And It All Ended with Superman Holding an Icepack to His Head

We had a blast at the NFL game at Wembley Stadium. Although the actual football part of the game was not necessarily the best example of American football around, the NFL can surely call this game a success.


Along with most people, we took public transportation to the game. The underground line by our house goes right to Wembley stadium. We started to feel it the minute we got to the station. That "big game" feeling. Excitement
was in the air. We saw lots of people in the colors of both the Giants and the Dolphins. Lots. By the time we got to Wembley about 45 minutes to 1 hour before the game, the crowd was just pouring into the stadium. Everyone was in a party atmosphere, except the police. They were shouting into loudspeakers warning us not to buy tickets from the "tats" selling them outside the station. On the walk up to the stadium there were the usual cast of suspects selling t-shirts, "game-day" scarves (long woolen team scarves are very popular for football and rugby) with the giants colors on one side and the dolphins colors on the other (ewww), people yelling "Let's go Giants" and "DOLPHINS". A typical scene played out every Sunday afternoon in NFL cities around the US and it was the same in London. Of course there were some differences, no individual tailgates, although the NFL threw a tail-gate like party prior to the game, it was a typical rainy November day in London.

Other than the game itself, which was pretty standard, we noticed a bit British twist to the other usual components of the whole experience. Vendors walking around selling snack items? Sure but not peanuts or big foam fingers. Popcorn and jelly beans. Jelly Beans?? National Anthem. Yep - two of them. First, US national anthem. I sang and I could hear the crowd singing along with the singer. I thought "hmmm, this is pretty impressive, you can really hear the crowd sing". And then I thought that it must be great for the players to hear everyone sing the national anthem and feel connected to the crowd. Then they played the British national anthem, "God Save the Queen". PUT.US.TO.SHAME. They were LOUD. I think it comes from all those soccer
matches where they sing the whole game through. It was pretty amazing. And it just goes to show that the crowd wasn't only American, there were lots of locals there as well. Halftime entertainment. Yes but not scantily clad cheerleaders or gyrating "dancers" but these guys. A marching band. And they marched all over the field. And they were pretty good.

What else? Hot Dogs. Absolutely. However, when I purchased mine, I picked up the hotdog by the paper container, and brushed the bun with my hand. I noticed it was cold, actually it was frozen. Solid. I pointed this out to the young man handling the transaction. He took the hot dog to the back area, I heard loud yelling and the young man came back to tell me "that is how we make them". Maybe, but that it not how I pay for them, so I cancelled the order and moved on.

Ground crew? We had them, although on a somewhat smaller scale. This is a photo of the crew, putting the divots back in grass. I'm sure that worked.


The crowd got into it as well. It was close to Halloween so we saw a few guys in costume, like Superman and Captain America. It is important to note that apparently Captain America is a Dolphins fan while Superman favors the Giants. The English apparently really, really like the wave and they attempted to do it several times during the game. I think they had one session that went twice around the stadium. They love it! Well, most of them. One angry guy near us hated the wave and screamed every time they tried it. I think his anger had more to do with beer than than the actual wave.

I am fairly certain beer had something to do with the fan that ended up on the field at the start of the second half. The teams lined up for the kickoff to the
second half and all the sudden you see a "referee" run out onto the field. The players all looked confused and then the "ref" pulls off his uniform and is there in all his glory running around the field. Then he starts to show off and does a few pushups on the fifty yard line in the middle of the field. He runs around some more and finally is tackled. Ouch!!(although I am sure he wasn't feeling too much).

My only criticism of the day concerned the memorabilia. Of course, my complaint has to do with the shopping! We wanted to buy souvenirs and that is where things got a little cranky. Okay, I got a little cranky. The lines were sooooooooooo long for t-shirts, hats, and other memorabilia and it took so long to get anything. On our seat level in the stadium and by the time we reached the front of the line, they ran out of t-shirts in every size except small sizes and this was an hour before the game. Fans weren't allowed on any other level than the one they held a ticket for, so we couldn't get to the other levels to check out any other stands. It was pretty aggravating. One of the officials told me that they had not anticipated this kind of demand. What???? They had over 500,000 people indicate they would be interested in attending the event. Each time they had a lottery for tickets they sold out within hours. What more heads up did they need? They didn't anticipate people might want to spend money and buy a t-shirt or two. Yikes. Later Snake decided he was going to try and find one of his friends on another level and was determined to find a way. He did. And then he found 2 large t-shirts on that level and saved the day!! He got the last large t-shirts on that level at two different stands. Either that kid has shopping in his blood or a little civil disobedience, either way I am proud.

Oh yeah, one last thing that this game had that most games I have been to in the US have - a real alcohol induced brawl. Remember "angry that they are doing the wave because I have had a lot of beers" guy? Well apparently, he got very frustrated that some of the folks behind were cheering some misfortune of the Dolphins. So he turned around and started walloping on him, actually beer guy and his friend, younger beer guy started walloping on . . . . . . Superman. Apparently his supervision couldn't see that coming. And before you knew the emergency response team was there . . . responding. Well at the end of it all, the ruffians were ejected from the game and Superman was left nursing his wounds.

It was interesting going somewhere so reminiscent of home but different in its own way. I don't think we will see many jelly bean vendors at 49er games but it is nice to see streaking, the wave and fan brawling might be catching on here. We can be proud!

Are You Ready For Some Football!!!!!!!

We are. In an effort to promote the NFL in Europe, the NFL has agreed to play several regular season games in Europe over the next 3 years. The first of those games (NY Giants v. Miami Dolphins) is scheduled for this Sunday at 5:00 p.m. When they announced last year that the game was to be played in London at Wembley Stadium, you could register your interest to buy tickets online. I did but held out little hope that we would be able to get tickets. I knew that just about every American within a 50 kilometer radius would be interested and in fact that was true. They had 500,000 people register for tickets. They had 3 different lotteries over the span of about 6 weeks. We were notified that we were eligible for the last lottery and I was able to secure 4 tickets. So we are going, along with 86,000 of our closest friends.

Interestingly enough, we received emails that there were some extra tickets available for the game. Apparently the NFL confiscated tickets that showed up on Ebay. I didn't know this but the contract with the NFL for these tickets is non-transferable. Meaning you can't sell these tickets. So they voided all the sales to the people who were offering the tickets on Ebay and resold the tickets.

We are in the endzone, look for us. We will be the Americans.

Off With His Head (Not Really)

On the G-unit's agenda the other day, the Tower of London. Now I have been to the Tower once or twice or six times before, but I always enjoy it. I always learn or see something new when I am there. This time we went on a Yeomen Warder's tour. The Yeomen Warders are more commonly known as "Beef Eaters". Apparently, according to our tour guide, in the days when they were founded, the late 1400s, they were paid very well. Well enough to afford meat regularly which many in London could not afford. So the people would jeer at them, "there go the beef eaters". Now I am not so sure that I would be offended if someone yelled at me "There goes the Louis Vuitton purse holder". But maybe that is just me. Today there are quite stringent requirements in order to become a Yeomen Warder. You must have served at least 22 years as a senior NCO in the British Armed Services. You had to have been awarded the both the Good Conduct and Long Service medals. And finally, you have to have been honorably discharged. Interestingly enough, retirees of the Army, Air Force and Marines could become Yeomen Warders but retirees of the Navy are not eligible Because Navy men apparently take an oath to the Admiralty not the crown, as do the other services.

Anyway, our tour guide was a hoot. He asked about the different nationalities of the tour group. When he found out that there were quite a us from the US in the group, he asked if we were enjoying all of the history. When people answered in the affirmative, he advised "Well, it could be yours too - if you paid your taxes!"

He was very animated and took us on a very informative tour. He told stories of many of the famous prisoners in the tower and those we might not have heard of before. If you know about English history, you know the story of the Little Princes. The Little Princes were the 13 and 10 year old sons of Edward IV. When Edward IV died, one of the Princes became Edward V. The prince's uncle, Richard Duke of Gloucester, had himself first appointed regent and then later declared the boys illegitimate and he became King himself. Richard III, of Shakespeare fame. Shortly after this time, the boys were never seen again. There has been speculation as to who killed them for years. In the late 1600s when they were doing some renovation, they found the skeletal remains of 2 young men around the Princes ages. The bones were taken and given a royal burial in Westminster Abbey where they are interred in an area called, Innocents Corner. There is alot of evidence that Richard III had the boys killed and I think that is the general viewpoint of most of the historians. However, karma is a bitch. In addition to being described pretty disgustingly by Shakespeare as a sort of hunchback character so ugly and deformed, that woman scorned him and he caused dogs to growl, he just wasn't very popular among his peeps. So he finds himself the night before a great battle, the Battle of Bosworth, he rides out to meet with his generals and men. He gets off his horse and down on the ground he draws out the battle plan, sitting on a low stone wall. The next morning he wakes to find out that a whole bunch of his generals had deserted along with quite a few of the men. He could cancel, but rescheduling a battle is tough so he goes forward. To disastrous results, although lucky for Shakespeare or else we would have never heard the line "A horse, a horse, my kingdom for a horse". Shortly after that, Richard is killed rather brutally and his body is sort of strewn all over the battlefield. Apparently they had a tough time finding all the parts for a decent burial.

Soooooooo. Our tour guide claims that this was the origin for the nursery rhyme, Humpty, Dumpty sat on wall, Humpty Dumpty had a great fall, all the kings horses and all the kings men, couldn't put humpty together again. Interesting.

One more quick story. We heard the story of a young Scotsman who was imprisoned as the result of a failed rebellion against the throne and he was sentenced to die. His wife came all the way from Scotland to beg for his life and if unsuccessful to see her husband one last time. Their cause was very popular at the time and she gathered quite a bit of support along the way. When she came to visit him, she brought with her some of her lady friends. They all crowed in the cell, some of the ladies left to fetch items, a few came back, a few more came out again, then some other ladies arrived at the cell. In and out, in and out. Finally the wife was left alone in the cell to say goodbye. She came out after quite a bit of time had expired, teary, red-eyed, distraught. She mentioned to the guards that her husband was extremely upset at their separation and that he should be left alone to sleep. When the guards, finally went in. . . . . you guessed it, no prisoner. Apparently the "ladies" had smuggled in extra clothes and in one of those trips in and out of the cell, managed to get him out dressed in women's clothing. It was extraordinary because the prisoner was over 6 foot 5 inches tall, and had a long ZZ Top red beard. The lady and her husband hightailed it to Rome where they lived in exile for more than 20 years. Our tour guide indicates that this is where the expression "he got off scot free" comes from.

We also saw the inside of the Chapel there, which I have never been in before. That is a good reason to go on the Yeomen tour because I don't think you can get in there unless you are on a tour. The tours are free. The Chapel is where Anne Boleyn, Katharine Howard, Lady Jane Grey, are buried.

Another little known fact, Rudolph Hess was imprisoned there for a few day. The last prisoners were the Kray twins, local hoodlums, for failing to report for National Service, in the 1950s.

G-father enjoyed it very much. His only disappointment, they don't let you try on the Crown jewels. Damn.

Pretty Nice For A School That Doesn't Have A REAL Football Team

Well, G-Father and I went to Cambridge the other day. I had never been. Chizz went in his bachelorhood days before the kids and I came over. So we hopped the train (as soon as we determined it was going in the right direction) and off we went. Cambridge is a cute little town with loads of charm once you get to the town centre. It seems primarily built out of that old gray church stone or brick. It is home to the famous Cambridge University, which I discovered is really a collective of different colleges within the Cambridge system. It is all too complicated to wrap my tiny brain around, and if you can completely understand it - perhaps you should apply there.

So you can walk into the different colleges(the biggest ones charge a fee, of course). The colleges are not always open to visitors and several we tried to visit were closed. The first college we went to was, Kings College. Kings College was
founded in 1441 by Henry VI. It was supposed to be mainly a college for boys who graduated from Eton (a very elite private school - both Prince Harry & Prince William went there). It stayed that way for over 400 years when it finally allowed its first non-Etonian (hey that is what they call 'em, I can't make up this stuff!). I think the highlight of Kings college was definitely the chapel.
It had the most impressive fan-vault ceiling. All of the stain glass windows, except one, had been installed in the 1500s. The one "newbie" window was put up in the late 1800s. Rookie. This wooden screen in the middle of the chapel was installed by Henry VIII. If you look very closely, you can see the initials of Henry & Anne Boleyn engraved. I tried to get a picture (Hey! They were allowed!) but it was too dark to focus properly. It is pretty amazing when something installed in 1500 something still looks pretty impressive, and new after all that time.

After being wowed by this chapel, we moved on to some of the other colleges. Trinity College was founded in 1546 by Henry VIII. There is a statute of Henry VIII over the Great Gate entrance to the college. If you look very closely you can see that the sceptre in his hand has actually been replaced by a table leg, the result of a college prank in the 1800s. Oh those crazy Victorian college boys!


We spent a bit of time in the Chapel here, but truthfully, while nice - it wasn't as spectacular as Kings College. Here is a look (remember photos allowed!!).


After the Chapel, we wanted to head over to the Christopher Wren library which we had understood was something to see. You had to walk through a building to get to the library building on the other side. I went inside and G-father was lagging behind, looking at a map. When I got inside, I was waiting for him and a girl came out of a room, somehow surmised I was a tourist (she was probably a soothsayer of some kind and the camera, map, and confused look I was carrying were no clue to her at all). She says to me, you should get a quick look in there and pointed to the door of the room she just came out of. So I did and I found out it was the dining hall. It was pretty interesting. To me it looks just like something out of Harry Potter or something. Notice the big picture of Henry VIII looking over the tables. Very appropriate. I took a quick photo and then G-father and I went to find the library. We found out that the library was closed for refurbishment (darn old things that need to be up kept at inconvenient times for me). So as we were wandering back through the building, I showed G-unit the dining hall. We looked at it for a minute and then we started walking back out the door. Right behind us came a porter or waiter from the dining hall and says in this very sarcastic voice, "well, I guess you got your photo after all" like I wasn't supposed to take pictures of the room. It wasn't marked that you couldn't take a photo and this was clearly a way that tourists, who paid 4 pounds each thank you very much, would be passing by. I merely glanced back at him and kept walking. Like I can take pictures in your chapel (which had signs saying specifically pictures were allowed) but for some reason I can't take pictures of the students eating tuna surprise. Really? Really???

The next college we went into was Magdalene College. Frankly not because we had heard of it before or had some burning desire to see something there, but because it was free! This was the last of the colleges to admit woman, in 1988! We learned that their most famous alum was Samuel Pepys. The library there was named for him and had some interesting historical documents.
Or so they say. Library closed at the time we were there. Some kind of conspiracy I am sure. Oh yeah, and here is a picture of their dining hall. Not because it is particularly noteworthy, although it is nice. But because after my experience at the Trinity Dining Hall, I decided if I came across any other dining halls, I would take photos. Just because I can. That's how I roll. (Sorry, Kiki.)



Behind all the colleges, it is pretty picturesque as well. You can walk
along this area called the backs, where the river runs by. People rent punts, which is a flat bottomed boat with a square-cut bow, designed for use in small rivers or other shallow water. (Thank you online dictionary.) The fall color was beautiful, the air crisp, and it really was a pleasant walk. You could almost imagine yourself back in college again (of course, without all the tests, alcohol binging, being poor, studying stuff).

By this time, we were interested in some food. The G-man had made friends with one of the guards at Kings Chapel, and received a recommendation for the Eagle Pub. Not necessarily for the food but for the atmosphere. The pub has been there since about 1525. 1525. The building is the type of old pub I like, low ceilings, mismatched furniture, rooms added on as sort of an afterthought, lots of nooks and crannies. The food is definitely not the calling card of this pub.
One of the interesting things about it, is that during WWII both the RAF and the American Air Force guys would hang out here. On the ceilings of several rooms they inscribed their names, their squadron names or other identifying marks with lipsticks, lighters, candlestick. It is really something to see. Also this pub is where the duo Watson/Crick announced they had discovered the molecular structure of DNA. It has been called the most important biological discovery of the 20th century for which they won the Nobel Prize in 1962. Infamously, Crick declared "We have discovered the secret of life". Apparently while doing their work at Cambridge in 1952/53, they ate dinner and/or drank at the Eagle about 6 nights a week. There is a plaque there declaring that they "discovered" DNA. When I mentioned that at dinner, Kiki (and Snake too) pointed out that they didn't discover (insert sneer-like tone here) DNA. "They discovered the double helix structure of DNA." Oh. Alright Mr. & Ms. Smartypants, perhaps you should go to college here and learn some respect!! (Not really!)

Hanging with the G-Unit

Chizz's dad is in town this week and next. I am going to use that as my pitiful excuse for not updating the world on our latest adventures. I promise to try and do that later this week. Today Chizz & his dad went on a long, long, long country walk. Kiki had PSATs (yes they do that here too) and Snake tries to avoid long, long, long country walks as much as possible, not always successfully. The past few days have been spent kind of easing out of jet lag and getting into our time zone. We put him right into activity when he got here, went to Kiki's soccer game where I am sure it was about 25 - 30 degrees cooler than the little berg he is from in California. Or at least it seemed that way, when he put on his gloves, scarf and fleece jacket. Yesteray G-father and I took a walk in the city by the Thames, and visited Borough Market. I also game him a tour of some of the neighborhood sites and we managed a quick lunch with Chizz as well.

It is hard understanding the transportation system when you are brand new to an area and especially when you like to be a little teensy, weensy in control of your surroundings. I made one little mistake the other day and we jumped on a train going the wrong direction, something that was easily remedied at the next station and ended up actually being a blessing in disguise. But, I lost all of G-father's confidence in me to get us to our destinations. So now I notice him glance at the maps just a tad bit longer and he makes oh-so-subtle comments, like "Are you sure this is the right way, I would have thought the train would have been arriving from the other direction". That's okay, if he doesn't behave - I am going to take him to a cricket game and watch his head explode!! I promised his lovely bride that I would return him "unbroken" but I said nothing about him not having any bruises!!

It's Beginning to Look A Lot Like Christmas

Oh yes. I went downtown earlier this week and much to my dismay, I found all the big department stores already have their Christmas departments up and running. Some stores are already decorated with wreaths in the window. I guess without the Halloween and Thanksgiving buffer, the London shops can dig right into Christmas around October 1. I didn't hear any canned Christmas music. Yet. I knew it started early because about 3 weeks ago I booked a time to visit with Father Christmas at Harrods when our nieces, Bean & Dew, come for Thanksgiving. But still. I would like to say that I have taken a moral stand and won't partake in this way-too-early-for-me Christmas revelry. I would like to say that. But I can't. I bought a Christmas trinket. Good grief, help me, Great Pumpkin - its all downhill from here.

Guess What Came Out of My Chimney Today? Not Santa!

‘Twas the day after the kids left on school trips
And all through the flat
I could hear the sounds of drilling
Caused by a man in a hard hat.

The headache I have, I've had since yesterday
That's when the drilling began much to my dismay.
I had hoped maybe today they would start something new
But I could tell by 8:00 a.m. that would not be true.

When at 10:00 a.m., there arose such a clatter,
I ran to my chimney to see what was the matter.
When what to my wondering eyes do I see?
Bricks, dust and soot! All kinds of debris!



I went to the remodel next door to find the man in charge,
I took him back to my flat to show him the chimney discharge.
He hummed, and he hawed, he was really quite surprised.
The drilling caused the problem, he swiftly surmised.



He promised to have it cleaned, lickety-split
Someone would come with a vacuum, a whole cleaning kit.
A young Polish guy named Jozef was soon to arrive
But unfortunately my carpet could not be revived.



I took photos for the blog and some to reassure us.
But I know the truth is bound to slowly unfurl
You can take the girl out of insurance
But you can’t take insurance out of the girl

The landlord will be here at three to see the muss,
It is sure that he will be raising quite the fuss
A nice guy to us but to others quite firm
I know that foreman is likely to squirm



If things don’t go his way, I fear
There will only be one call we are likely to hear
Come Jacoby, Come Meyers, Come Solicitor, Come Attorney
If these people don’t pay, we'll take them on a legal journey

But none of that matters to me, I will shrug,
I just want someone to take the soot out of my rug.
And while they are at it, I have a brillant idea,
Take a look at my ex-white sofa from the store called Ikea.

So I will proclaim as they argue and fight,
"All I want is my carpet cleaned
and my sofa returned white!"**





**With sincere apologies to Clement Clarke Moore

Fall in London

We had a stay at home weekend pretty much at the WTF household. Kiki had a
birthday party and sleepover on Saturday night and that pretty much dominated the weekend. Sunday morning, Chizz and I decided to take a short jaunt through Hyde Park over to Kensington in search of a few pubs (as always). Even thought the weather was a bit gray, the fall colors are starting to pop out.
Other colors were popping out too. We caught a glimpse of this guy near Speaker's Corner. While I would call it colorful, I think he is more spring than fall. I enjoy this time of year, the landscape is beautiful, the weather is still good enough to walk around with just a sweater or light jacket. The air has like a crispness to it, you can almost feel it snap. The parks are beautiful here year round. In spring, it is an obvious, hit-you-in-the-face-beauty, with all the flower beds with the most beautiful flowers in bloom. In the fall, it is more delicate beauty, more subtle. You have to pause to take it in, it doesn't hit you in the face but it is just as gorgeous.



I also came across this. I saw no farmer, no wife, no child no nurse, no dog, no cat, no rat, nor a lonely, little cheese.


We stopped at a pub called the Nag's Head in Belgravia, which is where Harrods is located. It was built in the early 1800s and from the looks of it, hasn't been remodeled since. I like old pubs, I like to imagine who was in there before us, what their lives were like. This one is decorated with all kinds of stuff, that you get the impression was just left there over the years. They had some old Victorian picture boxes, photos, bed warmers (from the days when it was an inn), some wooden skates etc. Sort of a lost and found right up there on the walls. I really liked it. After that we moseyed over to a very popular pub called the Grenadier. The Grenadier is in all the tourist handbooks. The night we were there there were quite a few Americans. It is supposed to be known for its bloody marys with a secret ingredient but we weren't much in a bloody mary mood. Maybe next time. The Grenadier is supposedly haunted. The upper floors of the Grenadier once served as the officers' mess for the Duke of Wellington's soldiers. Apparently a young officer was discovered cheating by his colleagues and they exacted punishment on site, beating him viciously. He died at the pub and supposedly his ghost haunts the place regularly, especially in September - the month he died. I didn't notice any extraordinary supernatural activity but then again by this time, I had a couple of pints. It would have had to been really extraordinary.

Around just about every corner, something beautiful or something interesting. Hi-Ho-the-derry-o!

Live from London

One of the interesting aspects, at least to me, of living in a big city is that you are never truly alone. If for some reason your family is not around and you feel like being around people, there are plenty of places you can go to feel right in the middle of things. The down side to that is that sometimes people are so used to being in crowds or around lots of people, that they forget that they are with other people and behave inappropriately for the circumstances.

The other morning, I was meeting a friend and I arrived at our meeting place a little early. I know that is a surprise to the people who know me because I usually run my whole life about 5 minutes late. Anyway, I got a beverage, sat myself at an outside table at this cafe on a busy street and proceeded to people watch a bit. Pretty soon, a young couple sat down at the table next to me. I noticed them when they walked up to the table because they were both extremely tall and very attractive, almost model-like attractive. I turn away from them and I am watching the traffic, counting the cars that cost more than most homes in the US. You would be surprised at how many that is! Or maybe not. A few minutes later, I become aware that model couple is arguing and that peaks my interest. For the most part they aren't speaking loudly enough for me to hear the words but occasionally a phrase or two comes through loud and clear. The gist, she broke up with him a month or so ago, she went crazy and a little slutty (his words - of course) and now she finds herself in the family way. He is upset about how this turn of events reflects on him (????) and she keeps telling him, it is not any of his business and he should butt out. He keeps arguing with her and she say something about not threatening her. At one point, she gets so angry that she screams at the tops of her lungs "F** you, it is not your problem, I am knocked up and it is none of your F***ing concern. GET THE F** OVER IT!" At the top of her lungs. I swear the traffic almost stopped. I thought for sure the two of them would slink away somewhere private to discuss this turn of events, but no. They stay there for at least another 1/2 hour. Seemingly oblivious to the uncomfortable looks they were getting.

My friend gets there and I bring her up to date but our conversation turns to what we did over the summer, getting her oldest child off to college, upcoming travel plans etc. When all of the sudden, this woman comes bolting out of the cafe running full steam. We look over and she is pulling at the shoulder bag of a man walking down the street. She yells "give that back, don't walk away". He lets her pull the bag off him and he continues walking down the street, very calmly. She sees us watching her and she explains it was her bag, the man had passed by her chair in the cafe and had calmly lifted it off the back of her chair and walked right out the door. It was kind of strange how the thief really didn't react, he just kept walking calmly down the street. He didn't run, he didn't panic, he just walked. She was lucky that she caught him; I have heard about quite a few incidents just like this one - purses taken, cell phones snatched. We chatted with the woman for a few moments, discussing how brave she was to run after him or how stupid she was (she agreed!), how it was a wake up call for all us to be a bit more aware in public of our belongings, how she had just gotten a very expensive cell phone and wouldn't it have been a shame to have lost it. My friend and I said goodbye and I went to go grocery shopping.

After shopping, I grab the bus home. There are a few people on the bus. I found a seat and started reading my paper. I become aware of two young women talking fairly loudly on the bus. One of them says to the other, "well, I was running pretty late and I was trying hard to get supper ready. The kids were acting up and then He comes home. He gets really angry that supper isn't ready and he reaches back and smacks me. He is smacking me about and all I can think is 'this isn't going to help supper get on the table quicker'". She is saying it in kind of a "don't you just hate it when . . . ." kind of voice. Yeah, Don't you just hate it when you are running late, you are trying to get dinner on the table and your boyfriend/husband starts smacking you around?" Ummmmmmmm - YEAH! I just hate that. But again, she wasn't whispering this, she was relating it in a news of the day fashion, not concerned about being overheard - just as I was doing earlier when I discussed our trip to Disneyland.

It seems that living in a large cosmopolitan city means you can always have some human contact. Sometimes it is just a little more contact than you want and just a little less human than you want as well.

Sweet Sixteen

Kiki turns 16 today. It seems almost impossible, yet I hardly remember a moment when she wasn't in my life. I remember like yesterday, being very pregnant, about 2 weeks from my due date, sitting down to hear a rehearsal of Chizz's big client presentation the next day. (Oh the heady, exciting life we led before kids, it was a whirlwind). All of the sudden my water broke. We were not really prepared. We went to the hospital and they told us it would probably be several more hours and to come back at 7:00 a.m. the next morning and if I hadn't progressed, they would induce. At 10:00 pm., Chizz went back to his office in SF and re-wrote the presentation for someone else to give. Someone who had no idea that next morning they were giving a big presentation. Listen, we all have problems. He pulled an all-nighter, came back at 6:30 a.m., splashed water on his face and off we went. Hurry, hurry, hurry. Of course, Kiki had other plans. She wouldn't come out, we had to go in for her and she was born at 10:00 p.m. that night. 10 fingers, 10 toes and very, very alert. She was ready to hit the ground running and she hasn't stopped since.

Since then it has been a constant stream of activity: first steps, preschool, dance class, soccer teams, barbies, girl scouts, swimming, skiing. Now it is boyfriends, parties, SATs, cell phones, soccer, swimming (some things don't change!). Even when I am staying up late because she is pushing the boundaries of her curfew, I wouldn't change a thing. We are both very proud of her and the young woman she is becoming.
Happy Birthday Kiki, we love you!!


P.S. Chizz didn't get the client, even after promising to name the baby after them. I am glad, I am thinkng Applied Materials Whineberg doesn't sound so good.

The Quick Brown Fox Jumped over the Curb

Kiki is swimming three mornings a week before school. She has to get up somewhere around 4:45 a.m. to catch a cab at 5:30 a.m. to be in the water at 6:00 a.m. I usually show my support by groggily raising my head to say "have a good day,sweetie" then collapsing back on my pillow to get another hour or so of sleep. I am a good mom that way.

Today I got up. To show support, but mainly to give her money for the cab. I went downstairs and waited with her. I was looking out the window, down the still-dark street for Kiki's cab when I saw what I thought was a large cat run by under the glow of the street lamp. As it got closer to my building, I saw that it was actually a fox! Right here in the middle of the city. A fox. We watched it walk down the street, cross over and head down another busy street, sauntering, like it didn't have a care in the world this fox.

I mentioned it to someone today and they told me that London has somewhere near ten thousand foxes and it is quite the problem. The problem apparently started shortly after WWII when foxes came into the city looking for food and they have pretty much set up camp here ever since. They speak of foxes here like we did of raccoons, possums, wild turkeys and even wild boars back home in California . Going through the garbage cans, turning over plants, dig up lawns and, not surprisingly, they smell. It is a political hot potato. Homeowners want the government to do something about them, like shoot them. The government so far has taken a hands off policy on the foxes.

Perhaps the problem could be solved by lifting the fox hunting ban in England. Couldn't you just see Chizz and Snake in riding breeches, jaunty caps, on horses hunting throughout the neighborhood? Well, maybe not. Tally-Ho!!