Tuesday 25 September 2007

Back in Little Rock . . . .

This month is the 50th anniversary of the beginning of desegregation of Little Rock Schools. Vanity Fair has a profile of Elizabeth Eckford at http://www.vanityfair.com/politics/features/2007/09/littlerock200709?currentPage=1. Other good coverage is available at www.arktimes.com.

Sunday 16 September 2007

Thames Festival

Just in case you are looking for something fun on Sunday, the Thames Festival continues today. Think Riverfest on steroids. The grand finale is the Night Carnival/parade tonight, followed by fireworks. For more information, go to www.thamesfestival.org.
Diane

Friday 14 September 2007

Open House London

One of the biggest events this weekend is Open House London – an opportunity to get inside many buildings normally closed to the public. The online guide is £3 at www.openhouse.org.uk, but if you would like to take a look at it, come by our flat. Most buildings, walks, and tours (there are 660!) are free.

There’s a special exhibit at the Soane Museum – if you want to read about it, feel free to borrow our Time Out. There’s also a review of the First Emperor exhibit at the British Museum (for which over 101,000 tickets have already been sold!). It’s a little pricey (£12), but gets a good review. It’s also your only chance to get inside the truly wonderful reading room in the center of the indoor courtyard. It’s open the entire time we’re here.

Potluck will be at 6 on Monday in our flat. All are welcome – if you don’t cook, bring a drink or some bread or something that just needs to be heated up – Tesco and Sainsbury have lots of good and fairly inexpensive stuff! Tesco has pizzas on 2 for 1 this week, and that good sparkling peach water 3 for 1.14, I think. Tesco also has a good markdown section just before the produce. There are some bargains there.

Hope you have a great weekend!

Sunday 9 September 2007

British Library

After people had trouble finding the boat races, and after we never did find the Bloomsbury walk, I hereby swear to check every event with the original source before posting it. No more relying on Time Out!

On the bright side, it gave us time to go to the British Library today, and there's a fantastic exhibit on sacred texts of Christianity, Islam, and Judaism. Go to http://www.bl.uk/sacred for more information. You need a ticket, but it's free. Last day is September 23. Be sure to also go to their standing exhibition where you can see the Magna Carta, Shakespeare's First Folio, and listen to a Beatle's song while looking at the original composition.

Potluck Monday night at 6 at our flat. It doesn't have to be culinary genius - something from the "ready to cook" section at Tesco's is great! Salad, bread, and drinks are also easy contributions.

There's another American prof in town looking for a babysitter. If you're interested, let me know and I'll get you her number. Her daughter is 6, turning 7 this month.

Hope you have a great week!

Saturday 8 September 2007

More free books!

These are in Wayne & Diane’s room:

William Shakespeare The Great Comedies and Tragedies
Macbeth (2)
King Lear (2)
Love’s Labor’s Lost
World War One British Poets (2)
The Complete Works of William Shakespeare

And, for just pleasure reading, Texas Monthly (August).

Friday 7 September 2007

A Visitor's Britain

There are a number of copies of A Visitor's Britain (for Susie's class) in the lounge in the basement of Janet Poole, and also one in the bookshelve by the stairs to the basement. I think these copies can be borrowed, and Susie has said we should go ahead and grab ourselves one if that's the case.

Free stuff this weekend

Thanks, everyone, for coming to the reception. We really enjoyed having you! I've invited all of you to be authors on this blog, so anyone can post.

Here's some free stuff this weekend:

World Press Photo Exhibition, Royal Festival Hall, Belvedere Road (Waterloo tube). 10 a.m. - 11 p.m. daily through Sunday. The best of photojournalism from the past year.

Exploring Bloomsbury's Historic Squares. Sunday 2 p.m. Meet at the Euston Road north exit of the King's Cross St. Pancras tube. From JPH, go left on Gower. At Euston, use the tube station to cut under Euston Rd. (you're not getting on the tube!), then go east on Euston (this is turning left as you come out of the station). Walk past the British Library, then look for the King's Cross St. Pancras tube. King's Cross and St. Pancras are both enormous train stations right next to each other. We're planning on going, so if you want to go with us meet in our flat at 1:30.

While you’re there, the British Library has a wonderful gallery, with items including a Gutenberg Bible, the Magna Carta, and the original Alice in Wonderland. They have a fun thing called “Turning the Pages,” that allows you to look at more pages of historical texts than the one that happens to be open in the exhibit. Notice, too, the statue of Isaac Newton in the courtyard. Not that you could miss it.

Another free exhibition is the London Wall Project at the Spitz Gallery in Old Spitalfields Market. It runs through September 24 and includes “personal aspects of public celebrations.” Sounds interesting. Also, the Great River Race on the Thames is 12:55-4:10 on Saturday.

There are tons of other listings in TimeOut!

By the way, have you noticed that the wallpaper on this blog is nearly identical to the upholstery on our couch?

Wednesday 5 September 2007

Welcome to the Hendrix in London blog!


We thought this might be a good way to share things we've learned. If you have things to add, post comments or email them to Diane. Watch here, too, for announcements from Wayne.


Great websites for getting around:



Transport for London's web site: http://www.tfl.gov.uk/. This lets you put in a starting and ending address and find the best route. It will even tell you if you're better off walking! Plus it has announcements about the tube strike.


Know you saw a shop but can't remember the name? Try http://www.streetsensation.co.uk/. It lets you see what shops are on a road via a picture of the streetscape. Here's an example from Tottenham Court Road: http://www.streetsensation.co.uk/tottcrt/tcr_w1.htm.


Deals of the week:

Buy Time Out this week - it has a 2 for 1 coupon for dinner at Wagamama, meaning 2 can eat a great dinner for less than 10 pounds (through 9/11). The closest Wagamama is on Streatham, left off Gower just past Great Russell Street. By the way, Time Out is available for a discount at the ULU (2.10 instead of the cover price of 2.80).


Sainsbury has ready-to-bake pizzas (cheese, pepperoni, ham & pineapple) on for less than 1.70. They're decent, not great.


Upcoming deals:

Use a Post Office phone card for 15 pence calls (unlimited time) to the States on Sundays in October! Go to the Post Office to get a card and for more details.
Reminders:
Get your Oyster card if you haven't already. It allows you to travel for half price, and will never exceed the cost of a daily pass (3 pounds on the bus, more on the tube).
The welcome reception is at 5 Thursday in our room.
The first potluck (purely optional!) will be Monday at 5:30 in our room.