Little Venice and the Canals of London

I like to explore areas outside of my own neighborhood and my latest adventure took place in Little Venice.

The Little Venice area of London is a well known, up scale part of town built around two of the major canals in London.


Canals were built throughout London and Britain to transport goods particularly coal from the mining regions to London where there was great demand.




As rail and roads were built over the ensuing years, the canals have turned from transporting goods to tourism. We can rent canal boats, often referred to as cigar boats because of their long-narrow profile.


Not only can canal boats be rented but there are path ways along the canals which make for wonderful walks.

A Walk in the Park

The icy blast of winter has loosened it's grip on London just a bit and as is typical of a population suffering from cabin fever, we Londoners get out quickly when the precipitation stops.

As in most large cities, we have many great parks and wilderness areas within the boundaries of London. I like the famous parks of the city, Hyde Park, Regents Park, St James Park but my favorite for a good brisk hike is Hampstead Heath.

The Heath is not far from my house - a short bus ride to several lovely park entrances. This past weekend the clouds parted for a brief time and I headed out for a walk in the park.

About 9 AM I hopped the 46 - affectionately known as the Phantom 46- for it's irregular adherence to any kind of schedule. As long as you are flexible about your time commitments, the 46 works fine.

It runs through Swiss Cottage, up into Hampstead and on into the city. I live in Swiss Cottage and the Heath is in Hampstead (hence the name).

I got off the bus on the High Street of Hampstead (the shopping area) and headed over to the Heath down Flask Walk, to Well Walk and into the western part of the Heath.

There are wide expanses of wilderness cut by trails from the width of a two lane road, paved walkways, to single trails cutting through the brush.


Even on a cool winter morning there were dozens of people running, hiking and walking their dogs and children.

There were even two teams of runners competing in some kind of survival course each lead by a Rambo-esk soldier barking orders.

The runners all looked like clerks or business people wondering what they had gotten themselves into. Most out of shape, huffing and puffing up the hills, looking a bit disoriented.



Toward the southern part of the Heath is one of the highest points in London, Parliament Hill. I love the view from the top of the hill with central London in the misty distance.


On down the hill I trudged toward the ponds. Two for swimming - one clothing optional, and lower pond for the ducks. The ducks had noticed the absence of swimmer and were happily using all the ponds.

As I hiked out of the Heath I was feeling happy to have gone on the hike and even happier that I knew were the public toilets were outside the park.

Britain doesn't have the same laws regarding the availability of toilet facilities. Shops do not have to provide restrooms for customers and restaurants have them only for customers. Part of any good outing in London is having a guide who knows where you can go.

A public wee is frowned upon but rather common given the lack of public facilities.

Jobs in a Tough Economy

(On the left, my apartment building in London.)
I really have been pretty lucky in my career to have been steadily employed for the past 25-30 years. Although in my early days of teaching, I spent several years experiencing job cuts or the threat of job cuts.

I was moved from school to school the first three years, then went to part time before going back to full time at a middle school where I worked until my retirement.



My daughter has had a similar experience although she always ends up back at the same school but the rumors of cuts in the program keeps her a bit on edge. Each year could be her last at this school and she worries about where she will be sent or have to find on her own, for the following year.


I came to London this year to cover for my friend and colleague while she took a year's leave of absence. She will be returning in the fall.
( Above, inside my flat.)

When I came here it was my hope that some position would open up for me and I could stay for several years - maybe until I am 65 and can retire from full-time teaching.



There is now math opening for next year in the middle school but I have no guarantee that I will get it. It is takes me back to the early days of my career. Wondering, waiting. There are several considerations and I think at this point I have a 50/50 chance of getting the position.

Whatever is meant to be will be. I am sort of OK with that although I will be more OK with it when it is all sorted out.
(My classroom in London.)

Frozen Britain 2010

We had a very mild fall in London. Very little rain, sunny bright days much more like early October than late November and early December. The predictions were for a mild, dry winter too. I flew off to Oregon for winter break on a sunny, clear day.

While I was gone for 10 days, Great Britain turned cold. Icy cold. When I returned on 1 January 2010 it was to a very cold, grey day. It has gotten progressively colder since my return one week ago. It began snowing last Monday, 4 Jan, and has continued all week. Most days it has barely warmed to above freezing by mid-day. The nights have been well below freezing.

The London Times published the follow picture on Thursday taken by the University of Dundee showing all of the British isle covered in snow.


Some places have feet of snow, with many roads and schools closed, areas with no power, some with no heat. London has several inches but it has been too cold for any of it to melt away. If it melts during the day, it freezes that night to a sheet of ice. Many schools have been closed - not ours. The buses are on special routes, some of the tube lines are down because of ice on the tracks.

This is the most extensive snow cover Britain has ever know - at least in recorded history.

And the outlook? Many more days perhaps weeks, of sub-freezing temperature, snow and wind.

Time to snuggle up with a bowl of hot soup, a thick blanket and a good book!

Keep warm! Cheers all!

Holiday Markets

Over the last few weekends before winter break (and my trip back to the Pacific northwest) my friend Jenny and I visited all the central London Holiday Markets.

Holiday Markets are craft/gift markets set up in preparation for the Christmas/Hanuka season. London has dozens of regular weekly markets which also offer great gift ideas but these were all temporary markets with a holiday theme.

We found one small market on the south bank of the Thames. It was made up of about a dozen little wooden huts with food, crafts and jewelry for sale.

The second market we went to was on a vacant lot across the street from Selfridges. It had the same huts as the south bank market with a few additions - hats, metal sculptures, wind chimes.

The biggest and by far the best was the Winter Wonderland Market in Hyde Park. Jenny and I had heard about this market - the organizers were doing a good deal of advertising on television. We had not gone earlier because it looked like a children's playground instead of a holiday market.

We we arrived we were surprised at the size and complexity of this market. It included an ice skating rink!














There were many food booths - we shared a cinnamon pretzel -


tons of craft booths, and many rides for both adults and children.













The market was like a small city with a large section for caravans where the employees lived.

Jenny and I rode on the observation wheel - like a Ferris wheel but with enclosed cars to ride in.


















No holiday market is complete without a pirate! There did seem to be a bit of a Halloween theme going on too on several of the rides.














It was a beautiful day and Jenny and I had a great time.

Trying to Shore up the Old Foundation

A nice thing about moving to a new location on your own is that you can build an interesting life based on what you would like to do. And if you find something you thought you would enjoy doesn't turn out to be so interesting, you can drop it and do something else. I love having the freedom to do that.

I folk danced for 20 years then stopped for almost 10 years but now I am back dancing. I have found a lovely group of people who enjoy dancing and have been friendly and welcoming to me.

However, dancing once a week was not enough and I began to wonder about how fit I might be. I joined the local Leisure Centre (fitness centre) so that I could swim and go to water workout classes but after watching a program called The Biggest Loser, I decided I needed not only more regular workouts but something more intense than swimming.

The Leisure Centre has a state of the art gym so I now go workout almost a hour every evening. At first I did a 20 minute walk on the treadmill and a few reps on the various weight machines. I have slowly been increasing my workout time and intensity.

Tonight I ran for 15 minutes, walked for another 10 then did three reps on each of the machines, most upper body work. I usually do more but I cut it a bit short because I wanted to get to the cleaners to pick up my yellow coat. Unfortunately, I just could not get out of the shower - it felt too good, so I missed the closing by 10 minutes.

This will be my last weekend in London until after the new year so I have been mulling over my options. I need to get my hair cut, I need to pick up my coat.

I also want to go to a play and it will be my last chance to get to the biggest Christmas Market which is in Hyde Park. So it will be a busy weekend doing some fun things.

I am actually totally packed and have figured out my route to the airport on 19 December. The usual tube line that I would take to Heathrow Airport is closed that weekend so I can either pay £50 for a cab or take two tube lines and a train to get there. I will have to see whether time or money feels more important as I get closer to the day I am leaving.

The weather continues to be unseasonablely warm but it sounds like I will get to feel the Artic Blast that has hit the northwest. I can't wait to get home!!!

What is With the Weather?

Hi All,
I notice that at 10:30 AM today in Portland Oregon it is 22.5 F! That seems a bit cold for this time of year.

The weather report currently on the BBC is telling me that it is 10 C (48 F) here in London at 6:30 PM. I already knew it was "warm" because I walked home from the grocery store, (about a kilometer) and noticed I was very warm in my coat and hat.

As I neared my flat I realized this was an opportunity for me to drop my coat off at the dry cleaners. This coat is one I bought here in London 2-3 months ago. It is a wool pea coat in a bright yellow with black trim.



The vast majority of Londoners wear black coats - well really black everything- during the winter. It seems so dreary and morbid - but maybe I feel that way because I have taught for so long and liked to brighten up the classroom during the darker months to keep spirits up and minds engaged.

What I didn't realize when I bought this coat is that yellow is a hard colour to keep clean! Particularly when I pick up a morning paper each day on my way to the tube to school and walk with it under my arm. All that newsprint rubbing off on my coat! Plus just the normal encounters with dirt here and there - it really shows on yellow.

So the coat is now at the cleaners and I will see how it looks when I pick it up on Wednesday.

I have a purple REI outdoors coat but it doesn't have the class needed for my daily trek to work. I also bought a lovely boiled wool coat at the yarn show in October but had stopped wearing as I thought it was getting too cold. Looks like it is warm enough to wear it since we are predicted to have sunny days with the temperatures in the 50's the rest of the week.

Global warming? We may never know!