My new scooter – Tamoretti Retro 125cc

I love my new scooter. It handles great and it’s got style. And if I can stop getting lost, it’ll save me lots of time & money too. Ciao!

From 2009-09

From 2009-09

French Ordinary Court

As opposed to the French so-so Average Court and the French super Extra-Ordinary Court?

I found this “street” while on my afternoon run.

From 2009-08

The name comes from a French tavern or pub which once resided here. An “ordinary” meant a fixed-price meal that was served at the same time every day. The tavern was destroyed during the Great Fire of 1666 and never rebuilt, but the name remains. It’s in the Crutchfield Friar’s area of London.

From 2009-08

The main archway leads into a car park. Then it narrows into an alley that zigs and zags into the next side-street. Walking through, you can see in the patches of mis-matched bricks that it’s been built and rebuilt many times over.

From 2009-08

From 2009-08

Parakeets invade London (Hitchcock would be proud)

Walking the dogs through the park, I suddenly feel like I’m in a pet store. I’m surrounded by the chirping of a hundred parakeets. I look up and sure enough, a flurry of fluttering pastel green & yellow.

From 2009-08

First appearing in the 1970’s, there are now approximately 30,000 to 50,000 wild parakeets in London, and growing each year. They’re a particular breed which evolved in the cool, wet foothills of the Himalayas, so that’s why they’re able to thrive in the far-from-tropical English weather.

No-one knows where they came from, but there are plenty of urban myths: Escaped from quarantine holding at Heathrow. Accidentally released as part of an exotic film shoot at Shepperton Studios. Intentionally set free by Jimi Hendrix as a symbol of free love.

From 2009-08

Sadly, if they keep breeding in large numbers and start driving out the native species, the government may have to cull the flock.

[I know, these pictures are crap, but that's what you get when you combine fast moving birds in faraway treetops, and a camera phone held in one hand while being pulled by a dog leashed in the other.]

From 2009-08

Murder Rd.

Formerly Marder Rd.

From 2009-08

Rules restaurant – London’s Oldest

Opened by Thomas Rule in 1798, this is the oldest restaurant in London. Which I don’t quite understand… with so many older buildings, surely another one must have been a restaurant before then. I was in a pub a few weeks ago that dated back to before the Great Fire of 1666. I’m guessing this is the oldest continuous restaurant that hasn’t been closed or rebuilt since it first opened.

It specializes in very traditional British food, such as pheasants and game birds and British beef and veal. The desserts are also classic English treats, like gooseberry & elderflower fool, sticky toffee pudding, and golden treacle sponge pudding.

Rules restaurant

Rules is where Marta & I went on one of our very first dates. We were supposed to see the play “The Woman In Black” and then go to Rules. But the theater had lost our tickets. I was annoyed, but we went straight to Rules and even though our reservation wasn’t for another 2 hours, they took us in early. It was one of the most romantic dinners ever. I’ll always remember that night.

We went there last week with two American friends of ours who are moving back to the States. We wanted to give them one last taste of classic English fare to remember it by.

From 2009-08

The Westminster Abbey bus stop

This is Marta waiting a bus stop. Directly in front of Westminster Abbey. Not down the block, across the street, or around the corner, but a bus stop right outside the main gates. Odd? Or convenient?

From 2009-08

Polka-dotted trees at South Bank

Polka-dot trees decorated by artist Yayoi Kusama.

I imagine this is what you’d find growing outside Willy Wonka’s chocolate factory.

From 2009-08

Heaven’s Front Door

Humble, very humble.  Should have expected.

(It’s wrong, but I’m tempted to intercept their mail one day just to get a look at the addressee.)

From 2009-08

From 2009-08

The Cornhill Pump – another drop in London’s old wells

‘On this spot a well was first made and a house of correction built thereon by Henry Wallis Mayor of London, in the year 1282. The well was discovered much enlarged and this pump erected in the year 1799 by the contributions of the neighbouring offices, together with the bankers and traders of the ward of Cornhill.’

From 2009-07

From 2009-07

Previous well discovered: http://londonmitch.wordpress.com/2009/02/01/the-aldgate-pump/

Free jazz concert in Leadenhall Market (and my 500th post!)

Leadenhall Market is fast becoming my favorite next-to-work hangout. Last Friday they had free jazz concerts and all the restaurants offered barbecues and alfresco dining. We had a pork belly buns with applesauce and crackling,  and stayed to watch the first two jazz bands. Love this town!

From 2009-07

From 2009-07

This also marks my 500th post! Never knew I had so much to say. Thanks for reading, and I’ll keep on writing.