Author Archives: thesouplady2

Complete Unknown – Sundance 2016


Imagine walking into a dinner party and coming face to face with someone from your past – but being told they have a completely different name, different history, different life.

Complete Unknown puts Tom (Michael Shannon) into this exact position – and forces him and the audience along with him to examine not only their current happiness – but what it means to ‘be someone’.

Alice (aka Jennifer, aka 8 other people) is played with convincing sincerity by the lovely Rachael Weisz. An over-the-top brilliant young woman with incredible talents – she has come to realize that life can be boring – and one way to eliminate the boredom is to become someone else.

Which leaves the audience to wonder – would I be happier/more fullfilled/less regretful if I just re-invented myself. Is it even possible to just suddenly decide to be a nurse, or a doctor, or a research technician – and after carefully doing the required research – pass yourself off as same to an unwary world?

Would we – the unwary world in which Alice swims – even recognize the foolery – or do we make decisions about folks without doing the hard double checking? Do you really know who were the guests at your last dinner party? How would you re-act to a new person coming to dinner – would you accept them at face value – or wonder if they really were who and what they said they were.

Talented director Joshua Marston sets out to ask us to reconsider the enigma of humanity – and in doing so creates a completely engrossing and challenging film.

It seems easy to think that we’d be smarter than Tom’s family and friends – but I’m not so sure. I think I for one could be easily fooled – and if the ‘fooler’ was determined to carry on the charade – I’d probably go along for the ride.

And here’s a stunning thought – is being a re-enactor so very different from what Alice is doing? When I introduce myself as M. le Docteur Jean Vivant do Clairmont – am I not inventing a past and a career that of course has nothing to do with reality.

Something to think about surely!

Our plan – when the film comes out on DVD – as it surely will – we’ll organize a dinner party – and challenge our guests on the topic. When are you sure you really know someone – and when do you get surprised?

Signing off to see even more movies… The Soup Lady

Hunt for the Wilderpeople – Sundance Must See


No Joke – I laughed till I cried at the outlandish things that happen in this run-away comedy by Taika Waititi. It’s an absolute must-see – and it’s playing 4 more times here at Sundance before it hits the distribution circuit – If you are also here in Park City – Go Check It Out! Otherwise – keep your eyes peeled for this film to hit a screen near you.

The plot is pretty simple – its the twists and turns and great acting that will totally rock you. As a member of the audience pointed out – it’s a buddy film – complete with a car chase. But this is only the frame work on which Taika has hung one amazingly wonderful film.

A 13 year old boy – called “A really Bad Egg” by the hare-brained and wildly offensive Social Worker – is delivered into the hands of a tacturn husband and his overly gragarious wife living at the edge of the New Zealand bush – nothing but glorious trees and vines and roots for miles and miles and miles in all directions. Naturally the boy is hardly happy to be there – but the wife of the family is willing to go the distance to help him get settled in. Bounce forward past some hilarious scenes including boar hunting – and the wife suddenly dies, not surprisingly leaving the husband (played to perfection by Sam Neil) on the run from an increasingly outrageous cast of characters – and of course that wild and crazy social worker.

It’s funny, it’s endearing, it’s delightful – and you will be quoting scenes – particularly the bits with non-so-psycho Sam – over and over.

One of the reasons one comes to Sundance in the first place is to see films that you’d never get to see in the real world. But this film is going to be distributed widely – so when it comes to your ‘art house theatre’ – Go!

Hunt for the Wilderpeople. Remember it.

Signing off to go to more films – and do much more skiing – The Soup Lady

Parting Shots – Goodbye to London


I’m on my way back home to Canada – but I can’t help but leave you with a few more true stories of the strange things I’ve seen here in England.

Homeless Dog Sitter – we were outside of the V&A Museum (wonderful museum – highly recommend it), there’s a nice pedestrian area there that makes for very pleasant walking. It was right around 6:30 – and we saw the absolute strangest thing. An apparently homeless man was sitting with his arms around a large brown dog, holding a sign. “Just a man and his dog – Please be generous”. Ok – seen that before. But here’s the odd part. As we watched, another man, wearing a nice coat and looking quite established walked up to the man – no words were exchanged – but the man took out from under his coat a leash, a harness, and a dog jacket – proceeded to put the jacket on the dog, add the leash and harness – and then walked away. The homeless man turned around, and flipped over his sign.

What do you think that was all about?

Ok – Subway manners. In Korea they have signs indicating the locations sections of the metro cars designated for the older, the pregant, or the infirm. If someone sits in one of these sections by accident – the proper occupants will hiss at them to move away. Totally works. In London – it’s a bit different. The seats nearest the doors are all marked as special seating – it’s emblazoned on the backrests – and sometimes on the the window. But you don’t know where the doors will end up, so you are often trying to guess where to stand. But that’s not the subject of this story. I need a seat on the subway – the jerky motion makes my knees ache – so I always try for a seat – and I don’t mind asking someone who looks young and healthy – but has decided to sit in the special seats to get up. Not everyone who needs a seat is that forceful however – and we boarded a subway car with another older woman. I asked a young man to get up – which he did. Across from him – also sitting in a seat designated for older, pregant, or infirm – was another younger gentleman holding a briefcase. He made eye contact with the other older woman – and proceeded to shut his eyes and clutch his briefcase to his chest – faking sleep.

Really – you can’t be bothered to get up – and you are willing to fake sleep to aoid it?

Ok – Subway manners again. Remember that the special seats are for older folks, infirm – or pregant. But how do you know a woman is pregant? When I was in the market stall at Fenchurch Station – I noticed young women – some obviously pregant, some not so obvious – sporting a button that said – “Baby on Board”. I thought – that’s funny that they all bought the same button. But my daughter tells me that I’m wrong. In fact – Doctors give their pregant patients these buttons – which are distruted by the transit authority – to allow them to claim those special seats.

How cool is that!

One last story – then I’m off to a new adventure.

Brits are amazingly polite in general. I worry for the newest generation – but generally speaking they don’t like to say no. So when I was giving out samples of Crown & Queue Sausages (curedmeat.london), if they didn’t want to buy something – they would fake an excuse. “I don’t get paid till tomorrow”, “How late will you be here – I’ll come back after work”, “I’m going to tour the market and then come back”. The last actually wasn’t a clear no – often they did come back – which they would announce! “Hi – I’m back – and you have the best sausages”. Actually – we had just about the only air-cured dried sausages – but I agree they were awesomely good. But here’s my favorite way for Brits to say – Thanks but no Thanks. “Will you be here tomorrow/on Monday/next week?”. At first I’d honestly tell them – Yes. But I quickly realized that was just another way of saying no. So I finally started to say either “No – today is our last day”, or “We aren’t sure yet – if you want sausages – you should get them now”. I’m a bit ashamed to admit that it is possible that some people – having been called out on their polite rejection – perhaps bought a sausage. Who knows for sure!

Ok – that’s it for my report from London. I had a really great time visiting with my daughter – albeit the sleeping arrangements weren’t always the very best. We managed to spend 3 weeks in extremely close company – and didn’t kill each other. We didn’t even have a fight. Must be a record of some kind.

We did have some laughs – did some Christmas Caroling – some organized – and some in the Market Stall, and we shared a lot of meals. But most importantly – we had plenty of bonding time to talk about this and that. It was fun.

Signing off to head home,

The Soup Lady

Exploring the Gastro Underbelly of London


I’m here on a very strict budget – no high end, fancy restaurants this trip. Instead I’ve been looking for the discount options with portions large enough for my daughter and I to share. And bottom line – we’ve eaten very very well!

The least expensive options have been food stalls – and since we’re ‘market folks’ sometimes the meals are free! Finding time to enjoy the food of course is the big challenge – but as for taste – there are some amazing options out there. At Fenchurch stations – we had 3 different meal options – all only available for lunch unfortunately – but surprisingly good. My favorite of the 3 – hands down – was the ‘Asian Fusion’. Starting at around 9:30 – they would set-up and start cooking. They were making stir-fried meals of several different options – including my personal favorite – a fried chicken nugget wonder made with chilis and green peppers. The peppers were crisp – the nuggets yummy – and sauce delicious. I never did find out the price – they always gave me free tastes at the end of their day. It was yummy.

The other food options at Fenchurch included an Indian option that had Onion Baji, Samosas, Tikka Masalla and the like. Amazing that they could make such delicious food in basically a 9×9 tent with portable burners.There was also – for just 2 days – a soup kitchen. They brought the soup in pre-made in large plastic bags, and just reheated to serve. It was ok – but not something I’d walk out of my office to get.

The offerings at Allie-Palie were more varied since there were more booths in general. In addition to the Indian, Asian Fusion, Kettle Corn, German Sausages, and Meat Pies – there were these absolutely amazing fish cakes. I loved, loved, loved them – and the price was right – Free! I’m not sure they meant to give it to me free – they were intending to give them to the lady who sells bread at the stall next to ours – but when she only wanted one of the two they brought her – they handed one to me. Oh Yum. Probably my favorite of the Market Stall food I tried.

But it’s not just about food stall food – we also did a lot of Take-out food. Londener’s love take out – partly it’s away to avoid taxes – food eaten off premises is cheaper. But that’s not the only reason for it’s popularity – it’s easy to get food delivered. There’s an app called “Just Eat” that keeps your past orders on file – so you can go ‘same old’ – or opt for something new and fun. My kids and I have ordered in Indian that was delicious – done take-out of Thai that was also yummy – and once even opted for Fish and Chips. The price points are reasonable – under 10 pounds per person – and the portions sufficient to allow for an extra meal or 2!

For in restaurant eating – my favorite was easily Simplicity. This is a cozy local place that has Pork Belly as the speciality – and with a very talented chef in the kitchen. We ordered one dinner to share – which kept the price down – and without even saying anything – they double plated the dinner! It was delicous. Here’s their website (yes – it’s that good) – http://www.simplicityrestaurants.com (obviously – they are thinking of becoming a chain… wonder if that will happen.)

My second favorite was the Mayflower – again because it was just plain fun to sit and enjoy the view.

During our Christmas in Sutton Courtenay – we went to “The Nag’s Head” – so I did a pub meal. Unfortunately we were seated in the restaurant area – which featured an amazing view of the Thames – but none of the completely quaint Pub atmosphere. We did get to see how great it was – lots of big leather sofas and great seating areas. Next time I’m pubbing – I’m definitely sitting in the pub area. Food was delicious – I had a fish and chips dinner – and the fish was big enough for 2. And delightfully flaky. I’m clearly a fan.

Unfortunately – there was a down side – we tried two Japanese restaurants – neither of which I thought was excellent, and one of which I thought was actually horrid. Oh well – one loser amoung so many winners – it was bound to happen.

Things I didn’t get to try:
Peri-Peri Chicken – this has become the in thing in Montreal – and I saw several of them – but we never stopped in one for dinner. The one we did walk into – I walked back out. It just didn’t say – eat here – to me.

Pasteries – I visited a coffee shop every morning for my daily fix of Latte (at 2 pounds – it was pricy – but delicous) – and was such a steady customer that the gal started to make my latte as I walked thru the door – but I never ate breakfast there – so no toad in the hole – or even a muffin. Oh well.

Indian – in a restaurant. We ate Indian take out (well – actually delivery) that was outstanding – the Tandori Chicken was fresh, tender, and delicious, but we never actually went into an Indian restaurant. In fact – there are lots more ‘take-out’ places then actual restaurants – at least around Surry Quays.

Pizza – in a restaurant. Again – did delivery – but never in a restaurant. Again – delicous. We ordered the ‘meat lover’ which didn’t have that much meat on it to be honest – but it was yummy.

So – bottom line – lots of good food – and by British terms – not too much money!

Signing off to continue the search for the ultimate low-cost food option,
The Soup Lady

Gentrification in London – Surrey Quays in particular


We all know about Gentrification – when old neighborhoods become cool places to live – and people with money arrive and take over buildings, renovating them to make them acceptable living quarters – by their standards of course. I’ve read all about – but now that I’m staying ‘long term’ with my daughter – my perspective has changed.

Living in the area near Surrey Quays in London is about living in an area undergoing Gentrification while you watch. The old neighborhoods are still holding on – but just barely. There are betting storefronts, restaurants that have clearly seen better times, and a wonderful brick building with a huge plaque stating that this model low-cost housing was built in 1916 by the good will of William Richard Sutton. In 1984, he left 1,500,000 pounds – a fortune at that time – for the establishment of low-cost housing for the poor of London, one of which is located right where my daughter has just bought a brand new flat.

So one of the issues – do you tear these down to make more of the much more modern flats like my daughter lives in – or do you recognize the heritage value of these old fashioned – but extremely well-built buildings and leave them standing? They have survived two world wars – it seems wrong to trash them because they have no elevators, the flats are small, and the layout hardly the modern style that today’s kids require.

But then – I’ve read that in the 50’s average houses were under 1000 sq feet – today they are over 2000! (don’t believe – check it out here: http://stephencolley.com/trends-since-1950/)

So while the Sutton flats are hardly palaces – should they be replaced just because someone could make more money? Tis of course a question that I’m not going to answer. Interesting one though.

Back to the neighborhood – there’s a ‘high street’ – that’s a main shopping street – and parts of it are quite nice, a lovely fish and chips shop, a coffee shop, two DIY shops that never have what I need, and a local pub. But there is also an area of big box stores – a huge grocery store, a sporting goods store that runs on for several thousand square feet – and of course the requiste huge parking lots. I think it’s the parking lots that seem wrong somehow. Flat expanses of what was once grass – now paved and mostly empty.

Her area is also home to Canada Waters – an extremely upscale section of the city that is built over the tube stop. Now there they have elevators. And surprisingly – or I guess actually not surprisingly – we are hard by the Thames. My daughter took me into the Mayflower – an absolutely lovely pub with great beer – that is actually on the Thames! It overlooks the location of the wharf from where the Mayflower was launched.

Best of all – the Simplicity Cafe and Restaurant – http://www.simplicityrestaurants.com

We’ve eaten there twice – and it’s a wonderful example of a tiny destination restaurant in a crazy location. You aren’t going to wander in off the street – you either have read about it – or you don’t go. My daughter had walked by many times, and since they were open on Monday night – when many restaurants are closed – decided to take me there on my first night in London. It was perfect. Maybe 40 seats total – the chef behind the helm of the ship – and portions so large that even though we’d ordered one to share – we thought they had brought us two!

Again – Gentrification at work. This isn’t a restaurant for the working class – as Londoner’s would define that term. They serve fabulously fussy food – hardly what a guy looking for a quick dinner of peri-peri chicken or fish and chips would enjoy – but the increasing amount of Gentrification in the area means that there are more and more DINKS (Double Income No Kids) family – and they can definitely afford the splurge.

Speaking of kids – I’ve never seen so many fabulously fancy carriages in my life as I have since I arrived in London. Not just in the Surrey Quays area either – in fact I think I’ve seen fewer there. But at some of the markets – the in thing is to take your 2 kids in a huge stroller – one standing in back, the other sitting in front – or in one alternative – one sitting in front and the infant hidden from view tucked into the back basket – for a market stroll.

My daughter is conflicted about the Gentrification. On one hand – she loves areas that have already been gentrified, lots of nicer restaurants, cute shops, cobblestone streets and big sidwalks. On the other hand – gentrification means the loss of the lower cost options – no DIY shops, no inexpensive fast food options, no Thai Box take-aways with one chef and his wife as cashier. You win some and lose some with Gentrification.

My wonder – I wonder where the people who are displaced by people like my daughter go to live? Will they sell, take their money and run to the country? Will they move further away from the city – trading commuting time for living costs? Or will they move in with their friends – creating even more crowded conditions in tiny flats that are valued at far more than they can afford in taxes.

At the heart of my daughter’s area is the real prize – the huge park called “Southwark”. It’s huge – and her daily walking commute to the Arch of Crown & Queue (www.curedmeat.london) takes her (and me) straight thru it. I love that part of my “commute”. I get to enjoy a deep refreshing breathe of green grass and old trees between sidewalks and street crossings.

How do I feel about all this?

I’m glad my daughter lives in a place she loves, and I’m really really glad she has an elevator in her building. And I’m very pleased that they carefully bought a flat that has a guarenteed view. And her location couldn’t be better – there’s a smallish, but well stocked, grocery store about 50 feet from her front door, a tube stop a 10 minute walk away – and the park is under a 10 minute walk as well. I love walking her current ‘high street’ – I find the mix of classes fun to see.

But will this last?

The presence of the big box stores with their huge parking lots is an eyesore – and I’m sorry they are there. And the loss of the ‘working class’ will change the feeling of the area.

Signing off to take a walk in Sutton Courtenay. I hear the area near the Thames is awesome.

The Soup Lady

Happy New Year from the Montreal Madame – 2015 in review


My Blogging Year in Review – as created by Word Press.

Some key stats – I was good at posting in the spring while I was in Russia, Berlin and Brussels – and I was good at posting when I was in London. Not so good the rest of the year. (Oh well – goal for next year – be more consistent!)

Thanks for reading – thanks for being my audience. And most importantly – Happy New Year to all!

The Soup Lady

Here’s an excerpt:

The concert hall at the Sydney Opera House holds 2,700 people. This blog was viewed about 11,000 times in 2015. If it were a concert at Sydney Opera House, it would take about 4 sold-out performances for that many people to see it.

Click here to see the complete report.

There are foxes living in London


And almost no stray cats. Think these might be related? I certainly do!

Every morning for the last 14 days, I’ve been walking from my daughter’s flat to the Arch where Crown & Queue is based – and almost every morning I’ve seen at least one fox.

And these aren’t the shy, hard to spot foxes that I’m used to seeing in Vermont. These very smart, very fast, very agile animals think they rule their spaces – and they show off their ownership of their domain by running directly across the road right in front of my eyes.

A quick google search reveals that I’m not alone in noticing the foxes – according to a British Research Group at the University of Bristol – the Mammal Research Unit – there are about 35,000 foxes that call London home. Also according to them – these foxes leave a brief but exciting life – their only enemies are cars of course – but cars and trucks definitely shorten their average life span.

But how did London become a city of foxes?

My guess is that as the city expanded – the outlying areas that had been fox habitat became part of the city – and the foxes adapted to their new neighbors – much the way raccoons have become part of the landscape in Canadian cities.

In any case – there are few stray cats – and lots of foxes.

I did find an article on the topic if you’d like to read more –
http://www.latimes.com/world/europe/la-fg-britain-london-foxes-20141121-story.html
but the point of this blog is just to say – early morning walks in London are perfect for fox spotting – just walk quietly – and keep your eyes open.

Signing off
The Soup Lady

Going to the Dogs – or The Dog Days of London


There are few, if any, stray cats in London – the foxes (read my blog later this week) seem to be keeping the cat population well under control – but there are tons and tons of dogs.

When you spend hour after hour standing in a market stall – both at an urban market like Fenchurch Station, and at a neighborhood market like Alexander Palance – you see a lot of people with their constant companions – their dogs!

There are big ones, little ones – ones with jackets – one in a bling covered suit – and one in a full wool sweater, including sleeves on all 4 legs. There are Whippets that look as if they have been rung in the washer for way too long – their fur is soft, but matted to their skin as if it weighs too much to every stand up.

There are tiny little dogs – all of whom seem to sport jackets and coats – and trust me – by Montreal standards – it’s not that cold – even for a small dog. There are long haired and short haired Dachounds – mostly minitures but very cute. I’ve seen countless Jack Russels – and tons of Pugs. What’s interesting about the Pugs are they are huge. Much bigger than the Pugs I’ve spotted in North America – and literally the size of my stuffed Pug that I carry when I’m playing the role of Lady Bertrum from Mansfield Park.

I’ve seen big dogs too – nothing as large as a Newfoundland – but German Sheperds and various kinds of Sheep Dogs abound. There was just one Greyhound – a rescue dog was what I was told. There was even a dog on the train!

Only one stall in the market was selling dog treats – but I’d guess that “going to the dogs” in London is probably not a bad plan if your goal is to make money!

One other observation – most if not all the dogs were leashed. Not the casual leashing of American and Canadian Dog lovers – but a proper harness with a proper leash. And there are rubbish bins clearly marked for dog waste on most corners. In fact often it was easier to find a rubbish bin for doggy-do then for your paper cup of coffee.

Back to the breed identification list – yes I’ve seen the Queen’s dogs – Welsh Corgies, all breed from the one she was given when she was 18. Sounds a bit like in-breeding to me. According to Jan, since she doesn’t want them to miss her when she dies – she’s no longer getting new ones. Now that’s an odd British fact if ever I heard one.

Just one more doggie comment – the gal that was in charge of one of the markets we attended very proudly showed me pictures of her Cavalier King Charles Spaniel. So having a ‘bred’ dog is not as classed based as I had assumed – it must be a British Tradition.

Signing off to look up dog breeds – in case looking turns to buying
The Soup Lady

All Hail the Christmas Jumper


That’s a sweater to you in North America. And the Brits adore them. They even have a National – Everyone wear your Christmas Jumper to work – Day.

Trust me on this – I was in the market stall at Fenchurch Station on the last Friday before Christmas – and everyone was wearing a Christmas Jumper!

The designs were amazing. My favorites included a roaring fireplace on one man’s chest – and in another case – an image of Santa Claus and Jesus hugging – Jesus with a glass of wine, Santa sporting a mug of beer.

Another popular motif – look like you have on a different body! Elf bodies are the most popular – generally done so that the collar ends the body, allowing the head of the wearer to appear to have on the body of the Elf. Sometimes the bodies include the legs and shoes – sometimes it’s just the outfit from the waist up!

I’ve also seen Santa sweaters, ballerina sweaters, and very occasionally – snow man bodies on sweaters.

There are Star War motif sweaters – generally worn by a geekier – younger crowd. I even saw a ‘Minon’ Christmas Jumper – one eye, round yellow body – Christmas hat!

I’ve only seen the same jumper once – and that was on two guys who were clearly together!

Not all the Christmas Jumpers are so over the top – some have more simple images – maybe Christmas 2015 – or a simple saying – “Merry Christmas”, or an image of a Reindeer or two.

There are almost no ‘rude’ sweaters – at least not on view at Fenchurch. I’m surrounded by offices – I guess those don’t cut the mustard for business casual.

Back to the sweaters (jumpers) I did see – there were those that went for the 3D look – I’ve seen tons of jumpers with orange carrot noses sticking out of chests (I’m guessing here – but I’m pretty sure the image under that was a snowman) – and several large round pom-poms that I think might have been the noses of raindeer. There are cupcakes with glowing candles, there are toasts to British beer in all flavors. Occasionally one jumper is so outrageous I have to comment. And the owner will proudly swing around to show it off.

There are also Christmas ties – some subtle – a glowing green maybe – others more in your face with Christmas trees and snowman.

I even saw one guy in a Christmas Suit Jacket. It was covered in Chritmas trees and had a tie to match. Older gent too – so I don’t think he was making fun of the tradition!

For those not keen on wearing a sweater – there are hats! Generally these include elf ears – but once I’m sure they were Reindeer Antlers. Since these are often worn with Christmas Jumpers – I think they are an attempt to complete the outfit – like getting a bag and shoes to match your dress.

A flash back to “Harry Potter” – I never really ‘got’ why the boys are always getting sweaters for Christmas from Ron’s Mom – but now I have a much better understanding. It’s a truly unique British Tradition!

Bit like having Silton for Christmas – you don’t have to love it – but you do want to respect it.

Signing off to check out the after Christmas sales on Jumpers…

The Soup Lady

There are Witches and Wizards in London


Yes – I’m sure of this. I’ve seen them. They look just like they are described in “Harry Potter”. They were seriously odd looking clothing, and seem to be on missions that don’t make a lot of sense to the rest of us.

Most of them seem to live around the Alexander Palace area – where my daughter Adrienne has one of her markets. One actually came over to taste our sausages. Her felt hat – a bright orange – was pulled down over her grey hair, and her dress was in odd layers – some higher and some parts longer – not in the cool way of hip dressers – but in a “I think this works” but in fact it doesn’t – kind of way.

And the tiny alleys like that of Diagon Alley are here as well. Easy for everyone to see – and not even as wide as a tiny car – they snake thru sections of the city as if the city planners just couldn’t figure out how to tell the owners that having a ‘road’ that a car can’t drive down is just not a great idea.

Staying in London for over two weeks – and spending every day walking for almost 2 hours – in addition to the 7 to 8 hours spend in the market stalls – give me a very unique perspective on the entire wizarding thing. You don’t spot them often in downtown, and they aren’t big on riding the buses or the tube – it’s just walking around that they will suddenly surprise you by appearing quickly – and just as quickly disappearing.

And they aren’t keen on saying hi when you greet them in the morning. For that matter – no one says hi when I smile and greet them. Is it my foreign accent? Is it that I noticed them walking early in the morning? I’m not sure – but it’s gotten to be a bit of a challenge to me. I greet everyone I pass while walking – in hopes of getting at least one smile in return.

Strange thought – maybe they think I’m the Witch?

Another curiously British observation: it is illegal to put a light switch INSIDE a bathroom. How anyone decided that was safer is beyond me, but my hosts assure me that it is the case. But imagine how awkward this turns out to be for the ignorant foreigner – like me. I’ve walked into countless bathrooms – shut the door – and been left standing in the dark. I have to open the door – and look around the outside wall to spot the light switch. And no one seems to have thought about how easy it would be to watch someone go into the toilet, wait a few seconds – then shut off the light! I’m sure Agatha Christie could make a murder mystery out of that.

Another perculiarly British thing – they seem to have confused up and down. And push and pull. Doors at home open out for easy exit during a fire. But outer door here open in. How dangerous is that? Imagine getting trapped in a burning building with some foreigner in front trying despartely to push open the pull front door.

As for up and down – To me – one flips a light ON by pushing the switch down. But not here – pushing UP is on – pushing DOWN is off.

And the Brits have gone soft metric. In Canada – we are hard metric – all measurements are metric – distance, height, etc. The only non-metric measures are weight – we still use pounds not kg for human weight – although all food sold by weight is general shown in both $/kg and $/pound measures. But in Britian things are very confused. They measure distance in miles, height in meters. So 10 miles away is a bridge with a height restriction of 5 meters. How odd. Volume is not metric – so gallons and pints. And weight is in stone they tell me – although my daughter’s bahroom scale is in kg. Food is uniformly sold by the 100g – so that’s easy enough – but I do find myself often questioning to distances from place to place. Apparently this is confusing even to the Brits – but I’m thinking any visitor would quickly be scratching their heads in bemusement.

Ok – just one more observation and I’m done for today. Doors in modern buildings have buttons you must find and push in order to open the door. And these buttons are not located near the doors. They are located 4 to 5 feet away – and while they are obvious once you find them – I’ve spent quite a bit of time searching for them when first faced with having to exit a driveway, a doorway – or a gate. On the other hand – at least in the flat my kids own – there is a web cam hooked up to the key pad at the front door. So if you buz their flat – they can see exactly who is standing at the pad – and who is behind them. The camera view is amazingly clear – and good for at least 20 feet out. No sneaking in on them.

Signing off to figure out if she’s gained or lost weight… (silly scale)

The Soup Lady