YesPleaseAndThankYou

There’s something charming about living in a big, huge city where people are anonymous, yet they (young, old, whatever) THANK THE BUS DRIVER WHEN GETTING OFF THE BUS!

[Also, ‘YesPleaseAndThankYou’–all like that, in one long word–is something I say without thinking. And it cracks J up. He once had a Canadian customer in the pub who said it, and I think now he suspects my Mom has taught everyone in North America their manners.]

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Settling in … almost

Still no money in my UK account, but not for lack of trying. It’s taken uncounted emails (including one I had to write yesterday that wasn’t so nice… but they are a BANK! They should know how to do certain things, or where to get certain info at least, you know? And then not charge me twice for a transaction that will end up only being done to completion once!).

But since there’s nothing I can do but wait, I’ve been trying to settle into a schedule, get some work done, and start to learn how to live in London.

But first, more sight-seeing!

About a week and a half ago I went to the Victoria & Albert (aka the V&A). It’s a museum of design, and it is in some ways rather “Victorian”: Some rooms are a bit dark, it’s full of stuff, and it’s difficult to navigate. I’d be in one room on one floor, wanting to go to the next room and end up going down one staircase and across a hall and end up at the bottom of the same staircase. Like Escher had designed it (actually, I think he designed the British Library; today I ended up in a bank of elevators that only went up two floors while the bank across the hall went up all floors … and I went up and down the same escalator twice).

Chihuly hanging in the entrance of the V&A.

Having come in from the Tube and the tunnels, I didn’t see this glass installation when I entered. But I came in right near the fashion exhibit. Couldn’t take pics, tho, b/c it’s so dark in there. It was so dark in some spots I had to strain to read the tags.

Sculpture and Architecture vie for attention.

The larger galleries held sculptures and pieces of churches, cathedrals, and other buildings. The smaller galleries, in which I couldn’t photograph anything, held smaller objects and things that people used, such as plates, clothing, and furniture. There is even a music room with gorgeous plasterwork and mirrors from a large estate house–a couple of hundred years old–that was dismantled and remantled in the museum.

I didn’t last very long at the V&A. Too overwhelming. But it’s free. So I’ll be back.

Last week I went to a talk at the Museum of London, got lost trying to find it, and arrived after running (no, really, I ran) to listen to a paper about the Pre-Raphaelites and illustrations they did for books in the mid 1800s. (That was the day I saw St Paul’s, already blogged).  This past week I also spent three days at the BL looking at 15 books. Not so many.

On Saturday I went to the Geffrye Museum, which shows the changing interiors of London homes from 1600 until now.

Getting there was an adventure. The Tube is convenient, but you can’t always trust it, especially on weekends. I got to Moorgate station and realized that the next line I needed was down. So I hoofed it a half mile or so to Liverpool station and then tried to find the bus to the museum. (Liverpool station is big and confusing.)

Once I found the bus, I hopped aboard, went upstairs so I could watch the world, and then sat. And waited. And waited. Construction had us down to one lane, and when we finally moved 10 minutes later we went two blocks and the bus driver stopped and threw us all off.

No, I don’t know why!

So I walked about a mile up the road to the museum, which had–surprise!–a garden.

Anemone in bloom.

October in an herb garden.

I spent as much time outside as I did inside, taking pics of the plants and layouts as well as of the signs for each time period, listing the types of plants that were used medicinally, aromatically, etc.

Wisteria climber. I’ll have to come back in the spring to see if they can get it to bloom. I couldn’t even bribe mine to bloom!

After the Geffyre, I hopped on the bus back toward Liverpool station and stayed on, following the road signs on my little map. We passed Poultry and Milk Street and Gutter Lane, and I got off near St. Paul’s so that I could go back to the Museum of London and actually SEE it this time.

Finally got a shot of St. Paul’s dome.

The museum itself was pretty awesome, following the history of London from pre-historic to Roman times to Medieval to Victorian to now and even into the future. My favorite room there was the “Pleasure Garden” room with twinkling lights, videos of garden visitors, and several models in 18th and 19th century costumes.

Then I came home.

The end.

Fall color at the Geffrye.

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Updatery: Banking, School, Life, etc.

Sorry I haven’t updated in a few days. I just woke up this morning and am extremely tired. Yesterday was a round of library visits and tube rides and a meeting and wine and snacks and picking up a friend at one place and delivering  her to another at around 10 and then coming home and passing out. But in a couple hours I am off to the BL (British Library) for the day, and then home to do all sorts of things I haven’t done in days–like read for class next week. And type the minutes for the meeting. And start an online group for the people in the meeting. Oh, and work on my writing assignment. And the novel for January. And perhaps some laundry in there.

The last time we left our intrepid traveler, she was down to less than two pounds and had no money in her UK bank account. I am happy to say I have cash now, having figured out that I can pretty much use any ATM here regardless of the lack of matching symbol, but I still have no money in the account.

I went to the bank here on Wednesday, and discovered I needed what’s called an IBAN (International Bank Account Number) to give to my US bank in order to wire money over. I could have just written myself a check and deposited it into the account here, but the bank person said it would take a week or so to deposit and wiring was faster. So, armed with my new number, I came home and emailed my friend back home with whom I have arranged banking stuff and then went back out to the BL for the day.

I have since been told that the bank in the US is “confused” by the IBAN and also wants another number (called a Swift code). I’ve emailed what I think is the swift to the VP of the bank, and we shall see if they can get their shit together and figure out how to, you know, *bank*! But, like I said, I have cash for now so won’t starve. Which is always nice.

Yesterday I spent much of the morning doing online searches and such for books I need from the BL. I have put in requests all the way up to Nov 12 and maxed out my live request list. As I look at books and return them I can ask for more, but right now I have around 80 on request. So I have to go to the BL on the days I’ve scheduled. Which is today, next M/W/Th, and the two following M/W/Fs. Next week on Friday I leave for Brussels, so a mini vaca from the BL!

One small adventure: I took the bus to the mall where my bank is, and all was fine. I took the wrong bus home! But, following a very smart person’s advice, I sat up top to start to get the lay of the land and so recognized where I was and knew that I was a mile-ish from home and that if I didn’t get off the bus right now I’d end up really lost!

Weird thing seen on the bus: An older man, in his 50s at least, with curly gray hair, glasses, etc., and a face covered in tattoos! He had a bat on his right cheek, three red stars along his right jawline and what looked like a tiny butterfly on his right temple. I didn’t get a good look at the other side except that he had a large butterfly on the left cheek and more red stars along the jawline. The weirdest was a large sever-pointed star/mandala thing on his forehead. I wonder if he regrets his choices….

Pics with the next post, I promise!

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