(1) Wed Jun 10 2009 12:02 Work-a-day London: You may have heard that we are having a tube strike. You might think of me as the type to be in sympathy with strikers, but I say bring it on! Tube drivers already make way more than the average person and they want a 5% raise during a recession when most people consider themselves lucky to find a job. Well, apparently most drivers themselves don't agree, because as I discovered this morning the Northern Line is running with minor delays, so all my careful plans to situate myself in a location where I could walk to the BL were for nought. Also actually walking was quite an enjoyable experience, or at least it would have been if it hadn't been for the rain and complete chaos surrounding king's cross.

(3) Mon Jun 08 2009 18:18 Immigrant/expat, what's the difference?: The big news is the BNP, a crazy rightwing party, has managed to swing two seats in the recent european parliamentary election. I picked up a BNP pamphlet the other day when I got off the overground at Kew, because I was so surprised to see someone had stuck it in with a lot of TFL brochures, and I was curious to see what it says. Then I began to fear what people would think of me if they saw me reading it. The irony is I'm actually an immigrant myself -- could I ever oppose immigration? A lot of it is not so bad -- protecting the environment, etc. Then there is the "We're not racist, but..." yes, actually, you are.

Labour is at an all time low, and while it's very upsetting to think of the idea of a conservative government, especially as they'll likely end up changing immigration laws, part of me feels they should give up the ghost. I don't know who I'd vote for, but the possibilities of a multi-party system (unlike what we have in the US) are appealing and I quite like the idea of more leftist parties, such as the Greens or the Lib Dems, coming into power even if it's part of a coalition with Labour. But then again it doesn't matter how I'd vote -- I'm just an immigrant.

Thu May 21 2009 16:59 Touch and go: I have a bad habit of losing my oyster card. This is a pain because of a number of reasons: you have to call and get a replacement card, which costs £5, and you're stuck without a pass till you get your new one. (They're usually pretty quick about it if it's not the beginning of the school year, though.) You can get your pay as you go refunded pretty quick, but for travel passes you have to wait for them to mail you a check. Last time I lost it I had just bought a monthly pass a few days before, so that's £80 that I have to wait 6 weeks for it to come and then clear in my bank account. Except a 2 months later, I'm still waiting. I called up to see what the haps was (half an hour down the drain) and found out the person dealing with my refund forgot to close the case so my refund was never processed. Niiice. Way to go, TFL.

Mon May 18 2009 14:38 Calling the kettle: Why does the pot get its own tea?

(3) Sun May 17 2009 10:38 Streetcycle: While theoretically I'm an advocate of freecycle, the utility of trekking about London to get something that may or may not be what you actually want is questionable, as evidence by the time I walked half an hour to get what I thought was a yoga mat but was actually, fairly enough, some other type of "exercise mat." The chances of someone near you having what you want to spare -- and of them being on freecycle -- are greatly reduced when "near you" is limited to walking and public transportation. Sad. Well in London something else has popped up to fill in the gaps left by freecycle: street cycle. It's amazing how many times I've walked past just what I needed discarded to the street for anyone to take. Wooden fruit boxes for organizing. An organiser file. The other week it was a pair of uggs! They were filthy and a midge too small, but I threw them in the washer, thinking I don't have much to lose and since the main thing I wanted them for was evening trips to budgens, it hardly matters. Free! That's the way I like it. Of course, there are disadvantages. It's probably not legal. Extremities of weather might damage the item before you get to it. The uncertainty of whether a suitable new owner will come along before the trash collection does. But as far as convenience and serendipity goes, it can't be beat!

(1) Wed May 13 2009 17:57 British Warm... what?: I finally caved and googled to find out what this is. Oh. A COAT.

(4) Fri May 01 2009 12:06 Stickies: Lately I've been alternating between the British Library (organizing my research and reading secondary material, hoping desperately to be struck with inspiration for my own analysis) and the Imperial War Museum (plowing ahead with my research, now trying to find the perspective of the rank and file), so I spend 2-3 days a week at each (I spend a day at home sometimes, if the weather or my mood is bad, but find I get next to nothing done.)

The IWM is of course, a working museum, and a small archive, so one can hardly blame them for being somewhat inefficient in this sense -- but I do anyway if I'm feeling like it. The reading room is in an atmospheric (when they aren't hammering away on the outside) upper dome of the building, but it means you have to trek through the inner workings of the museum to get there, which means you have to check in at reception and wait for a messenger to escort you every time you want to go up, which is at least twice a day unless you skip lunch. No popping out for tea breaks every few hours until your thermos tea starts to taste more of thermos than of tea...

You also have to wear a little name badge while you're behind the scenes, which I used to see as a badge of honor but I now see as a waste of our planet's finite resources... Usually when I'm done for the day I stick it on my BL clear plastic bag (which I also use at the IWM) because I feel this gives me some street cred as a Serious Research Student Who Goes to the IWM A Lot. Also I think it may lend the plastic bag more durability. The other day at the BL I noticed someone else who has done this! Aha. (Not someone I recognize from the hours spend slaving over bad handwriting in the aforementioned dome, but I usually don't pay much attention to the live humans in there anyway. Maybe I should start.) Then today as I was shoving my stuff into safekeeping I noticed someone who had put their IWM sticker inside of the BL locker. From 2002! A historical artifact! Also, someone who has visited the IWM and the BL in the same day, which means they are either overambitious or being chased by a crazed assassin, like the character in my novel. The BL does have an advantage over the IWM in that it's open till 8 Mon-Thur and I've sometimes pondered the hypothetical idea of coming to the BL after the IWM chucks us out at 5 to do more work -- but I think I'll save such desperate measures for next year.

Thu Apr 30 2009 19:36 Overheard at the IWM:
Little old lady: "Listen to those air raid sirens. That takes me right back to my childhood. It used to make your blood run cold."

Tue Apr 28 2009 11:22 PhD notes: There is another R Richardson who uses the rare books & music reading room at the BL. And they're working on microbiology.

the more I read, the more I find it difficult to imagine that the balkan front was anything like the western front — it was simply too much fun. here’s the thing — I guess, my research on western front is not really extensive enough for me to do some kind of comparison. there is a vast, vast divide between rank and file men who had to be out in the “trenches” and mountains, who had very little comfort and hard work to do in intemperate weather. Fighting was at least a relief from the boredom of macedonia, but an infrequent one. Soldiers were frustrated by the lack of work — the lack of fighting work — in Macedonian. The reputation that the Macedonian front had simply made matters much worse for them.

One the other hand: relief workers, hospital staff, and officers had plenty of their own work to do. Unlike soldiers, who were expecting to and were expected to fight, they were doing what they had signed up to do. The importance and value of work comes into play here — as do gender and class notions behind what is proper work for certain types of people to do. Whether they were upholding this or breaking down these boundaries…

Also, the reputation that the Macedonian front had, is not altogether untrue. it’s possible that the western front has just as many diversions for troops behind the front line — I don’t know, but no one was really complaining about it were they? it’s only because these men were having a “picnic” of a time not fighting that they should not have been allowed to have these distractions, public felt. Totally unfair, but there you have it.

This ‘picnic’ atmosphere however, created a unique social consortium of the British and their Allies on that front. The ways in which they attempted to and failed to re-create a home-like society is revealing of their priorities. But what significance, then, is the fact that most of the average soldiers, the lower classes of men, were stuck in the front lines, and participated in this society, if at all, as transient members, or simply as observers?

things I need to look at then: more rank and file men. public opinion — newspaper library. urgh.

(1) Tue Apr 21 2009 15:29 Save it for a rainy day: One good thing about all the crappy weather we get here (especially recently) is that once it does get sunny, you really appreciate it. Of course, that just makes it harder to be inside hard at work on a sunny day.

Fri Apr 17 2009 14:36 Breathe in: I went to the basic Pilates class at the gym, and I was the youngest person there by 30 years at least. maybe because it's in the middle of the morning on a Friday? Theoretically I should wait till tomorrow to see if there are any unpredicted effects, but I think next time I'll aim for the intermediate class.

Mon Apr 06 2009 20:49 “For myself, I think the Balkans suit me well this year anyway.”: I'm back at my old haunt, the Imperial War Museum. It's an epic journey from East Finchley to Waterloo or Elephant and Castle, but at least it's a straight shot, so I can sit and pretend I'm elsewhere. They're working on the front on the building, so you have to walk around to the schools entrance. There always seem to be at least 500 kids running around the various guns and planes and tanks. This week, most of them are French. Oh, eurostar, how I love you, how I hate you.

I can hear the clanging of the construction very clearly from the reading room, but it's easy enough to ignore when I get lucky and hit a collection of letters that's easy to read: interesting and well written in legible handwriting. The best are those written by someone with a passionate reason for journalling, or someone very attached to his family. Here's one, "poor Private Haines," who works as a dental assistant and tells his parents in every letter not to worry about him. He also sends them money and tells them to “GET A BOTTLE OF WINE [underlined 4 times] out of my next installment.” In a way they remind me of my own letters home, always starting with excuses of how busy I've been and begging for forgiveness for not writing sooner, and ending with requests for care packages including cheetos soap, jam, and film.

In other discoveries, "in town" seems to be universal Britspeak for London, even if they live elsewhere. or in outer London. Here it is in 1916, and my own friends use it today, asking "are you going in town?" to mean central London.

(1) Tue Mar 31 2009 17:17 Hmm: Being on the receiving end of conference paper proposals for once, I am SHOCKED by how many are coming in BEFORE the deadline. I always sent mine at the very last minute.

(1) Thu Mar 19 2009 16:25 I've still got my health: 2009 has been a great year so far, but I seem to cursed when it comes to HSBC and my money. It started off with me waiting patiently for my loan refund for this term, increasingly less patiently, until finally towards the end of January I got an email from the powers that be at BBK saying my loan check, which I had endorsed 6 weeks previously, had gotten lost in the mail and they would let me know when new ones were reissued (taking months, no doubt, plus the addition 4-6 weeks to clear). In the meantime, how was I supposed to eat? Not their concern, apparently. With the history department on my side, checks were rushed through but when they (surprisingly, haha) failed to arrive in the promised time, the department made me a loan. However, thanks to the glories of the UK banking system, by the time that check had cleared, I had my money (suspiciously less than it should have been. As it turns out BBK was hording the money and now, during the last term I have twice as much as I received for the previous one. Makes sense? Good).

So, into February and I've been surviving on the kindness of friends and especially flatmates. But I have my money now so all should be well, right? Well, my card was supposed to expire at the end of Feburary, but halfway through the month it stopped working. I patiently waited for my replacement card. It never came. I went to HSBC to find they had sent it to CALIFORNIA. because it does me so much good there. They ordered a new one. I waited patiently. It never came. Went in again. The second one had also been sent to CA. Of course. Finally a card ordered to the branch in King's X which I went to pick up on Tuesday.

Money! Hallejuah!! Yesterday I was at Waterstones to pick up a guidebook for Barcelona. I stick my card into the chip reader and entered my PIN since they said it would stay the same. Incorrect PIN. Try again. Nope. FABULOUS. So now I've ordered a PIN reminder which should be sent to me in 7 days. Hopefully. We'll see. Thanks to everyone for being so patient with me!!

(1) Tue Mar 03 2009 14:55 A little bit late: But worth the wait?

Here's my bday wishlist for this year:
Tonks
UK wishlist
US wishlist

(2) Tue Feb 10 2009 16:19 Ugh: Sorry to make my first real entry in months complainy, but I am sooo frustrated right now. I have been trying to book my trip to the states for two weeks now, and it seems like every time I look ticket prices have gone up. I don't want to book my tickets until I have Tonks' travel sorted out, and it is turning out to be sooo much more complicated than I ever expected it would be. It's not like I went into this with my eyes shut; I did a lot of research and asked a lot of people who had done it, but now it is turning out that no airline will fly pets into London as baggage, they all have to be cargo, which is much more expensive and pain-in-the-ass-y. The only airline I was actually able to talk to was Virgin and they wanted to charge something like $600 or $700. one way! Now I'm waiting to hear back from United and British airways after spending virtually all day on hold. I guess one possibility is that on cargo I think he can fly unaccompanied, so maybe I can scratch the trip to CA off my bday wishlist and use the money for him instead. This is just getting so ridiculous and out of hand. To make matter worse I'm sick, and everyone had the winter blahs and is in a bad mood. (Including me.)

(1) Tue Feb 03 2009 14:46: It snowed. A lot.

Tue Nov 18 2008 00:45 Home alone: I had salmon and salad for dinner and now I remember why I never cooked when I lived by myself. There goes the whole evening, pretty much (except for one and a half hours spent at the gym). And maybe I eat even slower when I have to type to talk instead of just talk?

I really need to start getting to bed earlier. But Nimbus is in his prime, most broom-like, at these hours. Hard to sleep when there is a kitten charging through your room, over your bed and back out!

(3) (1) Mon Nov 17 2008 01:06 25% more free: I didn't get any writing done today or even my sunday chores, but still I feel so productive! Until today about 1/4 of my room, no joke, was taken up by a humongous wardrobe. It took up a whole wall! I really hated it from the first and I tried to pawn it off on Jenn, but she was having none of it. It really limited the options in my room and took up so much space that everything else was cramped, especially my desk, and I hardly had any room to sit at it and work which I'm sure at least partly explains why I have been so unproductive lately!

However the wardrobe came with the house and I didn't want to have to buy a new wardrobe or dresser if I got rid of it. Then I spied this little gem from Ikea, only £25! and I decided it would look great in my room. So this morning Seb and I set off for Ikea. We took two buses to get there and it took over an 90 minutes so that was no fun, but then the adventures began. It was a Sunday so it was pretty crazy, but even so we managed to get in and out with almost everything we intended to buy and a few things more. Then we came home and started the hard work, disassembling the 'monstrosity' as I started calling the wardrobe. When I say we I really mean Seb because he did all the hard work of disassembly and assembly and carting the heavy bits in between, to the basement, which is full of our landlord's junk storage and is now more like bursting. So he definitely gets the awesome flat mate award. I also put up new curtains which I bought *last* Ikea trip. My room already looks so much better! It's a shock to walk in and see open space as opposed to the large wall of a wardrobe.

It's not quite done though. I got a small pine dresser which I want to paint black before assembling, and I got lots of frames for pictures and prints, but we don't have a hammer or nails so they're not up yet. I also want to get a frame for at least one other poster. Also I don't have a dust ruffle yet, Ikea failed on having the sheets I need twice in a row so I'm going somewhere else. It's going to look so great! I will put up pictures when it's done. I'm so excited and happy. It's been forever since I've been anywhere and had an expectation of staying for longer than a year at most. It's so nice to nest!

I also got a pillow top mattress cover thingie so my bed is super comfy now. And I'm going to go use it.

Fri Nov 14 2008 13:41:

All, too, will bear in mind this sacred principle, that though the will of the majority is in all cases to prevail, that will to be rightful must be reasonable; that the minority possess their equal rights, which equal law must protect, and to violate would be oppression.

(1) Sun Nov 09 2008 21:17 Change: So... Thinking one things is going to change everything makes me nervous, not least because I've fallen into that trap myself, that of thinking: once x happens everything will be perfect. Not so. Thinking one person is going to change everything is just as dangerous, especially if that person happens to be a politician.

The most exciting thing about Obama, however, is not the man himself, necessarily, so much as what he had inspired: the grass roots movement, the interest in civics and democracy, a first for many people. What made me nervous was that people might think, once he was elected, okay, great job us, then go home and wait around for Change to happen. One person can't change the world, or America, even if that person is the most powerful person among us. If we want America to change, we have to do it ourselves. I read this in the letters to the editor section of the New Yorker the day before I left the US, and it really struck a cord with me:

The question is whether we can make the personal sacrifices necessary to change ourselves or whether we believe that change is only about what leadership we select... [We need to] realize that there is more to being good citizens than going to the polls. Jon Gilmore, Oct 27, 2008.

Then, after the election, was Friendman on the NY Times:

But a new politics of the common good can’t be only about government and markets. “It must also be about a new patriotism — about what it means to be a citizen,” said Sandel. “This is the deepest chord Obama’s campaign evoked. The biggest applause line in his stump speech was the one that said every American will have a chance to go to college provided he or she performs a period of national service — in the military, in the Peace Corps or in the community. Obama’s campaign tapped a dormant civic idealism, a hunger among Americans to serve a cause greater than themselves, a yearning to be citizens again.”

So, a couple days in, and the new administration-to-be already looks like it's shaping up to be something like what we hoped. I'm a little less nervous. Or, as Becca said, "it's an interesting time to be alive."

(1) Wed Nov 05 2008 16:44 Can we?: Everyone is really excited about the election results, including me. Wheee!! We (my flatmates and I and a bunch of our fellow expats and interested parties) went to a venue in Angel where the American Ex-pat meet-up group was playing the election results. It was a fantastic time. I jumped up on stage and waved our "London for Obama" sign which got me in a little trouble but it was worth it. We played Obama bingo (although I don't think anyone actually got a row), yelled and screamed till we went hoarse, and stayed till Obama's acceptance speech. Hugs and tears and more hugs, then we got the first tube home. Yay.

That was last night. This morning. Well, afternoon really, I woke up to disappointing news about Prop 8. This is something I'm really having difficulty with because I just don't get it. I can understand why people might think that McCain would make a better president than Obama. I don't agree, but I can understand it. It's all that time and effort and energy put towards imposing your moral will on other people and denying other human beings basic rights... that's what I don't understand.

I think we should just get rid of marriage altogether. If two people want to be a couple in the eyes of the state they go down to city hall and register as such, and that's the same for everyone. Then churches can do whatever they like with marriages. The whole mixing up state and religion, imposing one version of morality on everyone, and putting civil rights up for a vote, it all makes me nervous, and sick. I know it's a matter of time before it changes. After all, 10% fewer voters went for this discrimination than seven years ago. But I really wanted to believe that Californians were better than this, that we were ready. As some of my friends pointed out, it seems that Californians care more about the rights of the animals we eat than about our human beings. Boo.

Anyway, I have some thoughts on the upcoming "change" but it will wait for tomorrow. I'm having a bath, then there's the Democrats Abroad celebration at the Texas Embassy. And maybe I'll write some words. It's November, after all.

(2) Thu Oct 30 2008 11:21 Here's a hint: If you see someone struggling with three heavy bags, by all means help him/her. Or at the very least get out of her way!

Tue Oct 14 2008 19:03 Thanks to me: Maggie is now addicted to flamin' hot cheetos!

(1) Thu Sep 18 2008 22:39 Oh I give up: It has been forever since I posted. What can I say. 1. Happy bday Susie. 2. back in London. I'm copying from some emails what I have been up to. because I am lazy. In case you hadn't noticed.

Some things I have been up to: I have been busy catching up with everyone and trying to get back into the swing of things. I got my old job back, at least temporarily, spent some time in the library and on Saturday after some intial flat hunting Jenn and I went to a democrats abroad rally at a fair by the river. It said "canvassing" but we didn't believe it till we saw it. Can you imagine canvassing for an american election in a foreign country? We got a few mummers about that but most people were really supportive and we got a lot of "I'd vote for him if I could." The goal was to get expats registered and requesting absentee ballots and we actually had quite a few people asking how they could and even more taking fliers for their american friends. So. It was fun anyway but totally exhausting. I can't imagine doing it in the states though. We had very few jeers, I could probably count them on one hand, I imagine that would not be the case if I tried to do the same thing in Bakersfield!

We have a new house. It is described thus: The thing we hate most about it are the kitchen cupboards dating from the 1970s and sporting a lovely puke green color. And the fact that there's no off street parking, and both of the toilets are upstairs. All very minor things. There are two reception rooms (that's what the Brits call living rooms) opening into one another, but the one has a fold out couch and doors that close completely, so plenty of room for guests hint hint. The kitchen is HUGE with a ten person dark wood table. We love the table. There is a fireplace!! that works!! (gas of course) and a bay window with an old fashioned couch in it. Upstairs there are three double bedrooms. Mine is overlooking the garden and is completely lined in shelves. I'm even considering shipping a couple of boxes of books just so I can fill them up! It is the smallest bedroom but it is still plenty big and one wall is taken up with a huge wardrobe. I seriously don't have enough stuff to fill it! There are two other bedrooms... The bathtub has jacuzzi jets in it! In the extra toilet room are washer and DRYER (unheard of) and there is also an American size fridge (yes they are called that) and a dishwasher (also unheard of). Then to top it all off there is a lovely garden with a bbq, outdoor heater, plum and apple trees. And there is a cat flap on the door! Needless to say Tonks will be very welcome there. What a relief. It's on an incredibly quiet street, the road at the end is not open to through traffic so I feel secure in letting him doing him wandering which is great because I don't think he would be happy otherwise. This place is perfect for cats! Jenn is also going to get a kitten. There is a park at the end of the road, the entrance just two minutes away and it has some nice paths for running on. AND we were looking around the area on Saturday while waiting for one of our viewing appointments. At the top of the road, about 10 minutes walk max, there is a really nice gym that has pilates classes, a women's only workout room, pool sauna and steam room etc etc. We poked our heads in and ended up taking a tour and they were really friendly! There are also some little shops, two pubs, and a vet! Then up the road a little further, about 15 min walk from the house, is Muswell Hill Broadway. This is a really posh area of London. As Jenn pointed out we are really gentrifying from Seven Sisters. There are a lot of families living here because the houses are so big, there's so much green space and the air, I swear, is fresher, I think it comes from being uphill. There are a ton of nice shops that I can't afford, plus grocery stores and a planet organic. There was a fishmonger which on saturday morning had a line of 15 people out the door. So I'm guessing that's good. Tons of pubs and restaurants plus it is a major bus hub so we are never too far from a 24 hour bus for when the tube (which did I mention is 2 minutes from our house??) is shut. It will be such a relief to get away from the Victoria line. They have been doing works the entire time I have lived here, closing at 10 every week day, which means if you are out having dinner you have to cut and run during the dessert, and to make matters worse it closes completely about every other weekend, but in September it's closed EVERY weekend, and you have to get a rail replacement bus to the picadilly line making getting into central london at least 20 min longer. The northern line is much better. It's fairly reliable, even though people call it the "misery line" (I think people just like to complain) plus because of the way it's set up, very confusing so I'll have to give you a crash course when you come to visit, you have twice as many destination options as other lines. We're moving not this but next weekend.

Less than a month and I will be in the states! I can't believe how busy life is and continues to be. I was really sad about leaving novi sad and my idyllic life there but now that I am back in London I am sooo happy to be back!