Tuesday, July 20, 2004
So we got there... I have to admit, I just wrote this whole thing like a few minutes ago, but it was lost on my computer - human error I confess, but it still stinks. Well anyway, we got there and it was pretty cool to get into a London taxi, as they are designed - even the modern ones - to look quite old fashioned. And it was fun to be in a car with the wheel on the right side of the car, or the wrong side, depending on where you live. Yet the reversal of traffic had more of an effect as we crossed the street on foot. Fortunately this reorientation is predicted by the right people and at each crosswalk, "LOOK RIGHT" or "LOOK LEFT" was painted on the ground and I was thankful for the last second advice. I didn't realize how ingrained that aspect of everyday life is in my head. To tell the truth, I don't think I ever fixed the impulse to look the other way first, I just did so real fast and then looked the other way.
Man I am still a little pissed that I lost all the stuff I just wrote - yeah I didn't think of that last paragraph and probably would have omitted it from the entry, but still, I am about to go into the routine I just wrote and would much prefer to cut and paste.
Well dining in London was pretty forgettable, except for the fact that Karoliina and I are fools and when fools go out on the town, anything can happen. First dinner out, we order two glasses of champagne as an apertif, I suggested them because next champagne on the menu was the number 2 and I figured that this represented the price, 2 pounds. A decent price for a glass, so why not order? Well a few horrifying seconds later Karoliina realizes that the 2 means page number, not price. Immediately thoughts of Dom Perignon floated about my head along with a price tag of 15 pounds per glass. We were saved, they were only like 7 pounds per glass, which is more than I have ever spent on one glass of champagne, but at least it wasn't 15, that's something right?
Next time out, we were in Notting Hill and running as fast as we could from the hordes of antique buying fools at the Portabello market - no offense to any antique buying fools who may or may not be reading this - but it was like an Antique's Road Show from hell and we fled as fast as possible. We made our way to the Cow and ordered a couple of pints, I had a smoked trout and potato salad and K ordered pasta. Until, a moment later we realized that we did not see the daily specials. Without looking, Karoliina jumps up and goes to the waitress asking her if she can change her order (this is very un-Karoliina like, but I think she figured that the grass might be greener) looks quickly at the list and orders the dressed crab. Now let me just say this, if ever you are fleeing the Portabello Market, find yourself at the Cow and dressed crap is on the menu, avoid it. It was a crab shell filled with this weird, brown, goo-like stuff, that tasted exactly as one would imagine weird, brown goo-like stuff to taste. Sure there were some pieces of crab sticking out of the crab crap, but man. Oh, and it was really expensive too.
OK, so I am going to stop here and pick up later today. Time to go home.
Man I am still a little pissed that I lost all the stuff I just wrote - yeah I didn't think of that last paragraph and probably would have omitted it from the entry, but still, I am about to go into the routine I just wrote and would much prefer to cut and paste.
Well dining in London was pretty forgettable, except for the fact that Karoliina and I are fools and when fools go out on the town, anything can happen. First dinner out, we order two glasses of champagne as an apertif, I suggested them because next champagne on the menu was the number 2 and I figured that this represented the price, 2 pounds. A decent price for a glass, so why not order? Well a few horrifying seconds later Karoliina realizes that the 2 means page number, not price. Immediately thoughts of Dom Perignon floated about my head along with a price tag of 15 pounds per glass. We were saved, they were only like 7 pounds per glass, which is more than I have ever spent on one glass of champagne, but at least it wasn't 15, that's something right?
Next time out, we were in Notting Hill and running as fast as we could from the hordes of antique buying fools at the Portabello market - no offense to any antique buying fools who may or may not be reading this - but it was like an Antique's Road Show from hell and we fled as fast as possible. We made our way to the Cow and ordered a couple of pints, I had a smoked trout and potato salad and K ordered pasta. Until, a moment later we realized that we did not see the daily specials. Without looking, Karoliina jumps up and goes to the waitress asking her if she can change her order (this is very un-Karoliina like, but I think she figured that the grass might be greener) looks quickly at the list and orders the dressed crab. Now let me just say this, if ever you are fleeing the Portabello Market, find yourself at the Cow and dressed crap is on the menu, avoid it. It was a crab shell filled with this weird, brown, goo-like stuff, that tasted exactly as one would imagine weird, brown goo-like stuff to taste. Sure there were some pieces of crab sticking out of the crab crap, but man. Oh, and it was really expensive too.
OK, so I am going to stop here and pick up later today. Time to go home.
// posted by Howard @ 3:06 PM 
