Getting back into London life.

Maria and I made it back to London last Friday and are getting back
into the groove of London life after being away for just over seven
weeks. The primary challenge has been the readjustment of our
sleep schedules. Its a week later and we're still going to bad in
the wee hours of the morning and waking up midday.

One of the things we've been enjoying now that we're back is the
freedom of walking everywhere. As one would expect, our first
outing after returning home was to acquire a number of foodstuffs
at our favourite supermarket: Waitrose. While there we purchased
some Duchy Originals Organic Hazelwood Smoked Deli Ham. The taste was a revelation. We don't think we've ever tasted ham so delicious.

The weather has been really cold lately hovering around the 2-3C
range (around 32-33F) with a few nights dropping below freezing.
The high humidity here means that precipitation typically comes
in the form of sleet rather than snow.

Today, Saturday, we dropped by our weekly local farmer's market
to scope out the offerings but found several stalls missing and a
small crowd. Maybe its the weather but one booth was selling
rare breed organic pork sandwiches with the pork roasting on a
rotisserie there. I had just had breakfast before heading out
so I look forward to trying one next week. We also visited
our local library to check out a few books. Maria picked up the
Baudolino and The Name of the Rose both by Umberto Eco. I
grabbed A Short Account of the Destruction of the Indies by
Bartolome de Las Casas and the DVD Rois et Reine (aka _Kings
and Queen_) a recent French film directed by Arnaud Desplechin
which was rated highly by my favourite film reviewers Peter
Bradshaw of the Guardian and J Hoberman of the Village Voice.
The film is also well regarded by other critics I like such as
Jessica Winter of the Village Voice and Time Out NY and Andrew
O'Hehir of Salon.com. We'll report back on the film after we've
seen it.


-Brent and Maria