HOT FLASH!! Hot workout

From now on, some blog posts will be in the form of a HOT FLASH! This will be a very brief description of a finite event without any purple prose or ironic juxtaposition. So there!

This morning I attending a "neighborhood coffee" with about 10 other American School moms all from about a 1/4 mile radius in the neighborhood. Many of these women are also brand-new to London and I had not yet met them at school functions as our children are different ages.

Everyone was very nice, with different backgrounds, ages, experiences and expectations from their time here. There was much talk of the market meltdowns here and in the US, as many of the spouses/fathers are in the banking industry and quite a few are in fear of their jobs. People who just got here may be yanked back to the US by their employers, or worse, fired. This is why it is extra-good that our family has applied for visa status that does not depend on employment by one particular employer. With the other kind of visa, if the job ends, the family has six weeks to pack it up, and move back to the US.

ASL is a very coffee-oriented culture. I have three ASL parent-coffees on my calendar this week. This is great, but each coffee features one or more of the following: chocolate croissants, iced blueberry cake, chocolate chip muffins. (Not a scone in sight...) It is hard to walk off all of those calories.

Accordingly, we are on a hunt for a suitable gym/workout club. Last week I discovered "London's best kept secret", a private gym at the Marylebone Cricket Club, aka Lord's Cricket Ground, a 10-minute walk from A Flat on Abbey Road.

I went down there today to get the "orientation to the machines" tour on a free pass.
If I wish to avoid the heavy traffic going by on Wellington Road, I can go south on Abbey Rd through and past the crosswalk, turn left onto Circus Road, and take a shortcut to the gym that takes me right past You-Know-Who's house (hint: my first crush at age 12). Popping through the north gate of Lord's brings me past the Nursery Pavillion. Today there was a crowd of wine-swilling adults, perhaps at at tasting event, AND a game of cricket being played on the "Practice Pitch".

I wound up doing a mini-workout on the rowing machine and feeling capable of kicking some a** when I was done, despite not having been to the gym since March.

I am informed by one of the Moms I met last week that You-Know-Who works out at this gym. A mom that I met this week has been on the treadmill next to him and told me what time of day he's usually there. She said he is very nice and chatted with her. I live in hope.

HOT FLASH! Puttin' on the Ritz!

Today we rendezvoused with our first "friends from home". Joyce and Chet are vacationing in London and Edinburgh, and graciously invited us to join them for tea at the venerable Ritz Hotel.

We waited for our hosts in the lobby of the Ritz. The hotel no longer uses the main entrance on Piccadilly, instead opting for a small lobby with two chairs that is accessed by a side street. Our invitation was to meet Joyce and Chet at 1:15 for a 1:30 seating. I guess they wanted to make sure that we'd be on time, and didn't realize that this particular family usually allows so much extra time for travel glitches, etc. that we wind up being ridiculously early. We arrived at our destination at 12:30. We got to watch the gatekeeper to the tea room area turn away a woman who made the mistake of wearing "trainers" (athletic shoes), in violation of the dress code policy, which also prohibits jeans, and stipulates coat and tie for gentlemen. Chet said he presumed that trousers were also mandatory.

Chet and Joyce made an elegant entrance down a mirrored circular stairway, and we paused for this photo op before entering the Tea Room. I didn't mean to be obscured in the photo, which was taken by a generous man with a Kiwi accent, but I guess it serves to further protect my blogging anonymity...

The gilded ceiling was enough to make one giddy, complete with latticework, cherubs festooned with garlands of roses, elegant round tables, and a harpist (more on him later).

Joyce and I enjoyed a pot of Jasmine tea, while Chet, Hubster and TeenE drank Earl Grey.
There was an anxious moment when I neglected to use the silver tea strainer on the first pour, but I assured Joyce that I would sift the tea leaves with my teeth without making any noise.

An array of lovely sandwiches-with-the-crusts-cut-off included chicken, cucumber, smoked salmon, cheddar on sun-dried tomato bread, and ham. It was difficult to not sample them all. The waiter informed us that the scones were being kept back until we finished our sandwiches so because he was keeping them warm for us. How thoughtful!

The scones arrived in due course, along with a pot of jam and another of clotted cream. They were savored/inhaled by all.

The top rack of the triple-tiered silver server contained luscious pastries. It was hard to decide which ones to sample. We did an excellent job on those, too, all the while chatting about Belmont, our transition to London and TeenE's to her school, the airline bankruptcies, and so on.

And the harpist played on. At one point the unmistakable notes of the prelude toStairway to Heaven were strummed. I thought perhaps I was imagining it until Hubster said: Is that Stairway to Heaven I hear? I was too busy talking and eating to notice if the harpest ever got to the really rockin' section, but I did notice some other popular tunes, including Fields of Gold by Sting, 'Till There Was You, which I know from the Beatles but I suspect is from a musical (Music Man? Sung by Shirley Jones? Somebody help me out with this). I kept waiting to here some Clash or Culture Club.

It was so delightful to be able to spend time with Joyce and Chet, and I know they enjoyed it too. I promised them I'd post this picture before the day was out, so here goes.

I Knit London Report

Date: Saturday, 6 September

Location: Royal Horticultural Hall, Westminster, London

Occasion: A small trade show and festival of fiber (fibre) arts.



I headed out from the Flat on Abbey Road to the St. John's Wood Underground Station, and rode the Tube to Westminster. I could have gone to Victoria Station, which was closer to the venue, but I knew 2/3 of the neighborhood trek from Westminster. This is because on my first trip to London (in this lifetime) in 1978 as a student, I stayed in a hostel not far from the Palace of Westminster (aka the Houses of Parliament building). I could hear the tolling of Big Ben from my shared hostel bedroom. The street that the Knit exhibition was on was an extension of the one I was used to taking to get to the hostel. Also, I liked the idea of walking past the Houses of Parliament AND Westminster Abbey on my way to knitting.



Alas, for once I LEFT THE FLAT WITHOUT AN UMBRELLA. It's a good thing that that Exit 5 from the station was closed due to refurbishment, because by going the long way around, I passed many souvenir and umbrella vendors. I ducked into a shop to get out of the rain, and there was an umbrella containing a design of the silhouttes of the Fab Four crossing Abbey Road. Score!



It was a cool and dreary day. I wasn't quite sure which end of Greycoat Place/Road/Street (there WERE three options on the map) to approach to get to the entrance of the Royal Horticultural Hall, but decided to just press on. Soon I could see a stream of happy, excited (middle-aged) women crossing street, so decide to go in that direction. I was correct.

The RHH is a brick and stone building from the Victorian era. I entered a large, high-ceilinged hall which was a hive of commerce and creativity. There were dozens of booths. Some were stocked with hand-dyed yarns, some with hand-spun, some with single-breed undyed natural yarn and roving. There was a book store, many already-knitted garments to purchase, patterns, and other exhibits.

The following activities were highlights for me:

• Browsing around all the booths without buying anything... I was saving myself for later.
• Talking to the very creative and slightly kooky lady who knits "art" sweaters. These are brightly-colored intarsia pieces with well-known iconic images on them, such as Marilyn, Che Gueverra, Ganesha the Hindu elephant-god, Geisha, etc. She mentioned that someone had asked her to be in an exhibit at the Victoria and Albert Museum. Obviously someone Good To Know.
• Chatting with the ladies at the Wensleydale wool booth. Although my nickname was once "Wensleydale", I only knew about the cheese, not the breed of sheep. They have really long shaggy coats with a perfect crimp to the fleece, like tiny marcels. I spoke to a lady who runs a Wensleydale sheep farm in Sussex (a county on the south coast of England, easy to access from London). I told her I had access to a busload of American knitters who might like to come over for a tour. She pointed me toward the direction of a lady in the next booth, who owns a "retreat center" and will give sheep-to-shawl demonstrations. She also mentioned that 2009 will be the Year of the Native Fiber or some such designation, so we should get moving on the trip planning.
• I made a pompom for peace. As mentioned in the Fall 2008 issue of VOGUEknitting, which I bought in the US for airplane reading, Amy Lame's Pom Pom International project was created to "travel to areas of conflict around the glob. Together, we create whimsical, non-political, creative balls of fluffy yarn in a gesture of peace and reconciliation". Pom-pommers label their colorful creations. A railing in the hall was festooned with many that had been made recently in Northern Ireland. It was heartening to read the messages invoking world peace that ordinary citizens had written on their labels. All the pom poms will eventually be linked to make the world's biggest pom pom. For mailing information, pompom instructions, etc., visit pompominternational.com
• I visited the booth of local yarn shop Loop, and found out the number of a bus that runs through St. John's Wood to Islington, where the shop is located.

Finally, I made three purchases:

• One skein of "light weight" oatmeal-colored Wensleydale wool, 350 metres, approx. fingering weight. It is enough for a pair of gloves or other small project.
• One book: A Gathering of Lace edited by Meg Swansen.
• One small cluster of wavy-crimped Wensleydale roving with which to embellish a project or use for felting.

There was also a fashion show of "vintage" knits presented in the style of a fashion show from the 1940's. They were all modelled by tall thin girls with dark wavy hair and very red lipstick.

After about 2 1/2 hours, my feet were tired and I headed home. This time I did go to Victoria Station, and found the spot from which all the buses leave. I found one that would take me up to St. John's Wood, and went home to clean up for the evening at the outdoor theatre (see previous post).

Friday's rainy day activities incl Open Air Theatre

"Rain, rain rain", as the Beatles sang. What else is new? It rained in Boston for most of the summer, and I guess it rained a lot here in London, too. It's still raining. The Brits are still grumbling about the rain. There is nothing new under the sun (from Psalm X, a reading at our wedding) Actually, there is nothing at all under the sun; it's all under a heavy cloud cover.

This was conducive to giving the flat a good cleaning. "Hoovering" (they use the brand name for both the appliance (noun) and vacuuming activity (verb), scrubbing the bathrooms, doing the ubiquitous laundry, and a coat of non-slip floor polish on the hardwood floors were among the activities I enjoyed. The whole picture can be completed by your imagining me in my purple pajamas with the monkees and bananas motif. This all brought me to about 2:30 (oops, 14:40), just in time to shower and dress so the returning family members would think I'd been dressed all day.

We had been planning to attend the theatre Friday evening. A theatre in nearby Regent's park was putting on the Lerner & Lowe musical "Gigi". Master Thespian "Topol" (i.e. he's so famous he only needs one name) and some other notables would star. I had scored the tickets the week earlier on a beautiful, sunny-day stroll through Regents Park.

There was just one catch. The theatre is called the Open Air Theatre. As in We Have No Roof.
Not Even Over the Stage. There "weather policy" stated that they get through 94% of their performances, although the sign on which this was posted had gotten a little damp and the statistic was somewhat blurry. Even if they have to stop the action due to a shower, they wait until it's over and resume the play.

That particular day's weather did not bode well for the Open Air Theatre-goer. The forecast called for rain, heavy at times, and strong winds. This is a pretty graphic forecast for the Brits. Their penchant for understatement extends even to their weather reports. American "Partly cloudy with clearing later" is "cloudy, with bright spots breaking out in the afternoon". It was coming down in torrents all day long, and the radar map did not look like any bright spots would be making an appearance.

I had little hope that the production would go on as planned, so rang the box office so I could confirm that the show was off. Wrong. There policy is to get everyone there, and then call off the performance if within a half hour or so of start time it will not clear up at any time during the evening. The reason why this is their policy became clear later.

I figured we'd go down to the park by bus, catch some dinner at the nearby Garden Cafe, go over to the theatre, and be told to go home. We walked into the park as the clouds ceased their deluge, and did enjoy a very tasty meal. As we finished paying, TeenE said "Look outside". The floor-to-ceiling windows were starting to stream with raindrops. We walked two minutes to the theatre, and were admitted. We then milled around the covered bar area for about twenty minutes. Aha! The reason for the delayed cancellation policy became apparant. At one point the lady on the PA said " Ladies and Gentlemen. We are still assessing the weather situation, and will make another announcement in fifteen minutes. Please stay in the bar area." Everyone laughed at management's transparent motives. Meanwhile, the rain increased to the hardest of the day. I thought to myself "there is no way this production can go on". Another announcement of delay, and then the rain ceased. The bells rang, and the voice announced "Ladies and Gentlemen, please take your seats. The performance is about to begin.

We entered the theatre. We had seats in Row R, in a raised area three rows from the back.
The very wet stage was set out before us. The orchestra arrived, and spent a few moments clearing the water off their seats. I had cleverly packed plastic carry-bags (sacks) to place on our seats. Unfortunately, what I thought was a bundle of three bags turned out to only be two, so TeenE and I ripped one in half and shared it. The cushy seats were completely soaked, and when we sat down water squeezed out onto the cement floor below.

I decided to take a few photos of the stage (old set decorator's habit). As I was putting my camera away, a stagehand came out and actually started squeegee-ing water across the stage!

Very shortly, it began to rain. Umbrellas opened. Official policy states that umbrellas may not be used during the performance. It rained very hard. The really hardy souls had plastic ponchos on. I regretted not packing the $12 Icelandic ponchos from several summers ago.
People began to grumble, then to complain outright. "Be patient" I told Hubster. There is absolutely no way this show can go on. We'll be able to go home and make an early night of it.
They made us sit there for another five minutes in the rain, and then announced:
"Ladies and Gentlemen: Metro Weather informs us that this rain will be continuing throughout the evening" (this was news to them?) We must therefore cancel this evening's performance. As per our cancellation policy, you may apply your ticket purchase to any performance for the rest of the season or next year. Please note, you MUST exit to the sides, not through the rear entrance through which you came in. Thank you".

The band did NOT play on; they folded up and left the stage, and we all filed out in an orderly queue. A ten-minute walk back through the park in the dark brought us to the Baker Street area where I led TeenE and Hubster to the nearest bus stop of the 189, having reconnoitered the various options the previous week.

"Gigi" is only on through this weekend, and the weekend calls for rain. If I can't score exchange tickets for THIS Wednesday night, we'll see something else next summer. And pray for good weather.

The actual London Five-Oh

Don Ho of Hawaii Five-Oh, eat your heart out. This is what BlogMom did for her big London Five-Oh.

The day started dreamily with Hubster getting up to "supervise" Teen's morning rituals, leaving me to laze in bed. At one point he came in and asked if I ever thought I'd be living in London on my 50th birthday. I said "YES"!!! I guess he forgot he was married to a semi-professional intutive.

Enjoyed a leisurely breakfast, and received the first congratulatory phone call of the day from New York Sister. I told you she would not let me forget the magnitude of the occasion. She was calling at what was her 5 am!

I had planned to take a long walk on Hampstead Heath (my favorite haunt from my year here in 1978) but the weather did not cooperate. The forecast was calling for heavy rain, and although I NEVER leave home without my umbrella, I knew better than to slog through Hill and Heath and Wood in that kind of weather. I turned to Plan B: Taking the bus up Abbey Road to The End of the Line.

I know what you're thinking--"whoa, she's really living large over there! All the way to the End of the Line! Whatever could she be thinking?" Well, I happen to know that the End of the Line is the Brent Cross shopping mall. I also wanted to see what was at the upper end of Abbey Road, as I hadn't been more than 1/2 mile up, and that was on foot.

So I took the clankety old brass-gated "lift" down to the lobby and went to the bus shelter right near the famous pedestrian crossing. Pretty soon the 189 chugged into sight and I whipped out my Oyster Card. This is the plastic card with stored value that one needs to ride the buses and underground trains in London. I went up to the upper deck of the double-decker red bus and snagged the prime seat right in the front.

The 189 goes straight up Abbey Road until the boundary of St. John's Wood and South Hampstead. Shortly thereafter, it makes a left turn (heading West), leaving the rustle of leafy suburban atmosphere behind for the bustle of Kilburn High Road and the downright hustle of Cricklewood Broadway. Just before the turn a sign advised that there were "Humps for 340 Yards" (insert snicker here). I saw stores with unusual names juxtaposed with shops with even more unusual names.

Our Oliver Road neighbors Leslie and Tom, plus their TeenY will be thrilled to hear of a shop called ShaSha.com. (see photo) That is their name, only spelled differently. It appears to carry really inexpensive clothes for teens. We will have to go there when they come to visit.

A grocery store is called "Iceland.co.uk" and sells "food you can trust". It's a good thing, I wouldn't want any untrustworthy food in my fridge!
A store called "Bathrooms 4 You" has above it a store called "Good 4 You", which sells discounted toys, household goods, and cosmetics. Across the street, The African Food Centre sells fresh vegetables and African magazines and vegetables. B & Q Warehouse has orange lettering and must be a cousin of Home Depot. The housing that is supported with public funds is euphemistically called a "council estate", while the people who pay for their own housing live in buildings called "courts", "lodges", and "gardens".

The bus chugged on. We passed a little park marked "Millenium Breathing Space". I'm not sure if that was somebody's idea of a joke, or the real name of a very weedy spot. The signs did look somewhat official. Just as we passed the Hendon Football Club, an announcement came over the bus's public address system saying that "This bus is being held here for a few minutes in order to help regulate the service." In other words, we had been early! We were making too good time. We needed to delay ourselves to get back on schedule. We paused next to a large green hilly field. Off in the distance, evenly spaced about 50 feet apart from each other, grazed a flock of ....crows. This is not a typo. About three dozen big black ravens were in the field, all walking in the same direction, taking a few steps, then pecking the ground, and moving to a new spot. They were grazing just like cows! I know some birds can be good mimics, but these crows think they are cows!

After pausing for three minutes, our journey bus northward resumed as we crossed a "Humped Zebra Crossing". Perhaps this refers to a striped dromedary? If not, it must mean a raised pedestrian crossing.

Pretty soon the Brent Cross Shopping Centre hove into view. On one side of the highway that we crossed, there was a Borders bookstore, and a T K Maxx (also NOT a typo). The bus terminus was at a mall containing hundreds of stores, including Marks & Spencer, H & M, John Lewis, and (gasp) Claire's accessories, the staple of every US mall, selling cheapy costume jewelry and hair accessories to bored teens.

I spent a good hour poking around the home goods section of John Lewis, looking casually at all their rolls of upholstery fabric, and more seriously at their duvet (down quilt) covers. The flat came fully furnished with double-sized sheets and duvet, but no cover. I was challenged to find one that would co-ordinate with the rust red curtains also provided, without going wacko-wild with eye-popping oranges, reds and purples, as well as without breaking the bank. See photo to decide for yourself if the results are modern yet tasteful, trendy yet retro.

During the hour I was in the mall it must have poured torrents of rain. When I returned outside there were soggy masses of potential bus passengers spilling out from under the bus shelters. There were at least ten different alighting points, each with a letter, and I had to visit six of them before I found the appropriate bus stop for the 189 southbound.

The return trip provided me with even more delightful shop-name juxtapositions. There was the Bosnia and Herzegovena Community Centre & Charity Bookshop, right near the Chinese Medicine Centre of London. Across the street a sign advertised "Polski Sklep", near the King's Head (Dive Bar and Music Joint), not to be confused with the Soho Beach House Bar & Chill Out Club. The aptly-named Blanks Music Store was empty and the anti-theft grills were down and locked. Bellview Airlines advertised discount flights. I do not know to what destinations they fly, I just hope it's not Bell(e)view Hospital (sorry, a joke only NYers will get). Nayong Pilipino was near both a Kebab House AND Sam's Chicken (great tasting, great price!) Rose's Bistro Cafe had as her neighbors Speedy Noodle and Ahmad Zai's "Superstore", whose storefront was all of 12 feet wide.

Buka , (name of a former boss), a business of an indeterminate nature, was near Fase 2 bar and Restaurant AND the Citizens's Advice Bureau. Do they give advice on avoiding Buka's? Subway and KFC (complete with Colonel Sanders and his goatee, an advertising icon no longer used in the US) were juxtaposed with Spicy Basil--Authentic Thai food. Close by was Oakham, Your Local Money Store. No Cash, No Credit, No Problem. We will loan you money at an exhorbitant rate of interest so you can spend it on bad fast food.
We finally turned off Kilburn High Road and passed Sha-Sha.com, the signal that we were once again entering our own neighborhood.

I returned to the flat around 14:00 and was greeted by Hubster, who asked me if I had gotten caught in the rain. It turned out his trip to the St. John's Wood library was marred by precipitation. I do not think that he has learned the rule about never going out without your brolly.

Another B-day call came in shortly thereafter. It was a friend from my University College London days, someone with whom I had hung out in the Drama Society there in 1978. Hubster and I visited with him and his wife-to-be while we were on our honeymoon here in 1986. We've gotten together with them and their kids a few times since then when we've been in London. I was touched to have received a card from them and even more surprised by the telephone call.

TeenE came home from school about 15:15.
The birthday festivities got underway when I received my much-anticipated gift, a trendy rolling grocery cart. No old-lady type for this 50-and-up. I'll be stylin' on the High Street with my collapsible black-and-pink swirly-mod design waterproof shopping trolley. Yowza!

Around 16:00, the three of us then went to the Abbey Cafe for "tea". Cappucinos, tea, tuna melts, and a piece of celebratory pecan pie were thoroughly enjoyed.

We repaired back to the flat, but not before I had a pleasant interlude sitting in the little park nearby. It was the hour at which all the little tykes begin to melt down and their mummies or nannies take them home for "tea" (which is a light evening meal).

The approaching low pressure system then worked its usual magic, triggering a mild migraine. I took a pill and went to bed early, listening to the sound of the heavy rain on the leaves of the London Plane Tree outside our bedroom window.

Historical Note: If you look at the photo on the cover of the Beatles' Abbey Road album, on the left side of the road there is a white Volkswagen bug/beetle. Down past that there is a group of trees, and past that there is a red mail/post box. The big tree out our window can clearly be seen in this photo!

How to launder, UK-style

File under Things To Know About Living in the UK:

In order to do your laundry at home, not in My Beautiful Launderette with Daniel Day Lewis, find the washing machine in your kitchen. It will be disguised behind a cabinet door.

• At the end of every day, sort all your dirty laundry by the type of fabric weight AND the type of wash it requires (regular/permanent press/knits/delicates).
• Place seven or eight (7 or 8) garments OR two (2) sheets OR four (4) towels into the front-loading combination washer/dryer.
• Choose your wash temperature from the options listed only in centigrade, from 40 to 90 C.
• Choose a number from 1 to 9 that will determine the length and amount of washing, and type of drying. Note that these things are not independent of each other.
• Figure out where the laundry detergent goes. Use about two tablespoons, as this is the size of the jug's cap, and you don't have that much laundry in there anyway.
• Choose your drying level. You can have 40, 60, 100, or 150 minutes.
• Alternatively, you can choose one of three picture icons for your drying cycle. These include a shirt with the sun shining on it, a shirt going out a door, or an ironing board.
• Choose one of two settings on four additional push-buttons: one has an iron with an X through it, one says 1200 over 600, one has an icon with a shirt dipping into a puddle, and one is on/off.
• Once you have made all your choices and added the liquid detergent, push ON and close the cabinet door. This locks the machine so that no last-minute item of that wash/dry type can be added, meaning it could be a week before you get to that wash/dry combination again.

• Wait approximately four hours. The machine is purported to wash AND dry your load in approximately this amount of time.
• While you are waiting, wonder several times why it takes so long. Also, listen to the dry cycle's whirring sound that makes it seem like an aircraft is revving its jet engines in your kitchen.
• If your bedroom is next to the kitchen, learn that you may not want to start a load before you go to bed.
• If you are a person who cannot leave the home while the dryer is running due to a prior experience with a dryer fire where you and Essie carried the flaming machine out the basement bulkhead door, (as a beloved family member did many years ago) then you will never be able to leave the flat.
• When the machine finally unlocks, find your still damp laundry inside. You then have several choices. Set the dryer timer to an additional number of minutes (100 recommended) and override the wash settings so the machine just dries. Do this several more times.

• Attend a Welcome New Parents Coffee at your child's school, where one of the parents has humorous vignettes about living in the UK as part of her welcome talk. Learn that there is a little tray of water at the bottom of the machine that has to be emptied out after every load, or else more water will not be able to be spun out of your laundry during the pre-dry spin cycle and garments will remain damp ad nauseum.
• Attempt to find the little tray at the bottom of the machine, which is blocked off by cabinetry. Discover the little tray of water RIGHT THERE next to the slot where the liquid detergent is added, and marvel that you never noticed that it was full of water before.
• After several weeks, discover the instructions for the washing machine in the back of the hall closet.
• Finally decode the icons: The drying icons are said to be "based on the damp level of the dry clothes", which I guess means how damp you want your clothes to be when they come out of the dryer, not a concept with which I am familiar. My US dryer would sense how damp the load was and keep running until it was dry. The ironing board icon means your clothes will come out slightly damp so they will be easier to iron; the shirt-going-out-a-door icon is called "wardrobe", and is the setting to use if you want your clothes dry enough to put away; and the shirt with the sun on it is NOT the one to use if you are going to dry your clothes on a line in the sun, but IS to be used to get "very dry clothes, recommended for towelling and bathrobes". Grammar note: I think that "towelling" is a verb, e.g. an action that you do with a towel (noun) to dry off something. "She used chose a warm, fluffy towel for towelling off the dog before he could drip all over the house."
• Discover that the four buttons that toggle on/off control an "easy iron" function, allowing "your washing to come out of the machine without creases, making it much easier to iron. You can use it with programmes 3-4 (cotton), 5-6-7 (synthetics) and 9-10 (delicates).. Press this button in programmes 5-6-7-8-9 and the wash cycle will come to a stop on the icon showing a tub of water (not sure if this is soak, or rinse). You can complete it by pressing the "easy iron" button again. Notes--"this function should not be used when button G "stain removal" has been pressed--If you also want to run the drying cycle, this button is enabled only if combined with level "iron icon". " Got that?
• Learn that the 1200 over 600 icon is the "slow spin" button. "Use this button to reduce the spinning speed from 1200 to 600 rpm for the cotton and linen programmes and from 850 to 600 rpm for the synthetic fabric programmes." Oh, okay!
• The third icon button of a shirt dipping into a puddle means "stain removal". The instruction book informs me that "thanks to this command, the washer-dryer will carry out a more intensive wash that optimises the effectiveness of the liquid additives, thus allowing more resistant stains to be removed. When you press the stain removal button, you cannot activate the pre-wash." DUH! and Thanks to this command!
• Finally, the 0= out, 1=in button indicates that it is an on/off switch, as previously suspected. I am again informed by the instructions in bold that "Turning the appliance off does not cancel the selected programme." !!!!?????
• Now that I know to empty the little puddle of water out of the machine before each use, each load "only" takes between three and four hours.

• Repeat this process twice a day (thereby cleaning up to 15 garments per day). If you forget to do two loads a day, you will have more dirty laundry to process than is humanly possible.
• Find an ex-pat Canadian who is moving back home on Gumtree.com, the UK's version of Craig's list. Arrange to buy his three (3) laundry drying racks, so that you can install one in the bath tub (it does not contain the shower and is never used) and one for each bedroom. This will mean you can choose less than 100 minutes drying time and perhaps compress more loads into your waking hours.
• Learn that a new friend had the foresight to talk her landlord into installing an additional dryer in a utility closet in the hall before she moved in. Remember the eleventh commandment: Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor's dryer.
• Launder. Rinse. Dry. Repeat

Hats Off !

So what do UK postmen wear when delivering the mail? Who knows about the rest of them, but ours wears a baseball-style cap with the name of a famous team.



Is it a famous football (soccer) team like Arsenal, or West Ham, or Man City? No.

Is it a cricket team? (England just played South Africa yesterday at Lord's cricket ground 1/2 mile from here) No.



It is a US baseball team, the New York Yankees, by name.

No kidding!! See photo for proof.

I asked him if he was a Yankees fan, and he said no.

I asked him if I could take his photo, as my sister Betty in New York (a Yankees fan) would never believe me. He said yes.