Foggy London Town

Foggy London town is far from foggy today! When I stepped outside to find the sun shining and not even the slightest chill in the air, I quickly un-bundled my layers and happily strolled down to my office.

From my window at my desk, I can see the London Eye and the Prince Albert Bridge, quite a lovely view while one works, if I do say so myself.

I popped into the food shop next to the harbour to grab a beverage and found myself overwhelmed with a large selection of things I cannot get in the US. My favorite of being Tropicana Orange Juice: No Bits.

I have found that "bits" seems to replace a wide variety of specific words in London. In this case, it was pulp. But I have heard several different British dishes described as,

"sort of a meaty, sausage dish with gravy, tom-AH-tos (pronounced AH-tos.) and bits.

Bits....? Bits of what!

In a country where they eat pudding made of blood it is most important to know exactly what the bits are.

But by far the strangest thing to grace the shelf was the Banana Milk. Apparently quite popular here. I'll pass on that bit, thanks.

I settled on a delicious Elderflower Presse and I foresee it being a London addiction!

While I don't want to talk about work exactly - some things must be recorded. For example, the gentlemen who walked into the showroom today with a stack of pamphlets advertising Christmas cards and handed me one saying,

"we're doing bespoke cards for Christmas this year, which you may - or may not, require."

And with a tip of his hat, he left....

What's funniest about being here is that while everyone IS speaking English, it doesn't seem like they are.

"bespoke" apparently means customized - and the english love to say "require". It's one of the words that sounds particularly English.

In other news, I called a client in Paris first thing this morning, and it was so wonderful to hear French spilling out of me again, I nearly teared up. I cannot wait to chunnel over for a weekend and go right to the tour with a crepe in hand and just stand there, soaking it in. I am planning on going just before Christmas to see all the decorations and visit the amazing Christmas Market on the Champs Elysee again!

Speaking of the holidays, after work yesterday I decided to pop over to Regent Street to see the legend-ry Christmas decorations and do some shopping. I got out of the tube and felt like I had been transported to the North Pole. I have never seen a Christmas town like London! I think the streets already look like the inside of snow globe on their own - so imagine them decked in lights, trees, and Santa!

Take a looksey, good fellow.





It's quite adorable. As if the enormous hanging stars and glittering lights aren't enough - something about seeing the double decker red buses trotting around the streets just makes me melt like butter on hot toast. I was starring around in wonderment and nearly got hit by one. In which case, my time in London would have been very short lived.

I love things that are so stereotypically (fill in the blank). This is a perfect case. You can take them all around the city. After handing over my 2 pounds 20 pence to the driver, I bounced up the stairs to the 2nd level and took the first seat from the front! I felt like I was riding the Spice Bus. I actually got so caught up trying to remember the lyrics of various tracks on SpiceWorld, that I missed my stop entirely.

And it's precisely when one is lost that they happen upon the most wonderful things.

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I've found my activity for the weekend!

Cheers!