Basildon Park

On Sunday, we visited Basildon Park, an 18th century country house with beautiful grounds that is cared for by the National Trust. It's located just north of Reading. As with all National Trust properties, Basildon Park was a great place to look around, go for a nice walk and enjoy a good 'ol cup 'o tea and slice of cake on a Sunday afternoon.

East London - Not Just Eel Pie and Mash

On Saturday, we visited Borough Market in East London (nearest tube is London Bridge). Early records show that Aulus Plautus and his Roman legions found a market on the same site in AD 43. It's come a long way since then, with the food on offer coming from every corner of the globe. A delicious assortment of meats, vegetables and delicacies -- including pyramids of chocolate brownies -- of all varieties were on display among the hundreds of stalls. Borough Market must be a wonderful place to shop for good quality, fresh organic food if you live in the city.

The market is also a stones throw from a number of great places that we visited on the walk back along the Thames. Southwark Cathedral, the oldest in London dating from 1220, is a magnificent building. The pictures here show the interior of the main building and a stained glass window that features images from all of Skakespeare's plays!

On that note, "The Globe" is only a few hundred yards further along the river. This theatre was re-built to its original design on the site of Skakespeare's first in London. Watching a play in the Globe is quite an experience because you stand in the centre -- there are only limited seats around the walls. Just like in the times of Shakespeare, the audience are encouraged to shout and jeer at appropriate moments -- don't forget that Shakespeare was written for the common class and going to the theatre was seen as rather a risque enterprise.

And best of all, the Tate Modern is also situated in this part of London. You can see the museum behind the Globe in the picture. We spent a wonderful afternoon in this amzing institution, which is incredibly kid-friendly. Housed within the building of an old power station, the museum has an enormous central space -- called the turbine hall, which used to be for the generators --for installation art. Currently, there are a set of aluminium slides in this space, pictured here. Of course, this is serious experiential post-modernic art ........ yeah, right.

But of all the priceless art and imposing architecture that makes up the Tate Modern, B had eyes for only one thing; the gigantic ramp that slopes down from the main entrance to the ground floor of the turbine hall. With a beautifully smooth surface, B quickly took out his favourite car, placed it at the top of the ramp and let go..... you've never seen a hundred bewildered tourists jump out of the way of a car faster. Click this link to watch the video!! The first view on this blog.

Only Mad Dogs and Englishmen....

During my recent trip to India, I couldn't walk 100 meters without becoming irrationally sentimental about my first born son (Hobbes) due to the plethora of stray dogs, who in my humble opinion, were the true kings of the streets in Mumbai. My friend Tom sent this wonderful photograph called "fur problem" (top) to me yesterday and I just had to share it. Definitely a face only a mother could love, but like the other dogs I saw, I was totally taken by their charm and wiley nature! There's also a couple of pictures here that I took of a rather grand looking mutt who was sat surveying passing joggers while sitting on the sea wall of the grand bay in the very early morning sun.

The darkest hour is before the dawn

They say the darkest hour is before the dawn. I guess the same has to be said for building work. Our builder, Sibbasbridge, and project manager Kevin, are doing a great job so far, but we are more than ready to see this project achieved. Eight weeks into the build, a lot has been completed - the structure is up, roof on, electrics almost in, plumbing started, floors taken out and replaced, ceilings taken down and replaced, bathroom gone, central heating replaced - and everything is now ordered and scheduled in by sub-contractors with a completion date of first week in May. All good stuff. But after a delay of a week or so due to a burst water main that required digging up the entire front of the house - which also resulted in the builder going through the gas main - it feels like the end is tantalizingly still out of sight. This gives you some idea of the devestation.

Spot the difference

It's hard to spot the big difference between the photographs of these two "squares", taken just days apart in Union Square , New York and Berkley Square, London. If you are really, really observant, you'll see that everyone in the New York picture has either a balaclava or rediculously big hat on, and the people in the London picture are enjoying their lunchtime snacks in the sun. Hmmmm -- I'll take springtime in London!

New York: Brrrrrrrrrr

After a quick laundry stop at home (and to remind K, B & H who I am), I have traveled from the searing heat and rapidly developing world of Mumbai to the frigid urban extreme of Manhattan, New York. The quick succession of this visit back to my office in the US has made the trip to India even more startling. As I sit writing this in the Bryant Park Hotel overlooking the New York Public Library (pictured here), it feels like worlds away from the life I saw being lived literally on the streets of Mumbai. And yet, as I travel, I often find that there are more things that unite than divide us. Like New Yorkers, the wonderful people I met in Mumbai struggle with a lack of space, crowded streets, rapid pace of change and the desire to build a better life for the next generation amidst adversity. The differences between these cities are actually only cosmetic, though stark.

I guess the one obvious difference at this time of year; I was knocked over by the heat in India, but there are icicles hanging from the buildings here in New York because last night the temperature plunged to minus 15 degrees celcius! Today it reached a high of minus 7 degrees. Brrrrrrrr. And guess who forgot his coat?