A Muggy Day in Uxbridge

Rare Uxbridge mug.

Robin and I made another trip into Uxbridge for more groceries, stopped at Starbucks and bought this mug. I'm sure you can buy this mug anywhere in the world, but for a coffee mug I love the strong graphic impact. Or maybe Uxbridge is the only place in the world you can get one of these. It's much more inspiring than the usual sunshiny, floral, and butterfly feel-goody designs you usually see. I'm pretty dang sure coffee is going to taste a lot better in this cup. 

Another reason I bought this cup is because our new latte/espresso machine from Amazon.com was delivered today. We'll experiment with that starting tomorrow morning.

The class Robin teaches starts tomorrow evening. We'll walk to the campus early Wednesday afternoon to wrap up some small details, such as making sure Robin's student card is programmed to give her access to the areas she'll need.  

New item for our events wish list: Visit Bannockburn village in Scotland where Robert the Bruce, against all odds, defeated the invading army of Edward II, 698 years ago.

Robert Burns, the Scottish poet, wrote a stirring poem about the speech that Robert the Bruce gave to his troops before going into battle. The first verse is below, as shown on Wikipedia.

Original lyrics in Scots 'Scots, wha hae wi Wallace bled, Scots, wham Bruce has aften led, Welcome tae yer gory bed, Or tae victorie.

English translation 'Scots, who have with Wallace bled, Scots, whom Bruce has often led, Welcome to your gory bed Or to victory.

Cue the bagpipes, cook the haggis, and pick up the kilts from the dry cleaners! And add a shot of  Glenfiddich to the latte.

Update: Must also visit the 1314 Bannockburn Pub.

Mark Rylance in Jerusalem

One of the hardest-to-get theater tickets in London is for the play Jerusalem, starring Mark Rylance. Without naming names of certain nice people, and possibly causing those certain people grief when other desperate friends are looking for tickets, Robin was able to score one "and possibly two" tickets to the Friday night performance.

I'll go along, just in case the possible second ticket materializes. If it doesn't, I'm prepared to sit in a nearby pub with my iPhone camera and a sketchbook. Sounds fun either way.

Mark Rylance in Jerusalem, at the Apollo Theatre.

I've seen Mark (a Tony Award winner) in several stage plays and several movies and the guy is a real chameleon. I've also been around him in person (breakfast at Harry's Roadhouse in Santa Fe, spending the night on the stage of the Globe Theatre in London... the usual stuff) and it totally freaks me out that all these characters are the same guy. He's been getting rave reviews and accolades, and is being called one of the finest actors of our time. Last year I saw him in Le Bete, in which his entrance was a 20-minute non-stop, fast-paced, manic monologue. The other actors were just standing on stage with their jaws dropped, partly because of the script and partly because of the performance.

We're also getting tickets to Hamlet at The Young Vic (the newer theater version of The Old Vic just down the street). Wally and Maria (flatmates) have already seen it, but hey, can you see Hamlet too many times? Depends on who you ask, but for everyone I'm following around and trying to keep up with, the answer is definitely "No." Hamlet will probably go on next week's calendar. 

Flat report: The flat here is pretty darn nice. Very roomy living area, kinda roomy kitchen (for a London flat), and not-very-roomy bedrooms (which doubles as an office).

Wally sits at his makeshift desk in the living area, made from wooden TV-tray-stye folding tables he picked up from a church. The dining table is a very low-sitting coffee table that Wally and Marie put on top of a TV stand to make a dining room table. Tube trains go by many times a day, just on the other side of the trees outside, but we never hear them unless we're sitting in the living room. Even then, we're barely aware they're there. 

Uxbridge at Night photos

At about 4 pm we decided to walk into Uxbridge so I could shoot some photos and tryout the new shortcut we found on Google Maps, a little side street, Montague, that runs up the side of The Gardners Arms and cuts at least 10 minutes off the walk to the town center. It was getting dark, but that can be a good thing when it comes to photography.

The Gardeners Arms pub. Our shortcut, Montague Road, starts on the right side of the pub.

I didn't realize it until I got back to the flat, but two blokes were outside having a smoke on the pub's patio when I shot the photo from across the street. See ya in a bit mates.

The town center was quieting down, stores were closing, and a light rain sent us to the nearest Boots Pharmacy to buy an umbrella. Pictured above is The Pavillions, an indoor mall-like place that's not quite as upscale as The Chimes, which is opposite the town centre from The Pavillions, a stone's throw away, behind us in the photo.

The Underground Tube Station is in the middle of the town centre. The last train is around 10 or 10:30 pm.

The Tube Station is pretty quiet on Sunday night.

In the tube station is a quintessential example of why you wouldn't choose the generic, bland, personality-challenged font known as Helvetica for your business branding. At least not all-caps, and especially not if you're a small coffee shop in a tube stop.

Robin (barely visible) reads a poster while a good vampire on a motorcycle watches. I know he's a good vampire because he rides a motorcycle, and he didn't drain our blood. And you thought those Twilight movies were make-believe. 

On the way back to the flat, Montague Road takes us right past The Gardeners Arms pub, so we stopped for a couple of pints of cider, some chicken nuggets, scampi and chips. We didn't play darts, but I grabbed a shot anyway. 

Robin puts in our order. The guy on her left thought she was Irish. She does actually have some Irish in her background. And Welsh. And Cherokee. 

Quick sketch of Robin at The Gardeners Arms bar. Too quick. But art is not always slow, or good. Somebody not very famous said that.

You're Always Welcome Here

WMR&Me (Wally, Marie, Robin & Me) decided to try the nearest neighborhood pub, The Gardeners Arms. Inside and out it pretty much looks like 99% of all English pubs. It wasn't crowded and the patrons who were there seemed to be regulars.

Of course Robin strikes up a conversation with Frankie, the young blond woman who's with Oscar, a small King Charles Spaniel (also a regular here). And Wally, who matches Robin in the Outgoing & Friendly Department, immediately makes friends with everyone at the bar.

Oscar left before I had a chance to take his picture, but I shot this photo before the busser cleared his dinner setting.

We got detailed explanations and recommendations from the patrons for all the menu items on the blackboard, then Frankie says "You've got to meet Vinnie, he lives upstairs and he knows everything." She rushes off to the billiards room and returns with Vinny, who is super nice and hospitable. It turns out that about four people live upstairs, including Carina, the barmaid/waitress.

Wally chats with Vinny and Frankie at the Gardener Arms pub.

Carina puts in an order for us.

Before eating I chatted with Ian at the bar about football (soccer) and Rugby. The food was good, the cider (Strongbow) was great, and we're making this place our European Headquarters. Since we write a blog for Peachpit Press (The Nondesigner's Blog), I think we'll also make Gardeners Arms our Nondesigners Blog Euro Headquarters. For sure the pub should be the European Headquarters for the Mary Sidney Society (If the Board approves. Hey Board Members, if you get a chance, hop over and see what you think. Or take my word for it.)

Ian (blue shirt) anchors the right side of the bar. A very important position that requires years of experience.

While we're at it, we might even start a new organization, The Uxbridge Art Club. It will focus on graphic art, theater arts, and Shakespeare plays, sonnets, and The Authorship Question. Hopefully we'll hold the first board meeting there in the next few days.

Speaking of art, I made a crude napkin drawing in the pub to continue the napkin art theme I started on this trip. Carina said she would post it on the wall, but instead, I think I'm going to take a sketch book with me from now on and sketch something (no matter how crude or badly drawn) on each visit.

Ye olde pub napkin sketch. The drawing isn't very good, but not tooo bad considering the cider glasses are empty.

As we were leaving, everyone said goodbye, including a couple of people at the bar we hadn't met yet. As we said goodnight, Ian said "You're always welcome here."

I was afraid of this...

Sorry for the incomplete article that was posted a day or two ago. I was blogging from a phone app and did something wrong, then lost my connection, then... well, as they say here, things got a bit twitchy.

So I've repaired the twitchy stuff.

We've been here in London barely 8 hours and I've already got more stuff on my "gotta-do" list than I can do this week.
That's partly because we met Maria, one half of our flat-mates. She and her husband Wally (one of Robin's students, and also the other half of our flat mates) organize tours of London from Raleigh, North Carolina.
Note to self: Make reservations to see Jerusalem, starring Tony-Award-winning Mark Rylance (also head of the Shakespeare Authorship Trust and former Creative Director/actor at The Globe Theatre). Mark is getting rave reviews and Wally says the performance is amazing.

Since I'm currently using a computer in the lock & key graduate student section on the third floor of the Brunel library, I can't upload photos, but I'll do that later.

Last night we (Wally, Marie, Robin & Me) made the ten minute walk to the nearest neighborhood pub, The Gardeners Arms. Not sure where the name comes from, but there does happen to be a community garden about a block down the street.

This pub is fabulous. But that's another blog, with photos.

Arty Airways

Wow, who knew Continental Airlines provides art supplies on the Albuquerque to Houston flight.

Can't wait for the live nude models on the Houston to Heathrow flight. What?!

Countdown to London

For a couple more days I'll be wrapping up deadlines, packing a few clothes and lots of digital devices, along with device chargers, adapters, cameras, loading essential software onto a laptop and posting a few test entries to jtchatter.posterous.com and jtchatter.blogspot.com.

For the next three months we (Robin & me) will be blogging from London and who knows where else. Certainly we'll report from various Apple Stores in London and beyond. Also expect reports from pubs, museums, tube stops, pubs, theaters, ferris wheels, universities, and, possibly, pubs.

Testing, testing. One two.