Strange choices

Of course, living in a big city, not everything is beautiful and pretty. But, as with most historic cities (and, I am sure, several modern ones as well), there are areas of the city that are post card pretty/monumental. London is, of course, heavily associated with Houses of Parliament/Big Ben - and rightly so.

And Parliament square is quite amazing to visit. A little further away from the river you find, on one corner, Westminster Abbey (well worth a visit, in my humble opinion):


Then, there's the Middlesex guildhall:

And the Methodist central hall:

All very grand and beautiful buildings. But then, all of a sudden, opposite the Abbey, you find the Queen Elizabeth II conference centre:

What??? Where did that come from??? Which architect thought it was a brilliant idea to put an alien spaceship among all the historical (more or less) buildings that surround it? I realize that mixing styles from different eras always is a tricky job, but come on?! It is one of the worst cases of architectural clashes I have ever seen - and I have to pass it every time I take the bus in to town...

(All photos from wonderful Wikipedia.)

Photo extravaganza

Nothing too exciting going on, so this will basically just be a photo report. (What happened to all my funny blog entries? I turned 30 and became boring?) Tim and I went to the Tate Britain today, to feel grown up and cultural. It was fine enough, although we decided we're not really art people (not completely true, but you - we - get quite 'saturated' by seeing so much historical art. After a while most of it sort of floats together, and it is sometimes hard to see the greatness of it. And now we're not talking modern art!). But I brought my camera, and we strolled there (over Vauxhall bridge) and back (via Lambeth bridge), so it was quite an excursion in the end. So, here are a few London photos (click for a larger view):

Wonderful Vauxhall bus station


View of Battersea power station, from Vauxhall bridge


View from the north side of the river, looking at Vauxhall bridge


From Lambeth bridge, looking towards Waterloo


Setting sun from the south side of the river - the dome being Tate Britain. How low the water is!

And as you can see - all the snow is now gone! (Although we are getting reports from Tim's family that there are loads and loads in the south-west.)

Status report

I still do get quite a lot of questions about my PhD thesis, although of a slightly different kind than before. It used to be: is it finished yet? Now: when will you have your viva (i.e. defense)? Up til now I haven't really been able to say anything, but I have now been informed about the situation. My committee (which took forever to put together, because no one wanted to read it, ha ha, I don't blame them) has asked for an extension so that they will have enough time to read it through thoroughly. Their new deadline is end of May, which makes a viva before the summer impossible (the viva normally set to about 6 weeks after the committee's 'review'). So, at the moment it seems as if I have to wait til the end of August... Getting these news at first made me really cross ('lazy people - they should be able to read it quicker!') and then rather depressed. Not that it really changes anything, and it's not like I have a job depending on when I get my degree, but it still feels as is life is on hold. I had the summer as a mental 'stepping stone', when this would finish and something new begin. And it is, admittedly, a bit disappointing to know it will take so long, but I am grown up (at least sometimes) and realise that there's nothing I can do about it. At the moment, all I can do is wait and see, and hopefully, it will all have a positive outcome.

Snow!

Yes, I know most of you think Englishmen are really silly who cannot take some snow - and to a certain extent I agree. But then think about how little snow one normally gets in this country (or at least in the southern parts). So why should you be overly prepared? I mean, even in places like Scandinavia and New England people are sometimes (too often) caught off guard.

Well, this is what it looked like last night (an attempt to take a photo of Tim in the snow):

And this is our kitchen window this morning:


It was pure chaos, to say the least. All bus routes shut down (as from last night, but Tim has reported that the drivers outside our local bus depot were engaged in a big snowball fight this morning), as well as all trains and almost all tube lines! I was secretly looking forward to a 'snow day' with Tim (yohoo! extra Sunday!), but as Victoria line was the only one fully operating there was not really any excuses for Tim not to go to work (Victoria line being the only tube line that is fully underground). I could have gone to the BL on the Victoria - but soon discovered that all the reading rooms were shut due to the lack of staff! So, cosy day at home for me. (And also a good excuse not to let Jim out, who is still looking a bit weak.)

Recovering

We are slowly recovering from last nights horrible events (both us and the cat). Jim seems to be doing a lot better, although we have now closed the doors to both bedrooms, just in case. We decided to be cultural today, and went to the British Museum to see their newly opened Ancient Near East collections (Assyrian and Egyptian art). Were very impressed with the Assyrian wall reliefs, and also looked at an exhibition on 'life and death' in different cultures. As always, though, the museum is far too big, and there's never enough time to see it all. But that's partly why it's one of my favourite museums - there's always something new to discover and explore!

We also managed to stop by one of the few Zavvi stores that is still open, and made a few bargains on the way home. A CD and six movies came to £23, which seems quite reasonable. Now we're about to snuggle up on the sofa to watch the first one - Cloverfield. Perfect ending to the weekend, especially since it is now snowing (!) outside our windows...

A... hrm... different evning

[Warning: do not read if you are very sensitive!]

Well, this was a bit of an experience... Friday night, we had Katarina over for dinner. Tim cooked a traditional English roast dinner (albeit with chicken), and we stayed up far too late, drinking way too much wine. Tim was probably a bit bored at the end, as Katarina and I gossiped away.

This is mind, Tim and I weren't exactly rise and shine the following morning (although the brave man actually got up to feed Jim the cat, who is staying with us for the next two weeks). We then went to the BL, to do some last work on an article we're writing together (long overdue) and some research in general.

In the end, we had to rush home, as we were having guests over for dinner - my Danish friend Eva, and her boyfriend Hugh.

I had planned to make a vegetarian lasagna and poached pears, but was running seriously late with the cooking. A few minutes to seven - when they were due to arrive - I was still chopping vegetables. And then! Tim discovered something incredibly unpleasant! Jim the cat was not feeling very well. At all! He had 'the runs'. There was liquid s**t everywhere! We panicked. Locked the cat in the bathroom, wiped the kitchen floor, scrubbed the chair, removed all sheets, put the blanket in the laundry basket, scrubbed the wall-to-wall carpet... (Poor cat obviously felt really bad, so decided to hide, which really didn't help us in our cleaning efforts!) Decided to lock the cat in the upstairs kitchen (we have keys to their house, and they have a proper wooden floor), and then scrubbed the bathroom. And mid all this, our guests arrived!

Thank heavens for them being so understanding (Hugh having a cat himself), and we eventually had a very nice dinner - much thanks to Eva's wine collection, which she brought with her, as she is moving back to Denmark. It was all quite a 'different' experience! And it was not improved this morning, when Tim had to go upstairs to check on the cat (who is feeling a lot better), and then give him a bath. Jim was completely covered in it! And he does not like water! So Jim now hates Tim (which, at the moment, I think is mutual) and we are both terrified that he's not fully recovered... Only time will tell!