London Calling...

Slick & cool...Miami Vice returns

As I woke up this morning to write this, I turned on Sky Sports News to try to find some news that wasn't depressing, and what do I find but them reporting from Kings Road in West Hollywood! I was too groggy to figure out what was going -- but I am guessing it may have something to do with Chelsea (boo!) (whose stadium is right off the Kings Road in London) -- anyone seen John Terry or Joe Cole walking the streets of LA, by chance? Maybe they're staying in my old place?

Anyway, I digress. After much nagging, a ticket to the Miami Vice European premiere and after-party landed on my desk on Thursday, to much delight. Keep in mind the only premiere I've been to was Dr. Doolittle 2 when I worked at Fox during the summer of 2001 - which hardly counts. So I wasn't sure quite what to expect, but it was everything I had hoped. Leicester Square was teeming with people - mainly screaming girls - who'd clearly been there all day waiting to catch a glimpse of Jamie Foxx or Colin Farrell. We walked right in on the red carpet (which was actually 'blue' for the Miami theme), past all the press and photographers, and were shown to our seat. Scroll through a few pictures here.

Michael Mann walked stage to briefly introduce the movie and the cast, most notably Jamie Foxx and Colin Farrell, then they took their seats and the film began immediately. Not much to say about the film itself: it's very 'blokey' - lots of guns and shooting, not a tremendous amount of plot. But from a cinematography perspective, it's a beautiful film to watch - very visual and slick. I missed the Jan Hammer score and music from the TV show, though, it must be said. But definitely worth going to see - and worth seeing in a good theatre with a really good screen and sound.

The after party was much more exciting. It was at the Sanderson Hotel off Oxford Street - which is just an amazing space, and perfect for the party. Cool, white-curtain-lined inside bar, and lush patio outside. Keeping with the Miami-theme, a mojito is placed in everyone's hand upon entry. It was a fun night, getting to know some of the Sales force a bit more, many who were there with their customers. I spotted Ewan McGregor almost immediately, and ended up standing about 6-feet away from him for quite a while. (!!) Jamie Foxx stayed in the roped off area all evening, and I was surprised to find him incredibly petite - not just in height, but all around. He looks so ripped on the big screen! Colin Farrell came out and mingled for a bit - he was cuter than I expected. Less 'sexy rough', more 'cute', but also little. He seemed pretty approachable but had a harem of women around him all night, so I didn't bother. Samuel L. Jackson and Nick Cave were also there.

A really fun evening--beautiful place, fun people, Ewan McGregor, several mojitos and who knows how many glasses of champagne--but a bit of a disappointing end for me. The bottom of the invitation said 'Carriages at 1:30am' and I was really looking forward all night to walking out at the end of the party to find a horse-drawn carriage to take me home. Apparently, though, this is just English custom to put that at the bottom of the invitation (based on the old tradition of actual carriages), but all it really means is 'order your taxi for 1:30 'cuz that's when the party ends!' I hadn't ordered one, but the doorman managed to chase one down for me. I went home, popped a couple of Advil, and went back to reality the next morning.

posted by Eleanor @ 8:28 am 0 comments

A perfect summer dessert!

I've been eating a lot of apricots lately. I'm not really sure why. Maybe it's because they are small and easy to eat. Maybe it's because they offer just the right balance of sweet and sour that my citrus-loving palette so craves. Maybe it's because they were on sale at Sainsbury's (a punnet--whatever that is--for £1.99--bargain!).

I have a very distinct memory of my grandmother showing me how to open, stone and eat apricots when I was very little. Had I not had that lesson, I may not know what to do with an apricot, other than spread it on my toast as jam.

It is the easiest thing in the world. And in case you're after a yummy summer dessert, I thought I would share this one, compliments of the back of the pummet carton--it takes about 3 minutes and is easy-peasy:
1. Half and stone a couple of apricots
2. Put a small dollop or creme fraiche or mascarpone cheese (I used a lite creme fraiche) and sprinkle a little brown sugar on top
3. Place under the broiler (or 'grill' as they call it here) for a couple of minutes until so that the sugar caramalizes.
4. Voila!

posted by Eleanor @ 9:08 pm 0 comments

A few pictures from Saturday

It really was a day to remember. I won't go on an on (and believe me I could) about how special the day was, how amazing the new stadium is, how truly incredible it was to see all of the old players who came back...I'll just attach a few pictures. There are plenty of news stories to read, in more eloquent words than I can manage in this heat. In fact, there's a nice one here. Hope you enjoy the pictures...

posted by Eleanor @ 8:42 pm 0 comments

We're all melting!

It may not be national news in the US, but the UK has been experiencing a massive heat wave the past week. Apparently, London was the hottest city in Europe, and Thursday the record was broken for the hottest day in July--ever--and records go back to the 1700s! I've actually been enjoying being outside in the sunshine and heat - as I know it's so rare over here. It's the inside I can't deal with.

My flat, which doesn't get much ventilation, has been 31.5C degrees when I get home from work (89F) and leaving the windows open and fans on all night, allows it to drop only to a balmy 30C (86F). The city just can't cope with the heat. Schools are closing, and they're having to put special gravel on the roads because they're melting. I didn't actually believe this, until one of my heels got stuck in the pavement. Ewwww....!

This is all somehow tolerable (except when I'm blow-drying my hair), but the journey to/from work has been completely miserable. Everyone is quite-literally sweating buckets, arriving to work drenched. I'm not exaggerating here. I go to meetings, and everyone's apologizing that they smell.

I thought that maybe I should try taking a bus to work instead instead of the underground tube--until I saw this headline on a reputable London newspaper: 52-degrees on buses; 47C on tubes! Not being very good at my Celsius-to-Fahrenheit conversion, I was a bit scared to actually look that up. Unfortunately, I just did:

posted by Eleanor @ 11:35 am 0 comments

Returning to the home of Tata

It has been a really busy couple of weeks. After I got back from California I was one week in the office getting caught up, gearing up for our Miami Vice launch next week (fingers crossed!) and doing lots and lots of laundry. Not that I have an overwhelming amount of clothes, but my washing machine is like other things here and is very small. I can only fit one sheet and pillowcase at a time. It takes 3.75 hours to wash and dry, so to do one bed's worth of linens it takes 2 loads and 7.5 hours. Don't even get me started on the duvet cover...

So anyway I did a bunch of laundry, got caught up on my sleep and over my jetlag, went in to work last Monday and found out I needed to leave that afternoon for a conference in Marbella, Spain! It seems I was inadvertently left off the original invitation and everyone was already there. I called the travel agent we have to use --and in typical fashion they couldn't confirm anything for me, or even which airport I could fly out of. So I raced home, packed a few things and took the train out to Gatwick airport. I finally got on a flight that landed at Malaga airport around 1am. I was excited in a way to be flying to Spain.

Malaga, if you knew me back in 1995, was where 'Tata' was from. Tata was the mother or the apartment I lived in in Madrid during my study abroad. The same Tata who fed me tripe broth 5 days a week because it was cheap and had the red rotary phone with a padlock on it so we couldn't use it. She called me 'Leonor', belched and farted like mad, and was generally pretty cute. Anyway, I digress... I was excited to be going to Spain. Marbella, I found out, while beautiful, seemed to be 90% inhabited by Brits!

It actually ended up being a great set of meetings - very tiring with early starts, meetings all day, then dinners beginning at 10-11pm in true Spanish fashion. It was called our 'International Sales & Marketing Conference' and essentially it was all of my colleagues in marketing, together with their sales directors, from all around the world, getting together to meet, share ideas, etc. Russians, Japanese, Brazilians, Aussies, French, Spanish, Swedes, Mexicans, Germans...the list goes on! We didn't really get any free time (I was hoping to hit the beach!) but I did get an couple of hours the last afternoon to hit the hotel spa, which is honestly the nicest spa I've ever been to! While it wasn't paid for by the company, it was probably the best 75 Euros I've ever spent! Their description--which doesn't do it justice--says 'The charm of the spa at Hotel Villa Padierna is defined by combining the physical and the psychological wellbeing. With 8 different types of aroma, steam, herbs and mineral baths, there is something for all the possible tastes and lovers of baths.' I opted for the Japanese foot reflexology treatment, which was just heavenly, and thoroughly enjoyed all of the various steam rooms, turkish baths, and saunas.

The most interesting part was getting a 2:20am flight out of Malaga airport on Friday morning, landing at Gatwick at 3:30am, sleeping on a bench for a couple of hours (with all of the summer backpackers -- and a couple of families which seemed a little odd), and greeted my dad as he flew in from Texas at 7am. There was no rest for the weary that weekend, as we walked around many many different areas of London searching for a new neighborhood for me. I am getting increasingly fed up with the never-ending construction around me, and want to be ready, should I ever be able to get out of my lease. We also did a 10-mile walk along the Thames path, which was just lovely. We walked from Waterloo to Putney right along the river the entire time--then into Fulham, which is currently sitting at the #1 spot of new neighborhoods. Unfortunately, Piccadilly wasn't able to join him this time, but I did get some cute pictures and am hoping to see her soon.

While I didn't seem to manage any pictures of the river walk itself, here's a couple from along the way. We stopped at a big park called Battersea Park (near the old power station) for a drink and a sit down, and what do we find but some bagpipers! Another shot right along the river of a very out-of-place-looking (but beautiful) pagoda , given to the city by the emperor of Japan. And another one of a cutely named pub.

posted by Eleanor @ 10:12 am 0 comments

'We've got Dennis Bergkamp'...one last time...we sing...

For those of you reading who were hoping to escape yet another posting on football--given the season doesn't start for another month, and the World Cup is over--I apologize. But today is a big day in Arse-land, and it shouldn't go un-noticed. Not only is it the first day the new Emirates Stadium will open for play. It's opening for a very special reason: to say good-bye to superstar Dennis Bergkamp as he runs out on the pitch to play with Arsenal one last time before he retires. It's for what they call a 'testimonial' - traditionally it was used as a way for the players to collect some money before they retire. Now they are paid so well they donate the money to charity and it simply serves as one last hurrah for themselves and the fans.

Dennis played a major part in me becoming an Arsenal fan, and it will be mixed emotions today for me. It will be sad to say good-bye to him, and weird to think of the squad without him, but the thought of being in the new stadium for the first time, watching Arsenal players past and present play against Ajax (the Dutch team where Dennis began his football career at age 12). He's just pure class. I won't be sitting in my season ticket yet, because my fantastic boss Karen (who is also a massive Arsenal fan) has arranged for some great seats for us. I'm planning to meet up with Johnny and Liz Harber as well, so all in all a great day to look forward to!

posted by Eleanor @ 9:30 am 0 comments

Looney Tunes

Happy 4th of July to everyone! Yes, before you ask it is very strange being at work today when the rest of my friends and family are probably out watching fireworks, having BBQs and enjoying the sunshine. Have some corn on the cob for me!!!

I was somewhat surprised and a bit confused to hear the DJ on the XFM morning show this morning wishing all of her listeners a 'Happy Independence Day!' -- until it was quickly followed up by 'let's celebrate the day we got rid of all of the loony Americans!' - ha!

Reading headlines like 'London wilts,' 'Wimbledon halted by heat' and 'the capital is hotter than Rio' I was not surprised to learn that London is under a 'Category 5 heat wave.' I was surprised (and scared?!?) to learn that the next category up is considered a 'national emergency' (!!). Maybe we will be able to call in 'hot' after all...

posted by Eleanor @ 11:26 am 0 comments

You know you live in London when...

Made it back last night after spending nearly 2 hours in the immigration line at Heathrow. After an 11-hour flight that was not the most pleasant introduction back into London. I then promptly fell asleep on the crowded tube ride home. Nice to sleep in my own bed again - although I woke up at 2:30 this morning. I have returned to another London heat wave and while I finally got out of bed at 5:00am, to find it is still nearly 90-degrees in the flat despite leaving fans on and windows open all night. I wonder if I can call in 'hot' to work?

California was great - so nice and a bit surreal to be back, because part of me felt like I had never left! Pictures and highlights to come shortly. It didn't feel weird to be back when I returned last night, so I guess that is a good sign I am settling in a bit. Below is a nice 'you know you live in London when...' list that really rings true. I have added one of my own to the end.

1 . You say "the City" and expect everyone to know which one.
2. You have never been to The Tower of London or Madame Tussauds but love Brighton
3. You can get into a four-hour argument about how to get from Shepherds Bush to Elephant & Castle at 3:30 on the Friday before a long weekend, but can't find Dorset on a map.
4. Hookers and the homeless are invisible.
5. You step over people who collapse on the Tube.
6. You believe that being able to swear at people in their own language makes you multilingual.
7. You've considered stabbing someone.
8. Your door has more than three locks.
9. You consider eye contact an act of overt aggression.
10. You call an 8' x 10' plot of patchy grass a garden.
11. You consider Essex the "countryside".
12. You think Hyde Park is "nature".
13. You're paying £1,200 a month for a studio the size of a walk-in wardrobe and you think it's a "bargain".
14. Shopping in suburban supermarkets and shopping malls gives you a severe attack of agoraphobia.
15. You pay more each month to park your car than most people in the UK pay in rent.
16. You pay £3 without blinking for a beer that cost the bar 28p.
17. You actually take fashion seriously.
18. You have 27 different take-away menus next to your telephone.
19. The UK west of Heathrow is still theoretical to you.
20. You're suspicious of strangers who are actually nice to you.
21. Your idea of personal space is no one actually physically standing on you.
22. £50 worth of groceries fit in one plastic bag.
23. You have a minimum of five "worst cab ride ever" stories.
24. You don't hear sirens anymore.
25. You've mentally blocked out all thoughts of the city's air/water quality and what it's doing to your insides.
26. You live in a building with a larger population than most towns.
27. Your cleaner is Portuguese, your grocer is Somali, your butcher is Halal, your deli man is Israeli, your landlord is Italian, your laundry guy is Philippino, your bartender is Australian, your favourite diner owner is Greek, the watch seller on your corner is Senegalese, your last cabbie was African, your newsagent is Indian and your local English chippie owner is Turkish.
28. You wouldn't want to live anywhere else until you get married.
29. You roll your eyes and say 'tsk' at the news that someone has thrown themselves under a tube train.
30. Your day is ruined if you don't get a copy of Metro on the way to work.
31. You see your old car driving through the streets of London and can't believe how massive it looks (note that in the US it is considered a 'compact sedan'!)

posted by Eleanor @ 4:55 am 0 comments