Guy Fawkes Celebration

I'm ashamed I have to admit that I have almost no knowledge of Guy Fawkes, except what I know of him from the movie V for Vendetta and it is quite interesting to me that the British celebrate this as an even bigger holiday than Halloween.  (Although if you ask me, the only holiday bigger than Halloween is Christmas!).  

Something that I'm consciously striving to do more of is to look up stuff online when I don't know what it is, which I seem to have been doing quite a lot of since I moved to London.  After a quick search I learned that in 1604 Guy Fawkes was part of a small group of English Catholics who were unhappy with the Protestant King James and wanted to assasinnate him and place his daughter, Princess Elizabeth, on the throne.  The nation's Catholics were hopeful James would be tolerant and leave them alone but instead he effectively 'deported' all the Catholic Priests out of England.  (This would be a good spot for a funny joke...but I won't tell one)

Aaanyways, as you can imagine the Catholics were not too happy with this decree and thus hatched the plot to get rid of the King.  If I were to guess, I'd say that just like Fish Stories - you know, your fish was 'this big', and then keeps growing every time you retell the story - well the plot to assasinate King James grew and grew and eventually encompassed not only James...but everyone in Parliament as well.  If only Guy Fawkes could come back and work his magic on the American Congress!  :) 

Apparently Fawkes and Co were trying to gain support from other nations as well so word probably got around that there was this plan to assinate the King, and at the last moment, the night of the 5th of November, the guards checked the area underneath Parliament and found a huuuge heaping pile of gunpowder hiding under wood piles.  Not a timid man, when asked what Fawkes intention was with the gunpowder stash he was rumored that he said, "to blow you Scotch beggars back to your native mountains!"

Ha!  Obviously the game was up for Fawkes and he was probably having visions of visiting the Tower as a resident, not tourist, but he was allegedly very brave and obstinate in the belief of his cause.  

In the days after his capture he was tortured and eventually broke.  But in his one final act of defiance he took his own life right before he was about to be beheaded in the ultimate 'middle finger' gesture to the King.  

In 1605 Londoners were encouraged to celebrate how King James 1 was saved and and Act of Parliament designated 5 November as a day of thanksgiving for the 'joyful deliverance' of the King.  But nowadays I reckon people are celebrating the idea of government's collapse and it is a great excuse to light bonfires and watch fireworks! Unfortunately Lloyd had to work late that night, but it didn't stop me from going out with the South Africans to Battersea Park to watch a fantastic fireworks show.  

Compilation of Guy Fawkes day rhymes/chants: 

Remember, remember, the 5th of November

Of gunpowder, treason and plot;

I know of no reason why gunpowder treason

Should ever be forgot.

Guy Fawkes, Guy Fawkes, 

'Twas his intent,

To blow up the King and Parliament

Three score barrels of powder below

Poor old England to overthrow. 

By God's providence he was catch'd

With a dark lantern and burning match.

Holloa boys, Holloa boys, let the bells ring

Holloa boys, Holloa boys, God save the King!

Hip hip Hoorah!

Hip hip Hoorah!

A penny loaf to feed ol' Pope

A farthing cheese to choke him.

A pint of beer to rinse it down,

A bushel of sticks to burn him.

Burn him in a tub of tar,

Burn him like a blazing star.

Burn his body from his head,

Then we'll say: Ol' Pope is Dead. 

Leanne and I 

One of my favorite shots

Some videos from the show:

London Halloween 2012

Sorry it's been a while since the last post, things have been pretty crazy 'round these parts. The weeks before Halloween were so busy and I barely had time to even consider a costume.  Those of you who know me will know how much I LOVE Halloween and its definitely high up on my fav holidays list.  I had heard rumblings that the Brit's didn't pay much attention to Halloween but I was hoping it wasn't true.  There were some decorations in storefronts but no mega haunted houses (oh how I miss Cutting Edge...).  Some adverts and candy in the shops but nothing too overwhelming.   As it got closer to time I was feeling pretty sorry for myself since not many of our friends had anything booked or costumes created, but what really pushed me over the edge was the care package that my sister, Jamie, sent me.  It was filled with my favorite Halloween goodies!  Candy Corn (a new treat for the Australians & Saffas), roasted and salted pumpkin seeds, halloween magnets, decorations, letters from my family, oh it was glorious.  But it also made me gloriously homesick!!  Lloyd came home from work to find me in bed under the covers and eating said candy corns, wallowing in my Halloween deficiency.  After hugs and plenty of 'there there's', Lloyd tried to cheer me up in whatever way possible, including committing to dressing up with me for Halloween.  We decided that the only way to ensure the decorations and candy didn't go to waste was to have some people over to enjoy them!

Luckily Sharon & Andrew were free that weekend so they headed down to Clapham Junction for dinner, drinks & Halloween mayhem.  Our costumes came together fairly quickly - I found some good ideas for a Wonder Woman costume and decided I would attempt to make it myself.  I ended up finding an awesome Spider Man costume for Lloyd at the Cancer Research shop down the road (UK equivalent of Goodwill) for only £12!! I was ecstatic but for some reason he didn't quite match my enthusiasm since it seemed he compared his costume-wearing obligation to a form of indentured servitude.  Either way, I thought he looked great.  Sharon & Andrew had a wardrobe malfunction but they took it in stride and managed to turn themselves into scary looking Zombies.  After dinner and a videochat with the Solomons in Texas we wandered down to the Revolution Bar near the station who had advertised a Halloween party.  After fighting a packed crowd and with no place to sit we ended up going home and having a better time anyways.
We really  had a great time and are contemplating hosting a Halloween Party for next year!

Two Texans in London

"Risk-taking, trust, and serendipity are key ingridients of joy.  Without risk, nothing new ever happens.  Without trust, fear creeps in.  Without serendipity, there are no surprises."
-Rita Golden Gelman

I found this quote today and it really spoke to me, especially since risk-taking is a key facet of my life nowadays!!! And it is so true that you need all three elements to balance you out, especially in times of imbalance and uncertainty.  I've come to believe in serendipity as of late and my belief is that some things happen for a reason, and when you least expect it.  

After I read the quote I looked up the woman who wrote it and it turns out that Rita Golden Gelman is a self-proclaimed 'Female Nomad' with a lifelong passion of connecting with all sorts of different types of people.  In 1987 she sold her home and all her possessions and dedicated herself to traveling and living within other cultures all over the world. (We already have things in common!  ha).  Her passion of traveling and connecting people led her to create a foundation called 'Let's Get Global' that encourages and assists high school graduates in the US to travel internationally during their 'gap year' between high school and college.  Her aim is to cultural norm in the US that will make it a common practise to extend US education beyond US borders.  What a fantastic cause!  I've learned so much about other cultures during my short time in London and it's been a rich and valuable experience, one that I wish more Americans should experience.  I'm now fascinated by this Rita Golden Gelman and will have to see if I can find some of her children's books to read.  If you'd like to learn more about this interesting woman, click here . 

Back to serendipity - when I met my friend Holly I felt like there was some aspects of serendipity that caused us to sit next to each other on the plane.  To be more specific, I sat next to her on the plane from Dallas to London when I left my family to begin my life in London.  When I got on the plane I was an absolute wreck after saying bye to my family, and it was torturous to wave by to them and then trudge on through airport security.  It was a completely lousy feeling and I was clearly distraught and I wanted to sit on the plane and not talk to anyone, drink a few glasses of wine, and then go to sleep.  But to my surprise I ended up being seated next to a cute blonde girl about my age who was also sad about leaving her family as she embarked on a solo 4-month trek around Europe!  Talk about having things in common, we both grew up in North Texas, our high schools played each other in football, we had a similar upbringing, and went to college within an hour of each other.  As Lloyd would say, we got on 'like a house on fire' and ended up drinking wine together and chatting almost the entire 9 hour flight! When we said goodbye at the airport we exchanged emails and promised to keep in touch.

We did keep in touch and in the middle of October Holly came to London to visit for a few days.  It was so great hanging out with another American, especially a Texan! and it was also great to have a girlfriend to run around the city with.  And I think it gave Lloyd a break from having to babysit me :) 

Below are some pics of our adventures in London - we had a great time and while I was sad to see her head off to France, I'm anxious to keep up w/ her and hear more about her travels!  

Sandwiches on the Thames

I took Holly to my favourite food market right outside Waterloo and just off the South Bank.  After several indecisive laps around the food market we decided on....Chorizo & Hollumi Sandwiches!

Crispy panini bread filled with grilled chorizo sausage and grilled hollumi cheese, with tszaziki sauce, rocket and spicy peppers!  Definitely one of the tastiest sandwiches ever!

After the sandwiches we wandered around Leister Square and Trafalgar Square trying to find the Seven Dials monument but to no avail.  So we abandoned our quest and decided to take some fun pictures and then have a few drinks at a cute pub nearby.

Looking over Millennium Bridge

Cool shot of a police car going over the bridge at just the right time!

Trafalgar Square at Night time 

Texas girls enjoying London!

The next day we went to Camden Market which is an eclectic and vibrant street market selling clothes, books, shoes, costumes, and all sorts of other weird things.  Camden is known for its diverse crowd and interesting selection of shops and stalls and the people watching did not disappoint! 

An interesting point of the Market is the actual Lock itself; a twin, manually operated lock on the Regent's Canal in Camden Town.  The locks were originally constructed in 1818 and now opens to service the waterbus that runs from Camden, around Regent's Park, calling at London Zoo and continuing on to Little Venice.  

Another highlight of the Camden Market outing was our adventure inside Cyberdog!  It was impossible to tell what this place was from the outside but there was loud, thumping bass coming from inside, almost beckoning you in.  It was a pretty popular place because there was a line just to get in!  The theme was raver/techno/cyber/futuristic and they sold clothes, moon shoes, glow in the dark things, and a host of other, er, interesting things. It was like being inside a rave and a haunted house at the same time.  Trippy! 

Chinatown! 

The next day we met Lloyd after work in Leiscester Square to pick up theater tickets and had dinner in Chinatown.                                 

Quiz Night

To entertain ourselves on Sunday we decided to go to a Pub Quiz night in Fulham at a place called the Cock Tavern.  As you might imagine, there were many, many jokes that were made about this place throughout the night. Apparently pub quiz nights are a very 'British' thing to do, so we were anxious to try it out.  It seemed like the start of a joke: "Two Texans and an Australian go to a British pub quiz night....".  The food was only fair at this pub, but we had a great time during the game, even though we didn't know very many of the answers (and ended up in last place!).  

Touristing around London

On Sunday afternoon we did the touristy thing and walked around Buckingham Palace and over to Westminster.  Although it was chilly it was a really beautiful day and I was excited to take pictures of blue sky!  It's a wonder how much you appreciate blue skies when you don't get to see them that often!! :)  

 Beautiful day near the Victoria Memorial 

Beautiful day in the Park 

St.James park is the oldest Royal park in London and has a rich history.  The land for the park was purchased in 1532 by King Henry the V111 and when King James ascended to the throne he ordered that the park be drained, landscaped and filled with exotic animals including camels, crocodiles, and elephant, and exotic birds. Today all the exotic animals are gone but the park makes for a pretty walk to Westminster on a sunny day.  

 On the way back from our touristy day we ran across a large group of Muslim men holding a protest rally.  Based on the flyer they were handing out they were protesting against Google who owns YouTube, who refuses to take down the controversial video made in the US against the Prophet Muhammad .  The rally was planned and peaceful, with plenty of London Police monitoring everything, but Holly and I felt very comfortable walking through the crowd on our way back through the station.  Women were not allowed to protest, of course, but further away from the rally they were lining up around Buckingham Palace so I guess they were allowed to show their support in that manner, since they were clearly forbidden to participate in the rally.  
  
 

  

Les Miz
On Holly's last night in London we went to see Les Miz, one of my all-time favourite musicals.  I was hoping we'd have a nice meal before the show but I was running late from work so we had to settle for some McDonalds Chicken Nuggets (they were tasty, although I cringe when I think of the 37+ ingredients that make up the nugget!). 
 It made me sort of sad listening to the music of Les Miz because my dad and I used to sing all the songs together and it really made me miss my family.  My sister Jamie loves the musical also, and I wished they were there watching it with me.  Lloyd knew I was upset because he said he looked over and I was crying 'and it wasn't even the sad part'.  haha 
All in all it was a great night and I was very sad to see Holly leave the next day.  She made it on her bus back to France and is now off exploring the rest of Europe!  Thanks for stopping through London for a visit, Holly!