Yeastful

Well let's be honest this probably lasted a lot longer than any of you really expected.  As of today I am no longer yeast free.  I would rate my experience just above kick to the crotch and just below accidentally biting your lip.

It had its novel moments and I am sure that I was about as healthy as I could be, but the whole thing just wasn't worth the trouble.  Endlessly reading labels and trying to decide between hummus and imitation chicken substitute can make it really feel like a chore.

All of this though was just little pebbles in the rocky road that is a yeast free diet.  In reality I bet it the same for just about any restricted diet, but since this was my only experience I have to but the blame solely on yeast.  The big problem occurs when you accidently, or hell even on purpose, eat something with yeast in it.  A sandwich and you just feel tired, pasta and breadsticks fat and sleepy, 4 beers and a pizza , now you are talking stomachocoplyse.

I would say that 95% of the time I felt better than normal, but the other 5% I felt 95% worse than normal, so not quite sure it was worth it.  It does offer anyone willing to try the diet a nice going away present though.  When you do decide to get back on the yeasty wagon you are greeted with a close to 20lb weight loss in just a few days.  Now that also comes with debilitating stomach pains, and the inabilty to stand upright for more than 5 minutes at a time, so I guess you have to weigh your options a bit.


Kristen has moved on from yeast free to vegan, but I really think its just her excuse to not cook me dinner.  I have moved on from yeast free to the IFOCE

Happy Birthday

A Happy Birthday shout out to my lovely wife.  Hard to believe she is turning 25 again.  Wish you all were here to say enjoy her day but she will have to make do with just me and Hampton.

Anyone that puts up with me deserves something special.......but, I may have gone a bit overboard with candles.

 

 It was a bit of a blazing inferno once it came time to blow out the candles.

Westminster Tube Station

Just in the last couple of weeks they started the construction of the crossrail.  Its supposed to take something like 8 years to finish.  A mind boggling task if you think about it, 14 miles of tunnels.  Not quite sure how you can secure funding for something like that when there are soooo many question marks looming overhead.  £16 billion takes a long time to get paid off in £1 and £2 tickets.  If you think about the evolution of technology over the last 20 years, to think that people will still need to take trains in another 20 years is probably a bit short sighted.

With that said gonna be super cool and insanely hard to do.  When I go out to Reading the train goes past where they are starting to dig the tunnels.  2 tunneling machines each like 150 meters long.  Gonna be another 6 or so involved by the time its done.

Going through central London they will have to thread through all the other lines.  Those stations are going to be amazing.  If we don't end up teleporting or using jet packs the tunnels in and around London are going to be 1000 feet deep someday.  

This is Westminster station.  The jubilee line runs here which is the newest of the underground.  Its like five levels of platforms and escalators straight down.   Everytime I am in the station I think about Zion in the Matrix, and imagine this must be what that is like.  Then I start thinking that maybe I am in the matrix, then my head hurts. 

Miss the Most

Whenever we go home for a visit or talk to people from the UK, they seem to always ask us "What do you miss the most about living in the US?". Now obviously we miss our family and friends the most, but I am just talking about non living things.

Car- Luckily having a car is not a necessity in London, but it would sure make life easier sometimes. It takes so much longer to complete the smallest errand. I also have no idea what songs have been popular in the last 1.5 years.

Waiting for the day I can drive, with the windows down and the radio blasting.

Dryer/Laundry Room
We were pretty lucky because we had a dryer and laundry room in our last flat. We weren't so lucky with our second flat. The washing machine is in the kitchen, so if I smell like onions it is because I was multi-tasking in my kitchen/laundry room.

Why is it so small? Don't people wash their clothes in this country!

Outlets in the bathroom - From some reason, the UK is against having outlets in the bathroom. Where the hell am I supposed to dry my hair? Oh I should put a dressing table in my already tiny bedroom. What should I do about my husband who is still sleeping? They obviously did not think that one through. Someone needs to tell them having a outlet in the bathroom is not dangerous.

This is the only outlet in the bathroom and I have no idea why?

Kitchen Sink - As an American I took it for granted that all sinks come with a sprayer and garbage disposal. I am pretty sure they have never even heard of those things over here.

Oh, how I miss you. You are so practical and useful.

Bed - I am still not sure of the bed sizes in this country, but we (Bob, Kristen, and Hampton) are sharing what they call a double. If you call it a double that indicates that two people can share it, which is not the case. I can't wait to have bigger bed again.

This bed was not designed for two people.

Walk in Closet - While I have seen a walk in closet here, they are the exception not rule. We had huge closest at our last flat, but this one is lacking in closet place. I am looking forward to having all my clothes in one place again.

In my dreams

                                  
Oven - So you want a make a pizza using your pizza pan? Fail! The oven wasn't designed to accommodate something so large.

Again, was so small!

                                        

Deliveries - In America, when you order something online, but are not home to receive it, they are happy to leave it on your doorstep so you can enjoy your purchase when you get home. Apparently,  the UK is a bunch of thieves, so they won't leave things at your doorstep, even when you live in the lower ground flat and no one can see the package. Since we don't have a car, we I do a lot of online shopping. I ordered something online so I wouldn't have to lug it home, but now I have to go to the post office and pick it up. So annoying.

Perfectly safe. Right?

                            
We miss everyone so much! Luckily we have visitors arriving soon! Apparently no one wanted to visit us when it was freezing.

Hallo from Amsterdam

Just a quick one from the first day in Amsterdam.  I spent most of the time in bed in the hotel with the Dutch swine flu or something.  Nonetheless looks like a fun place so far....

Seems like the only things in the town are bicycles and canals.  Super cyclist friendly, but probably not in the way most would think about it.   I don't think you could really live here without a bike.  They were everywhere and each seem older and crappier than the last.

Anyone ever seen 2,500 bikes in the same place at the same time?

Well now you have!  This was the bicycle parking garage at the train station.  Supposed to be 2,500 spaces here and its not enough room.  Apparently on an average day there are closer to 9.000 bikes parked around the train station.

Furry Friday

Kristen thought she bought me chicken for dinner.  Hampton informed her she thought wrong!!

Oh the Horror!!

One of the cool things about living in London is all the history that you walk around and through on a regular basis.   Come to think of it maybe the coolest thing about living here.  Anyway, a part of the history is living where (and for some people in the same house) some of the most noteworthy people over the last 2000 years have been.  You get a real surreal feeling sometimes, just thinking that you are standing in the place as Henry VIII or Winston Churchill or something.

The reason I bring all this up is this morning I was walking down the road from the new flat and ran across this....

They have these little blue plaques all over the city.  Something like 850 all together.  They started putting them up in one form or another in 1867.  Its interesting to look around and think, what is it about this place that made them do or think whatever they were famous for.  So as I walked past Hitchcock's place I shuddered a little bit.  After all, I will be walking down the same street everyday as Alfred Hitchcock did.  If these posts start to become dark and scary, you all know why.