The Daily Commute

You often really dread the same boring commute day-in and day-out, trudging through traffic and occasionally engaging in road rage, while listening to KFAN or MPR.

For me the commute is a tale of two halves, much like the Vikings football games. The first half is a little manic, where I stuff myself into the tube on the Central Line, changing at Bond Street to the Jubilee and ending my tube journey at Westminster.

As long as I am in the tube by 8am, its no problem. But soon thereafter it begins to resemble the running of the bulls...

Alas, when I make it to Westminster and pop out of the tube to a lovely walk across Westminster bridge with Big Ben and Parliment over my right shoulder and the London Eye along the wandering Themes  in the foreground on my left.

This commute can always be frustrating in the morning, stiving to get to work early with stress carried on your shoulders. However, its always appropriate to take a step back on the bridge, do a 360 and realize these are amazing times we live in, thankful to be a part of it all!

Hola Holland Park

We moved into our new flat last week in Holland Park and have been busy trying to make it feel more like home.  With a nice little balcony that overlooks a park across the street, our first mission was to find a BBQ.  I found the only cheap one left in the city at Argos, a 'department' store that is a shopping experience unto itself.  Literally, you walk in and browse through what can only be compared to as a JC Penney's catalog.  You select what you want to order, choose it from a list on an electronic vending machine and then when your number is flashed on the screen in the store, you go to the counter and pick up your item.  Thus, there is no viewing, touching, or inspecting products before purchase as they are hidden somewhere in a warehouse behind the counter.  After buying our bbq, we proceeded to haul it onto a public bus to commute it to its new home.

Luckily, we are becoming more savvy at putting things together ourselves.  Two hours later - Tada! Our second mission - to find propane gas in London - was much easier as it was ordered online and delivered right to our door.