Little Details of No Interest

We have TWO credit cards cash register slips from Lillywhite's Sports Store that say: "Piccadilly LW Unit A Mansfield Brook Park East. THIS TRANSACTION HAS BEEN CANCELLED." Not one, but two. The person checking us out after we bought the London Olympic tee shirts, had a lot of trouble with the machine and kept apologizing.

On the London Tube Map, on the section CHECK BEFORE YOU TRAVEL it says: "Emirates Greenwich Peninsula: Fare Zone to be Confirmed. I have no idea what this means. I think this is the Jubilee Line that goes from Stanmore to Stratford via Dollis Hill, Swiss Cottage, Bermondsey,  Canning Town, and Bromley-By-Bow. Don't you just love the English place names?

Aoki is the name of the Japanese children's book we bought at Foyles. The author is Annalore Parot.

Richard went to a Peace Sit-In in Trafalgar Square.

This was a huge gathering of Peace Activists. People who are Active in the War Against War. People on fire, who have to cool their flames. And, if you make an anagram of the Zen master's name, it comes out as: Hatch Hah Ninth. This means nothing at all. The master says: "If we are peaceful, if we are happy, we can smile and blossom like a flower, and everyone in our family, our entire society, will benefit from our peace." This has a very non-Jewish ring to it. Where is the suffering we are supposed to enjoy, the guilt? I am reminded of the man who goes to the doctor: "Doctor, I am having trouble pee-ing." The doctor asks, "How old are you?" The man replies: "I am 75 years old." The doctor says: "You've pee-d enough in your life."

In the middle of Soho, there is a restaurant called Nusa Dua, "Pan Asian Cuisine in the heart of Soho." And, what is it really? It is a good, old-fashioned (but up market) Indonesian restaurant, just like every corner of every street in every town and city of The Netherlands. Just like Mirasa Restaurant in The Hague owned by Oom Joop with 7 tables and all the cooking down by his wife, Fani, in the teeny kitchen.  Pan Asian, my foot.

ONE MAN, TWO GUV'NORS. This was the funniest show we saw. Pure old-time slapstick and fast lines and great jokes. We loved it so much, that, luckily, we found out, when we returned home that the National Theatre production for American cinemas was being played here in Miami. Yes, on my birthday, May 19, we will go to the Coral Gables Art Cinematique and see the original cast perform the play. So we get to see it twice, with two casts. Bravo National Theatre!

The Official London Theatre Guide lists all the comedies, dramas, entertainments, and musicals in London. What didn't we see? BLOOD BROTHERS, CHICAGO, PHANTOM OF THE OPERA, WIZARD OF OZ, or MAMA MIA in the musical category. HAY FEVER, NOISES OFF, or THE LADY KILLERS in comedies. THE WOMAN IN BLACK, THE MADNESS OF GEORGE III, WAR HORSE, THE PITMAN PAINTERS in dramas. STOMP or MIDNIGHT TANGO in entertainment. We didn't see THE LION KING, ALICE'S ADVENTURES IN WONDERLAND, or BEYOND BALLET RUSSES; PROGRAM 2.  Okay, next time, maybe.

Judy had come to London from Vienna, where she stayed for two nights at the Ibis Wien Mariahilf hotel and one night at the Hotel NH Vienna Airport. She had such an early flight to London that it was smarter to be at the airport that last night. She did have one shopping adventure, on a rainy day, she stepped into a neighborhood market store (the kind that sells everything under the sun) and looked for a cheap raincoat. There was a pile of raincoats in a bin that said, "5 Euros". She rummaged and found a lovely red short raincoat that was not only good, but cute (and cheap). She took it to the cashier, but it was really Euros 29! What?? But, she needed it (and it was cute) so she bought it. Now, here in Miami, everyone says, "Where DID you get that cute raincoat?"

My wedding ring. Here's the final story. Richard contacted Pieter (the apartment owner) and they met. Pieter gave Richard the ring. Richard photographed the ring on his pinky and brought it to America on the airplane. He mailed me the ring from Cornell somewhere UPS. No worries. We are good friends with the UPS delivery man here(a nice, friendly guy). It didn't come. I called UPS tracking: "Where's my package?" "Oh, yes sir," the lady said. "There was NO apartment number on the package so the delivery man could not deliver it." Yikes. I gave her the apartment number and because of the miracle of modern communications, she contacted the driver IN his truck and gave him the number. Later that afternoon, he knocked on the door and said to us, "I knew it was you because you told me about the loss of your wedding ring, so I was coming back here anyway. Here's the ring." Thanks UPS and a big thanks to Pieter and a bigger thanks to Richard.

Leicester Square in London is being renovated. It is filled as usual with thousands of tourists. There is a large construction fence blocking off the main square, so you have to walk around the fence and through the people and it is crowded like an elevator. What saves it (a bit) is a brand new store: The M&M Museum and store. A huge two story building with nothing but M&M products in every size and shape you can imagine. Except the normal little M&M packages, of course, y buy a pack that weighs two pounds. But there is a London Bus.

"Gee, I didn't know that was in my suitcase." "It's not a crime to bring a wedding present into England is it?"  A TV show that was fascinating was the reality show: Sydney Airport or Luton Airport. In Sydney, Australia, people tried to bring in all sorts of things, but no serious smuggling. In Luton Airport in London, serious smuggling went on. It was fun to watch the people being caught in the act. One man and his wife (in their 60s) returned from a weekend in France with two suitcases FILLED with cigarettes in cartons. The man got angry when the Customs officer confiscated the 20 cartons. "What's wrong? We smoke a lot of cigarettes." When the ladies purse was opened and the man's little travel pack was opened, there were no cigarettes or lighters at all. "I thought you were heavy smokers," the officer asked. "So where are the cigarettes or matches for your personal use?" The man said, "I dislike that question! It is not your business when or how I smoke." This was the wrong thing to say, right? The choice given is simple: either pay a hefty fine or abandon the booty. They argued, but abandoned the cigarettes. In another case, a man with a Turkish passport had FIVE LARGE duffel bags filled to the brim with cartons of cigarettes. He had no excuses, no reason. He just stood there not speaking when asked: "Did you bring these cigarettes to sell here?" He just stood there and finally signed a paper that he was abandoning the haul. The officer said to him, "We now have copies of all your official documents and a report of today's incident, so if you reappear at any British Customs Office, with a quantity of cigarettes, you will face criminal charges." And, the last funny scene was a man from Hong Kong who was bringing a wedding cake from China to his family in England for an upcoming wedding. Unfortunately, the cake was a Birds' Nest Basket, and it is absolutely illegal to import this to England. He was given the choice to abandon it, but it was very very expensive, OR to pay to have it mailed back to Hong Kong to his family. Guess what he did.