Sarah Jane Elliott
Word Games
Sunday, April 19, 2009
Back from Italy
There will be a full trip report eventually -- probably next weekend. But this weekend has been spent annotating and posting the 795 shots and videos I got from the 900 I came home with. You can see the whole thing in the Chris and Sarah's Excellent Italian Adventure set, or if you don't feel like dealing with all 795 at once, you can enter through the gateways of Milan, Florence, Naples (includes Pompeii and Herculaneum, or Rome.That was the first real travelling adventure I have had (I don't really count moving here, as that's a work thing), and it's the most fun I have ever had in my life. I am REALLY not looking forward to school tomorrow.
Monday, March 23, 2009
Weekend Away
My latest batch of captioned (and heavily geek-referenced) photos start here, but some of the highlights of the weekend in Dover / Tower of London are:
St. James's Church. It was shelled by France during the war and they left the remaining walls as a memorial. It was quite breathtaking and very good for my inexplicable fascination with doorways. This is my new desktop. I call it "Gateway to Narnia".
Secret Tunnel! No seriously, there are a network of tunnels under the castle that were used as secret wartime headquarters and only taken off the secret list in 1984. You can see part of them here.
The white cliffs, which are certainly white, and certainly cliffs. Shira gives some perspective. We climbed all the way up, wandered around, climbed all the way down, then back up the other side to get to...
"Dover Castle!"
"Dover Castle!"
"It's only a model."
"Shh!"
Yes, it is very much spring here. This is a hill at the Tower of London.
Saturday, February 21, 2009
New House Tour
At long last, I have media of the new house. We got ridiculously domestic about it, but we're really happy with how it ended up. If you want detailed notes on the photos, the set starts here.Here is the house tour, in order. The videos are chopped into segments of less than 90 seconds so that I could upload them to flickr (Youtube is too searchable by my students).
For the video-impaired, here are the photos:
Yes, spring has come to England. These are in the garden across the street. It was an absolutely gorgeous morning.
This is part of our living room, featuring giant couch #1, as well as the Spider plant we inherited, part of my jewellery making materials, and in the magazine stand, the corner of the photo album Tami gave me for Christmas.
The other part of the living room, featuring the second giant couch with my single duvet in the corner for when it gets cold, the Argentinian flag, the fireplace with decorative rocks, and the big mantle mirror.
The remainder of our living room including working table, both computers (since, as you can see by the modem on the floor, the Virgin guy forgot our router), TV, and the welcome card Gisela's boyfriend mailed me.
On the immediate right is Gisela's room, the wooden door is the bathroom, and you can just see my room at the end of the hall.
The bathtub is massively deep. What you can't see in this photo is the heated rail on the radiator just across from the bathtub, which will burn you in extremely awkward places if you bend over the wrong way.
The kitchen has both a washer (no dryer) and a dishwasher. Heaven!
I am massively in love with my bed. For those who I know care about such things, some of the titles on the shelf next to it are: Beauty, the Blue Sword, Ransom My Heart, Forever Princess, Chalice, The Graveyard Book, Getting the Buggers to Behave, Getting the Buggers into Science, Lyra's Oxford, Mansfield Park, and Cross Stitch (known in Canada by the more sensible title of "Outlander"). Also featured is my TARDIS USB hub, desk lamp, and the speakers for my computer, which is in the living room. The thing hanging from the door on the right is a kitty handbag I got at Spitalfield's. The throw pillows on the bed have silver sequins in floral patterns.
My room from the other side, featuring the wardrobe Gisela lent me, since she now has a massive one of her own.
Saturday, February 14, 2009
Got Feet?
Specifically, UK size 6, US size 7 feet? In need of running shoes that are half a size too small for me, but are nonetheless kick-ass waterproof shoes?
E-mail me. We'll talk.
Monday, February 02, 2009
It's Like Christmas...
Last night I was so excited I couldn't sleep. Seriously, I woke up at 3 and at 4:30. But this morning, we got the best present of all.
Yes, this is a Snow Day in England.
Tuesday, January 27, 2009
Saturday, January 24, 2009
London Adventure
It's been a busy couple of days. Last night the teachers and their various and sundry housemates went to a Mexican restaurant for fajitas and margaritas, and today Shira and I had another adventure in London, which turned out to be vastly different than our original plan, but still quite enjoyable.The weather was absolutely stunning, and I managed to grab my first actual shot of Hadleigh Castle as we passed it on the train.
This would turn out to be the last time anything went according to plan today.
I got to Fenchurch Street in London and walked to Tower Hill to get on the tube... only to discover the station closed. There is no service today. But they left a handy leaflet titled "continuing your journey from Tower Hill", which pointed out that Aldgate was only a 5 minute walk away. So I got there... to discover them closing the gates, because not only were District and Circle not running, but they'd closed Hammersmith & City and Metropolitan in this area as well. But not to worry, said the staff member locking the gate. Liverpool Street was only a 5 minute walk away.
So I got myself to Liverpool Street (mostly by aiming for the Gherkin -- my dekes in London are where the SatNav on my phone proves it's worth the price I pay for it), and discover... yup, you guessed it. The platform in the direction I want to go is closed. But then, a whispered conversation amongst staff members, and I'm told that if I want to go to Moorgate, I can go up these stairs, through this locked gate, to Platform two. So I got myself there, only to hear an announcement ten minutes later that the next train wouldn't be for another ten minutes (Moorgate is a 5 minute walk from Liverpool).
Realizing by this time that the Universe has wrapped me up in another farce, I did manage to discover that by taking the central line, I could get myself back on track on the Northern line.
The plan for today was to meet at Borough Market and then go see Billy Elliot in the evening. But today also happened to be Tribalondon, and I couldn't NOT stop in to check out the Souk. So I did, and am proud to announce that I now own the beginnings of a tribal performance outfit.
Unfortunately, though I was only just a little bit late to meet Shira at that point, I ran into my tribe. Who were about to perform in fifteen minutes. So of course, I couldn't leave without watching them perform, which set me way off schedule.
I rushed out the door after they left the stage, and discovered a text from Shira saying she had bad news. What was it? She'd ordered the Billy Elliot tickets for the wrong day.
Now, I was at the point where I could have let that really piss me off. Or I could have run with it and let the day take us where it would, and enjoy the ride as much as possible. I went with the latter, and was greatly rewarded.
I met Shira at Borough Market, which is awesome. Basically, any food you could possibly imagine can be found there. I must go back at an earlier time when it's less crowded so that I can try the ostrich burger. We did manage to pick up a few things before it closed (tiny mince pies, yay!), and headed off to Leicester Square, where we endeavoured to find half-price tickets to a show we both wanted to see.
After a quick stop at a pub to refuel, we made our way through the nifty night-time London Streets (and sparkly Swarovski windows) to the Palladium.
As it turned out, we were one row from the back of the second balcony. Our seats were about as high as you can possibly get. But you could still see something, and we discovered that for 50p you could rent a pair of opera glasses stuck to the back of the seat in front of you.
It was kind of funny, actually, seeing how the architecture of the theatre reflected the class system of the time in which it was built. Dress circle and first balcony went in the fancy entrance, but upper circle had a separate door. We climbed a plain, unadorned staircase to a cramped, unadorned foyer with little to no contact with the persons who could afford the good seats.
The show was lovely, the kids were adorable, and Maria was utterly charming. But Captain von Trapp was a bit of a disappointment. He was pitchy and off, and when he did sing, he reminded me of Jennifer Coolidge doing that voice she used for Heidi in Igor.
But, overall, despite the complete derailment of our plans, I had a really, really great time today. I'm glad I've decided to live in England, rather than just teach in it.