike, who became the newest fellow for the American Acoustical Society and our son Ted joined us for the hotel award dinner.

After a couple of days to unpack and attack mail and laundry, Austin friends came by for lunch, then we toured the Wallace Collection. En route home, we stopped at Selfridge¹s department store, and I bought Clinique makeup from a pretty young woman in a white Moslem kerchief over a white dress, and purchased greeting cards next to two young women wearing black kercheifs, elaborately edged in beading and black stones, over their long black dresses. This is a multicultural city, as this month¹s National Geographic article on London points out! Peg and I had a middle eastern dinner at nearby Safa, off Edgware Road. It¹s Turkish and Iranian. The flat bread dough is rolled, then tossed onto the side of a silver pipe stove, where it sticks until it¹s cooked, then is unpeeled and served hot, with several dishes of dips. Delicious!

The next day, Carol and I met at the new Tate while Peg visited her English cousin. We enjoyed the work in this huge new museum on the Thames, formerly a power station and now two days old. It will hold modern works and the ³old² Tate across the river will continue showing its vast selection of historic art. Carol, a docent with me in Austin, and I both disliked the sign placement, since it was hard to associate the words with the art. It was too far away! The collection varies, from an enormous black spider sculpture by Louise Burgois which overlooks the vast entry hall, to large films of naked men, one featuring solo dancing, the other two men wrestling. A group of young schoolboys collapsed with laughter leaving the dark viewing area, perhaps from amazement more than amusement. In front of the huge brick plant, we saw workmen furiously working to complete the silvery walking bridge that spans the Thames, due to open to the public the next day. On the other side, St. Paul¹s loomed across the busy river.

The overlooks from museum windows to river are a delight, but there is a serious furniture shortage! Perhaps it¹s on order. Luckily, someone left and we snagged a stool. That evening we girls met at the Savoy Hotel for dinner, joined by my neighbor Sue. Then we viewed a fantastic performance by Maggie Smith in The Lady in the Van. The script and cast could not have been better: wit, finesse, perfect staging--and great seats. An old woman becomes a part of a neighborhood as her van moves down the street, finally stopping at the irritated playwright¹s door. (He is played by two actors, his ego and alter ego.)

We met Mike at home, newly back from the states ‹again‹ for a nightcap on our cool roof terrace to end a humid but wonderful day. On Friday, Peg visited her aunt, Mike worked, and more friends flew in from their working trip in Brussels, but after quickly catching up, we left them for the evening.

Mike and I walked to the old Victory Hotel nearby, set up to house WWII servicemen. Mike wore his tux and I my latest Neiman Marcus ³Last Call² purchase: a black sequined top, originally $855, marked to $299, less 75%. (Did I save $780? How I miss that store!) I the frayed but serviceable hotel, after the band played the national anthems of the US and Britain, we celebrated the 100th birthday of U.S. Submarines by lighting a candle for each of the ships lost, and blessing the 3600 men still on Eternal Patrol. As usual, the youngest and oldest members participated. (Mike determined that his gold submarine dolphins were the oldest in the room, which was immaterial, since he wasn¹t on active duty.)

We were wined and dined while Admiral Terpstra, gave the address. Afterwards, we danced to a DJ, and marveled at some fast moves of modern sailors before a quiet walk home and lots of reminiscing. We met officer children of our old friends, and learned lots of old stories: Mike¹s vocabulary once sent stymied men to the dictionary, and Eileen was the secret love of lieutenants. It was great fun, and we were delighted to be a part of such a rich celebration, especially since we were so far from parties in the states. It seems a lifetime ago that Mike spent nearly ten years under the sea. (They say a Navy marriage is happy half the time: you pick which half.) Today there are even e-mail systems for communicating, unlike our once-a-month 15 word familygrams. First word his name, last word yours, and no visibly dirty stuff! We loved the challenge and all the fleet read and shared the good ones. In case of a birth or death, we got an extra familygram.

Saturday morning early we left for the Trooping of the Colors at Whitehall. We sat in the top row of the bleachers (in the shade) at Horseguard Parade on a perfect sunny day, after passing through metal detectors. Many spectators wore ³smart dress². Each military band marched in following their music we heard from afar, leading troops ceremoniously down the street, row after row. All the queen¹s horses and all the queen¹s men gathered in the sunshine, finally, in a pinpoint review that lasted for 2 1/2 hours. Metal helmets, brass buttons, gold and silver braid, and swords gleamed, plaid kilts and solid capes flowed in the breeze, and shiny black boots strode back and forth in perfect synchronization. There was no false step, with precision shouted commands and complex marching maneuvers. The horses were matched for color, some pulling carriages, and lines of spirited black strutters carried one regiment, while brown or white massed for others.

Afterwards we headed to Green Park, lured by loud booms. The parade cannons on horse-drawn cassions had been pulled into a clearing, and after each roaring explosion, there floated a huge rising cloud of smoke with the acrid smell of gunpowder, Echoes rang through the green leafy trees. One riderless horse got away, bolting around the hundreds of spectators on the lawns. I had sent for the tickets months earlier, but it appeared that by standing at the fence nearby, latecomers might see much of the parade.

Saturday evening, six of us had drinks at the house and we walked to an excellent dinner at Al San Vincenzo, then ended the evening on our breezy roof under a half moon and stars. Sunday morning, we walked through Hyde Park with Bill and Sandy to the lengthy Pentecost mass at the Oratory, then brunch at busy, noisy, delicious Patisserie Valerie across Brompton Road. We walked home past skaters and bikers whizzing past Prince Albert and Kensington Palace, and took in the Sunday art show hanging along the Hyde Park fence on Bayswater Road. Each artist has a numbered space, painted on the pavement; many appear rain or shine, sometimes hovering under plastic sheets or huddled in nearby cars. Bill and Mike walked to Mike¹s office later.

That evening we crossed the park again to visit Austin friend Judy Hayes. Her daughter Moni hosted, and granddaughter Chelsea played the piano for us; we learned the 7 layers of the atmosphere from third grade science. We chose the TV and plants we wanted when Moni soon moves, and were feted with a fantastic dinner of roast lamb. Judy won¹t buy beef here because of mad cow disease. Moni Œs reward was Mike¹s successfully wiring her lamp from the Greenwich market stalls, assisted by Chelsea, handing him tools like a nurse to a surgeon. (Mike pointed out the irony of a Monica and Chelsea in a family unrelated to the Clintons.) At dinner, we discussed science, dope, and sex, with Mike failing to redirect the conversation to science! (It¹s a joke in our family that we can¹t discuss anything spicier than cotton underwear at the table without disturbing Mike. This is a person who has seen and heard it all, and then some, on his ships!) Monday at dawn we sleepily left for Paris as Sandy and Bill left for home. The chunnel trip was calm, and since we went first class, we got a snack and glass of wine. I like European trains: your luggage can¹t get lost, because it¹s with you.

Paris is beautiful and our weather was perfect for enjoying the massive carved stone bridges and grand boulevards. We arrived on the day after Pentecost, a holiday, so streets were jammed with sightseers, and we were lucky to have a room at the Hotel Nikko, the JAL building, a big impersonal red box, but close to the Eiffel Tower. From a bustling sidewalk café, we dined and watched the tower blink wildly in the dark, wired with millions of exploding tiny stars. For ten minutes on the hour, starting at ten, it¹s a special year-long millennium display. ³An 2000² (the year 2000) is lit on the front of the enormous structure, where people above on the decks look like ants from below. You can¹t imagine the size without being up close. People from every nation are nearby, many pointing cameras. The Nikko is also close to the French Statue of Liberty, an American gift smaller than the original Lady Liberty, on the isle farther up the Seine from the Ile de France. It was given by Americans to celebrate the centennial of the 1789 Revolution, and we saw it from our room. France has lit all their Paris bridges for the millennium, which is quite a contrast from England¹s expensive, unused, and boring Dome. Paris has a walking bridge over the river thatis closed because of excess sway. Now, I read in the paper in Paris, so does London and Japan. The new bridge will be repaired and reopened in a few months.

We ate one evening in the Marais, an area supposedly trés courant, trés chic, but perhaps we didn¹t find the right streets. However, our outdoor café across from a beautiful park served fantastic food, even if Mike had to make 2 trips to find the nearest ATM, since they didn¹t accept credit cards. For our inconvenience, we were given complimentary kir. We met friends Wednesday for dinner at Bofinger, a venerable and beautifully decorated Aslatian brasserie near the Bastille metro. The ceiling dome window is colored glass flowers in a fanciful golden design. Thursday we met University friends and we dined al fresco near St. Germain de Pres next to the Fountain of Mars. They had an apartment nearby while he worked, but she returned to Austin the next day, also to work.

On Tuesday, I finally visited Giverny. Once, I had missed the train, and once I learned at the station that the gardens were closed. This time, I took a bus tour with a hotel pickup, and allowed myself to be shuffled into the chaotic tour office and organized into the proper lines and bus queues. Although I was delighted with the opportunity, I¹m not sure what Claude and Alice would have thought about hordes of visitors pouring out of busses and cars, with cameras, videos, strollers, crutches, and backpacks. People hovered over pansies and ponds, peering through viewfinders or discussing le scene into their cameras for future audiences. Long lines queued to enter the house, and a dense crowd stuffed the tunnel now beneath the narrow road that served Monet as a tiny rail line. Walter Annenburg donated funds to save the masses from road death by tour bus, but the claustrophobic are forewarned of the tunnel¹s overcrowding. One way traffic might be a necessity. Many visitors I saw were infirm or just slow, blocking narrow passageways.

However, Monsieur Claude¹s fleurs themselves put on a great show, row upon row bobbing in soft breezes. The water lily ponds and Japanese bridge were just what I expected, filled with serenity and ever changing reflected light and shapes. I could see how, in more normal circumstances, Claude would have painted happily there. And I loved the big bright yellow dining room and blue tiled kitchen, complete with a cat curled on one of the tables! Monet kept five gardeners busy, and he and Alice entertained people from around the world. He chose flowers and planned their settings. The white turkeys like those in his paintings were nearby in grassy cages, and there were chickens too, perhaps for fresh omlets. Outside the rear exit is a little ice cream stand that seemed as busy as the enormous shop inside the complex.

We transferred Wednesday to the Hotel d¹Orsay, formerly the Solferino now transformed by a makeover. No more funky little apples on white wallpaper, and our bathroom had double sinks! However, two large people should not attempt to sleep in one regular size double bed unless it is below freezing outside. I walked over to les Invalides to see Napolean¹s tomb and the museum rooms filled with armor, banners, and bullets from the dawn of France to now. The rest of the area is used as it was originally intended, as a hospital, with veterans sitting in the green manicured garden. Mike¹s dad would not have recognized such fine surroundings, so unlike the aged VA hospital where he died in the US. We walked and walked, rode the Bateau Mouche down the Seine in the evening, and in general had a wonderful time. We toured Picasso¹s sculptures at the Pompidieu Museum, as amazed as everyone else with the boundless curiosity and vigor of the man. Since the computers were down, we were let in for free. Despite Mike¹s desires, we never did get on the ferris wheel at the Place de la Concorde, (During the day it was too hot and at night the lines were long.) On our last night we watched a crowd gathered in front of the Hotel de Ville and Notre Dame watch the Euro 2000 games on a giant TV screen.

We ate across from Norte Dame, sitting next to a couple with their small white dog seated on the third dining chair. Walking home, we were stopped nearby by police. Seconds later, thousands of rollerbladers whizzed by, plus a few scooters and bike riders, even a few skateboards, all gliding along at a mile a minute, most with no pads or helmets, mostly young, and all happy. We joined crowds of encouraging gawkers, yelling with the crowd. (Something like Hip Hip Hoo-ray, je ne suis pas fatigué!) The next day our cab driver told me that it happens every Friday evening. People like to say that Paris is unfriendly, but I¹ve never felt that way!

Mike visited his office over the weekend and traveled to a meeting in Washington. Here the short heat wave was oppressive, with humidity sitting heavily, but blessed rain finally cooled thing. Britain was shamed by hooligans at Euro 2000, with the requisite drunkenness seen at football matches. What a contrast to the discipline of the parades! Other countries nearby yank passports, denying hooligans and yobs the opportunity to terrorize opponents. This week at home, I am getting carpet cleaned, shirts laundered, groceries bought, bills paid, and enjoying the first real break since late April. We¹ve had mostly chilly windy days, and today when I closed the study window, the old sash cord broke. I wonder how old it is? Our building dates from the 1850¹s.

Under very dark clouds buffeted by strong wind, I played 9 holes of golf at Duke¹s Meadows, with Mary, an Austrian choral music teacher and director. She has a car and knows the city well because she lived in London when she was younger; now she¹s an attractive widow, new to golf. We walked, as everyone does here, with pull carts, though many carry their clubs. I wore a windbreaker and wished I¹d worn a hat rather than a visor, to protect my head from damp winds. The course accepts the public‹it¹s a pretty little par three with some water and a few vicious bunkers. It¹s very much like playing at a small public club in the states, and it¹s tucked away in greenery on the western side of town, down a lane just off the Chiswick main road.

There is hardly a block in London not covered someplace with scaffolding. Because of the Heathrow Express success, Paddington is converting the gigantic hotel that sits over its railway station. Work is scheduled for completion in a year by Hilton, but since we arrived, the it¹s been sheathed in metal scaffolding, pipes, and white plastic, and the street below is filled with messy skips (dumpsters) and hard hatted workers. There are numerous shops and restaurants in the vast train station, including Dixon¹s for electronics and WHSmith for books and papers, plus the Paddington Bear kiosk, since in the story, he was originally found there, stowed away ³from darkest Peru². I stopped there in Sainsbury¹s for groceries on the way back from the post office, next door‹all in my Œhood. Real estate values have risen 35%, more than other areas of town, though our prices don¹t come close to those of Mayfair and Belgravia. Here, the average 2 bedroom flat can be had for £330,000, about $530,000. In Knightsbridge, they¹re half a million pounds. Homes are higher, as are mews homes. (When falconry was fashionable, birds mewed, and were kept in a mews.)

Restaurants, hotels, and homes everywhere along the way are painting, now that the weather, theoretically, is good. House painters here are ³decorators.² Students here don¹t take math, but maths. They don¹t study; they revise. That¹s what Prince Wills was doing this week when he missed his 18th birthday party at Granny Elizabeth¹s. The party also marked Aunt Margaret¹s 70th and Great Granny Mum¹s 100th. Camilla was not invited, but her ex-husband was. However, she and Charles were seen together officially for the second time.

I have registered for the NHS, the National Health Service. It¹s daily flamed in the news because of shortages of medicines and long waiting lists for surgical operations. (A doctor¹s office is called the surgery.) However, I filled out a couple of forms and saw a nurse, who took history, blood pressure, and weight data. This all is determined by where I live. At the beauty salon, I¹d mentioned I hadn¹t yet signed up. The beautician indicated a new office across the street where I was refused because I lived a district over. My doctor¹s surgery is in Connaught Square, a lovely Georgian block nearby. Brick attached homes with elegant doorways surround an iron-fenced formal garden, and the address is often mentioned in books I¹ve been reading. There is no way to indicate it¹s not a home: a small brass plaque on the door reads Dr. Ruth O¹Hare.

I¹m reading Georgiana, Dutchess of Devonshire. Women of her time were expected to give their husband a legitimate heir before having affairs. She, fabulously rich after what proved to be a loveless marriage at 17, hosted dinners for politicians, consulted with Fox, the Whig prime minister, and had the French ambassadors and George IV eating out of her hand. She wrote copiously and set fashions for the nation‹the Di of her day. One hairdo piled hair up as high as possible, using coils and additions, then decorated it with birdcages, or even a three masted ship with all sails flying. The disadvantage of that particular style was that women had to sit on the floor of their carriage. Fox supporters wore blue and beige, and fox tails. George III despised the Whigs and even considered resigning his office and returning to Germany. But, of course, he went mad.

Today as I write, Ted is 37. It seems like I was just 37, when I sold real estate in Charleston! The years are flying by, faster and faster. Today was also a red letter day on Edgeware Road. Wooly¹s (Woolworth¹s to you) new addition had a grand opening, with clowns on stilts and a Dixieland band in front of the store at 11, and huge bunches of big red helium balloons given away on both sides of the busy, noisy, dirty road. Only a few flew up to the sky. Wooly¹s may have the largest candy department of any store I¹ve ever seen!

This has been the most wonderful week of catching up‹just what I needed. At last I can see the desk. I haven¹t painted. It¹s been so cool it¹s easy to stay in. I have lived here since February 6, about 4 1/2 months. With 4 1/2 weeks in the states and about 3 weeks out of town, my time here has been about 3 months, and I feel fairly settled in now, so that everyday events here seem normal. Friday, my reward for working all week is joining friends at the Regents Park Flower Show. Tents and plant arrangements covered acres, and there were also bee keepers and rhubarb forcers and gas heaters and lots more to coo over, aside from brilliant orchids and vast numbers of ferns, roses, trees, bedding plants and exotica. We lunched at Patisserie Valerie on Marleybone High St. afterwards and walked home.

Mike returned and on Sunday we attended St. Paul¹s Cathedral, Christopher Wren¹s huge legacy. A church to St. Paul has been there since 604. Wren built starting in 1675 after the original huge Norman stone edifice burnt down in the Great Fire of London in 1666, in a place of worship used even before the Romans. The job took thirty five years. Wren had himself hoisted into the high domes even at the end of his life to oversee building. He was also an astronomer, a scientist, and mathematician, who invented a machine to knit nine pairs of stockings simultaneously. He died at 91 in 1723.

The domes are the world¹s largest after St. Peter¹s, but most are unadorned gray stone except for the golden mosaic domes in the choir from Victoria¹s time. The organ is the third largest in the UK, with over 7000 pipes, and the offertory hymn was Eternal Father, which undid me! I can¹t dissociate it from Navy services, especially funerals. After mass, with music by a fine visiting choir, we walked through the church, marveling at all the monuments and statues in the side aisles. Besides royals, there were many to soldiers and statesmen, who often died young in battles for Queen and country. Nelson and Wellington memorials are there, and John Donne, a dean of the cathedral, JMW Turner, Capt. Robert Scott, Alexander Fleming, Joshua Reynolds, and more. Downstairs is the grand tomb of Arthur, Duke of Wellington, along with many other graves and monuments, including one to George Washington, and we stopped for lunch at the Crypt Café there, near the shop. Delicious!

We were happy to welcome the Ollers for dinner. The last time we saw Sophie, she was small, visiting San Diego and in awe of our scottie Rhoda. (She doesn¹t remember.) Now she¹s a tall high schooler with two younger brothers to keep in line. As we walked through Hyde Park in the evening, visiting Prince Albert for a photo, Devon and Scott had other ideas. They have a millennium trip ahead to France and Germany after this, and it was a great pleasure to catch up on their lives.

We close the month with a visit from from a Methodist pastor, here for an exchange summer with a British pastor. The Methodists, like Anglicans, suffer massive attendance drops here and are discussing rejoining C of E, the church John Wesley left, deeming it too papist. They¹ve been out and about, and managed to get tickets for Whistle on the Wind and Lion King. While they run, I¹m packing for Janette and George¹s mega-gala Saturday, after which I leave for Italy for two weeks of painting. We also wait to hear of our Yankee Doodle grandson, due July 4. It looks like a busy summer, but Mike claims his long trips are over until fall.

Chapter I
February 2000: Getting Settled

Chapter 2
March 2000: Merchant Taylor Hall, Brighton, Cambridge, Guildhall, Brussels

Chapter 3
April 2000

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