Week 15—Independence from England!!

Monday, June 28, 2010
Sticky Fingers and Apple Sauce

We enjoyed dinner at Sticky Fingers with some of my friends from the family history center where I volunteer. Sticky Fingers is a famous café owned by Bill Wyman former guitarist of Rolling Stones (1962-1993). The café is named after the infamous album and is filled with original Rolling Stone memorabilia. And the food was great--Tony has the Philly Cheese Steak Sandwich and I have the BBQ Pulled Pork Sandwich—tasted American. I would recommend this café if coming to London and visiting the Kensington/Holland Park area.

My London Learning for the day—apple sauce, which if eaten would give you sticky fingers. Anyway, while at the grocery store I came across a jar of apple sauce, which I have yet to see and was excited to have. So for 59p I purchased the jar, came home, whipped out a spoon, and tasted UK apple sauce. It was very sweet and was more like apple pie filling. I only had two bites trying to figure it out. I asked a friend about this and she told me that apple sauce is not eaten by itself, but with pork roast. Needless the jar is still in the fridge and I look forward to some real apple sauce when I get home!

Tuesday and Wednesday, June 29-30, 2010
Apsley House

On my way home from my volunteer work and from my Thursday afternoon concerts, I often pass by the Apsley House. This was the former London home of the Arthur Wellesley, Duke of Wellington, who is famous for defeating Napoleon in the battle of Waterloo. The house sits on the southeast side of Hyde Park and now is home to a great collection of paintings. Although the house was given to the nation in 1947 by the 7th Duke of Wellington, there are still private family apartments on the upper floors of the building.

My London Learning the Apsley House is also know as Number One, London, as it was the first house visitors would pass as they entered the Knightsbridge gates leading to central London.


Thursday July 1, 2010
US Embassy and Grosvenor Square Park

With the 4th of July approaching, I thought it would be appropriate for me to take a walk through Mayfair, which is the area of London that is home to the US Embassy and Grosvenor Square Park.

We standing in the middle of the Grosvenor Square Park to the north is the Roosevelt Memorial.

To the south is the Eagle Squadron Memorial…

To the west is the US Embassy…

And to the east is a memorial garden dedicated to those who died in the 911 Terrorist Attacks.

My London Learning for the day…the US Embassy is getting a new home here in London---Nine Elms in the Borough of Wandsworth. The site was chosen in 2008, construction is to begin in 2012/2013, and completion in 2016/2017.

Friday
TV License

My post for today is also my London Learning and it was a shock---you have to have a license to watch television here in the UK! That’s right a TV license. Anyone receiving live transmission (cable, internet, and satellite) to any device (TV set, laptop, mobile phone, etc) is required to pay the licensing fee of ₤145.50/household for a color TV and ₤49/household for a black and white TV. The money is then used to fund services of the BBC. According to Wikipedia the total funds received from the TV license for 2008-2009 were ₤3.49 billion. The fee is considered a tax and so not paying the tax is a criminal offense that can result in a fine of ₤1,000. So, how do they know if you have a license and if you are watching TV without a license? Well, a database of licensed and unlicensed addresses is kept on file and detection devices (hand held and mobile van units) are used to determine if people are watching without a license. When Tony confirmed this with his co-workers he said they seemed surprised that the US did not have a TV license. (tvlicensing.co.uk and Wikipedia.com)


Weekend, Saturday and Sunday, July 3-4, 2010
Happy 4th of July from London

On Saturday we enjoyed being Londoners by taking it easy with a walk down Oxford Street and through Hyde Park and Kensington Gardens--and of course enjoying a stop ice-cream along the way. Not caring for milk and dark chocolate…my favorite ice cream novelty here is the Magnum White…

On Sunday we celebrated being American with a traditional 4th of July meal---hamburgers, corn on the cob and potato salad. Although, we would have preferred to have had American beef for our burgers---American beef just tastes better.

My London Learning for the weekend is two part 1) the British still remember…On Friday, at the end of the work day one of Tony’s coworkers told him to enjoy his weekend and to have a “happy Independence day from us!”
And 2) Our lives would be VERY different had we not won the Revolutionary War (we would probably drinking a lot more tea, be paying for a TV license, calling our cell phones mobiles and apartments flats, and would probably be paying the VAT at 17.5%!).