Today every woman's worst nightmare came true for me....
After my french class, at about 7:45 pm I got the Northern Line heading North (High Barnet Branch) from Tottenham Court Road station. The carriage was quite full, and there were a few people standing. I may or may not have uttered a wee sigh of surpise (mainly because I had had to stand the entire hour-and-twenty minutes on the way in to work...there had been delays) but I resolved that it was good for me to stand and get a little more exercise for my core stability muscles...
Just then I felt a tap on my arm and an approaching-elderly gentleman offered me his seat. I smiled and politely declined. He then said "no, I insist" to which I (still smiling) said "Honestly, I am fine standing, but thank you" at which point he hopped out of his seat and said "Look, I'm already standing!" Not wanting to discourage the man from offering others seats in the future I smiled and said "well, thanks then" and sat down.
Looking around, I noticed that I was not the only woman who had been standing, and I thought he was struggling to hold on to the pole a bit. When someone else vacated a "leaning spot" standing up, he immediately went and stood there. He stayed on from Tott. Ct Rd to Tufnell Park, so it wasn't as if he was about to get off anyways...
"Why", I thought to myself "would an elderly gentleman so kindly give up his seat for a woman of only 30?"....
....unless he thought I was pregnant....
I know I have some post-plantar faciitis pudge, but I hadn't realised it had gone to this extreme!
I've been able to laugh it off, fortunately, but I hope you will excuse me now, because I have made an early morning date with Gym...
Wednesday, April 23, 2008
St George's Day Pub
I was happy to see that a pub in Bethnal Green still celebrates!
I loved that the scooter was out there...(some of the Good ol' East Enders still getting out) and that there was another typical London symbol, the Black Cab parked outside.
Happy St George's Day!!
I loved that the scooter was out there...(some of the Good ol' East Enders still getting out) and that there was another typical London symbol, the Black Cab parked outside.
Happy St George's Day!!
Slowly but surely
This was after a few hours work about a week ago (although I haven't been back in the past week so who knows how it will be on Saturday when I next get there!)
Gooseberry Bushes
The Gooseberry Bushes on the allotment are the most exciting feature (until I plan a few more things at least!). I can't wait to make pies and jams!
Love at First Sight
I have been spending a lot of my spare time lately wrapped up in my latest love affair...Olly the Allotment. This is the day Olly and I first met. It was the morning after the first snow in London....April 6, 2008! Stay tuned to see how the affair unfolds!
Wednesday, April 02, 2008
Changing London
I thought the "Drivers Wanted" sign was interesting to find in the Chrisp St Market area (across from All Saints DLR) where people are driving for progress and change from the old East End to "living up to" being in the shadows of Canary Wharf...
Not just cleaners...
I have been thinking a lot about what it must be like for people living in this not-so-terribly-well-off part of London to be living with Canary Wharf in their back gardens. I thought this fence around the housing estate was quite symbolic and reminded me of when I heard it said that the kids living in Tower Hamlets need to become those who work in Canary Wharf and not just those who clean the buildings. I wonder how many of those barriers have really been removed...
Childhood Horrors
I spent my lunchbreak today at the Museum of Childhood in Bethnal Green with my friend Luke who is visiting from Australia. I was traumatised to see one of my childhood favourites, Blueberry Muffin (of Strawberry Shortcake fame) presented in such a way. It was really an exhibit about how toys are checked for safety but need it have been so graphic (the photo didn't capture the other two heads that had been experimented on as well!)
Tuesday, April 01, 2008
Developing opinions, insights and thinking they matter
Kristy from Canada was visiting London the other day and she asked why I don't blog anymore.
Apart from having a job that keeps me busy such that I don't have half a day to sit around twiddling my thumbs (or blogging) anymore, I started to be of the opinion that blogging was rather self-indulgent and I am not sure that people really need to know my random ramblings (of the verbal pursuation) on a variety of things...unless they help to better humanity, etc, etc.
So....I am trying to read books and the business and sports sections of papers (usually they reach the recycling bin first!) and watch films and learn various things about various things...like economics, politics and history, and how to best manage my worm composter.
Furthermore, I realised that I have never been one for expressing an opinion much beyond that the Leafs are my favourite team and that I missed snow this winter. That's another skill I need to work on...
I do manage to update my flickr site though...so keep checking that... I am thinking about abandoning facebook too...I have redisovered proper conversations with my friends, and they are lovely things to have!
Another thing I have been working on is talking to random people and trying to be a bit more bold in reaching out to make London a bit of a smaller and more friendly place. So far it has worked a bit...I made friends with Iris and Jeff at a Nottingham ice hockey game because they were wearing Peterborough (Ontario) Petes jerseys, and I may soon be meeting up for a casual drink with a newspaper columnist I like simply because I emailed and said I enjoyed the column and would love to meet up for a drink to discuss it...
This may only be the beginning my friends!
Oh, and I would like to express my congratuations to Rich who handed in his Dissertation yesterday. This completes two years of very hard work and hardly seeing him on the weekends (although he did manage to find and marry a wife in that time, so it couldn't have been all bad!). Yay Rich! I am so proud!
Anyways, I am looking forward to testing my new skills and hope that you will all be patient with (and not to hard on) me.
Apart from having a job that keeps me busy such that I don't have half a day to sit around twiddling my thumbs (or blogging) anymore, I started to be of the opinion that blogging was rather self-indulgent and I am not sure that people really need to know my random ramblings (of the verbal pursuation) on a variety of things...unless they help to better humanity, etc, etc.
So....I am trying to read books and the business and sports sections of papers (usually they reach the recycling bin first!) and watch films and learn various things about various things...like economics, politics and history, and how to best manage my worm composter.
Furthermore, I realised that I have never been one for expressing an opinion much beyond that the Leafs are my favourite team and that I missed snow this winter. That's another skill I need to work on...
I do manage to update my flickr site though...so keep checking that... I am thinking about abandoning facebook too...I have redisovered proper conversations with my friends, and they are lovely things to have!
Another thing I have been working on is talking to random people and trying to be a bit more bold in reaching out to make London a bit of a smaller and more friendly place. So far it has worked a bit...I made friends with Iris and Jeff at a Nottingham ice hockey game because they were wearing Peterborough (Ontario) Petes jerseys, and I may soon be meeting up for a casual drink with a newspaper columnist I like simply because I emailed and said I enjoyed the column and would love to meet up for a drink to discuss it...
This may only be the beginning my friends!
Oh, and I would like to express my congratuations to Rich who handed in his Dissertation yesterday. This completes two years of very hard work and hardly seeing him on the weekends (although he did manage to find and marry a wife in that time, so it couldn't have been all bad!). Yay Rich! I am so proud!
Anyways, I am looking forward to testing my new skills and hope that you will all be patient with (and not to hard on) me.
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