All Good Things Must Come to an End

And if this was the best of semesters, then of course it, too, had to come to an end. But what a way to go out. Amanda and I spent our last days in England on a two-day holiday trip to Richmond, in North Yorkshire. We almost killed ourselves getting my suitcase over to my friend's flat, and then getting Amanda's suitcases to the luggage storage place at King's Cross, but it was great to take the train out to Darlington and then the bus ride into the market town of Richmond. We had made reservations at a bed & breakfast, which was really a private home, the top two rooms of which were rented out by the couple who lived there.

Amanda and I were in the blue room, which was very appropriately named, and we could see the tower of Richmond castle perfectly centered perfectly in our tiny dormer window. The first thing we did after we got our stuff upstairs was to take a nice long nap in our very comfy bed -- a week of exams, presentations and last-minute shopping had taken its toll on us both.

After our nap we wandered downstairs to leave the house and chatted with our hostess, Jill Taylor, for quite a while. She was a very sweet woman who took us to be Canadian schoolteachers in our late twenties (this was not the only time we got this), and she soon launched into a cosmo-political conversation about how the world has gone wrong and how it's almost time for a cosmic shift (she had been studying this, she said, historically, politically and esoterically). We were a little taken aback, but it was sort of refreshing at the same time.

We spent the afternoon wandering around Richmond, which was beautiful and green in the dale (valley) of the Swale river. We found a map at the visitor's center and visited the gardens in the center of town and the marketplace -- the largest cobbled one in all of Britain. Then we wandered through all the winding streets and alleys and up to Castle Walk, the high road surrounding the ruined castle. We sat there for a really long time, just enjoying the sunshine and looking at the countryside, complete with sheep and cute houses.

We had a dinner of Yorkshire pudding (a breaded pie-type-shell full of meat, veggies and gravy) at a pub in town. We met some nice cousins who invited up to play pool with them but then just sat and talked for a little while instead. That night Amanda and I turned in early (what are holidays for?) and went back to the house where we made tea and spent the evening watching Chicken Run before falling asleep rather early.

The next morning we had a delicious breakfast, traditional English, prepared by Jill, who that morning we learned played the flute, taught lessons, and was also a supply (substitute) teacher at the nearby school. After breakfast we went to see the castle (pictured left), impressive ruins on top of a hill that gave excellent views of the whole valley. It was a little chilly that day, but it was still a great day for a walk and history lesson (the castle was built by the Normans starting in 1071). After the castle we went a grocery store to grab some food for a picnic lunch, and we hopped on a trail that led to the ruins of an abbey (pictured below). It was a beautiful walk, but it was long and a few times we were afraid that maybe we were on the wrong path. It was beautiful when we got there, and we ate sitting among the crumbling walls, most of which still showed clearly where the rose stained-glass windows used to be. We walked back by a different trail on the other side of the river, and we learned first-hand about the British rights-of-way laws, where the public is allowed to walk through another person's field as long as you walk straight from one gate to the next. We discovered this as we were crossing a field and suddenly came upon several cows and a couple of goats directly in our path. It was a little odd, but we survived.

That evening Jill and her husband took us to the nearby village of Reeth. We took a drive through the beautiful and very curvy country side among the dales and the moors (hills). Reeth was tiny, and we took a long walk through several sheep pastures, filled with lambs. The hills were criss-crossed with dry stone walls that dated to the time of the Enclosure Acts, and I felt like I had stepped into the filming of The Secret Garden. It was so beautiful, and it was really interesting to see how popular these country walks are with the British, who seem to have a much more solid relationship with their land.

The Taylors took us to dinner at a pub and refused to let us pay for it (we left extra cash with our room payment). They took us home, and we talked as they let us pick out another DVD to watch. We settled on Monty Python and the Holy Grail, and spent that evening eating Jaffa Cakes in bed and watching the movie.

Saturday morning we got up and saw the small market that gathered in the marketplace. We took a tour of the oldest surviving Georgian theatre, which was adorable, and we went for tea. Jill gave us copies of her book (written about her deaf daughter) before we left, which we were very sad to do after two such great days. The train trip back was pretty much a disaster because of a delayed train, and we finally got to our hostel around 10 PM. Sunday morning we did some more last-minute shopping, and I got Amanda to the train station for her flight, which was also kinda say because that meant I had three more days in the city without my closest friend.

Those last few days I stayed with my friend Emily, which worked our just great. It was hard to decide what to see and do to say goodbye to London, but I don't feel like I left out anything too important. Of course there are lots of things I didn't get to see that I would love to go back for, so I hope I have that opportunity, sooner rather than later. Since I've been home, many people have asked me what my favorite part was, and in the past two months I have been unable to come up with a correct answer for that question. It was a wonderful experience in so many ways, and I'm beginning to miss it more and more. I miss the food and the grocery stores, the trains and the buses, the skyline and the adventures.

So that's all there is of London for now. thanks for reading. And don't forget to mind the gap. Cheers.

As the academic things come to a close

The week after Kew was the last week of my internship and the next-to-last week of classes. Before class on that Monday I took a walk through Hyde Park Corner and along the edge of Green Park (shown left) and down to Buckingham Palace (below) and St. James Park. I hadn't seen some of the obligatory tourist attactions in this area, so I though a quick pass-through would be nice. It was very pretty with the flowers, but I picked a rather chilly and cloudy morning to take my walk, so it could have been nicer.

Then I spent some time over at Covent Garden doing a little bit of shopping, and Amanda and I went to a very large Tesco (cheap grocrey store) for lunch at their cafe. We just wanted to see what a big Tesco looked like, and we felt rather silly, but it was still fun. After class I went to see The Rose Tattoo at the National Theatre. It was a really good play, and the theatre itself was really neat. Unfortunately the sailor character had a rather pitiful Southern accent that ranged from Texas to nothing I have ever heard (it was supposed to be New Orleans). Other than that, it was quite an enjoyable evening.

On Wednesday night Amanda and I went out to dinner and then to a music club near Tottenham Court Road. We stayed for two sets in this tiny venue which was a forge back in the 1630s. The original fireplace was still there behind the stage. The two groups we saw were Bunny, and Mark Wright (with accompaniment). The first group had a semi-Coldplay/Snow Patrol-ish sound, but in a good way. Mark Wright sounded like something straight out of Memphis, complete with Elvis sideburns and a Johnny Cash closer. By the time he started speaking with his Brighton accent between songs, both of us had completely forgotten that he was British. It was kinda an odd experience, but we had a lot of fun. My last day of ork was just fun. I didn't do a whole lot, but everyone said that I shouldn't have to on my last day. Laura, one of the other interns, and I went out to dinner after work, which was nice, and then I went home to work on the paper I had due on Monday.

Saturday morning Amanda and I started at Muswell Hill where we were in search of Turkish coffee, but I failed to do my research and we didn't end up finding any. We took a bus down to Camden and did the shopping thing for a couple of hours. It was a beautiful day, which made it so much more fun. Then we hopped on another bus and went up to Hampstead, where we got Thai takeaway at a local pub and wandered into Hampstead Heath. We ate lunch on Parliament Hill, where there is a superb view of the London skyline. There were lots of families out and people flying enormous kites, and it was very pleasant just to sit and enjoy the sunshine. We walked around the park for a while longer and up to Kenwood House, which is an old house and estate within the heath. It was also where the Henry James scene was filmed for Notting Hill. On the way home we got off the bus at Marble Arch and walked home through Hyde Park.

The next morning we found a cute French cafe on the backroads behind Kensington High Street, and we had bread and coffee (served in bowls) and an amazing yogurt/granola parfait with fresh fruit. We spent some time at the library but had to leave because there weren't enough power outlets. After an hour or so at the juice bar, we had to go to class. It was a short class, which worked well because I had to get over to the MacLehoses's houses (the publisher I met earlier in the semester) to return the book he lent me. He and I and his wife and niece all sat around and chatted for a bit, and then I caught the Tube over to the Thai restaurant where we were having intern's night out. Three of the interns, plus Gretchen, Robert and his fiancee Claire, had a very nice Thai dinner and then went to Century, a private club in Soho afterwards.

On Tuesday I met Amanda at Oxford Circus for lunch and some shopping, which led us over to Chelsea before we went back home to work on some assignments. The rest of the evening got a little bit crazy trying to take my luggage over to my friend Emily's and then taking the wrong Tube train and getting home about and hour and a half later than we should have. But the adventures always manage to find us, so we're quite used to it.

Wednesday morning I had my presentation for theatre class (quite easy) and spent most of the day packing and cleaning up. I said goodbye to Pai En just before going over to Gretchen's house for dinner. We had a very nice evening, and it was a good official end to the semester. All that was left now was a nice holiday to the north. Details to follow. Cheers!

The Oxbridge Week

Once Scott left I was pretty worn out, and I spent most of Easter Monday sleeping, which I think I needed. Most of the rest of the week was spent putting together my internship portfolio, which ended up being 70-some-odd pages long. It was a rather frustrating assignment because all of the questions had to apply to 270+ different jobs, so none of them really meant anything. I ended up getting an A on it, so I suppose I did OK, but it wasn't a whole lot of fun. Interviewing my bosses and making my portfolio pretty were the most fun parts, and this is one of the pictures from that project, of me working in the office. I'm proofreading The Gorse Trilogy in this picture. The book will be realeased at the end of June.

On Saturday I did another of the program daytrips to Cambridge, and it was about the most beautiful day ever in such a beautiful town. I wandered around on my own for a while, and then the whole group of us went punting, which is boating in the squarish, pole-steered boats you see in the picture. It was a guided tour, so our punter told us all these interesting things about the colleges at Cambridge. It was really gorgeous and really relaxing among all the portfolio hubub. I got to see the chapel at King's College and the Bridge of Sighs (in the picture), as well as the general cuteness of the town.

That Wednesday I went to see Dying For It for my class play, and it was pretty funny. And on Thursday, Amanda and I went to see Rafta, Rafta at the National Theatre. We had dinner at the theatre cafe and ate on the South Bank patio area, which was great. The show was hilarious, and I also ended up using it for both my theatre essay and presentation. To get our fill of Indian culture for the week, we went out for Indian food in Islington on Friday night.

And to complete the university tour, Amanda, Petra and I went to Oxford on Saturday. We found a bus that takes you there for 11 pounds round-trip, and the ride is only about an hour and a half. When we arrived and got a map we decided to go to this cafe in a church that my friend Kara had recommended to me. A very strange turn of events led us to free brunch (we had stumbled into a student event) and conversations with a PhD student who went to Carolina. (weird!) We spent the rest of the day hanging out and seeing the sights. We saw the Divinity School and Christ Church College (think Harry Potter), we climbed the tower of the church with the cafe (see picture at left), and we ate in the pub where C.S. Lewis and J.R.R Tolkien used to hang out and debate stuff. It was a really cool pub, and they didn't capitalize off the history at all, which means it was even better. We got home really late and really tired, but it was a whole lot of fun.

On Sunday I went to Kew Gardens, which is huge and really pretty. The bluebells were in season and were particularly pretty. I got to see every type of tree and cactus imaginable, and there were tons of families out picnicking in the fine weather. I saw the oldest potted plant in the world, which was kinda cool. Amanda joined me after I was there for a little while, and after we left the gardens we went to the town of Richmond, which is just on the west edge of London. We ate at this really cute cafe that's under a bridge, and we watched the river. We walked up the Thames for a while and into the nature preserve, where there were deer and a lot of pretty landscape. Being outside all day made it much easier to have to come home and do homework, and it was a very outdoors weekend. Now there was only one weekend left before the end of it all, so don't go away. Cheers!

Two Americans in London

...Cue "Our Love is Here to Stay"... oh, wait. That's Paris.

At the end of my crazy good week, it got a little crazier and a whole lot better. I managed to get Friday off of work, so I was able to meet Scott at the airport when he got in. We took the long Tube ride back into the city, and of course it was all grey and raining. We had some lunch and got him all checked in, but we didn't do much that day because he was so jet-lagged. On Saturday we got up and walked through Westminster--through St. James Park and by the Abbey and the Houses of Parliament, up Whitehall to Trafalgar and then up to Leicester Square. We also took a nice long walk through Hyde Park that afternoon, and I made salmon for dinner, which was quite yummy.

On Sunday we took one of the program day trips to Leeds Castle (see above) and Canterbury, and Amanda went too. The castle was nice, and Canterbury was OK (we did see the cathedral--think Canterbury Tales). But the problem with two-destination trips is that it makes it hard to do much worthwhile in either place. But it was a nice trip, with very pretty cherry trees and pretty nice weather. We tried to do the London Eye when we got back, but it was way too busy, so we went out to a nice Indian restaurant near Southwark (pronounced SUTH-uk).

On Monday morning we went out for a nice breakfast and then went to the London Zoo, which is on the far side of Regent's Park. We saw the new gorilla exhibit and a couple of other cool ones, including an okapi! (I found this exciting, and Katie might agree if she reads this. Don't be concerned if you are not excited by this.) It was a really nice zoo for it's space, but zoos always make me kinda sad, and an urban zoo especially so. We were looking at one of the duck exhibits and there was a kid there saying, "Mum, it wants to get out. It wants to get out." which made it so much more sad even. But it was a good visit, and the weather was gorgeous. We walked over to Camden Market for lunch, and then I had to get to class.

After class I met Scott at the London Eye, and we had Wonder Waffles for a snack before we got on. It was a nice trip round, and the sunset was pretty, even with the haze. We went to Fulham for dinner at Gormet Burger Kitchen (not as good as the burger in Caterbury, according to Scott).

I had to work Tuesday through Thursday that week (Good Friday is a bank holiday), so Scott found things to do while I was in the office. On Wednesday he came to meet me for lunch and we went to a very nice thai resaurant/pool hall down the street. That night we managed to get student standby tickets to see Les Mis, which was really great. On Thursday Scott met me at the office after work and we hung out in the Shoreditch area for dinner and all.

On Good Friday we went out to Greenwich, which is where the observatory is that marks the Prime Meridian and the center of all the world's time zones. We took the tube out to Canary Wharf (the Charlotte-esque skyline in the background there), and then the Docklands Light Railway (DLR) to Greenwich. The observatory part is absolutely gorgeous, and the observator grounds were packed with people. There are beautiful views of the whole city from the top, and there's a museum with a lot of the original old telescopes. We had lunch at this cute organic cafe, and we did some shopping at the market, where I got a skirt for 5 pounds and we bought a whole box of assorted Turkish delight, which I love.

That afternoon we met Amanda and St. Paul's for the Good Friday liturgy, which was read and sung beautifully by the cathedral choir. We tried to go to a play that night, but they were all too full or too expensive, so we had dinner in Chinatown instead. The Prestige was playing at Prince Charles Cinema (the Leicester Square version of the $1.50 theatre), and we both really wanted to see it. So it was almost the perfect day.

On Saturday we went to Alexandra Palace in North London and visted Abbey Road to take the obligatory street pictures. In between we stopped in Putney to watch the annual boat race between Oxford and Cambridge. There were several thousand people lined up along the Thames, and it was all for the roughly 30 seconds you could see the boats go by, but it was really exciting. We ended the week with a fancy schmancy dinner on Kensington Church Road, which was a whole lot of fun and very tasty. Scott had to fly out on Sunday afternoon, but it had been a really great week, and we knew we had a much shorter span of time before seeing each other again, so it wasn't too awful. We did get to spend Easter Morning together, and the girls (Amanda and Petra) and I did get to cook Easter dinner together, which was really nice. We had Thai chicken, garlic mashed potatos, green beans and jello, which might not be entirely traditional, but which was entirely yummy. More yummyness to follow. Cheers!

The Busiest Short Week I've Ever Had

Note: I apologize for the "Horseback Writing" in the previous map, but it seems that I wasn't signed in when I created it, so I can't go back and edit it. In my defense, I did manage to write in my journal quite a bit that weekend.

The week following the trip to Bath was a little crazy, but in a very good way. On Monday, Amanda, Petra and I went to Dingwalls, which is a club on Camden Lock, to see Air Traffic. Amanda and I had seen this band earlier this semester at the Barfly, and we enjoyed their set so much that we ran out to buy tickets to the next show. Not only was there another show in London during this semester, but it happened to be on the same day that Air Traffic was releasing their first major-label single, Charlotte. Amanda and I pre-ordered the CD, which also came with a poster, free download and two limited edition 7" vinyls, one of which is white. (I was so excited when I got them in the mail the next week; my first record!) When I went up to the merchandise table at the concert to buy a T-shirt, I mentioned that I had preordered, and apparently there was a promotion that all pre-orderers got a free CD. It was the band's first single (on another label), and it was signed by all four band members. This was exciting enough, but the performance was great as well. I can't wait for them to write some more music so they can have longer concerts. I also hope they put "No More Running" up on MySpace soon so I can listen to it.

The next night, the same three of us went to the ICA for another Human Rights film, this one being about political Palestinian prisoners in Israeli prisons. It was very interesting, but a little unsettling, and none of us could really make neither heads nor tails of it.

On Wednesday I went to see Martin Crimp's Attempts on Her Life for my theatre class. The show was at the National Theatre (which I got lost trying to get to), and I think it's my favorite play that I've seen for class this semester. It was the least conventional, and it was complicated and difficult to follow, but it was very interesting and I think, very well done. If you want some more information on it, it has its own site here.

On Thursday I worked only part of a day because I had to meet with my placement person; it was a very pleasant 10-minute mid-term meeting. And then I got groceries and did all my laundry because Scott arrived the next morning. The next 10 days were exciting all on their own, so stay tuned.

And I really like these QuikMaps things, so here's one that shows where all the theatres are that I've been to either for class or for fun. Hopefully there aren't any typos here, but I don't make any guarantees.

Broomsticks, Bath and Brixton

It has surely been a busy month. And one of my friends always tells me that that's the paradox of any sort of journaling: The more there is the write about, the less time you have to write it. Now that I have slightly less than 3 weeks left in London (wow, this semester has flown), I'm going to try to catch up on these things. I'm going to do them in little sections, so maybe I can get all caught up before I get home. Because it's already late tonight, and because I've had a busy weekend, this one will be particularly short.

The day after St. Patty's Day, it seems the Fates were against my going out of the house at all. I made several plans to do several things, all of which fell through. When I finally decided I needed to get out of the house and do something, it was the exact moment it decided to start hailing. So I gave up for that day.

Two days later I went to see Wicked at the Apollo Victoria. I decided that I should just go before I run out of time, so I went after work and got a student standby ticket at the door about half an hour before it started. I really enjoyed it all in all, but I can't say it's one of my very favorite musicals. It was a lot of fun, especially with the whole backstory of Oz and all the stage effects.

That Saturday I spent with Amanda in Brixton, which is a town south of London, at the end of the Victoria Tube line. There's a great market on Electric Avenue (yes, like the song) which has mostly food -- alot of meat and fish. We ate breakfast in a cute Portugese restaurant and then wandered the market stalls and shops for a while, buying jewelry and some clothing. We found this adorable cafe called Rosie's for lunch, where I got a Morrocan lamb wrap and some salad and tried ginger beer. It's just like ginger ale, only the ginger taste is much stronger; I really enjoyed it.

This was the week of the Human Rights Watch Film Festival, which was taking place all over London, and there were a couple of films showing in Brixton that we were interested in. They were sold out when we got there, but we got our names on a waiting list and jut barely made it into the shows. The first one we saw was about on of the most outspoken woman politicians in Afghanistan, and the second was about student revolution movements in Belarus. Both were incredibly moving, and we were really glad we got the chance to go.

On Sunday we went on a daytrip to Bath, which is west of London. It's been a resort city for the past couple of centuries, and Jane Austen spent a lot of time there and set some of her novels there. The baths were begun long before Roman times, but they were expanded by the Romans into an intricate system of pipes and rooms, most of which still exist today. It was a cute little town, but I think we even more enjoyed the drive through the countryside getting there. All of the buildings in Bath are made with bath limestone, so every single building is this honey-gold color, and it contributes to the resort feeling of the town.

After Bath we got back on the bus and went to Avebury, which is a tiny (tiny, tiny) village near Marlborough. Avebury is known for it's stone circle (think Stonehenge), which encircles the entire village and is one of the largest in Britain. The stones were huge, and they made a very nice park of sorts for the village.

After this weekend the next two weeks went almost in a whirlwind, but you'll have to wait for those stories. I made another QuikMap, this time showing all the places I've visited on the island. I know it says "English Excursions," but it includes my Scotland and Wales trips as well. Like the last map, you can zoom in and out, drag the view around and click on the little pushpins for more information. Cheers!

Plays, Publishing and Ponies

I should have mentioned in the last post that I got to speak French throughout our travels in both Geneva and Lyon. It was great actually, realizing that I actually could carry on a conversation/order dinner/buy a train ticket in another language.

Anyway, after all the fun it was back to work. Monday and Tuesday of the following week (and every Monday from here on out) I had class from 3-6. I had two very nice mornings where I got lots of things done including getting my hair cut. Our class is really great. There are only 9 of us in the class, and each class we discuss a different part of post-war British theatre, focusing each time on a different play. It's odd because we don't actually read the text of the play before or after we discuss it. It's just context and an excerpt, but I guess in the limited time we have it works well. As another part of the class we also attend a play performace each week -- six plays in all. Our assignment is to write a theatre review of 400-500 words before the following Monday's class. This is actually much harder than you would think. The first week we saw The History Boys, which was quite good, and this week we saw I Like Mine with a Kiss, which I haven't quite decided about.

On Wednesday of that week I also started my job at Black Spring Press. I spent about an hour familiarizing myself with the company and the titles they have published over the years. There's quite a variety: compilations of lyrics, novels, poetry collections, reprints of books that were popular in the 50s and have since been our of print. For the rest of that day I read submissions, most of which were OK but not all that great. Somehow at the end of the day I was exhausted, but I'm not really sure how, seeing as how I didn't do anything but read.

The company is super-small; it's just Robert (the owner) and Gretchen (I'm not sure what her title is) and five interns who all work on different days. Dexter Haven, I think the official name of the company, provides publishing services to other publishers, so Gretchen spends most of her time editing and designing books for a publisher called I.B. Tauris. Since that first day I've had a variety of tasks, including reading more submissions, writing rejection letters (ew), research for marketing purposes, comparative reading (a fancy name for making sure the print and computer versions of a text match up), and most recently inputting editorial corrections on the computer. Most of this past week was spent doing corrections on a new book, published by Revolver Books. All day Friday I was editing the text notes section, which has to be one of the most tedious jobs I've ever done. But I understand why it's important, and when I left both Robert and Gretchen told me how good of a job I had been doing and how glad they were for my help this week.

Last weekend I went to Wales for the program-organized horseback riding weekend. There were ten girls who made the trip, and I was the only non-BU student there, but we had a really good time. We were staying at the Parc-le-Breos on the Gower Penninsula, and our rooms were in a restored farm house or game lodge of some sort (see top photo). The main lady in charge was named Olive, and she was sweet enough to lay out leftovers for us when we got in after midnight on Friday. On Saturday morning we had a great traditional selection for breakfast, and then it was pony time. We were each assigned a horse and taught how to brush it and get on and off and start and stop. For the rest of the day we rode our ponies through the woods, stopping at the Heritage Center for a lunch break. My horse was named Bottom -- I don't know why -- and we didn't have any problems together except that he insisted on rolling in the mud during the break, making me very dirty by the time we got home. He was really a very good horse. That evening after dinner we actually all enjoyed having nothing to do, and we went to bed very early and very relaxed. Sunday morning after breakfast we walked down to the beach at Threecliffs Bay through this gorgeous valley. The water was absolutely freezing, but we had a good time, and the views were amazing. We had a long four-hour train ride home, but the scenery was nice until it got dark, and I was exhausted when I got home.

This week was fairly busy too. On Monday I meet Christopher MacLehose, who has been well-known in the publishing industry for many years and with whome my journalism professor put me in contact. We had a very nice chat about publishing and the changes in the industry. Tuesday after work Amanda and I went to see "6 Yards to Democracy" at the Birds-Eye-View Film Festival. It was a film about poor women in India, and it was actually quite interesting. Wednesday night was theatre night for class, and on Thursday I met Amanda and her friend for a book talk at the Women's Library near my office. It was supposed to be a talk about this feminist's new book, but it wasn't all that great after all. However, we made up for it by going to Bar Music Hall, literally right underneath my office, and ordering burgers for dinner. I got the bacon cheeseburger, and it was the best burger I've had in a really really long time. Last night I spent sitting in the flat, relazing and watching Red Nose Day, this enormous fundraiser for Comic Relief. Basically there was several hours of comedy programming on BBC, and when I went to bed they had raised more than 35 million pounds. Today I slept until noon and then went out to Holland Park (see above photo) to get some fresh air. There were kids and families and dogs running all over the place, and all the daffodils were blooming, and it was great.

And I think that brings us up to date. It's supposed to snow some on Monday, but hopefully it won't freeze all the flowers. Other than that it's getting really nice here, and I'm really enjoying my job and the opportunity to get out of Kensington every day. Nothing terribly exciting for the next week or two, but I'll let you know what's up. Enjoy. Cheers.