We are now on two weeks of recess, and since Parliament isn't in session, we get to use the time to chill out, travel, catch up on our research, and so on.
That doesn't mean we stop political activity though. Before I head off to Wales later this week, I've volunteered to help with campaigning down in Edinburgh South. I got my first taste of leafleting, which basically means taking leaflets and putting them through people's letterboxes.
I will admit, I was pretty nervous at first. I know this doesn't happen very often anywhere, but I've never just walked up the driveway to someone's house before without being invited, and thus I was almost expecting someone to pop out their door at some point with a shotgun or have a bunch of dogs bark at me like I was the milkman or something. I got lucky though, since most people were out at work, and any animal activity was limited to a single cat sitting under a tree glaring at me. I was successful with delivering leaflets to houses; however, getting into blocks of flats is much more difficult than in Hong Kong, where the security guard usually just lets you in anyway or the mailboxes are placed outside the gate. So that part of the delivery was pretty fruitless. Edinburgh South does look like a pretty place though, and I hope I get to walk around it a bit more soon.
Also: the office down south has a FOLDING MACHINE! You have no idea how happy I was to see this thing. It doesn't look brand spanking new at all, but I honestly have not seen one before, and after spending previous campaigns folding hundreds of leaflets individually by hand and risking dozens of paper cuts, it was such a relief to stack up sheets, pull a lever, press a button, and voila! 100 nicely folded leaflets ready for delivery.
Tuesday, March 30, 2010
Saturday, March 27, 2010
Pictures!
Went on a lovely adventure today! Popped up at 7:30, which is always great, 'cause it's like I've gotten the gift of a morning to enjoy. Probably happens more often when the night before is less than exciting, but it's a trade-off I'd make in a second.
Wandered off to the National Gallery of Modern Art, which I really liked quite a lot. As well as a bunch of excellent surrealist pieces (mostly from the 30s) the whole second floor was a display of photographs by Diane Arbus, an American artist shooting in the 60's, mostly. A lot of the stuff came off as initially disturbing, as she tended to photograph people on the margins of society, but having all these works collected in one place gave a comforting sense of the breadth of humanity. I was very into it by the end (a quick google search will give a sense of her stuff).
Anyway, I took along the camera to chart my journey! It was the first sunny day in forever, and I loved it oh so much. It would take forever to cross-post all the photos, but here's a link to the Facebook album I put them in. It should be entirely open to the public, but let me know if you have any trouble viewing it (cpassare(at)usc.edu)
Much love from Scotland,
Chris
Friday, March 26, 2010
Diary of the First Half!
Howdy! For the Edinburgh programme, we have been told we must keep a journal to make sure we're making proper use of our time. I figured that I could post that up here to keep everyone up to date! It's not as exciting as fancy trips or anything, but if anyone feels like reading a whole bundle on exactly what's going on, here ya go!
Week 1
This week I got settled in Parliament while studying for finals; with tests on Friday and the Monday after, it was a bit of a juggling act to get acquainted with my 3 MSPs and prepare for the UK and Scottish Politics assessments. If I had any advice for future programs at this point, it would be to perhaps start the internship a week later, and cram all three assessments into one week (but at least we would be able to focus entirely on them during that time). Trying to read and analyse all these journal articles, even after keeping up with the reading, was quite difficult to squeeze in after dinner every night.
So far, though, the work has been satisfying! David Stewart MSP has me working on the Forth Road Crossing Bill, and I’ve been diving into the SPICe reports and other summaries helpfully provided by Liza (a researcher to the three Labour H&I MSPs). I’m now up on the issues at hand, the various proposals that were sorted through, the reasons for design decisions made, etc. Best of all was when I got to attend the committee meeting Wednesday and actually understood what was going on; they were throwing around all sorts of proposals for public transit options for the bridge, and knowing some of the answers to the MSPs’ questions prior to the answers by Transport Scotland and others was most excellent.
The only worry I have is that there’s not a whole lot I can contribute to the process. I can help go over David’s questions for him, suggest lines of inquiry, etc., but it’s not like I could actually do a research paper that forges new ground on this. The plans are already put together, the decisions currently made seem justified… besides helping with the procedural progression of the bill, the remaining work falls entirely to civil engineers, contractors, and the agencies that can actually conduct the sort of number-crunching that would be needed at this point.
Week 2
Peter Peacock MSP has given me direction towards what might work out to be a more viable project. He’s looking at the extension of broadband internet to the more remote regions of Scotland (being an MSP for the Highlands and Islands) and figuring out viable ways to make the leap from existing infrastructure to full access to the rural population. There is already an existing Pathfinder network deployed to cover schools and libraries in H&I, and any viable plan would be extending that connectivity to surrounding neighbourhoods.
There has been a successful program (known as the Tegola test bed project) that used relay towers to extend and magnify a wireless signal from a Pathfinder-connected exchange. Compared to the meagre 5km or so that standard copper wire can extend from an exchange normally, the vast spans covered by Tegola present a very real possibility for affordable, reliable connection across great distances and difficult terrain. My job, then, is to find out what other countries have attempted in this situation, how much public spending was required before private investment was viable, etc. Peter has seemed genuinely interested in my findings, here, and apparently this is work that hasn’t been exhaustively done but is something well within my purview.
I’ve also taken over RSVP duties from the other intern in my office, which is only reasonable given my extra-junior status. It takes a wee bit of time and organisation since I’m dealing with the diaries of three separate MSPs, but it’s nice to have something deliverable to handle when I open my email. Not bad at all, having an easy box to check!
Week 3
Continued work on FRC and broadband. I have had a few good experiences investigating constituent issues, like some disputes in Inverness about public busses being used as school transport; there have been questions about whether legal recourse can be taken by the Parliament or even the local councils if the educational authorities have not been supervising pupils closely enough on their way to and from school.
Also, I met with Kieran (the other intern) and Mike Robb, a Labour candidate to contend for a LibDem seat in the election. It’s currently held by Nick Clegg’s chief of staff, so a victory there would be most excellent. Hopefully we’ll get to visit the district and help with the canvassing operation as the campaign heats up!
Peter has also given me a massive amount of correspondence on the broadband project. I’m off in Inverness on Monday of next week (22 March) for a meeting with the entire H&I Labour MSPs organisation, which conveniently coincides with a meeting between Peter and some of the folks on the Pathfinder project. I hope that by poring through all those emails I might be up to speed and come with some questions prepared; this is my chance to actually break some ground on how the network is currently built and how much consumer traffic it might be able to support.
I’ll make an effort to write in the journal in various daily segments rather than once weekly, to make sure I don’t miss anything by jotting it all down on a Friday afternoon.
Week 4
Monday: With the Forth Crossing Bill Committee meeting for objections coming up on Wednesday, I’m looking through massive objective binders to assess the issues raised by the particular witnesses that will be at the meeting. This will be a great chance to draft some sharp questions, if all goes well, so I hope to devote myself to some critical analysis today and seize the opportunity to actually make a mark on this massive bill. Also continued sorting through the 25 Mb of broadband email from the last four or five months.
Thursday: Forth Crossing Committee went quite well yesterday; David had some excellent questions for Transport Scotland, making progress on hammering out some sticking points on the bidding process, but TS was able to address all the constituent objections rather effectively.
I’ve also been sorting through how different countries are approaching the rural broadband issue; Norway is promising.
Week 5
Went up to Inverness on Monday to meet the constituency team! It was great to get in touch with all these people that I’d met on the phone. I also had the opportunity to join Peter on his meeting with the Highland Council to find out of LEADER or SRDP (programs for rural development) funding could be secured for broadband, as well as if it was possible to gain access to Pathfinder for the project.
Besides more work on that, there’s been a great variety of things to do this week. I got to contribute some website design mock-ups for the Hill Tracks Campaign (to regulate the cutting of service roads), put together a wee sheet explaining how to get free energy-efficiency advice/consultation for the constituency office, tracked down potential celeb endorsers and their agents, and all sorts of other things. The diverse, accomplishable tasks are quite satisfying.
I’ve also been looking around for the last few days at digital literacy programs around the world. Between UK, EU, and other efforts there are all sorts of good practices that have been laid out for training people with ICT (Information and Communications Technology). If we can find gaps in Scotland’s efforts on digital inclusion, it would be important to patch them to make the most of the new opportunities being extended to rural residents.
Phonebanking on Tuesday night! Everyone was exceptionally polite, even when in opposition. All you weenies that chewed me out when I called you for No on 8, take note. A bit of courtesy makes such a difference.
Also, this’ll take a while to explain, but it’s another campaign I’m looking into. Basically, every five years, businesses are revalued. This valuation defines what share of the total business tax they pay; it doesn’t define independently the tax rate, but it defines what slice of the pre-determined pie they are responsible for, so the total tax revenue is fixed. Anyway, petrol stations have been entirely re-classified with the valuation being done on the amount of financial turnover rather than the square-footage that used to be the basis for the value, like all other stores. While this seems like a reasonable way to assess the tax (by profitability and value rather than… physical space), it was done in such a way that petrol stations used to be nearly tax free and independent owners could cope with gas taxes and things. Now, though, their valuation has doubled or tripled, and they’re suddenly responsible for a massive amount of business tax, estimated by some to be up to a 450% increase. In England and Wales, at least, there is a transition program that smoothes the move from the old rate to the new one. Scotland has no such program in place, creating a tax shock that will kill what remains of the independent petrol stations.
…whew. So yeah, I hope to find a better way to summarise that and get a bit of publicity for it, which will be fun.
Finally, I’m going off to Inverness to help campaign Monday-Wednesday next week. I’m excited, because it is just gorgeous up there.
Week 1
This week I got settled in Parliament while studying for finals; with tests on Friday and the Monday after, it was a bit of a juggling act to get acquainted with my 3 MSPs and prepare for the UK and Scottish Politics assessments. If I had any advice for future programs at this point, it would be to perhaps start the internship a week later, and cram all three assessments into one week (but at least we would be able to focus entirely on them during that time). Trying to read and analyse all these journal articles, even after keeping up with the reading, was quite difficult to squeeze in after dinner every night.
So far, though, the work has been satisfying! David Stewart MSP has me working on the Forth Road Crossing Bill, and I’ve been diving into the SPICe reports and other summaries helpfully provided by Liza (a researcher to the three Labour H&I MSPs). I’m now up on the issues at hand, the various proposals that were sorted through, the reasons for design decisions made, etc. Best of all was when I got to attend the committee meeting Wednesday and actually understood what was going on; they were throwing around all sorts of proposals for public transit options for the bridge, and knowing some of the answers to the MSPs’ questions prior to the answers by Transport Scotland and others was most excellent.
The only worry I have is that there’s not a whole lot I can contribute to the process. I can help go over David’s questions for him, suggest lines of inquiry, etc., but it’s not like I could actually do a research paper that forges new ground on this. The plans are already put together, the decisions currently made seem justified… besides helping with the procedural progression of the bill, the remaining work falls entirely to civil engineers, contractors, and the agencies that can actually conduct the sort of number-crunching that would be needed at this point.
Week 2
Peter Peacock MSP has given me direction towards what might work out to be a more viable project. He’s looking at the extension of broadband internet to the more remote regions of Scotland (being an MSP for the Highlands and Islands) and figuring out viable ways to make the leap from existing infrastructure to full access to the rural population. There is already an existing Pathfinder network deployed to cover schools and libraries in H&I, and any viable plan would be extending that connectivity to surrounding neighbourhoods.
There has been a successful program (known as the Tegola test bed project) that used relay towers to extend and magnify a wireless signal from a Pathfinder-connected exchange. Compared to the meagre 5km or so that standard copper wire can extend from an exchange normally, the vast spans covered by Tegola present a very real possibility for affordable, reliable connection across great distances and difficult terrain. My job, then, is to find out what other countries have attempted in this situation, how much public spending was required before private investment was viable, etc. Peter has seemed genuinely interested in my findings, here, and apparently this is work that hasn’t been exhaustively done but is something well within my purview.
I’ve also taken over RSVP duties from the other intern in my office, which is only reasonable given my extra-junior status. It takes a wee bit of time and organisation since I’m dealing with the diaries of three separate MSPs, but it’s nice to have something deliverable to handle when I open my email. Not bad at all, having an easy box to check!
Week 3
Continued work on FRC and broadband. I have had a few good experiences investigating constituent issues, like some disputes in Inverness about public busses being used as school transport; there have been questions about whether legal recourse can be taken by the Parliament or even the local councils if the educational authorities have not been supervising pupils closely enough on their way to and from school.
Also, I met with Kieran (the other intern) and Mike Robb, a Labour candidate to contend for a LibDem seat in the election. It’s currently held by Nick Clegg’s chief of staff, so a victory there would be most excellent. Hopefully we’ll get to visit the district and help with the canvassing operation as the campaign heats up!
Peter has also given me a massive amount of correspondence on the broadband project. I’m off in Inverness on Monday of next week (22 March) for a meeting with the entire H&I Labour MSPs organisation, which conveniently coincides with a meeting between Peter and some of the folks on the Pathfinder project. I hope that by poring through all those emails I might be up to speed and come with some questions prepared; this is my chance to actually break some ground on how the network is currently built and how much consumer traffic it might be able to support.
I’ll make an effort to write in the journal in various daily segments rather than once weekly, to make sure I don’t miss anything by jotting it all down on a Friday afternoon.
Week 4
Monday: With the Forth Crossing Bill Committee meeting for objections coming up on Wednesday, I’m looking through massive objective binders to assess the issues raised by the particular witnesses that will be at the meeting. This will be a great chance to draft some sharp questions, if all goes well, so I hope to devote myself to some critical analysis today and seize the opportunity to actually make a mark on this massive bill. Also continued sorting through the 25 Mb of broadband email from the last four or five months.
Thursday: Forth Crossing Committee went quite well yesterday; David had some excellent questions for Transport Scotland, making progress on hammering out some sticking points on the bidding process, but TS was able to address all the constituent objections rather effectively.
I’ve also been sorting through how different countries are approaching the rural broadband issue; Norway is promising.
Week 5
Went up to Inverness on Monday to meet the constituency team! It was great to get in touch with all these people that I’d met on the phone. I also had the opportunity to join Peter on his meeting with the Highland Council to find out of LEADER or SRDP (programs for rural development) funding could be secured for broadband, as well as if it was possible to gain access to Pathfinder for the project.
Besides more work on that, there’s been a great variety of things to do this week. I got to contribute some website design mock-ups for the Hill Tracks Campaign (to regulate the cutting of service roads), put together a wee sheet explaining how to get free energy-efficiency advice/consultation for the constituency office, tracked down potential celeb endorsers and their agents, and all sorts of other things. The diverse, accomplishable tasks are quite satisfying.
I’ve also been looking around for the last few days at digital literacy programs around the world. Between UK, EU, and other efforts there are all sorts of good practices that have been laid out for training people with ICT (Information and Communications Technology). If we can find gaps in Scotland’s efforts on digital inclusion, it would be important to patch them to make the most of the new opportunities being extended to rural residents.
Phonebanking on Tuesday night! Everyone was exceptionally polite, even when in opposition. All you weenies that chewed me out when I called you for No on 8, take note. A bit of courtesy makes such a difference.
Also, this’ll take a while to explain, but it’s another campaign I’m looking into. Basically, every five years, businesses are revalued. This valuation defines what share of the total business tax they pay; it doesn’t define independently the tax rate, but it defines what slice of the pre-determined pie they are responsible for, so the total tax revenue is fixed. Anyway, petrol stations have been entirely re-classified with the valuation being done on the amount of financial turnover rather than the square-footage that used to be the basis for the value, like all other stores. While this seems like a reasonable way to assess the tax (by profitability and value rather than… physical space), it was done in such a way that petrol stations used to be nearly tax free and independent owners could cope with gas taxes and things. Now, though, their valuation has doubled or tripled, and they’re suddenly responsible for a massive amount of business tax, estimated by some to be up to a 450% increase. In England and Wales, at least, there is a transition program that smoothes the move from the old rate to the new one. Scotland has no such program in place, creating a tax shock that will kill what remains of the independent petrol stations.
…whew. So yeah, I hope to find a better way to summarise that and get a bit of publicity for it, which will be fun.
Finally, I’m going off to Inverness to help campaign Monday-Wednesday next week. I’m excited, because it is just gorgeous up there.
Friday, March 19, 2010
Falcons!
4 of them! Managed to snap a couple of pics with my camera phone today...sorry about the shoddy quality.
I don't know if you can tell through the window, but today was beautiful, with a lot of sun (and a lot of wind)
I don't know if you can tell through the window, but today was beautiful, with a lot of sun (and a lot of wind)
Tuesday, March 16, 2010
Photos of Parli!
Mannn I have been behind on all this! Not a whole lot of individual events have happened, but I've been working lots. Here are at least a few pictures to make up for the break:
My office! It's a wee bit lonely out here, since Peter Peacock MSP is only in two or three days a week and he's often off at meetings and things. All the same, the desk on the right is mine, and his is the one behind the partition back there. At least the quiet means I can get proper work done!
Here's the view out the window, essentially over my shoulder from where I took the prior photo. I'm definitely a fan of the building. :D
Annnd this is to the right of the last photo, looking up at Holyrood Park, the Crags and Arthur's Seat. That truck at the bottom is a falconer's van, and just below the frame of this shot there are usually two or three hawks chilling. They're apparently for chasing pigeons away from the concrete/marble building.
My office! It's a wee bit lonely out here, since Peter Peacock MSP is only in two or three days a week and he's often off at meetings and things. All the same, the desk on the right is mine, and his is the one behind the partition back there. At least the quiet means I can get proper work done!Here's the view out the window, essentially over my shoulder from where I took the prior photo. I'm definitely a fan of the building. :DAnnnd this is to the right of the last photo, looking up at Holyrood Park, the Crags and Arthur's Seat. That truck at the bottom is a falconer's van, and just below the frame of this shot there are usually two or three hawks chilling. They're apparently for chasing pigeons away from the concrete/marble building.Not a bad work environment, if I do say so myself!
Monday, March 8, 2010
London part 3: Ian McKellen, Roger Rees, Matthew Kelly, and Ronald Pickup!
Final part, whoo!
Picking up from Baker Street: so after we left Sherlock Holmes, we realised just how hungry we were. After much wandering around, we settled on the Globe, which has awesome fish and chips, and it was a very nice (and buzzed) lunch. By the time we were done, it was close to late afternoon, so we were considering going to see Buckingham Palace, but then we saw the ticket kiosk and wondered: why not take in a show?
So we went over there and asked about Oliver and Priscilla Queen of the Desert, since those were the two big shows being advertised. No dice. Except for £90 tickets for Priscilla, which was not going to happen. So we went to look for the bus stops again, but due to an unenviably horrible sense of direction, we couldn't find the right ones, so we decided to go back and see if there were any more shows of interest.
Chicago? Also nope. What about plays? There was Six Degrees of Separation (Jenn's suggestion since it had Anthony Stewart Head in it), and Waiting for Godot (with Ian McKellen in it). The lovely Bernadette at the kiosk made a few more calls, and lo and behold, there were two tickets for £28 for Waiting for Godot! Sweet!
The show didn't start till 7:30, so we killed time by some more touristy shopping and stopping at Pret a Manger for a bite to eat before heading to the Haymarket Theatre, just off Piccadilly Circus.
Front of the Haymarket Theatre, complete with poster.
It's a little blurry, but this is Her Majesty's Theatre, and Phantom of the Opera is still running here after 24 years.
Self-explanatory :)
I've never read the play, nor have I read anything related to the Theatre of the Absurd (Jenn had), but I LOVED it from start to finish. I wish I knew more so I could give a nice detailed intellectual analysis about how awesome it was, but just take my word for it. It was awesome. My only regret is that I wasn't there to see Patrick Stewart playing opposite Ian when he was around a few months back.
So after the final curtain call, I was curious to see if we could go backstage for autographs. I've been to musicals, and I know how backstage at musicals work, but those usually involve large ensemble casts and/or principals who are usually very happy to sign autographs and chat with the fans and take photos and all that. I almost glomped John Owen Jones once when he exited after playing Jean Valjean. This was a play with a small cast of men whom are older than your average musical performer; I wasn't sure what was the correct protocol. Glomping was definitely out, I knew that much.
Luckily we got directions from an usher, and there was a small group already waiting when we got there. It wasn't long before Ian (Sir Ian, I should say) popped out. I think I was dumbstruck because I didn't get out much more than "That was amazing!" while shoving my playbill at him while he searched for a Sharpie to sign it. Had I had more presence of mind I might have asked for a picture, but then he started chatting with some people he knew, and we decide to leave him to it. He left soon after signing everyone's playbill; he did seem tired. Roger Rees came out soon after and also signed the playbill before taking off rather quickly (though very politely).
Matthew Kelly pretty much stole the backstage show, taking the time to crack a few jokes and hold conversations while signing playbills. And to answer your question, Jenn, if it were appropriate I would have been rolling on the floor laughing because you guys had a hilarious interaction (octopus and all). It was adorable.
Ronald Pickup was the last to leave, and he also seemed pretty tired and ready to go home so he took off pretty quickly as well. There was one more cast member, the Boy, but he was hustled home by his parents earlier on, so no autograph from him.
But here's the result!
All in all, that was a great ending to a great weekend! :D
Picking up from Baker Street: so after we left Sherlock Holmes, we realised just how hungry we were. After much wandering around, we settled on the Globe, which has awesome fish and chips, and it was a very nice (and buzzed) lunch. By the time we were done, it was close to late afternoon, so we were considering going to see Buckingham Palace, but then we saw the ticket kiosk and wondered: why not take in a show?
So we went over there and asked about Oliver and Priscilla Queen of the Desert, since those were the two big shows being advertised. No dice. Except for £90 tickets for Priscilla, which was not going to happen. So we went to look for the bus stops again, but due to an unenviably horrible sense of direction, we couldn't find the right ones, so we decided to go back and see if there were any more shows of interest.
Chicago? Also nope. What about plays? There was Six Degrees of Separation (Jenn's suggestion since it had Anthony Stewart Head in it), and Waiting for Godot (with Ian McKellen in it). The lovely Bernadette at the kiosk made a few more calls, and lo and behold, there were two tickets for £28 for Waiting for Godot! Sweet!
The show didn't start till 7:30, so we killed time by some more touristy shopping and stopping at Pret a Manger for a bite to eat before heading to the Haymarket Theatre, just off Piccadilly Circus.
Front of the Haymarket Theatre, complete with poster.
It's a little blurry, but this is Her Majesty's Theatre, and Phantom of the Opera is still running here after 24 years.
Self-explanatory :)
I've never read the play, nor have I read anything related to the Theatre of the Absurd (Jenn had), but I LOVED it from start to finish. I wish I knew more so I could give a nice detailed intellectual analysis about how awesome it was, but just take my word for it. It was awesome. My only regret is that I wasn't there to see Patrick Stewart playing opposite Ian when he was around a few months back.
So after the final curtain call, I was curious to see if we could go backstage for autographs. I've been to musicals, and I know how backstage at musicals work, but those usually involve large ensemble casts and/or principals who are usually very happy to sign autographs and chat with the fans and take photos and all that. I almost glomped John Owen Jones once when he exited after playing Jean Valjean. This was a play with a small cast of men whom are older than your average musical performer; I wasn't sure what was the correct protocol. Glomping was definitely out, I knew that much.
Luckily we got directions from an usher, and there was a small group already waiting when we got there. It wasn't long before Ian (Sir Ian, I should say) popped out. I think I was dumbstruck because I didn't get out much more than "That was amazing!" while shoving my playbill at him while he searched for a Sharpie to sign it. Had I had more presence of mind I might have asked for a picture, but then he started chatting with some people he knew, and we decide to leave him to it. He left soon after signing everyone's playbill; he did seem tired. Roger Rees came out soon after and also signed the playbill before taking off rather quickly (though very politely).
Matthew Kelly pretty much stole the backstage show, taking the time to crack a few jokes and hold conversations while signing playbills. And to answer your question, Jenn, if it were appropriate I would have been rolling on the floor laughing because you guys had a hilarious interaction (octopus and all). It was adorable.
Ronald Pickup was the last to leave, and he also seemed pretty tired and ready to go home so he took off pretty quickly as well. There was one more cast member, the Boy, but he was hustled home by his parents earlier on, so no autograph from him.
But here's the result!
All in all, that was a great ending to a great weekend! :D
Saturday, March 6, 2010
London part 2: Subways, shopping, and Sherlock Holmes
Despite staying up late (and almost falling asleep) watching the Olympics, I woke up bright and early to meet Jenn at Camden train station, since she had heard of a large market that she had been referred to by everyone and their mother. I figured an extra half hour would help since it was further north.
That would have worked out fine and dandy had the Underground not exercised its customary practice of shutting down half the lines on weekends for maintenance. This weekend, the entire Circle line was shut, stretches of the Bakerloo line were down (which messed things up for the trip to Baker St), eight different lines were partially closed, and the station that had been shut down on the Northern line? Camden. Yup. So while I was on the train, I was trying to figure out the closest way to get there, and they were saying to get off at Euston station, two stops away from Camden, which I did. Then I called Jenn, and it turns out she'd stopped at Mornington which was the stop right before Camden, so I hauled ass back to the train, and got off there instead, where we learned that the markets were only a short walk away. Welcome to the London Underground: there are multiple overlapping lines for a reason.
View of Camden Market from the bridge. There were a bunch of stores before that, selling more touristy stuff, strangely enough including various pipes, hookahs, bongs, and stocks of flavoured tobacco. And condoms with "I Love London" on the wrapping.
In addition to the shops, there were loads of food stalls and a couple of eating areas. But how many eating areas have scooter seats with a river view?
View down the market. They mainly sold clothing and accessories, but there were plenty of other things as well. Some of the stuff looked really good, but we found the two best answers to resist temptation:
1) "It's getting too hot!" (used in response to the temptation to buy nifty jackets)
2) "I'm too fat!" (used to ward off sellers of clothes that are adorable but we know we will genuinely never fit in even with Weight Watchers and Crisco)
After a good three hours of wandering around the market, we decided to head to Baker Street. This was also our first time on a bus, since it would be quicker than changing trains 9213907 times, and the bus came every 10 minutes or so.
Woo!
Even more woo!
A notice about Jack the Ripper, for authenticity.
A replica of Holmes's bedroom, complete with possessions.
The desk in the study. Watson's medical kit can be seen resting on the chair.
Fireplace! A little blurry, sadly. Note the hats on the table :)
Victorian-era potty?
Bronze bust of the great man himself.
The second floor consisted of artifacts linked with the stories. This glass case contains some of the weapons described in the books.
Voodoo doll used by an accomplice (can't remember which story though)
Some of the rooms also had figures of characters or scenes. The one on the left is from "The Man with the Twisted Lip" and the one on the right is from "The Musgrave Ritual".
Professor Moriarty, looking suitably evil and plotting something.
Um, yeah.
I think this picture pretty much sums up the experience. :)
Not only did they put a statue of him outside Baker St station, his profile adorns the tiles inside.
So I lied about there being two parts to the London post; it's gonna be 3 now since I'm getting really tired and there is a lot more awesomeness to cover. My energy levels have been at about 30% with this cough and hopefully this week's course of antibiotics will help, but the whole rest and fluids thing needs to be done as well.
G'night!
That would have worked out fine and dandy had the Underground not exercised its customary practice of shutting down half the lines on weekends for maintenance. This weekend, the entire Circle line was shut, stretches of the Bakerloo line were down (which messed things up for the trip to Baker St), eight different lines were partially closed, and the station that had been shut down on the Northern line? Camden. Yup. So while I was on the train, I was trying to figure out the closest way to get there, and they were saying to get off at Euston station, two stops away from Camden, which I did. Then I called Jenn, and it turns out she'd stopped at Mornington which was the stop right before Camden, so I hauled ass back to the train, and got off there instead, where we learned that the markets were only a short walk away. Welcome to the London Underground: there are multiple overlapping lines for a reason.
View of Camden Market from the bridge. There were a bunch of stores before that, selling more touristy stuff, strangely enough including various pipes, hookahs, bongs, and stocks of flavoured tobacco. And condoms with "I Love London" on the wrapping.
In addition to the shops, there were loads of food stalls and a couple of eating areas. But how many eating areas have scooter seats with a river view?
View down the market. They mainly sold clothing and accessories, but there were plenty of other things as well. Some of the stuff looked really good, but we found the two best answers to resist temptation:
1) "It's getting too hot!" (used in response to the temptation to buy nifty jackets)
2) "I'm too fat!" (used to ward off sellers of clothes that are adorable but we know we will genuinely never fit in even with Weight Watchers and Crisco)
After a good three hours of wandering around the market, we decided to head to Baker Street. This was also our first time on a bus, since it would be quicker than changing trains 9213907 times, and the bus came every 10 minutes or so.
Woo!
Even more woo!
A notice about Jack the Ripper, for authenticity.
A replica of Holmes's bedroom, complete with possessions.
The desk in the study. Watson's medical kit can be seen resting on the chair.
Fireplace! A little blurry, sadly. Note the hats on the table :)
Victorian-era potty?
Bronze bust of the great man himself.
The second floor consisted of artifacts linked with the stories. This glass case contains some of the weapons described in the books.
Voodoo doll used by an accomplice (can't remember which story though)
Some of the rooms also had figures of characters or scenes. The one on the left is from "The Man with the Twisted Lip" and the one on the right is from "The Musgrave Ritual".
Professor Moriarty, looking suitably evil and plotting something.
Um, yeah.
I think this picture pretty much sums up the experience. :)
Not only did they put a statue of him outside Baker St station, his profile adorns the tiles inside.
So I lied about there being two parts to the London post; it's gonna be 3 now since I'm getting really tired and there is a lot more awesomeness to cover. My energy levels have been at about 30% with this cough and hopefully this week's course of antibiotics will help, but the whole rest and fluids thing needs to be done as well.
G'night!
London part 1: Towers, dungeons, squares, and a LOT of walking
Hooray, the long-overdue update on LONDON! This will have to be broken down into two parts for easier reading.
I popped into Parliament on the Thursday to get my computer set up before hauling my stuff to Waverley, which left me surprisingly out of breath and realising that I need to hit the gym again once I'm healthy. Nothing particularly eventful about the train ride, although the taxi driver had a late-night brain fart and wasn't sure where the street I was looking for was until I told him the area. My moneysaver for the weekend was to crash at my cousin's place in Kensington instead of camping at a hostel. I was initially worried that I would be in the way, but it turns out that he often works until 2am, being an intense CompSci professor, so as long as I didn't mess up the place or change the channel from the Olympics it was ok. We did have some nice conversation the first night though over a late dinner.
I'd arranged to meet Jenn the next morning at Piccadilly Circus, where she was staying at a hostel. Jenn is the fellow intern whom I spent the summer with picking our way through old naval documents and enduring the verbal barbs from highers-up, and since she's in Belfast this semester, where else to meet up but London? So after meeting up with her (and her pet octopus Otto) we went for a full English breakfast while figuring out what to do next.
Now I hadn't exactly planned what to do on this trip. Jenn, bless her, had a list of landmarks AND restaurants of interest, so after consulting the map, we figured we'd start further out and work our way back to the centre. First port of call: the Tower of London.
Trebuchet in the grounds.
Yup, that's a hand. Someone had a sick sense of humour.
Barney, our lovely Yeoman Warder or Beefeater.
This is the Bell Tower, where Sir Thomas More was held after Henry VIII got pissed off at him. Also held here was Elizabeth I, since her sister Mary I didn't trust her, being a Protestant and Mary a Catholic. We all know how that ended.
You can't see the sign that well, but that's the gate to the Bloody Tower.
This pretty glass monument marks the spot for many private executions, including Anne Boleyn. Back then, if you were rich enough, important enough, or the king decided to have mercy on you, you would get...not a pardon, but a private execution. Otherwise you got beheaded on Tower Hill in front of all and sundry.
The ravens of the Tower. Lord knows what they do all day, the only thing that matters is that if they leave, the kingdom falls. Although one could joke that devolution is already helping that process along.
This is me holding the legendary Otto! Gnomes are so last year.
Classic shot of Westminster Bridge, Parliament, Big Ben, and a red double decker in the background.
On our way back to Leicester Square/Piccadilly, we decided to walk the path that would take us next to the Horse Guards and Trafalgar Square. It doesn't show that well, but this was a really grumpy horse. I think it got a little antsy with the kids running around as well.
Trafalgar Square! But no legendary flocks of pigeons. :(
The rest of the day was spent wandering the area doing touristy window shopping in places such as Chinatown and Shaftesbury Avenue. While running around looking for Fortnum & Mason's, we stumbled upon Forbidden Planet, which is a dream of comic books, manga, graphic novels, Studio Ghibli DVDs, and a huge-ass Enterprise model hanging from the ceiling.
We then had dinner at an Indian place which looked pricey until they offered the set dinner for £9, which was a pretty good deal. We also ended up with a leaflet for a burlesque cabaret show. Now, we were actually quite interested, but due to our mediocre sense of direction, we never actually found it. Instead, we were back at Leicester Square, surrounded by cinemas. Solution? Let's watch Sherlock Holmes!
I had had my reservations about the movie when the trailer first came out, since I usually preferred my Holmes fully clothed and a little less scruffy. But Jenn, also a Sherlock Holmes fan, had seen it, and she loved it, so I was persuaded. (Jenn, I swear there's a pattern going on here...first you convince me to watch the new Star Trek movie, and now the new Sherlock Holmes movie?) And I actually really really enjoyed it. I was terrified for a while that Guy Ritchie was going to go crazy and use something of the supernatural, so I was very glad when there was a explanation for everything. But what made me really happy was the Holmes-Watson dynamic. No blundering, blustering Watson here. We have someone who's capable in his own sphere, actually serves some use as the detective's assistant, appreciates the friendship while criticising Holmes's faults, and can hold his own in a fight. I think we'd have to credit House for that, though.
We parted ways for the day, after that, I went back to Kensington. Surprise, surprise, it was midnight and my cousin wasn't home. No matter, the figure skating came on at 1am so I watched it for a bit before heading off to sleep.
Stay tuned for Part 2!
I popped into Parliament on the Thursday to get my computer set up before hauling my stuff to Waverley, which left me surprisingly out of breath and realising that I need to hit the gym again once I'm healthy. Nothing particularly eventful about the train ride, although the taxi driver had a late-night brain fart and wasn't sure where the street I was looking for was until I told him the area. My moneysaver for the weekend was to crash at my cousin's place in Kensington instead of camping at a hostel. I was initially worried that I would be in the way, but it turns out that he often works until 2am, being an intense CompSci professor, so as long as I didn't mess up the place or change the channel from the Olympics it was ok. We did have some nice conversation the first night though over a late dinner.
I'd arranged to meet Jenn the next morning at Piccadilly Circus, where she was staying at a hostel. Jenn is the fellow intern whom I spent the summer with picking our way through old naval documents and enduring the verbal barbs from highers-up, and since she's in Belfast this semester, where else to meet up but London? So after meeting up with her (and her pet octopus Otto) we went for a full English breakfast while figuring out what to do next.
Now I hadn't exactly planned what to do on this trip. Jenn, bless her, had a list of landmarks AND restaurants of interest, so after consulting the map, we figured we'd start further out and work our way back to the centre. First port of call: the Tower of London.
Trebuchet in the grounds.
Yup, that's a hand. Someone had a sick sense of humour.
Barney, our lovely Yeoman Warder or Beefeater.
This is the Bell Tower, where Sir Thomas More was held after Henry VIII got pissed off at him. Also held here was Elizabeth I, since her sister Mary I didn't trust her, being a Protestant and Mary a Catholic. We all know how that ended.
You can't see the sign that well, but that's the gate to the Bloody Tower.
This pretty glass monument marks the spot for many private executions, including Anne Boleyn. Back then, if you were rich enough, important enough, or the king decided to have mercy on you, you would get...not a pardon, but a private execution. Otherwise you got beheaded on Tower Hill in front of all and sundry.
The ravens of the Tower. Lord knows what they do all day, the only thing that matters is that if they leave, the kingdom falls. Although one could joke that devolution is already helping that process along.
This is me holding the legendary Otto! Gnomes are so last year.
Classic shot of Westminster Bridge, Parliament, Big Ben, and a red double decker in the background.
On our way back to Leicester Square/Piccadilly, we decided to walk the path that would take us next to the Horse Guards and Trafalgar Square. It doesn't show that well, but this was a really grumpy horse. I think it got a little antsy with the kids running around as well.
Trafalgar Square! But no legendary flocks of pigeons. :(
The rest of the day was spent wandering the area doing touristy window shopping in places such as Chinatown and Shaftesbury Avenue. While running around looking for Fortnum & Mason's, we stumbled upon Forbidden Planet, which is a dream of comic books, manga, graphic novels, Studio Ghibli DVDs, and a huge-ass Enterprise model hanging from the ceiling.
We then had dinner at an Indian place which looked pricey until they offered the set dinner for £9, which was a pretty good deal. We also ended up with a leaflet for a burlesque cabaret show. Now, we were actually quite interested, but due to our mediocre sense of direction, we never actually found it. Instead, we were back at Leicester Square, surrounded by cinemas. Solution? Let's watch Sherlock Holmes!
I had had my reservations about the movie when the trailer first came out, since I usually preferred my Holmes fully clothed and a little less scruffy. But Jenn, also a Sherlock Holmes fan, had seen it, and she loved it, so I was persuaded. (Jenn, I swear there's a pattern going on here...first you convince me to watch the new Star Trek movie, and now the new Sherlock Holmes movie?) And I actually really really enjoyed it. I was terrified for a while that Guy Ritchie was going to go crazy and use something of the supernatural, so I was very glad when there was a explanation for everything. But what made me really happy was the Holmes-Watson dynamic. No blundering, blustering Watson here. We have someone who's capable in his own sphere, actually serves some use as the detective's assistant, appreciates the friendship while criticising Holmes's faults, and can hold his own in a fight. I think we'd have to credit House for that, though.
We parted ways for the day, after that, I went back to Kensington. Surprise, surprise, it was midnight and my cousin wasn't home. No matter, the figure skating came on at 1am so I watched it for a bit before heading off to sleep.
Stay tuned for Part 2!
Thursday, March 4, 2010
*COUGH*
So, I'm still kind of sick. I have this crazy cough that won't go away and which gets worse at night, and is definitely a distraction at work. I owe people a London post, so I promise I'll get it up once this paper is done!
One perk of working and having a regular schedule where you're pretty much done after 5 (extra research on projects is optional) is that I've been hanging out more with the flatmates, especially during dinner time and afterwards, which is pretty sweet, and hopefully we can have a flat-wide meal at some point.
I'm slowly coming to the realisation that this internship has about 7 weeks to go, which is pretty terrifying in a way. Normally I wouldn't think about it, but I was trying to plan out the scope of my project, and I realised that 7 weeks is pushing it for the amount I want to cover. I'm actually really really into this whole cancer research thing, although statistics was never my strong point, and I'm still working out my focus point at this moment.
On the side, the little administrative tasks do break the momentum, and I'm finally learning how to use the phone properly with referring callers to the right office and transferring connections and all that. Since Cathy spends most of her time out west and no one comes in Mondays, as of next week, I'll be helping out in the Labour campaign office....I'm curious to see how it compares to Hong Kong.
And after Friday....horse racing and dim sum! :)
One perk of working and having a regular schedule where you're pretty much done after 5 (extra research on projects is optional) is that I've been hanging out more with the flatmates, especially during dinner time and afterwards, which is pretty sweet, and hopefully we can have a flat-wide meal at some point.
I'm slowly coming to the realisation that this internship has about 7 weeks to go, which is pretty terrifying in a way. Normally I wouldn't think about it, but I was trying to plan out the scope of my project, and I realised that 7 weeks is pushing it for the amount I want to cover. I'm actually really really into this whole cancer research thing, although statistics was never my strong point, and I'm still working out my focus point at this moment.
On the side, the little administrative tasks do break the momentum, and I'm finally learning how to use the phone properly with referring callers to the right office and transferring connections and all that. Since Cathy spends most of her time out west and no one comes in Mondays, as of next week, I'll be helping out in the Labour campaign office....I'm curious to see how it compares to Hong Kong.
And after Friday....horse racing and dim sum! :)
Wednesday, March 3, 2010
Should be writing my paper, but...
One and a half weeks down!
I'm currently chilling in the library. Our last assessment for the classes is due Friday, in the form of a mid-size paper. There were two tests, and those are happily over and went rather well. Naturally, I can't wait until there's nothing to think about but parli work!
I've slowly picked up more duties in the office... I'm handling RSVPs, investigating little issues to see if they are worth a PQ (Parliamentary Question; an inquiry posed to the Government that must be answered by the responsible minister) etc. Also! I'm keeping track of who has spoken at debates and asked PQs for David, since he's the chief whip and responsible for managing the party's participation in the debates and votes.
Most refreshing of all, though, is a talk I had with Peter, another one of my 3 MSPs (I promise, it's entirely legit to call them by their first names). I knew I was working on rural broadband availability for him, but he had a chance to sit me down and go over what's been done, what more has to BE done, etc... This is probably what my formal research project will be on, even though I'm still involved on the Forth Crossing Bill.
Phew. I'm totally tired out, but very happy to be doing what I am! Hopefully going to actually get to bed early tonight. Enjoying the freedom. Also, going to Kelso for some horse-racing with the USC folks on Saturday! I'll try to actually bring the camera to that one, since I bet photos will be in order.
I'm currently chilling in the library. Our last assessment for the classes is due Friday, in the form of a mid-size paper. There were two tests, and those are happily over and went rather well. Naturally, I can't wait until there's nothing to think about but parli work!
I've slowly picked up more duties in the office... I'm handling RSVPs, investigating little issues to see if they are worth a PQ (Parliamentary Question; an inquiry posed to the Government that must be answered by the responsible minister) etc. Also! I'm keeping track of who has spoken at debates and asked PQs for David, since he's the chief whip and responsible for managing the party's participation in the debates and votes.
Most refreshing of all, though, is a talk I had with Peter, another one of my 3 MSPs (I promise, it's entirely legit to call them by their first names). I knew I was working on rural broadband availability for him, but he had a chance to sit me down and go over what's been done, what more has to BE done, etc... This is probably what my formal research project will be on, even though I'm still involved on the Forth Crossing Bill.
Phew. I'm totally tired out, but very happy to be doing what I am! Hopefully going to actually get to bed early tonight. Enjoying the freedom. Also, going to Kelso for some horse-racing with the USC folks on Saturday! I'll try to actually bring the camera to that one, since I bet photos will be in order.
Monday, March 1, 2010
"Charlie bit me!"
I just had this encounter about half an hour ago. Please imagine the conversation with the girls speaking in Scottish accents:
Me: (walking down the Royal Mile)
(stepping around a bunch of little primary school-age girls chattering away)
Little girl 1: Excuse me!
Me: Mm?
Little girl: Don't you think he's ugly? *brandishes poster of Justin Bieber, some child singer I've heard about but don't pay attention to* He's ugly, isn't he?
Little girl 2: No he's not!
Little girl 1: Yes he is! Don't you agree? Look at him! He's ugly!
(At this point, I've stopped walking, and they're skipping along)
Me: Um, well, isn't he like 14?
Chorus of little girls: YES! (actually 16 now that I checked)
Me: Um--
Little girl 1: He really is ugly!
Little girl 2: No he isn't!
Me: Well, I've heard of him, but I don't really know that much...
Little girl 1: Oh...
(girls run off giggling)
Ah, kids.
Me: (walking down the Royal Mile)
(stepping around a bunch of little primary school-age girls chattering away)
Little girl 1: Excuse me!
Me: Mm?
Little girl: Don't you think he's ugly? *brandishes poster of Justin Bieber, some child singer I've heard about but don't pay attention to* He's ugly, isn't he?
Little girl 2: No he's not!
Little girl 1: Yes he is! Don't you agree? Look at him! He's ugly!
(At this point, I've stopped walking, and they're skipping along)
Me: Um, well, isn't he like 14?
Chorus of little girls: YES! (actually 16 now that I checked)
Me: Um--
Little girl 1: He really is ugly!
Little girl 2: No he isn't!
Me: Well, I've heard of him, but I don't really know that much...
Little girl 1: Oh...
(girls run off giggling)
Ah, kids.
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