The Boat Race

Another one on the list of things that you just have to do, even if you have no real interest in the event. It was just down the road from us so we couldn't come up with any excuses not to stop by. So we packed our bags and braved the crowd.

"The Boat Race" is a rowing race between the Oxford University Boat Club and the Cambridge University Boat Club. First raced 1839, missing a couple of years for the wars, but standings are surprisingly close 80 to 76. They said somewhere between a quarter and a half million people came out to watch, and I swear they were all trying to watch from the same place we were. In case you were planning to go next year, bring your own beer, because as far as I could tell buying drinks was the only reason there were so many people in the park. Pimms also seemed to be a favorite of many a spectator.

From talking to people it seemed drinking was the only real reason that the majority of them attended. And in all reality not sure why else you would go watch. The race is 15 or so minutes long, but you can only see the boats for maybe 2 minutes max. I saw an interesting description of the race in the newspaper the day before. Apparently Oxford and Cambridge have a lock on the race but they really aren't the best teams in the country. I guess it would be kinda like the Army Navy game being the most well attended college football game of the year. You would have to be super drunk to enjoy that!!

Was really funny to see 30 or so following boats behind these two tiny rowboats. The stirred up a hell of a lot of water.

Which led to the most exciting part of the day. You can see in this picture how high the water came up on this boat ramp. All these people were sitting all the way down to the water's edge, and seemed to have no idea what was coming as the race went down the river. I laughed!!

A lot of people!!

I ride my bike over this bridge all the time, and frankly I was a little concerned over its integrity with the thousands of people standing on it.

Infrastructure

I can't seem to wrap my hands around just how ridiculous public transport is. I understand that the city is old and you can only do so much, but I bet that if you let people work and live in a place like Tulsa for a month they would be insanely angry with the state of transport in this city. I just don't get how everyone seemed to be completely fine with dead standstills at all times of the day whether car, or tube its always all backed up.

Today I watched people trying to get from the District line into Paddington Station to catch a train. Picture this....... its 6 o'clock, your train is leaving in 10 minutes and you think you have plenty of time. The tube pulls up the the station and you step off. Here is where it gets interesting. There is exactly 1 way into the station from the district line. Up a staircase and over a walkway over all the other tracks. So you and probably 500 others step off of the train, and onto the platform to go up said stairs. But that is where the problem is......you got off the train at the very front, and every two minutes another 500 people arrive, with just about all of them closer to the stairs than your current position. This repeats itself over and over again. I thought it was so unbelievable that I just stood and watched. For 10 minutes the people at the back of the line moved maybe 30 feet. My guess was it would take another 30 minutes to even make it into the station. Hope he didn't have dinner plans. I just don't get it.

Spring!!!

A bold statement yes, but I think we might have actually turned the corner. It was 29 this morning when I got up, 36 when I left to ride my bike, and 51 when I got home. Bright sunshine all day, now wind and a high of 56. I can see why they say summer here is so great.

During the ride this morning, I saw an old guy, and I mean OLD, at the least 60, skate sking around the park. Now this wouldn't be so strange if he would have been out in some kinda of track suit or something that looked like he actually left the house with the intention of an athletic venture. But oh no, he was wearing corduroys and a sweater vest. Had a lock on his face like he couldn't believe what he was doing or where he was. I really wanted to stick around and see what happened next, but he didn't look like he was planning on going into motion any time soon.

Went out this afternoon to tour the HMS Belfast. Its moored right in the middle of town and seemed to be a pretty big attraction. There is rumor that they are going to move a aircraft carrier into town to tour, and put the concord on its deck, for people to look at. Anyway, pretty impressive ship, but couldn't imagine myself living on it. Give everyone who has ever served tons of credit.

Hard to imagine it was built in 1938 and was in service to 1970 something.  People on board had to be thinking it wasn't logical to be sailing around the world in something that was older than they were, and probably older than their parents.

That can't be good!!

Aye Aye Captain!!



Went to a French place for dinner on the way home....Didn't think I would like French food, but as long as it all comes like this, it is moving right up to the top of the list. Mmmmmm.

Seriously Turbo, nothing can be that bad that you have to look so sad.  She uses her ball as a pillow everyday now.  Not sure what her plan is, but it would probably work, if we just knew what she wanted.

Furry Friday

Turbo loves it when Tesco comes and brings her a big bag of gravy bones.

Yum!

Windsor Castle

We finally went to Windsor Castle. The weather was beautiful.  I can't wait to go back and explore the town more, we really only got to see the castle because we were on a tight schedule.

The Queen's entrance. We had to go around to the back.

Built in the 11th century, Windsor Castle is one of the offical residences of Queen Elizabeth and has been the home of 39 monarchs.  Just like everythink in London, Windsor Castle caught fire in 1992. In order to pay for the £37 million restorations, Buckingham Palace was opened to visitors for the first time in 1993.

They turned the moat into a garden.

My favorite part inside the castle was Queen Mary's Dollhouse.  I know what you are thinking BORING, so was I , but all the pieces were so elaborate and detailed. These dollhouses were made in 1924 and were never meant to be played with. 
 

Within the gates of Windsor Castle is St Georges Chapel. Queen Elizabeth's II parents, King George VI and Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother, are buried.  King Henry VIII is also buried here along with his favorite wife, Jane Seymour.

St George's Chapel

 We also got to see the changing of the guard. I loved it! It was so formal and traditional.

US TV

As a continuation from last week, my view of the world is still all skewed. I found myself singing 'Your a mean one Mr. Grinch' today and couldn't figure out why. Then it hit me....While some of the shows get beamed over a day or two later, most is apparently 3 months behind. So we have been watching the Christmas episodes of everything this week, and I guess I am in the Christmas spirit now. I only hope that March Madness doesn't show up in June, it just won't have the same feel. Good news is Idol is only two days behind...the show is actually pretty good when you cut our all of the phone numbers and take of calling in to vote. Steven Tyler is out there, isn't he? There just cant be much of his brain that is really functional at this point.



Saw this Ferrari stuck in traffic a block away from our flat. There was a double decker bus right behind it, and I almost got ran over by a moped trying to take the picture. Just a whole bunch of things you don't see in Tulsa.

Safety.....or lack there of

The Formula 1 season is about to start, and ESPN classic is showing all these old races, back to the 70s. My mind is blow with what seems to be a complete lack of common sense about safety. This is a question to anyone over 50....What the hell were you thinking?? There are people literally standing on the side of the track maybe 10 feet from the cars coming past. And it looks like the stands are protected by a chicken wire safety barrier. The 'safety crew' was out with brooms and sawdust as the race was still going on...pretty ironically named if you ask me

Not to mention all of the guys walking around without shirts on...seriously too much chest hair

What happened to get from that to where we are now? The same people who were running around like idiots are putting helmet's on their grandchildren every time they walk down the stairs.

Furry Friday

A little video of the Girls at last month's meetup......I think they were the stars of the show.

http://sharing.theflip.com/session/798e36c3d8d368b2c438ecc32db3c3cf/video/60064661

Olympic RR Preview

Some of the team previewed the Olympic RR course for London TV on Sunday. Was pouring rain all day and they ended up speading something like 7 hours riding and filming before the day was done. Alot of work for 2 minutes, but I guess its the 2 minutes of fame everyone always talks about.

http://www.itv.com/london/olympic-route91133/

Meanwhile, we rode out to Windsor and back, 3.5 hours for me, since I took a wrong turn and ended up in Wimbeldon at one point. I would like to say that I saw all kinds of exciting and interesting things, but in reality I was far to cold and wet to notice anything. Hands and feet were frozen and numb for the last hour or so. Of course it stopped raining and the sun came out right as I got home.

Took my sock off and found the strangest thing.....

4 out of 5 toes red and frozen, 1 toe white as a sheet. I couldn't feel any of them, but was concerned for an hour or so that the white one was going to fall off. Good news, they are all back to normal now.

Chez LeMaster is in business

Our first guests have arrived and Kristen the concierge is busy entertaining. Jet lag was the story of the day today so played it pretty cool. Trip to Piccadilly Circus, and China Town this evening, with dinner at Wong Kei. Its a London institution and you will find it on the top of a lot of 'must see' lists. Kinda like the Chinese version of Dick's last resort, but in general good cheap Chinese food. I give it 8 out of 10 and will be more than happy to take anyone and everyone there to try it out.

Kristen really stepped up to welcome our guests........she wasn't kidding when she said she would make towel animals. What will your animal be? Only one way to find out!!

Monkey

Elephant

Furry Friday

The girls continue to act more and more like people.  They were so tired the lights and pictures didn't even phase them. 

Funny it almost seems as they think its their bed.

Perspective

Funny how your perspective on things can get so skewed so fast.....I have essentially been living in my own world since the beginning of January, just eat, work, sleep, and then for a bit on the weekend sneak out for a bike ride or some sightseeing with the Mrs. The only time I really experience the outside world is when I am lucky enough to get a seat on the subway and have 20 minutes to read the paper on the ride home. Most of the time though I don't make it past the stories about the Olympics or the latest squatters taking over a million $ house somewhere here in London. Today however I was finally able to step out of my world and realize just how strange things have been.

I apparently missed any and all indications of the earth quake and tsunami until the day was almost over. I would still be walking around clueless except for the TV in the reception area at work. Now I am really wondering what else has happened that I have missed lately. But more humorously I found out today that 'ClearPill' is a joke. I don't know if everyone is up to date on this but apparently its a spoof that is a part of Bradley Cooper's new movie. Well I completely missed it. There have been advertisements on the Tube for at least a month now, touting great benefits like 'use 100% of your brain' etc. I admit I was interested, at least enough to read further into what I thought was a legitimate advertisement. I got really confused when I read the side effects, see below...... (click to enlarge)

I couldn't figure out why anyone would risk the side effects and how the hell it got through FDA, but I just let it go. Low and behold I do some checking on the Internet and to my surprise its all a joke. Again wondering what else I have missed.


Good news is that I am back on the outside looking in, or maybe its the other way around, but either way things are back in perspective...........


Had a Chai Latte today for the first time ever, kinda like Christmas in a cup. I don't think its something you could have often, but once in awhile its gonna be a tasty treat.

Got some pics from last weeks race too....................

Early on everything together

Full gas.......this guy didn't stand a chance

Long lonely rode

Lots of pain, I didn't stand a chance