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The Arrival of Father Christmas
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| Saturday, November 25, 2006 |
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Today was the long-awaited arrival of Father Christmas at Canary Wharf. Every child living in Docklands has likely been looking forward to this day for weeks. They’ve seen the sleigh display in the mall, and the only thing missing has been Father Christmas himself. The reason we were there was to see the fake snow, and I was glad to see I wasn’t the only one fascinated by how snow is produced at +10C.
The reindeer sleigh was due to arrive at 12:00 sharp. The scene was packed. All the little elves were there handing out chocolate and other goodies. There was face painting, there were balloon-tied animals, it was quite the show. At just before the hour, the excitement was building, and then it happened. Right on cue at 12:00 – the heavens opened...
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Small World Moment
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| Thursday, November 23, 2006 |
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Had an extremely weird “small world” moment this week. Our friend Mike from Bermondsey is in India to attend a wedding and do some trekking in the Himalayas. At the same time, Rachel (Vance) from Ontario is also in India doing some mission work. I got an email from Mike this week saying that he was in a remote village in northern India, and that he had met “your friend Stephen’s” sister Rachel! Is that weird or what?? In a country of a billion people and who knows how many thousands of churches and assemblies, and in some remote little village you bump into a friend of a friend!
I don’t know how many times I’ve met someone in another part of the world, and they’ve said, “Oh, Toronto! I know someone from Toronto! Do you know so-and-so?” You walk away thinking how silly it is that they’d even ask, and that they likely think Toronto is some small hick town. Well, I promise I won’t roll my eyes next time.
So, have you ever had a “small world” moment? Please share!
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Doodle 4 Google – My Britain
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| Tuesday, November 14, 2006 |
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You may have noticed that at certain times of the year, Google’s logo on their homepage gets “doodled” to reflect different people, events or special dates around the world. Until now, all of these have been designed by Google’s original doodler, 28-year-old Dennis Hwang.
'Doodle 4 Google - My Britain' was a recent nationwide design competition which was open to the UK's 10 million school children. Young people were invited to design a Google doodle representing what it means to them to be British today. The public voted on which doodles were the best in each age group, and Dennis chose the final winner. The winning doodle was displayed on the Google UK homepage for a day, being seen by around 18 million people. Check out the winning doodles! The winner will also be flown to Google’s “Googleplex” HQ in California to help Dennis design a doodle.
What is most interesting, though, is how the thousands of submitted doodles give insight into what kids today think of Britain. A full analysis was done of the doodles to look at the emerging themes, as well as to see how different regions, age groups and sexes view Britain.
Most people would think that kids today are obsessed with brand and image, but not one doodle featured Posh and Becks (they’ll be glad to know). Instead, “kids focussed on Britain’s rich history and heritage, ...
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Always Remember...
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| Saturday, November 11, 2006 |
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Greater love has no one than this, than to lay down one’s life for his friends.
-John 15:13
It is not the critic who counts, not the one who points out how the strong man stumbled or how the doer of deeds might have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred with sweat and dust and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs and comes short again and again; who knows the great enthusiasms, the great devotions, and spends himself in a worthy cause; who, if he wins, knows the triumph of high achievement; and who, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls, who know neither victory nor defeat.
-Theodore Roosevelt
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City of a Thousand Spires
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| Monday, October 16, 2006 |
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The locals call her Maticka Praha, or Little Mother Prague, one of Europe’s most beautiful and fascinating cities. This was our first time to the Czech Republic, of which Prague is the capital and also considered the centre of culture and music. And yes there are lots and lots of spires.
Something that struck us was how different the language was. Usually you can recognize words in other languages and get the gist of street signs. Czech is quite different though, and reading a map was lots of fun. “How do you get to the museum?” “Oh, real close. Take metro two stops to Staromestske Namesti station, turn left down Havelska Ulice for two blocks, go right at Politickych Venzu until Kraodvorska Truhlarska, then it’s right there on corner of Spanelska. Only 15 minutes.” “Uh, thanks…”
But that’s just the wonderful thing about being in a foreign city, isn’t it? You feel like you’re 6 years old again. The sights are new, the sounds and smells are new, you can’t read...
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More British Than Tea
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| Monday, October 02, 2006 |
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Truly British. There is nothing more British than tea. Even though it was discovered in China, grown in India and defiled in Boston. In the UK we get through 163 millions cups every day and even more at weekends. But tea drinking etiquette is complex. To dunk or not to dunk? Cup or mug? If the inside of the teapot is so brown, what do your insides look like? And, of course the age-old question: milk first or last? Scientists have spent tens of thousands of taxpayers pounds solving the debate which starts wars and breaks up families, and the verdict is to always put milk in first. Why? Because adding later leads to the “denaturation” of milk proteins, which, although utterly incomprehensibubble, is a bad BAD thing.
-Tube ad for Harrod’s.
Truly Canadian. There is nothing more Canadian than … Doughnuts??
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Bomb Threat(s)
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| Wednesday, September 13, 2006 |
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For the second day in a row now our building has been evacuated due to a bomb threat. For most people this would mean half a day off work. Not for us, though. Unfortunately we’re too busy to take any time off, so our team took some cabs to another office. PwC works on the basis of “hot desking”, which means you don’t have an assigned seat. Rather, you bring your laptop into your building each morning, sign in at a console and reserve the nearest free desk.
Due to the evacuations to different offices, we’ve received quite the grand tour of PwC London. Today was spent at the head office, a huge building by the Thames, close to the London Eye. To make sure we could all get seats together, we reserved a board room and all sat around a big table. Needless to say it was getting a bit stuffy by the end of the day.
Of course I had to bring my Microsoft ergonomic keyboard with me, only to find there was no room to use it at the crammed boardroom table. If I’d had any sense I would’ve realized that the embarrassment of taking the tube home in rush hour with a big keyboard tucked under your arm, is not worth saving yourself the risk of carpal tunnel syndrome. Five points for spotting the IT geek!! All I needed was a propeller hat to complete the picture.
After such humiliation I hope they catch whoever is making the bomb threats… although I do have my suspicions about a group of rather bored looking interns.
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Cumbria Cottage Country
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| Friday, August 25, 2006 |
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The other weekend we took a couple days off work to head up to cottage country. Well, actually it’s called the “Lake District”, but if you can imagine a mountainous version of Muskoka then you’ve got the idea. All the land in England higher than three thousand feet above sea level lies within the Park. But with a 6 hour drive it’s more like going for a weekend in Timmins than Muskoka. Funny how that drive takes us half way up the length of the country here, whereas in Ontario, man you’re just passing the first moose crossing! (Ontario is 1000 miles long).
The Lake District is renowned for its beautiful scenery, and we did get to see just how lovely England is. The weather was decidedly as English as the countryside, but thankfully it did clear up half way through. Apparently the climate in this region is the wettest and most unpredictable in all of England...
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The Seat of Learning
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| Wednesday, August 02, 2006 |
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After last weekend’s adventure to Eastbourne, we decided this Saturday to skip the trains and take a journey to the heart of England’s brain power: Oxford University. We safely arrived after ignoring all GPS suggestions to go anywhere near a route through central London. Upon arriving we did the typical tourist thing and headed straight for the “Hop-on, Hop-off” bus, which is an excellent way to see the sites and hear some commentary.
Oxford is a very beautiful campus and university town, but what will never cease to amaze me about this country is the history. The university was founded somewhere near the end of the 11th century. It is divided up into 39 colleges, and most of the ones we saw were built in the 1400’s to 1600’s. That is, like, OLD! I mean, while Europe was building castles, advancing in science and education, what on earth was going on in North America?? ...
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The Great Escape
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| Thursday, July 27, 2006 |
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Last Saturday a few of us were sitting down in our coffee morning at Bermondsey, wondering how we could escape the summer heat. It seemed the temperatures were hitting record highs on a daily basis. We had originally planned to go to Hyde Park, but while the Serpentine is a beautiful lake to boat on, it’s a bit murky for swimming. So going there on a sweltering hot day would be a little like going to the Toronto Beaches to escape the heat (lovely sand beach, but swim in Lake Ontario?? Ewww!).
In the end we decided to make a trip to Claire’s hometown of Eastbourne. The train is usually a very efficient and relaxing way to get around almost anywhere in Europe. Or, at least we thought so until Saturday ...
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