Burlaki on the Thames

I guess, in the current environment, I should be happy with the amount of work I suddenly have. Except, to be honest, I’ve been starting to forget the time in my previous life when I habitually put in 11-12-hour days, and I don’t believe regret has been figuring as a related emotion…

Anyway, the corollary to my newfound busy-ness is the fact that I cannot find much time for a lengthy post. Therefore, today, all I can do is treat you to a view that I come across every morning on my commute to work. This is how the Canary Wharf DLR station looks from the front seat of a train. Somehow, my mental picture of it is grander than the way it came out on the photo, but it’s still a pretty cool structure.

The image is clickable for a larger view, as always.

The other day I was traveling between offices in the afternoon and had what increasingly becomes a very rare occasion of finding myself in the City of London. With my handy little camera, I took a few pictures. It was a bit late in the day and the lighting conditions were deteriorating, but here are a few shots. (click any photo to enlarge)

First, a few perspectives through the office windows.

View towards St Paul’s Cathedral and what I assume is St Mary Le Bow Church.

View towards the London Eye and, unfortunately, against the sun.

View towards the TV tower. Nothing of note here, except that I liked the composition of what I assume are the folded sun umbrellas, the spires of the church that I cannot name, and the tower in the distance.

On my walk towards the train station, I passed a fairly popular picture spot, with the dome of the St Paul’s opening up at the end of a narrow pedestrian street.

And here is the cathedral in all of its glory.

Finally, two opposing views alongside Cannon Street where it intersects Queen Victoria Street.

  

The southeast fringes of the Greater London, where we live, are home to several strings of little parks, fields and playgrounds collectively known as the Green Chain Walk, established in the 70’s. Many of these are in various stages of disrepair and neglect, and the walks between them are not always “green” and often require moving along busy streets, but the idea to counteract the suburban sprawl with these little oasises of greenery is quite nice, and we even explored some of the nearby links in the chain in the months following our arrival.

The chain may be up for a revival. At least, that’s what the signposts indicate.

Every major tourist destination has numerous signposts pointing the visitor towards this or that attraction. London is no exception; furthermore, it is arguably one of the best signposted metropolises in Europe. But that is mainly in the city center. On the outskirts of the great city, and with the Green Chain Walk in particular, the signs tend to be obscure and infrequent. You will not get lost, if you are attentive and observant, but you would have to work at making sure you stay on the right course.

Then, a while ago, I noticed new signposts, bright, clear and positioned in plain sight at important turns. Happy to see my council taxes in action.

Remember, I wrote in the past about the recycling scheme instituted by the Greenwich council? Basically, the dry recyclables go into the blue-cover bin, the food waste and the garden refuse into the green-cover bin, and the rest goes into a large garbage bag (soon to be replaced with a black-cover bin). Not very taxing for an average resident, after all.

Many people, of course, are either unwilling or unable to follow these rules. What happens to the offenders and their garbage? Surprisingly, the often quick-to-fine - or even prosecute, as linked from that old post, - authorities thus far resort to a gentle reminder, which isn’t in the least threatening. I’ve seen quite a lot of these notices around.

  

click images to enlarge

Our corporate canteen started offering a half-chicken on its grill selection. Since this is by far the biggest portion of food on offer, and it costs the same as any other - much smaller - grill selections, a frugal and hungry regular patron such as yours truly started getting the half-chicken meal practically every day (the actual recipes differ over the course of the week, so the sense of sameness is limited).

Here is what it looks like.

Then, a couple of days ago, I suddenly felt that my pants restrict my breathing after the meal. Must be all those fries. Need to switch to salad on the side. And go for a swim in a pool, pronto.

A selection of pictures taken by Becky on her recent school-trip to Iceland can be found here or via the Picture Gallery links on the left.

Halloween was an annual disappointment for my girls. There is not much of trick-or-treating happening in our area. We had lighted jack’o'lanterns on the porch, and still only one single visit from neighborhood kids. Kimmy, all dressed up as a Dorothy from Wizard of Oz, decided that she did not want to go out for treats, once she learned that her school friend had fallen sick, and spent the evening moping.

The situation was not improved when I picked up Becky from a gathering with her friends before she had a chance to go trick-or-treating with them. We were ready to sit down for a family dinner at around 7:30, and Becky was out with her friends since 4, so I assumed that she already had her fun, and she got upset without telling me why until it was too late. Her mood improved a bit during the dinner, but Halloween being her most favorite holiday, she oscillated between sunny and dejected for most of the evening.

The dinner was otherwise a success, thanks to Natasha’s culinary talents. We toasted our anniversary several times and amused the children with stories from the early days of our happy union.

Since Becky returned from her school-trip to Iceland only that morning, she in turn entertained us with the recount of mayhem that only adolescent girls unencumbered with strict supervision can wreak. Her impressions of Iceland involved geysers, hot springs baths, black sand, and many waterfalls that all start looking the same after a while. And cold!… She made a couple of dozen of nice pictures on her camera - we’ll post them eventually.

I leave you today with my daughters in their Halloween outfits - all dressed up with nowhere to go, as it were.

  

[Update Nov 2nd]
There are some kid-related Halloween-themed activities organized here or there. They don’t normally happen on the 31st of October, though. So, today, Natasha took Kimmy to nearby Eltham Palace for such a celebration. Kimmy had a very good time and came back wearing this self-made hat:

A small album with pictures from a recent day-trip to Rochester can be found by using links on the left or here.

It’s been a bit over a year since England curbed smoking in public places. For those of us who cannot stand the smoke, life has become considerably more pleasant, especially when it comes to dining out. The unfortunate souls who can’t exist without cigarettes, conversely, have been having much harder time indulging in their habit. Obviously, almost all of the smoking is now done in the open air, but even that is supposed to be limited to specifically designated zones. Here is a brief photo-essay of how that works in Canary Wharf.

Let’s start with a picture of the Canada Square quiet oasis of a park.

The signs declaring the park a no-smoking zone are quite prominent, and there are more than half a dozen of them in various places (at least three are visible in this picture). Of course, there are always smokers who prefer to have their pleasure in the altogether fresh air, sign or not.

I admit that I have not yet worked up the nerve to come closer and unceremoniously take a picture of a stranger, so you’ll have to take my word that the people in the shot are having a smoke (although, the guy’s form is clearly that of shaking off ashes). You can also discern that there is a no-smoking sign within a few meters of these guys.

The signs are all positioned inside the park area. Obviously, that means that staying on the sidewalk immediately next to the park puts a smoker outside of the limits of prohibition. Here is the lunch-time Smokers Row.

There is an area on the street known as North Colonnade, which is explicitly set aside for smokers.

  

These last two pictures were taken in the early hours of the day, but don’t let that mislead you. There are rarely people in this place ever. Could be the resentment of being confined to a red-paint-boundary box. Could be the fact that this happens to be by far the most wind-swept spot in the entire Wharf.

One of these days I’ll figure out how to make a picture of the wind to illustrate.

A pretty interesting observation from our regular drives in and through France are the “nearby attraction” billboards on French freeways. These are normally positioned some distance ahead of their corresponding exits and pictorially depict the most important stuff that you might want to check out if you suddenly decide to turn off there. I don’t know whether many people actually do that, but as a welcome distraction on long monotonous drives these signs are invaluable.

The format of the signs varies from one région to another. We found the most colorful ones in Alsace/Lorraine and in Provence. Below is a selection.

The French are very fond of the summertime practice of producing light shows at their famous landmarks. I cannot fault them for it: Every time we come across one such, it is a great spectacle.

On our return journey from the big summer trip we stopped overnight in Strasbourg. The kids were tired after a long day’s drive, but Natasha and I could not pass an opportunity to explore a new locale even for a short time. To our delight, we chanced into not one, but two light-show displays, first on one of the main town squares and then on the façade of the magnificent Cathedral. A few pictures from the latter, that I decided not to make into a separate album in the Gallery, are below (all clickable for larger views).

I realized that I work in a pretty cool-looking building myself. Not as cool as most of the edifices in the collection mentioned the other day, but still not bad.

Something that we see in England considerably more often than in the States: People driving around in vintage cars. And I don’t mean “vintage” as in 1968 Corvette or something, no offense intended. I mean as in 1929 Bugatti.

There are also people who drive around in racing cars - and even DIY cars - which I am often ignorant enough to mistake for a vintage roadster.

Unfortunately, I never managed to take a shot of any of those, on account of not having a camera with me. But now I do. So, here it is, a Tiger Racing specimen, parked on a street in Rochester.

I’ll surely have an opportunity to get a shot of a true vintage car in the near future.

As I did not have a ready topic for today’s post (sorry to disappoint, but I don’t feel like I want to explore topics related to either the election or the financial crisis for the foreseeable future), I figured I’ll just post a few random shots made with the new camera today.

Didn’t see it coming, did you?

I took Kimmy to her ballet lesson today. The studio is in Chislehurst, a nearby agreeable village that I only drive through - and that on rare occasions. The little camera gave me a chance to snap a picture of the historic town’s arms prominently displayed on the main road and a house fronted by the seriously displaced reeds. Nothing to brag about, but bear with me while I feel my way around.

And earlier, when I was picking Kimmy from school, I noticed a sign that would surely make me regret not having a camera in the past. Interestingly, I’m sure that the sign has been in this place all along, but I have never noticed it before. I am being more attentive to the space around me already.

The sign is below second-floor windows, good two and a half meters above the ground. It may be important to note that this is a primary school.

What exactly is “anti-climb paint” anyway?

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On an unrelated note, I got a postcard from John the Scientist with a view of Singapore’s famous Raffles Hotel. One day, I hope to enjoy a Singapore Sling at its Long Bar, as well. Thanks, John!

After a relatively sizeable delay - apologies to all! - the pictures from the third and final leg of our grand summer trip have been added to the Picture Gallery (accessible either from the navigation bar or at the link here).

Enjoy!

I unexpectedly got inspired to play a bit with a Flickr plugin, the result of which is the Travelscapes widget on the right (it opens into a page that displays the entire photoset, if you click on “view more” link). I’ll likely work on several adjustments, but I like even the simplest form of it. Let me know if something does not seem to work. More pictures will eventually be added.

Enjoy!

The gallery from the second leg of our summer holidays is here, accessible either via the links on the left or directly here.

And here they are, pictures from the first leg of our summer expedition. Accessible either via the links on the left or directly here.

Before starting to work through our photos from the big summer trip, Natasha quickly attended to the small batch of Windsor shots taken in July, which are now available in our Gallery (use the link on the left or click here).

A small album with a selection of pictures from our recent trips to Canterbury and the Sissinghurst Castle Garden can be found via the link on the navigation bar. Or click here.