Wednesday, July 12, 2006

Mittwoch blog

I am now one post away from 350!

I made a couple of changes to my blog last night.

1) The dreaded security code is now in effect. I hate it as much as you do, but the spamming has become particularly intense.

2) After inserting this custom template, it was not easy to find the Permalink to each post, except by clicking on the "previously blogged" titles.
Thanks to Blogger's template walk through I was able to fix that and now if you click on the Time Stamp under each blog, that is your permalink.

**********

Mundane daily notes over, check out what I did yesterday.

I walked to the site of the interview - out of St John's Wood via Avenue Road (over-arched by amazingly huge trees), got muddled at the big junction...up Finchley Road to Eton Avenue behind the Central School of Speech and Drama.

Thought I was halfway by then, having no idea how LONG Eton Avenue is. It went on and on and on, but was lined with some gorgeous red brick houses, mansions, and my favourites - the early 20th century Arts and Crafts creations. William Morris would have been proud, in fact the Fire Station was a fantastic example.

At the end of the avenue, it opened onto England's Lane which felt fantastically villagey and I could feel I was near Hampstead. The top of the lane met Haverstock Hill. I looked to my right, and guess what I could see between the trees! The Gherkin! (For you non-Londoners, that is the Norman Foster-designed cucumber-shaped skyscraper owned by Swiss Re in Canary Wharf.)

I went left towards Primrose Hill/Belsize Park, saw lots of trees and villagey shops. At one point, if I could have taken a photo with my eyes, I would have: a red vintage sports car (probably a newish Morgan) passed right by a timber-framed village pub by the green!

Doubled back and went right, towards Camden but was too tired by then and didn't go all the way. I walked aaaaaallllll the way back to Finchley Road and collapsed into a Thai restaurant where I had a yummy noodle salad.

Hey, I like this place. I WANT this job, and I would consider moving up here - I'd spend more time in Camden, maybe even hang out in Hampstead or go celeb spotting in Primrose Hill (cooler ones than in SJW), and spend less time in Central London...

(What? Leave behind Mayfair and Bond Street? Not walk into town through Regents Park? I guess so...Hey, this part of North London is just as desirable, but greener and even quieter than SJW.)

18 comments:

michelle said...

well we hate the spam and I hope u get the job

crosses fingers and toes, eyes

Olivia said...

According to my blogger email alerts I am still getting spam - but where???

JL you may uncross your eyes first of all!

Miss Dallas said...

Adventure? Jobs? AND DOGS??? OH MY!!! :)

City Slicker said...

Yes come on up, NorthWest London is beautiful.
I dont necessarily live there but do on occasion, hmmm
Like the blog
Will keep reading, keep typing
Cityslicker

The Moody Minstrel said...

That's one of the things I really liked about London when I was there (even with those few rude people I encountered ;-)). It seemed like even the dingiest corners still had a certain scenic charm as if there were a lingering sense of pride and decency manifesting itself everywhere!

I still can't believe that clerk at that Burger King near the Prince Albert Museum, however...

michelle said...

ok ok, hey did I ever show u my cool party trick?

Anonymous said...

What's the job?

Anonymous said...

By the way, have you been to the Sotheby's website lately? I have been trying for two weeks but can't get in, but it can't possibly be down!

panda_eyed said...

I haven't had any spam yet - am tempting fate now though, aren't I? :s
Has your headache gone yet?
Jia- what's your party trick? *curious*

Olivia said...

Luna - I have a pair of red shoes, if it helps!


Cityslicker - welcome! I do already live in NW London, was just thinking of going deeper in!


Minstrel - oh, haha! When you live in London, a dingy corner is a dingy corner and that's that :P

Where isthe Prince Albert Museum, or do you mean the Victoria and Albert?


JL - I know you have mentioned it, go on, tell us all :P


Rebecca - secretary of an art college.
I don't have trouble getting on the website, it's still just sothebys.com


Panda - oh yes, the headache was gone today. Thanks :)
Keep blogging, some spam is bound to show up!

Leilouta said...

Good luck Olivia!I am a little confused. I thought you had a job now. How many job interviews have you been through? :)

The Moody Minstrel said...

Yes, Victoria and Albert. How silly of me.

michelle said...

remember I showed u once...I can controll my eye movements..make one eye look left and the other to look up...

Olivia said...

Leilouta - thank you! I have been to only three job interviews this year - all the rest were registration at agencies.

Minstrel - hm, was it a long time ago? I can't think of any fast food in that neighbourhood!

JL - oh yes you did!
I haven't forgotten - I need a webcam, although I might have to wait now till I get my new laptop so it doesn't make this one crash.

The Moody Minstrel said...

hm, was it a long time ago? I can't think of any fast food in that neighbourhood!

It was almost twelve years ago. My wife and I were on our honeymoon. The Burger King wasn't immediately next to the Victoria and Albert Museum, but it was down the street a bit. We had just finished our visit to the museum, and we were strolling along debating whether to continue relying exclusively on the tube (i.e. sometimes long walks to and from the stations) or give in and take a cab. We saw the BK on the way and just popped in for a bite and a bit of rest.

The clerk whose register I arrived at was black and spoke with an African-sounding accent. He asked if he could take my order, but as soon as I started talking he glared at me and just walked away. I tried to call him back, and he ignored me, so I got into one of the other lines. I figured he had a grudge against Americans (Somalian perhaps?), so I just let it drop.

Um Naief said...

AAAhhh, this walk sounds fabulous. I would have loved to do it w/ ya! I love the roads and houses in the London area. One of the things I really enjoyed, when there, was walking around and all the great parks, especially the huge one near Buckingham Palace.

I tried some Thai food - we actually tried two restaurants last week. I don't think the places in Bahrain are nearly as good as what you get in London :( I didn't find anything w/ lime sauce or some of the other dishes you described.

Did get some Thai noodles w/ chicken and a red sauce, which was a bit spicey but sorta sweet... it was good. But not a lot of variety which surprised me because there are so many Thai ppl here, you'd think there'd be all sorts of dishes, but no. At the 2nd restaurant, I got one dish w/ green curry.. didn't like it really. It had shrimp in it. It was ok but too saucy for my stomach.. it seemed to be mainly cream.

These places here seem to have a lot of fried foods which I'm not partial to... but ppl here love fried foods, that's prob why.

Olivia said...

Minstrel - aha, they have done a lot to smarten up the shops and restaurants in that area. Very trendy and posh now.


Tooners - thanks for sharing all this, I love how excited you get. I wanted all of you to take the walk with me, which is why I shared it afterwards!

The park you are thinking of near Buckingham Palace is Green Park. It lies between Piccadilly and the Palace, which in turn lies on Pall Mall - the park on the other side is St James's Park and walking through here would take you into Westminster and all the government and military buildings.

I am sorry you didn't find the right sort of Thai food. Dude, lime is like the main thing!

Try, next time you leave the country. Do you visit Dallas? I've had some good Thai in Plano (you know, you Dallasite) at a new shopping centre at the end of Legacy Drive.

I think what you had was red curry. I avoid Thai curries. The green one you had was mostly coconut milk. Always disappointing, I find.

I am surprised you didn't find the nice stir-fried chili and basil dishes that go so well with Jasmine rice. You can choose either veg, tofu, beef, shrimp, pork (prob. not in Bahrain though!)

Um Naief said...

you bring up such memories or plano! all those stores at the end of Legacy are soooo wonderul! gosh, it's been too long, and no, haven't been back in over three years. maybe one day, i hope. :)

and believe it or not, they do serve pork here. many places serve it, except for the traditional places. both thai restaurants we went to had pork but no stir-fried chili and basil dishes. i'm not even sure that i saw jasmine rice...

have you ever had the kind of egg rolls that aren't fried? they're wrapped in a white looking wrap (maybe that's what it looks like prior to frying - not sure)... but i love egg rolls like that. haven't found any here, but i so loved this restaurant in downtown dallas that had these. ummmm... makes my mouth water just to think about it! if you know what i speak of, do you know what they're called?