Monthly Archive for July, 2007

British summer…

Published
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Tryphoon
on July 21, 2007
in Tryphoon
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Yesterday was the day I  was meant to use my visit to London to attend some of my best friends’ wedding…

All stars seemed to have aligned correctly… Work was done. Shopping for Sarah and Thia was done… Even my timing was good (even has planned for an extra hour contingency plan)…

One thing I hadn’t planned with was a huge thunderstorm and a close to total failure of the London Underground… 

So here I am, shortly before 12, bags on my shoulder, leaving our Hammersmith office, having checked tube maps (and possible issue on the network) & the Stansted Express timetable, just about to get out of the building to get on the Hammersmith & City line… and then I see a major thunderstorm above London, streets are filled with water, cars are stopping and I hear that one of my former colleague has had to leave in a hurry because his house might have been flooded! 

So I rush to the tube station, only to find out that the Hammersmith & City line (pink) is closed due to flooding. I am then advised to cross the road and hop on the Picadilly line…

No stress…

Timing is still good and I have extra time built in… Only issue at this point in time, the rain is so strong that my blackberry got totally wet and seems to have died as a result of that forced shower! 

Once in the tube station, I am told that the eastbound Picadilly line platform is flooded and that I have to go westbound for one stop and change train to come back. No biggie! I hence find myself going towards Heathrow, planning to change in Acton Town and resume my route towards Liverpool Street… The only problem is that once in Acton Town, we are told that the Picadilly line is flooded as well and are told to get on the District Line… The slowest line in the world… So back towards Hammersmith and hopefully Earl’s Court. Arrived in Hammersmith, we are instructed to abandon the District Line and go on the Picadilly again. A train is waiting there for us. I board the train and off we go… and stop… Time is getting tight but I have faith!Next stop, we are once again told that the Picadilly line is now totally dead and that we need to go back on the District line!!!! About to lose my temper but hey, I am going to Caro and Momo’s wedding!

And then the best part of it… Earl’s Court is now closed to all trains and the next stop is Gloucester Road. Great!Until our train simply stops between West Kensington and Gloucester Road and remains there for well above an hour… Signal failure, flooding, track failure, despatch gone silent (resulting in our driver using the track telephone)… The full monty!

Over 2 1/2 hour to finally having ended up only 2 tube stops away from where I initially started! Result: Flight at 3:00PM, 45 minutes are required to get to the airport from Liverpool street. Need to be there an hour in advance, or in my usual case, 30 minutes… and it is now 2:30PM… so even if I can travel at the speed of light, I have missed my check-in window and hence my flight!

Time for Plan B!

Once in Gloucester Road (actually where my hotel was), the driver strongly suggests to us to change train. We are then told that anyways, the District Line is shut down past Gloucester Road and the same applies to the Central Line… Leaving me with going back to the Picadilly Line… Horror!

Well, the Picadilly seems to work OK at that point in time! Decision in made to stop at Green Park (very central location), find a Starbucks and try to book some other method of transportation to reach Nantes… Only issue with that… One way ticket, late booking, etc… Fees are ridiculously high and the best option would left me stranded in Nantes (France) at approximately midnight, with no place to stay and the next available ferry to the “Ile d’Yeu” 40 miles and 8 hours away all that for a whooping $600 on top of the $500 I already paid for my missed return flight, not even including the 2 nights at the local hotel.

So call made to Sarah at home, Jef, Caroline (the Bride) ; all of these courtesy of Skype ; and the new plan is to stay with Jef until Sunday and fly home, simply passing on the wedding!

I am totally and utterly gutted to say the least, being so close and still unable to make it! I guess I won’t see Caro, Momo, Kate and Alexis, flown in from HK and many other friends from either Paris or London this time…

So plan C is now going back to Jef’s place and flying back home on Sunday (well, today’s flight HAD to be fully booked) 

Back in London!

Published
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Tryphoon
on July 20, 2007
in Tryphoon
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After 5 months spent in the US,  I am now back in London, in our Hammersmith office, for the week. I would lie if I’d say I wasn’t delighted to go back east for a week and see my old home but once arrived in town and passed the first few hours of hysteria, I started to realise that somewhere deep inside, I was now “visiting” London and not really going back home. Home is where the family lives so for now it is Southern California!

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But this didn’t prevent to try to see as many old friends and old places as time and business schedule permits and my first day on the ground was split between shopping with Mike in Chelsea, a brief visit to the office, the local pub attached to it, my own local and our old cantina (The Salisbury Tavern). No need to say that with the help of jet lag, I was dying in my plate of food around 10pm and went back to my hotel…

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Tuesday: Jet Lag: 100%… Lunch time food coma included! The highlight of day 2 has been a proper evacuation of the Soho House, where we were having the usual “last 1, 2, 3 for the road”. Out of the blue, the waitress kindly asked us to leave the premises as the Police had detected a car bomb in front the renowned place… So Chris is walking downstairs while finishing his drink, already accustomed to the British , while Dan is trying to get his credit card from behind the (now abandoned) bar, Mike is taking pictures from the street and I am taking pictures from the 3rd floor… Once outside, we noticed that a large portion of Soho was getting evacuated and the arms police was being deployed… So we simply decided to follow the advice and bugger off! 

Wednesday: Well, still can’t get over my jet lag and lunch time is the time of another food coma for me!

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Thursday: I finally have a bit of time and I am meeting with my little bro Jef tonight, for a little 1-2-1 in South Ken. Usual pick up in Hammersmith, quick drive around and we finally end up in a little French place on Old Brompton Rd…

Friday: Please see next post!!!! Started well… All in all… Rain… Loads of rain… Missed flight.. Can’t go to wedding… Staying with Jef… Couple of pints and a curry… A proper Friday night! 

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The funny thing about this trip (apart from the couple of problems we might have encountered) is that I couldn’t help but noticing few  things that used to make me smile when I used to live in London, some of them being things that my US colleagues mentioned as well in the past and that I used to simply take for granted.

The first thing is obviously the “driving on the left” part of the road experience. That did not took long to fade out but now that I am a kind of qualified driver (at least in California), the size of the street terrified me… Oh my, oh my! I personally would be close to unable to drive around London, unless I could get some training beforehand… I spent most of the week in a fear for collision (especially when driving with my Jef)… I guess I am used to the 12 lanes freeways and the 4 lanes streets and not a 2 way streets with cars parked on both sides of it, so big that it would fit in a  single lane of the 5 freeway! :)

Then, the Tube! Mike and I spent most of the week using public transport and I realised how much I forgot about rush hours, riding the Picadilly line. Which leads to another typical London view: Working girls in perfect working suits, wearing trainers and a little carry bag for their high heels shoes. Sweet!

While we are on the subject, the fashion over the pond seems to still include full visibility of G-Strings while wearing hipsters trousers (for girls only). That I didn’t miss!

So all in all, this trip has been bitter sweet. Really happy to see some of my friends (sorry to those I didn’t manage to meet, but we were on a very tight schedule), really happy to see my old home, but in a way, feeling already so distant of it… Sarah is next and shall visit Britain in November at the latest… I guess we’ll have a full report then!

Some weird things growing up in our garden

Published
by
Tryphoon
on July 1, 2007
in Californication
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Well, this is true. Over the last couple of days, some weird things seems to have grown up in our garden. So, firstly, our back garden seems to be now full of mushrooms… Not sure yet if these are OK or not, but knowing my young monster, it seems that we will have to remove these ASAP if we want to avoid some drama, as mushis are a favorite in her diet!

And then yesterday, we found this other addition to our garden, planted in front our house, next to our driveway…

So, a far as mushrooms are concerned, we know where they are coming from and how to deal with them but what about this flag? Where did it come from? And most importantly, Sarah and I are still unsure about keeping it there or not? If yes, can I put a French flag there on Bastille Day? Can we have a Union Jack for St George’s Day? If not, will we be seen as bad people? Will we get poisoned? 

Please help!Â