More Photos

India

A few photos from India......

London

I decided to take a slightly different route to the grocery store last week and ended up on an old, narrow brick road. About halfway down the block I saw the following blue sign:


I live less than half a mile from it and had no idea this was here. Maybe it is part of the reason that I can count on seeing a Bentley three or four times a day as I walk around the neighborhood.

I often I forget about all of the history in London, and it is the little things that remind me. Another perfect example was while I was getting fitted for a suit. On the wall was a small plaque stating that this was the former site of the Royal Geographical Society and photo from 1874 showing Dr. David Livingstone's memorial in the map room prior to the interment at Westminister Abby.

Snow?!?

It snowed. The news and locals are claiming that it was the largest snow storm in 18 years. My best guess is that we have less than 6in (15cm). Large portions of the public transit system were shut down, stores did not open, and classrooms were about half empty. I felt at home looking out the window in the first week of February and seeing a bit of snow.

Unfortunately the ground is really wet underneath, so the thought of skiing in a local park isn't all that appealing. Well, that, and I don't have any skis.


In other news, The Financial Times placed LBS (in a tie with Wharton) at the top of the table in the 2009 Global MBA Rankings. This shows the strength of the brand here in Europe, and hopefully it will lead to some additional recognition in the North American press.

Suiting Up

Today was the first weekday since my return to London that I didn't have to put on a suit and tie. I think at day 3 (maybe day 2) I started my longest running series of consecutive days in a suit.

All last week, and continuing into this week, was Milk Round. I can't get a clear story as to the origin of the name, but it consists of begging big fancy companies for jobs over snacks and drinks. Although not all of the conversations were boring and tedious, that was kind of the general trend.

In other news, I think it is relevant to mention that I haven't even seen a turtle in at least 12 fortnights.

Bike Dust

So I hadn't ridden my bike in a while:


I'm not sure how well it came out in the photo, but I recently found a more than noticeable layer of dust had settled on the saddle. Sunday, which was an unseasonably sunny day here in London, was my first ride in well over a month. I just had time to ride laps around Regent's Park, but it was great to get back on two wheels and remind myself how to drive a bike.

Without an indoor trainer I'm at the will of the weather and my ever increasingly packed schedule to find times to ride, and the two rarely align. Although my bike hasn't yet transitioned into solely part of my bedroom's decor, I'm not too excited about the prospect of having to dust it from time to time.

Rough Trade

Yesterday I wandered into Notting Hill to meet a friend for coffee and took a bit of time to explore the Portobello Road Market. The outdoor street market was full of stands selling your standard market goods: veggies, fish, bread, used books, antique jewelry, or knee-high boots.

After buying a loaf of wholemeal bread, I spotted Rough Trade.

The ground floor was split evenly between vinyl and CDs. In the basement was a huge collection of vinyl that I didn't take the time to properly explore. All of the titles were sorted into some 25+ genres such as, Dubstep, Post Rock, Ed Banger, Warp Skam Rephlex, and others that I had no idea existed. My personal favorite was:

You can also see a bit of the sticker in the bottom of the picture that has a description of the album. Every title in the store has a similar sticker that contains an undecipherable set of obscure band and genre references to either entice or confuse the buyer. In my case, I just picked up the BPB album in the picture and have been enjoying the live versions of some of my old favorites.