On the move: Off to London
Back in Boston for the last time, Jason and I scurried around getting last
minute details worked out.
I was still trying to catch up with folks I'd missed, so I had lunch on
Tuesday with Dave Hull, up in Teele Square, and on Wednesday made it all the
way up to Haverhill for lunch with Francie Selkirk at Joseph's, a nice
Italian place that did a very hearty lobster risotto for me. It was good to
see each of them and catch up with what's been happening in their lives.
We had dinner with Dave, Paulo and Drea at Chang Sho on Halloween night,
followed by treats at Tea Tray and Buffy at 10K. On Wednesday night we had
dinner with Mike, Glen and Eric Merrill at Chez Henri--a fabulous meal to
speed us on our way. I had the baked oysters, followed by the venison and
then the pumpkin creme brulée. Their quality varies somewhat and that night
they were really on.
After dinner on Wednesday we went back to 10K to do laundry and pack and
figure out what still needed to happen. Linda Marie, Tom and steve all came
over to hang out with us and play South Park pinball and watch TV. It was
good to have a last chance to see all of them.
On Thursday we continued the last minute scurrying about. I returned the
last of the four rental cars I'd driven over the course of the month (not to
mention the other three cars I'd had the keys to at various points) and
picked up sandwiches at Au Bon Pain. We each called our families to say
goodbye and before we knew it, the limo was at the door to take us to
Logan. Mike came with us to be sure that we didn't have any difficulty
checking in. I want to take this opportunity to say what wonderful,
generous, low-key hosts he and John were during our time in Boston. We had
such a good time and it was all made extremely easy for us.
After Mike left us at the airport, we went up to the British Airways First
Class Lounge and had dinner. I had the lobster-one claw and a two-bite
section of tail served with aioli-while Jason had their mixed greens. We
both had the beef tenderloin, which was somewhat dry, and then shared some
of the cheese (gouda, camembert and a lovely Stilton) and fruit (excellent
pineapple, as well as grapes, strawberries and melon) on offer. The flight
was delayed, so we stayed in the lounge until they called us to board. That
was kind of an experience in itself, trooping with the rest of the First
Class passengers from the quiet of the lounge to the boarding area, past all
the other people and onto the plane. The first class area is astounding.
It's in the nose of the 747 and each passenger has their own little pod,
with a seat, a "guest seat," a little fold-out table (for a drink, say), a
large fold-out table (for dinner), a small adjustable viewscreen and two
magazine racks. The seats have adjustable lumbar support and foot rest and
recline all the way down to join up with the little guest seat to form a
6-foot long bed. They provide jammies (which everyone changed into), sleep
sacks (a blanket sewn into a heavy cotton sheet and then sewn along the
bottom to create a foot-pocket), and an extra blanket. After a celebratory
glass of champagne, I bedded right down and got two solid hours of sleep. I
woke up just as Jason was finishing a plate of wild mushroom risotto and a
glass of dessert wine. From a list of 35 tapes available (besides the four
movies shown to the rest of the flight), I chose High Fidelity, hoping that
I might drift off again. It became clear that I was awake, so I ordered
their olive-oil bread stuffed with chicken and provolone and served with
greens. That made a good snack. We left ordering breakfast too late, so
neither of us got that, but we did have several glasses of fresh-squeezed
orange juice and a nice cup of tea just before landing.
We got through Immigration quickly on their Fast Track and our bags came
right off the ramp. Unfortunately it took us a while to find the map Trish
had sent along with us, in its separate tube. Eventually we sailed out
through customs and found our limo driver, who was just starting to get
nervous that he had missed us somehow. He drove us to Barbara's flat in
Notting Hill through fairly thick rush-hour traffic, in a lovely Mercedes
sedan with glove-leather seats that made drifting off an easy alternative.
We talked to Barbara briefly and sacked out on her futon couch for a couple
of hours. She got us up and we ran out for sandwiches around the corner and
then we headed out to start familiarizing ourselves with the area in which
we plan to live. We took the tube to Liverpool Street, which is a fairly
downtown, business district. From there we walked all the way through
Islington, past the Angel and Highbury & Islington tube stops, up through
Highbury Grove to Finsbury Park, over the course of three hours. We were
lucky in that Friday was the one rain-free day in the past week--there've
been great pictures in the papers of people boating on the York racetrack or
the River Ouse overflowing its banks, but except for the intermittent rain,
we haven't really been inconvenienced. We noted interesting shops and
restaurants along the way and checked out the offerings in the windows of
the various estate agents we passed. By the time we got to Finsbury Park we
were pretty tired, so we tubed back to Notting Hill and had dinner at
D'Amici's, around the corner from Barbara's place, since Barbara was out for
the evening.
Dinner was entirely acceptable, if not spectacular. I had the stracciatella
(egg drop noodle soup) and the veal piccata, while Jason started with the
special cream of asparagus soup and followed up with the chicken saltimboca,
all accompanied by the same Bolla Valpolicella we'd had at Carlo's the week
before. When we told Barbara where we'd gone, she said the place across the
street is much better, so we look forward to trying that soon.
Barbara's flat is lovely, though it's a steep climb up to it, on the
fourth/top floor of the building. Having done it the first time with all of
our luggage, it has never seemed as hard a slog since. The bottom floor
consists of an entry hall, with a spiral staircase up, and a large
living/dining room with a neat kitchen tucked into the corner. The whole
floor is painted in saturate sky blue and goldenrod, with huge windows. The
yellow suits Barbara very well and the blue works well with it, though she
wouldn't have chosen it. Upstairs, the study/guest room is the same blue,
but her bedroom is a rich terra cotta. The stairs spiral up past that floor
to the roof, which we haven't experienced, since it's been raining off and
on except for Friday.
On Saturday we slept until two-thirty, ran out for sandwiches and then
helped Barbara to clear all the boxes out of the study and move her desk
downstairs and the futon couch upstairs, so that we can have our own room
for the indeterminate duration of our stay.
Once that was done, we had a breather and a nice cup of tea, changed and
headed out to celebrate Guy Fawkes Day. Technically, the holiday was
Sunday, but all the fireworks displays were happening on Saturday night. We
took the tube to the National Theater and got dinner at Archduke's, a place
near there, right under the trains. I had a lovely plate of smoked salmon
and greens in a lemon dressing, followed by duck breast with potatoes au
gratin and then a toffee pecan pie. All of it was quite good. Barbara and
Jason had nice rocket and parmesan salads. Barbara liked her lamb
steak, but Jason was less happy with his grilled rib eye. But he made up
for it with a yummy strawberry shortbread, which he enjoyed despite its
being made with cookies instead of shortcake.
We lingered over coffee, then strolled back over to the theater's riverfront
plaza. We listened to the very energetic samba band for a bit and then
watched the fireworks at eleven. Our view was somewhat blocked by the
trees, but it was still impressive. We were surprised that they had them
detonating from the roof of the building (on various levels) rather than out
over the river. It was a short show and then we made tracks back to the
tube, managing to beat the crowd for the most part and make it home pretty
easily.
I was awake from 3-6am and therefore slept until 2pm again. Barbara woke us
and she and I went to Tesco, a big supermarket, to stock up on food. It was
interesting to see how things were different and what was the same. As she
pointed out, the proportions of the aisles are very different--only three feet
of shelf space devoted to tomato products, but yards and yards of biscuits.
We were stumped in the spice aisle, able to find vindaloo mix, but no
powdered mustard. Turned out to be hiding with the prepared mustards,
instead. So it all makes sense, once you figure it out, but a different
sense than we're used to.
We came home and all crowded into the kitchen for a cooperative preparation
of dinner. Leah Bateman arrived around seven and we had a lovely salad and
the Moosewood's sour cream and onion pie, with apple pie for dessert. I
think that's the first time the three of us (Barbara, Leah and myself) have
been in the same room since we had dinner in London in 1995. Leah seems to
really be enjoying school and spending weekends up in Cambridge with
friends; she's more relaxed and happy than she has seemed in ages.
Jet lag continued to take its toll and I failed to get to sleep on Sunday
night until about 6:30am. Jason was ruthless in making me get out of bed on
Monday so that we could go up to Cambridge and I hope that will help to get
us back on a more normal schedule. We visited the Red Hat office and met
everyone. Jason's computer had arrived five minutes before we did and we
were just in time for him to take part in the meeting to discuss where
everyone will sit in the new office at the end of the month. After that the
office manager, Lynn, walked us to a nearby bank and helped us to arrange
for a bank account. Barbara and Leah both had horror stories about how
reluctant UK banks are to accept foreign clients, but we had very little
trouble.
We took the train back to London (slightly delayed by the vagaries of rain
and the speed limitations precipitated by the recent crash) and made it back
to the flat around 7:30pm. I had volunteered to cook and had fried chicken,
rice & gravy and salad ready when she got home at nine. We had a lovely
dinner together and then I taught Barbara to play Snood. I caught up on
this report and we got to bed around 1am. We started waking up around nine,
as Barbara left for an off-site meeting, and eventually made our way out of
bed. I made French toast from the bread leftover from Sunday dinner and we
ate that and started looking for a flat. Jason ran out and picked up Loot,
the free-ad paper, and we went through that and made calls, setting up a
full day of appointments for tomorrow. For those of you following along on
the map, we're starting by looking around Finsbury Park and Manor House,
since those areas seem to be somewhat cheaper than Islington itself, while
still nearby and accessible to trains.
I logged on and Jason went off to run some errands. steve called around
five, just to check in and say hi, and Jason arrived while we were talking
with new cell phones for both of us.
It's good to be here. We're enjoying staying with Barbara, but really
looking forward to settling into our own place soon. Our stuff is scheduled
to arrive on the 14th and be available to us as soon thereafter as it clears
customs. We're hoping to get all of our logistics taken care of so that we
can begin to really enjoy all that London has to offer.