Almost there!

This week between Christmas and New Year's is like one long held breath.  You could black out waiting for the old calendar to flip over.  Not much happening here.  The streets feel empty (the buses actually get to their destinations speedily); perhaps everyone's gone to Spain for one final check on their foreclosed vacation homes.  We took the plunge on Boxing Day and went to the mall.  Won't do it again!  Navigating through Westfield's was like a salmon trying to swim upstream and over the Hoover Dam!  And the shop we hit for the 50% off sale looked like Filene's Basement after a bomb exploded in the bins!  The fitting rooms were shut for the day, so it was just shoes and tops for us.  As if it weren't hard enough figuring out my UK shoe size, the shoes are also sized in European ones, which are completely different (like from 36 to 42) and they were literally scattered all over.  We make the mistake of arriving late afternoon after the locusts had fed.  Apparently it was one of the biggest sale days ever. Maybe everyone was just waiting for the after Christmas sales, or Santa delivered a new unmaxed credit card.  

It's Christmas -Anyone There?

Yesterday was the last day of school before the Christmas holiday break.  No skimpy one week vacation here - it's a full two-week asta manana, see ya later hiatus.  It's not just the schools either. Basically everything is winding down and, according to the BBC anyway, the whole country had its Christmas party yesterday, or will do so this weekend.  The upcoming week will be the final shopping frenzy, which we will respectfully decline.  Perhaps we'll pay a visit to the Norwegian Christmas tree at Trafalgar Square or the reindeer at Covent Garden, but we intend to coast gently into the new year.  Unlike my workaholic compatriots, this joint (meaning the whole country and continent) will basically shut down between Christmas and New Year's.  It starts with Boxing Day (nothing pugilistic about it) the day after Christmas,  and continues through New Year's Day (and in Scotland, Hogmanay, the day after).  So if you have any urgent business to conduct, forget about it until at least January 2 or even the 3rd.  Just go ahead and get pissed like everyone else. When the New Year finally rings in, we'll be first!

The other day we were looking for some nuts and dried fruit, but the selection was poor and the packages too small for even a bowl of oatmeal.  So we hopped on the bus to Kensington High Street where there is a Whole Foods.  I remember it was a big deal when it first opened almost five years ago, but we had never actually stepped foot inside. So we venture in and of course it's beautifully laid out with a Cornish pasty wagon strategically placed in the middle of the main aisle. There were three food bars, with all kinds of salads, cold prepared foods and hot food. It was like Hometown Buffet!  We wandered around looking for the nuts and not finding any until we stumbled on the elevator bank and the aha moment when we realized there were three floors to this Whole Foods.  We went downstairs to the bulk food department, grabbing our afternoon snack of kettle chips laid out between the aisles. It brought back memories of having an early dinner on Costco samples.  We found our walnuts along a wall of every grain, nut and seed known to man in large bulk dispensers.  The coolest part though was the scale.  You put your bag of stuff on, press the appropriate category and presto, it weighs it and spits out a barcoded price sticker and off you go. Saves all that hassle at checkout.  In fact self checkout it really prevalent here, but that's another topic for another day. Anyway we have crossed the Atlantic only to become Whole Foodies. Who knew?

Strike out!

The big news yesterday was a huge strike by public employees - hospital workers, teachers, immigration - which today was ruled a dud. It was all about complaints over having to pay more toward their pensions and work longer to collect, something that didn't resonate well with the populace in the private sector who lack the largesse of public pension.   Something like two-thirds of schools were closed so parents took the opportunity to do some early midweek Christmas shopping. My daughter's school was open for Sixth Form, but not for the 11 to 13 year olds.  It actually worked out nicely - she commented on how "stress free" it was without the "little kids" and we had a relaxing conference with the head of Sixth Form.   At Heathrow the passport barricades were manned by "volunteers" from other departments and apparently they did a cracking good job, too, as there were fewer delays than normal! So much for all the anticipated illegals sneaking in.  The occasion couldn't pass without another ornery Brit going off at the mouth.  Top Gear host Jeremy Clarkson riled the BBC audience when he  jokingly or not opined that public sector workers should be executed in front of their families. There's talk now of him getting fired!  Well, that's proof the speech police didn't go on strike!