Snapshots from the Hood

Always lots of interesting signage everywhere. The photos above and below are of the same building.

Robin noticed this sign and said she's never tasted fridy, but it must be good if they're advertising it.

A fruit & vegetable stand on Fulham Palace Road, the neighborhood's main street.

Nothing Says "Holy" Like Helvetica. Apparently.

 This is the Twynholm Baptist Church on the corner of the street where our B&B is located. Sign makers must have some sort of Helvetica Special Sale going at all times here. I can understand using Helvetica for generic signage, like for "Post Office," but what's up with using it on churches? 

At least it's size is subtle. Oops, no it's not. You know guys, you could have made the name even larger if you'd hyphenated it and maybe let some of the letters hang out over the edge of the building. 

On the other hand, it does create a hard-to-miss landmark. In fact, I find myself wishing that all buildings were this clearly marked with a street name and number.

One of those weird England things

Robin has been searching all office supply stores for over a year now, and no one here has ever heard of plain ol' manilla folders (see above). The only kind you can buy are the kind that have a metal strip for hanging on the metal rods in a filing cabinet. We might take a screen shot like the one above and carry it into an office supply store and see what they say. It'll probably be something like "Ah yes duckie, those are digital and only found on computers."

Is she: 

(A) spellbound by the colorful display? 

(B) temporarily stunned by the UK cluelessness of the existence of ordinary office folders? 

(C) posing for the photographer who thought it would make a fun shot?

You're right if you guessed C. 

Or B. 

And maybe A, now that I think about it.  

Covent Garden, Apple Store, & Lion King

Covent Garden is an area of London, and also a specific piazza that's full of special shops, street performers (musicians, magicians, etc.), and cafes. Above, a quintet performs for a patio and balcony audience.

These people raise money for charities, visit and entertain at rest homes. Covered with pearl buttons, they're called the Pearly Kings & Queens Society. 

The Apple Store at Covent Garden. Very impressive. Appeared to be the most popular place on the piazza.

Inside the Apple Store. Memo to Steve Jobs: This layout would work well on the Santa Fe Plaza.

Portal and front entrance area of the Apple Store.

From Covent Garden we took the short walk to the Lyceum Theatre to see The Lion King, which has been playing at the Lyceum since 1999. The theatre was rebuilt after a fire destroyed it and re-opened in 1834. It closed in 1986 and opened again in 1996.

Unfortunately they don't allow photos. Now I want to see the original Disney version.

On the way to the Covent Garden Station, around noon, I saw an amazing thing: empty Underground passageways. It looked like Sunday must be a slow day in the subway. 

Empty stairways and passageways.

However, by the time we left the theater the Tube was more crowded than I've seen it so far. People were stacked up so deep waiting for elevators at Convent Station that a Tube employee directed us to the stairs (clue: when a Tube station provides multiple, large elevators, the platform is deep underground). As we walked down the stairs we heard an announcement warning passengers that the stairs were equivalent to a 15-story building (you don't see frail elderly people on the subway, they prefer the bus system -- less walking and climbing). Thankfully, we were going down instead of up. When we got to our Tube platform, the trains were packed to the doors, but we found a less crowed car at the very end of the train. Transportation is a big part of the fun here.

iTubePeople #2

iTubePeople Research Paper #2: people who sat near me on the Tube.

For scientific reasons, I'll try to categorize the various species.

A Sleeper and a Reader.

Three Readers. Although they could also be Studiers. More research needed on these three.

Could be a Worrier or a Psycho. Glad I'm not sitting next to him.

Three Teenagers. Often seen in packs of three or more, as shown here. Their camouflage (called school uniforms) serves as a warning to other iTubePeople. Fortunately, this pack was harmless.

Saturday Summary

We cancelled plans to go to Highgate Cemetery and stayed in most of the day to work on our computers. We did take a mid-afternoon break to try a nice little Italian coffee shop just a block from here. Nice place, good coffee. Better coffee than Starbucks. Closer than Starbucks. Not as crowded as Starbucks.

We decided to have an early dinner at Southern Belle. This sports pub is just several blocks away and claims to have BBQ. I thought I'd give them a chance to test it on a Louisiana/Texas/California BBQ aficionado. But once we got there, the place was packed with local team football fans, watching the game on the big screen (in the background). We decided to just say hi to the dog and leave it for some other night.

On the way home we stopped in the Chancery, just a half-block from our B&B. It's also a sports pub, but wasn't crowded, nice atmosphere, really good chips (french fries) for a snack, and cider. 

This is where you order your cider. Gives you a warm, fuzzy feeling doesn't it?

The picture quality on their TV screens is better than the Southern Belle's giant screen. Both soccer and rugby games are being shown on the three screens. As game time got closer, more customers came in. When Robin comes back from her classes, if she takes a bus from the Tube station to the B&B, the bus lets her off right here. How conveeenient.

Next door to our B&B, a fine example of small back porches.

Tomorrows plan: The landmark Apple Store at Covent Garden, The Lion King at The Lyceum Theatre, and the London Transport Museum (all in the Covent Garden area).

Saturday Morning Fox Visit

These two showed up outside our window minutes after a cat wandered through the small backyard area. They stayed a few minutes and then left. 

Is it just me, or do they look like they're planning something mischievous?