I Can Be Trained

Nice shade of blue, isn't it?

Movement!  I'm sure I saw something.  It was just out of the corner of my eye.  It moved.

I had been talking to a friend in our kitchen.  He was seated at the breakfast bar which is at a floor to ceiling window and I had just seen something move on the deck outside.

It was huge, furry, grey and had a long hairless tail.

Ok, maybe 'huge' is the wrong word.  It was a mouse, but I HATE mice!  I hate rats too, but fortunately, I've only ever met one rat and it had a cage.  Mice on the other hand, I've met many times and it has never been a happy occasion.

Unlike Daughter No.1, who once found a damaged but still alive mouse in a cup in the gutter on her way home from school and who brought it home and nursed it back to a pet, I don't think mice are cute.  And, before you ask, no, I don't know, where we went wrong with Daughter No.1.

Seven Ugly Ducklings and Their Mute Swan Parents

While taking my Mother on a stroll around Hyde Park this morning we came across this rather large family of Mute Swans.  Here's Mom, Dad and seven very cute little 'ugly ducklings' on The Serpentine near the Lido.

Mute Swan Family in Hyde Park

English Heritage: Charles Rolls

English Heritage Marker: Charles Rolls

You may not know it - I didn't - but the 'Rolls' in Rolls-Royce is Charles Stewart Rolls who worked in this Mayfair building where Rolls-Royce Limited was once headquartered.  As the plaque says, Rolls was a motoring and aviation pioneer.  He wasn't the technical brains behind the business.  That was Henry Royce, but Rolls provided the finance and business know how that gave birth to the iconic British motorcar and aviation engine manufacturer.

14-15 Conduit St, Mayfair

Charles Rolls appears to have loved a thrill.  In addition to motoring, he had a passion for flying.  In fact, while Rolls-Royce jet engines are well known today, Rolls apparently failed in his attempt to get Henry Royce to design an aircraft engine in the company's early days.

Unfortunately, it was Roll's passion for flight that led to his early death at the age of 32.  He died when the plane he was flying, a Wright Flyer, crashed in 1910.  Rolls-Royce had been in business only 6 years, but his name lived on.

What Is It With Banks These Days?

HSBC: The World's Local Bank, yeah, right!

This was going to be a tale of the warnings we received about dinosaur British banks, but the ever competitive Americans decided that they wanted to steal the focus.  While it isn't easy to open a simple bank account in the UK (more later), our recent experience with a US bank makes British banks look like the Starship Enterprise.  In fact, I'm beginning to think that unlike their British counterparts, US banks are truly hostile to foreigners and that includes, American citizens living abroad, like me.

When we were in Hong Kong on our way to London there was an HSBC ad running on TV there.  A little girl is selling lemonade from a stand on a residential street.  A Brazilian woman and her child come up to make a purchase.  The little entrepreneur points out she takes Brazilian Real.  The same ad runs here in the UK, but the mother and child are from Hong Kong and the little entrepreneur takes Hong Kong Dollars and even speaks Cantonese.  The ad likely runs in the US and other HSBC markets.  The ad finishes with the message that HSBC is "the World's local bank" and that they're interested in the little guy - or girl as the case may be.

Well, it's all a lie, at least where HSBC America is concerned - I don't want to taint all HSBC operations.  We had an HSBC account in the US since we lived there several years ago.  With family in the States, it made sense to keep it.  It makes gifting easier, saves exchange rate issues for travel home and with elderly parents - well you never know when you might need to move some money fast.

Our latest statement arrived at the end of May.  I opened it and to my surprise I found that we had a zero balance.  WHAT!?!  Identify theft?

Escape From The Pageant

'Prince Harry' Waiting for the Pageant to Begin

Hip, Hip, Hurray!  Hip, Hip, Hurray!  Hip, Hip, Hurray!  The cheer for The Queen has gone out.  The Jubilee Bells are ringing.  People are clapping.  And, look, there's the New Zealand contingent paddling past Her Majesty - she on the majestic Royal Barge and they in their waka.  The sights of the Thames Jubilee Pageant are simply marvelous.   And, we get to see it all right here - in our living room - on our TV.

We don't live far from the Thames.  In fact, we have just come back from the river.  It would have been nice to watch it all live, but it's damp, it's cold and well, there's that crowd thing.  The BBC announcer just described the atmosphere as "electric".  I can't disagree if he meant the type of 'electric' that comes from sticking your finger in the wall socket.

Jubilee Campers Staking Out Their Claim 24 Hours Early

Rob had to work early this morning, but he was home by eleven.  We had some lunch and decided to go down to the Thames around 12:30.  Rob didn't want to go "so early", but with 2 million spectators expected I just knew we were probably too late to get a decent spot anyway.

On my reconnaissance mission yesterday morning, I had found people setting up tents along the Embankment.  So, if there were people that keen yesterday, there was little hope for late comers like us.

Still off we went.  We walked over to Westminster.  I had wanted to check on the campers to see if they'd made it through the night.  I'm not sure they did, because I had run into a scene where a policewoman was talking to a group of worried campers.  I got the feeling it may not be all that legal to squat overnight on the Embankment.

Mutiny on the Bounty Heritage Marker

William Bligh's Heritage Marker

100 Lambeth Rd Decked Out for Jubilee

I stumbled upon this heritage marker the other day while walking along Lambeth Road near the Imperial War Museum.

William Bligh commander of the famous HMS Bounty lived here.

After Mr Fletcher Christian led a mutiny against Bligh, Bligh and his supporters were loaded on to a small boat and set a float in the Pacific.  47 days later they came ashore in Timor.  Pretty good sailing I would say.

Bligh returned to England and carried on with his career.  Trouble seemed to follow him, though, as he set off the Rum Rebellion while Governor of New South Wales.

Fletcher Christian and his men headed for Tahiti.  Eventually Christian and a few others set up shop on Pitcairn Island, but not for long because they ended up killing each other.

God Save the Queen

Patriotism in Lambeth

Look.  I'm no royalist or at least I didn't used to be.  I was born American.  I was brought up with the slogans of the Revolution "No taxation without representation," "All men are created equal" (except for the gay ones) and the idea that God doesn't pick leaders, the people do - unless you're the Pope or a Republican Party candidate.  Always seems to be loopholes...

Becoming a New Zealander nudged me slightly to the royalist side, because Elizabeth II is the Queen of New Zealand.  So, you have to accept that, but there's not a lot of contact between the Monarchy and it's most distant realm.  To a degree, New Zealand has moved on.  New Zealand's not becoming a republic any time soon, but royal visits to New Zealand don't draw the crowds they once did.  And, I've never been one to stand for hours waiting for The Queen to drive by.

All that said, propaganda works.

Since Rob and I arrived in London, The Queen's Diamond Jubilee has been a hot topic.  The Queen's been in the news almost daily whether it's the launching of the Royal Barge, the closing of all the Thames bridges or her latest visit to this little town or that London suburb on her Jubilee tour.