Quirky Cambridge

You can tell what would upset the peace and quiet of Clare.

Now these are REAL punters - not just voters! 

 Even Cambridge is on the lookout for students.

I had to look twice at this one - and read the fine print.

Bits & Pieces - coffee and signs.

These coffee carts are for you Pete and Mary - the Cambridge equivalent of Coffeewheels.  This one is built on a three wheeler - motor cycle with wider rear axle?

This one has a Mazzer grinder and the coffee machine is English made.  He told us that it can also run on butane.  It is pedal power. Wouldn't work where you are.

I have always chuckled at Chinese brands translated into English - for example Flying Horse and Wheel cotton.  But I have begun to notice that the English are pretty good at it - in English. Spotted these today.

Dinner with Anne

We followed Anne's recommendation and tried Tayyabs Restaurant at Whitechapel.  It was good  food, with equally good Indian kulfi.  Then we re-visited Aldgate Coffee House which was just around the corner. A lovely evening.

Highgate Hill Cemetery

The weather the last few days has been lovely English summer weather - warm and no rain.  So it was a good day to go to Highgate Hill Cemetery in northern London.  Karl Marx was the star attraction.

Comrade!

Originally thery were here

but in 1956 a new grave and memorial were organised by the Marx Memorial Fund and put in a more prominent location.  Other ideological soul mates were also buried nearby.

And also the writer George Eliot, who was really a lady but used a man's name to boost sales - in the Victorian era.

And not hard to guess this fellow's occupation.

Apparently artist Sidney Nolan was also buried nearby, but we just couldn't find his grave.

And it is a living cemetery, if there can be such a thing.  Burials still occur - we saw graves from 2015 and 2016.

Bits and pieces - a 3d mirror and Dartmouth

A 3-d mirror - couldn't resist taking a photo.  Another kind of selfie.   In the Ladies of tonight's restaurant.

And for those of us from Longreach old enough to remember....

Coffee - navigating the differences

Different countries have different coffee cultures.  We have puzzled over what is here, finding it tasteless, weak and without aroma.  Anne gave us details of an Aussie company in London, but we have been up in Leicester.

It was an Italian coffeehouse owner in Leicester who explained it all  to us.  We asked him for a cappuccino European style.  The result was much better, but then he told us that in Italy, a cappuccino isn't considered a proper coffee!

But he said that in Italy, people drink espressos (for the caffeine) - a short black.  They drink at the bar, without sitting down.  The English see a cup of coffee as a time to socialise, so they want a bigger drink.  So they take a single shot and dilute it (with milk or water) to make it last longer. We asked if the beans were stale - no he said, they use first rate beans, but serve it differently.  

So we had breakfast there - but that was also European style - brioche!  So what are we to do - English breakfast comes with English coffee, European coffee comes with European breakfast!

Anyhow, today, back in London, we hit paydirt. 

We went into the coffee shop and I did my usual thing of asking to see the cup they used for cappuccino, ready to ask for less milk please.  But it was the smaller Aussie size!  Our coffee came - just like Australia!  The joy on KM's face!  I talked to the ladies there - the shop was owned by a man from Bangladesh, and they were trained specially on how to make coffee.

So there you go.  It is just opposite Aldgate station, so we may be able to go back.

Wednesday - election results, Whitechapel and food

We have been getting up and checking the Aus election count each morning.  As of today, it seems that Malcolm is inching towards something but not quite sure what. Wonder if there will be an answer by the time we get home next week.  The UK isn't having much luck picking its next leader either.  The Poles living in the UK are wondering if they should go back to Poland, one reason being the dropping pound.  For us, the exchange rate has been good news.

Anyhow, today we went on a walking tour of Whitechapel - billed as the Jewish tour, but it was about more than that.  We revisited the Synagogue where I had been with Beo Lan last year on our "7 churches and a synagogue" tour.
KM in the synagogue.

 The walking tour

Many narrow streets in Whitechapel 

And housing for Hugenots then became council housing.

Then we had lunch at Brick Lane - famous for its Indian food.  I have never had much luck at Brick Lane, except the time Sue and Steve took us, as they knew where to go.  There are just so many restaurants, a bit hit and miss, and this time we missed.  But we still ate it and we weren't hungry at the end of it.  No pic - wasn't worth it.

But later on we did see this

and got excited, thinking it was Singapore food.  But inside was the usual English (and delicious) cakes and slices, no noodles.  Perhaps it was a Singaporean behind the coffee machine.

Ouch! Privatised rail services....

Today we got our first brush with the sting of privatised rail.  Mark had warned us long ago to buy tickets online, but we had done so well the last few days just rolling up and buying tickets, that we thought going to London would be the same.

At the ticket counter, the price was a shock - THREE times the fare that we paid to get up to Leicester.  But we were in a weak bargaining position, so had to cop it.  Lesson learned.

Otherwise all went well today.  Back to London, checked into our apartment, went looking for lunch, did some shopping, had a rest (getting old).  Then caught a train to Chinatown where we found a lovely Vietnamese restaurant and walked back to our apartment.  But our Aus pho is much cheaper, although this was a more subtle flavour.

Sorry, no pics today.  Still reeling from the privatisation monster.

Last day in Leicester - and visit to Market Harborough

This morning we looked at the parts of Leicester that we had not seen - some miscellaneous shots.

First, the fresh food market.  TWO punnets of raspberries for a pound!.

Don't see many of these shops in Aus.  A very chatty owner who wanted to know about Australia. 

 We looked around what remains of LeicesterCastle.  Some very old houses - what we call "wonky" so must be genuine.

And the usual Roman ruins.  The Jewry wall museum was an excellent presentation of Roman and Saxon Leicester.  We were the only visitors there.

Just one of the many interesting buildings in this town.  It seems as though Leicester has had busier times, or that there is more town than the population needs.  It is neat and tidy and easy to get around.

We found a cantonese restaurant for lunch - with "chao hor fun" - fried rice noodles with gravy.  We ordered beef.  The noodles were very good, but the rest was an English version of beef stew as the gravy.  But still good food.  I enjoyed it.  KM had tripe. Forgot to take a pic - too hungry!

Then we caught a train to Market Harborough to visit two bell-ringers who lived in Sydney.  It was good to catch up with them, and also to see a smaller village.  It was quiet and English and a very pleasant place indeed. KM went bell-ringing, I piked at the stone circular steps that got smaller.  I don't think I could ring in UK.   Below is the railway station

 and this is St Dionysius Church where KM and Mark went bell-ringing.

Coventry - the old

Today we tested the inter-city bus system and caught the X6 to Coventry.  We knew that we would only have three and a half hours there, but thought that was enough to see a bombed out cathedral.  Little did we know.

There has always been a church/cathedral at this sight.  But in  November 1940, it was comprehensively bombed by the Luftwaffe.  The original cathedral has been retained as a ruin.

KM climbed the 180 spiral steps to the top of the remaining tower. It survived the bombers, and so did its bells.  He noticed the disclaimer when he came down, but the ticket seller didn't discourage him.  It was half way up that he began to wonder how many more steps there were.

 The tower

 and KM is somewhere up there.

View from above, looking away from the tower.

And the view from ground level.

Reconciliation statue.  We were told there was only one other - in Hiroshima - but google reveals that since there are a couple of other similar ones around the world.  This one in Coventry has Japanese script on it.