Snow Gone

After one day with temperatures in the mid-to-high 30s, the snow nearly disappeared. I'm sorry I missed the "4ft phallic symbol out of snow" that earned one 18-year-old an £8 fine.

Dirty snow (remains of a snowman?) on Llamas Land

Snow Day

Yesterday we had our first substantial snowfall of the winter. Cambridge schools were actually closed. Besides wishing that they made chains for bicycle tires, biking around the snowy streets of Cambridge was fun. I got passed my aesthetic insecurities and donned my too-big, purple rain pants, white rain boots, black jacket and helmet. The bloody nose that I got later, due to the cold, added another splash of color to the outfit.

Snow didn't seem to bother the birds: a Great Tit feeding in landlord's backyard

Snowman crafted by a Big Issue salesperson

Round Church dusted by snow

Ducks showed up for work at Scudamores: the puntees stayed home.

View of Magdalene Street from Quayside

Two More Birds Identified: Chaffinch and Starling

Sat by the bedroom window this morning—bird watching and going through financial paperwork (guess what I preffered doing). I was able, thanks to my bird book, to identify two more bird species: tfhe chaffinch and the starling. Here are two blurry photos of a chaffinch.

International Gaming: Second Match

Settlers of Catan winners:
James and Manuela
While M* and I had a good time playing as a team, once again we lost a game of "Settlers of Catan." The same group (James, Manueal, Tialda, Michael, M* and me) gathered, and James and Manuela were the victors. The game does not require assigning second, third, fourth places, but I'm very much aware that M* and I came in last of the three groups. However, it was a good match with each group able to give the impression that they could be the winners. I admit that my attention wanes if my impending loss is too obvious to ignore, but, this time, the only other object of my interest was the TV showing music videos directed by Michel Gondry. Having never had MTV, I couldn't resist sneaking peeks.

Not only were James and Manuela the winners, they also hosted and provided tapas (pumpkin soup, tortilla Espagnol, baked aubergine/eggplant with tomatoes and cheese). James is taking the cheese class that I took last term at Hills Road Sixth Form College, and, towards the end of the game, he brought out a few of his favored selections. The St. Gall (Irish) and Croltin de Chavignol (France) were so good that a trip to the cheese shop has been added to my To Do list this week. I provided a sweet dessert of homemade, gluten-free chocolate chip cookies, which were devoured by the end of the game.

Birding: Latest Sightings

Just a few more species that I've positively identified. The ducks, geese and swans certainly are the easiest ones to identify and capture on film.

Black Swan (below)










Blue Tit
Canadian Goose (below)










Collared Dove
Coot
Farmyard Goose (below)












House Sparrow
Magpie
Mallard Duck (below)







Moorhen (below)












Muscovy Duck (below, spotted in Ely)









Mute swan (below)

I Want My Pants!

What to do when the nice seamstress on Market Hill doesn't give you your pants back? My black corduroys, which required simple hemming, were suppose to be ready on 26 Jan. I went three times last week to pick them up from her stall, and each time she told me, with the sweetest smile, to come back in two days. On Friday she said that she had brought them, but that she had left them in her van (the proprietors can only bring their vehicles into Market Hill to set-up and take-down their stalls). She promised that if I showed up between 10am-4pm today that she would have them. I arrived about ten minutes of 4pm, and she was nowhere to be found. I miss my pants.

Trash Talk

Went to see one of M*'s last football (soccer) matches yesterday. He plays for the Judge MBA team. Most of the University of Cambrige teams that they play against are college or department teams made up of students who are around for two or more years. The Judge team has only been playing together since late September, and their schedule does not allow that much time for practice. This information is a preemptive explanation of why their team is ranked in the bottom of the second division.

Saturday's match was against Churchill College—a team ranked second in the first division. I showed up for the last half-hour, and the score was tied 0-0. This may have been the reason that players on the Churchill team, especially the goalie, were pissed off and spewing uber-crude taunts. I'm sure they expected to beat Judge by at least four or five goals. I felt myself physically reacting to their rants (increasing heart rate, tightening stomach). If this is how a University of Cambridge team behaves, I can't imagine some of the language dished out by the English club teams. The final score was 2-0 Churchill: the goals allowed once the Judge first string team called for substitutions. M* left the game during the last 10 minutes: his left leg sporting a nasty scrape and beginning to swell and bruise.

31 Jan 2007: Sunset

The sun set at 4:45 (with civil twilight around 30 minutes later). Here are pictures from that half an hour. Since we're gaining 3 1/2 minutes of sunlight a day, by mid-March our days will be two hours longer.
Coe Fen (spherical object in the tree is mistletoe); moon rising over the Fitzwilliam Museum; well-known Cambridge pub The Eagle; plaque outside The Eagle

How Not to Answer the Door

...with egg on your face or a glove stuck to the top of the bike helmet you're wearing (I was about to head out on my bicycle--it wasn't part of my home safety routine). I did both today, not realizing either until after the UPS person and the electricity meter reader had departed. I don't know if Cambridge is truly ready for my loveliness.

Volunteering at Shape East

I began my volunteer stint at Shape East yesterday. There are about six people who work in the office; only one is full-time. The staff, only four present, were very grateful of my helping out. I was looking forward to being in a professional environment again, and I enjoyed getting slightly dressed up for my first day. Yet, I would have been better served by jeans and a t-shirt than my skirt, tights and delicately woven wool top: my task was to rearrange a storage closet by organizing like items and deciding what items could be disposed of. I even went back today to finish-up. My task was a reminder of the nature of volunteer work (being assigned to non-mission critical tasks that paid staff do not have time for) and how small, start-up non-profits do not have the budgets to hire extra help. Next week I get a bump up: I'm working on a database, including the training of office staff.

International Cooking

Tialda and Yuri preparing sushi;
savory dishes; Yuri, Wakako,
Tialda, Maria, Nicole, me.
M* and his fellow students had class last Sunday, so a few of the spouses/partners had a cooking day. The idea was to teach others how to prepare a dish representative of ones country (Brazil, Japan, Netherlands, Germany, USA). My sister recommended making chili--easy to prepare, can be made vegetarian, liked by most people. Others prepared German apple cake, Korean sushi, seasoned rice in bean curd, miso soup and strawberries coated in evaporated milk then dipped in chocolate. Time ran out, so Tialda didn't get to make her Dutch cookies/biscuits made with a heavenly smelling Dutch spice blend called Speculaaskruiden (ground cinnamon, allspice, powdered ginger, ground mace, ground cloves, ground coriander, ground nutmeg, ground cardamon, ground aniseed).

Things I Don't Like: Shared Cost Telephone Numbers

M* and I love much about England, but feeling like we are constantly nickle and dimed (M*'s favorite description) is not included in this category. Whether you are calling a hotel, making a care reservation, inquiring about Internet service, if you have to call a business in the UK, there is little chance that it's a toll-free call. Instead, you entirely pay for the call at up to 50 cents per minute or it's a shared cost call that can run you up to 25 cents per minute. This does not mean that you are put directly through to a customer service agent; calls are still "answered in the order that they are received."

Example: recently, my Apple laptop battery ran out, and it cost me $3.50 for one 18 minute phone call with Apple UK to arrange for a new battery to be sent plus another $1 calling UPS UK to arrange a pick-up of the old battery. These are rates using Skype, which are at least as good as calling over the phone line. How much did my call to Apple in the States via Skype cost? $0. It huuuurts.

Kitty Washing Machine

Another way NOT to wash your cat. Click here to watch on YouTube.

Six Books for £3

Picked up six books for 50 pence each from G. David's bargain rack. Thought it was good to familiarize myself with Sylvia Plath's and Joan Didion's work. I read "The Witch of Blackbird Pond" when I was young and it affected me. Since I can't recall why or how it impacted me, I decided this was an opportunity to regain that information. "The Haunting of Toby Jugg" is a gift for a friend who loves ghost stories. "The Countryman: comes from the country" periodicals are lovely time capsules from 50+ years ago with some ads that I'm going to scan in and manipulate to make retro greeting cards.

The Return of the Pheasant

He's back! Actually, he's been showing up every day to eat the seeds that fall out of the bird feeders in the trees. He announces his arrival with a "korr kok." Click here to listen: http://www.garden-birds.co.uk/birds/pheasant.htm#Voice.

Four Years

Bouquet from M*; us at Loche Fyne;
M* and Amy--four years
24 Jan was the four year anniversary of M* and I deciding we liked each other enough to smooch and start dating--all it took was beer, bowling and the beach (after a group outing at the AMF Bowling Center in Santa Monica, M* and I strolled for hours along the Strand at SM Beach). Since I was in London on the 24th, M* and I celebrated two days later with dinner at Loche Fyne. We had a thumbs-up, satisfying meal of mussels, squid, salmon, halibut and raspberry sorbet accompanied by wine. We rarely eat out, so this was an uber-treat!

25 Jan 2007: London Tour & "Rock 'n' Roll"

St Olave's Church Hart Street dating from 1056
(notice the skulls on the spikes); new Lloyds of London
building designed by Richard Rogers; Mom and
Amy self-portrait
Braved the almost 40 degree weather to go on a tour of historic London. We found the ad for The Original London Walks at our hotel, and their range of walks and witty descriptions intrigued us. Some of their night walks were very appealing, but freezing weather with no chance of sun put us off: we chose the morning "The Famous Square Mile—2,000 Years of History" tour. Two hours with a lively and knowledgeable guide gave us an overview of the oldest part of London. We learned that the Romans built the first bridge in 43AD at the approximate site of the current London Bridge, that the Great Plague of 1665 followed by the Great Fire of 1666 decimated the cities population and buildings, and that the term 'tips' came from the coffee house practice of leaving money in a cup "to insure prompt service" and a better table (the first coffee house in London was opened by Henry Lloyd in 1688; the company later became Lloyds of London) .

After the tour we Tubed it to the Victoria & Albert museum to see Sixties Fashion exhibit. I didn't realize the vastness of its South Kensington museum's collections: the self-description reads "the world's greatest museum of art and design, with collections unrivalled in their scope and diversity." I have to make a few return visits!

Thursday night found us back in Trafalgar Square to see "Rock 'n' Roll"—Tom Stoppard's captivating and memorable play, set in Cambridge in Prague over a 22 year period, about politics, rock 'n' roll, love, death and how long one can remain silent as freedoms are removed or loyal when so little of what one deeply believes in remains. I hope to see it again with M* before it ends in late February. Mom dined on a typical English meal before the theatre: take away from Pret a Manger.

24 Jan 2007: London Eye

After witnessing the first Cambridge snowfall, we took the National Express bus down to London. I wish that I'd been able to snap a shot of the two snowmen I spotted during the trip. Both sat in fields devoid of snow. One was missing a head--as though the children had run out of snow before they could complete it.

Mom and I checked into the Elizabeth Hotel in Victoria, and then Tubed it over to the London Eye. Most likely because it was chilly and almost 4pm, there was no line. The circular journey takes about 30 minutes. Afterwards, we walked over to Trafalgar Square and decided to pick up tickets to see a play. We ended up at the Traflagar Studios to see Rik Mayall in "The New Statesman." It was bawdy satire not moving theatre. The crowd loved it--Mom and I were a little less enthralled but still had a good time. I didn't realize it when we bought the tickets, but Mayall was in "The Young Ones." That he was instrumental in creating both productions is not surprising.

First Snow

Coachella Envy

Coachella is expanded to three days this year--and I can't go to any of them! No Bjork, DJ Shadow, Soulwax, Arcade Fire, Lily Allen, LCD Soundsystem, Felix Da Housecat, Brazilian Girls.... I know that I've already seen some of the bands that are performing and that I wouldn't have gone to all three days, but it's just knowing that I can't go at all that makes me sad. From 6-7:30 pm at Coachella is just magical--the wind picks up, the temperature drops 10-20 degrees and the mountains turn pink and golden in the rays of the setting sun.