London

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Thumbs up for Moon Over Soho by Ben Aaronovitch. Fantasy.

It’s a demonstration of how very much I liked the first book in this series, Rivers of London (see my review) that I immediately jumped into the second – something I rarely do. Blessedly, it’s just as good as Rivers: full of rich detail and wit. (Yes, Peter does do something fairly stupid in Soho…but what young man doesn’t make stupid decisions when hot women are involved?… >> Read more

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The last dusk. Sigh.

My first thought on waking to our last day in the UK was:

‘Holy crap did she set off the smoke alarm again?! That’s the third time!’

But it was just the obnoxious alarm clock going off like a banshee. Theoretically, I could have slept for another half hour but it was never going to happen after that adrenaline rush.… >> Read more

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Our train got in at 10:30 last night so I went to bed late (1:00ish I think), which was a bit unfortunate as the smoke alarm went off at what my watch told me was 9:30 in the morning.

It is a feature of my relationship with smoke alarms that my first thought upon awakening was not ‘Oh God where’s the fire?!’… >> Read more

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There was a small, polite, very British sign on Dickens’ desk that said PLEASE DO NOT TOUCH; but sometimes one has to embrace one’s stereotypes, so in full knowledge of my crime I reached out and gave it a good rub. I’m American, we’re uncouth. Right?

Also, it’s Dickens’ own bloody desk. Where he wrote his last paragraphs of Edwin Drood.… >> Read more

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==7:41==

This symbol makes me happy.

We’d thought that today ought to be a museum day, but when we got up it was so utterly beautiful out that I whined ‘I don’t wanna be inside!’ and we decided to go to the Camden Town Markets instead.

Camden is the site of the Camden Lock.

The Camden Stables Market is decorated with a herd of fine bronze horses – this one helping a shopkeeper display her wares.… >> Read more
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==9:33pm==

We have a list a mile long of things to see in London so we’re trying to batch things together so we don’t have to backtrack. Today we went southeast to what I think was the Belgravia neighborhood. Lovely bright unLondony weather again!

First the Victoria & Albert Museum:

I didn’t see the ‘no photos’ sign at first. (I had been going by the fact that I could hear beeping cameras but no complaining docents).… >> Read more

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==11:51pm==

Nothing particularly amusing happened today, because I met with my dear friend Kate (who is going to school in London) and we amused ourselves.

Firstly she took me to go see the Changing of the Guard:

This was the only moment when I had a view of anything.

Kate said that the story is, Queen Vic instituted the Changing after discovering all of the guards drunk.… >> Read more

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==11:11am==

I was awakened by the badger again this morning at 4:00am. Apparently he demands to be fed three times a day. I tried appeasing him with thoughts of the delicious-looking gluten-free bread we got at Sainsbury’s last night, which had an appointment with some scrambled eggs in the morning; or the gluten-free crumpets (!!) that were engaged to some lemon curd.… >> Read more