Two years – already?

Kim and I have now been together for two years. Our actual wedding anniversary was Monday the 8th of June but we celebrated the weekend before in Bruge, Belgium. It is lovely just as the last two years of marriage have been! To the left is a shot taken while on the river boat tour along oneof the many canals networks throughout the city center. The new blog head shot is just before we got on the boat. We specifically lined our eyes up to fit the sliver of a space at the top of the blog.

We encountered some interesting street scenes while meandering along the cobble stone streets.  These scenes and the amazing century old architecture is due to a  recession.  The main artery of the city’s port dried up leaving it without a way to import and export goods. TIme ticked on and Bruge remained the the same even when the industrial revolution was born. Also, it wasn’t desirable enough a place to fight for during the war so has subsequently kept its original charming medieval buildings and bridges. The residents are now profiting from the thousands of tourists who frequently visit to see an untouched medieval city in modern times. Patience can bring prosperity! Aren’t the dogs cute! They’re more interested in each other than the chocolate in the shop. One of Belgium’s best known commodities. Bruge specifically is known for its handmade lace.

Bruge, Belgium

Belgium beer is just as good as its chocolate.  Can you see the floating head amongst the bottles? Weird!

January 2009

It’s been a while since I’ve updated the recent happenings in the Magin’s world. I turned 35 on the 22nd of January and well…it was quite anti-climatic but fun all the same. I’m officially half way through my 30’s. Cool. I had a few dinners to celebrate. I got some really nice gifts from some very lovely people. Thank you all. This a photo of my friend Merritt and I at a fabulous restaurant in Camden Town. Very fun! That’s actually a mint tea made with real mint tea leaves on the table, not a a Mojito. We enjoyed champagne as our drink of choice that night. I used to drink real mint tea like that all the time in LA, so it was a real treat that they actually had fresh mint tea at the restaurant.

We spent New Years with our Friends Dave and Eva eating lovely Italian food. We then went to the center of London to watch the fireworks. Well we got there a bit late and only got to see them on the TV screens that were set-up in Trafalgar Square.  We could have seen the event on our TV screen but we wouldn’t have had the pleasure of feeling the energy of the crowd,  pushing us out of the tube station onto the crowded streets of London. We would have only seen the spray of champagne we felt as the the new year rang in. We also couldn’t have so easily walked over  to the actual site of the fireworks after the show concluded just a short ten minutes later. It was a cold night but a really nice walk non the less. This is what we saw.

The week after New Years we went to the coast to do some body boarding. Well Kim did the body boarding I did the photo taking. He actually had many photos taken of him that day. There is a surfing site called magicseaweed.com and someone took photos of this very day of Kim body boarding. Here is another great body boarding shot- Well done KIM! Below are the photos I took.

The sun rising over the ocean. The clouds did actually clear as you’ll see below.

Kim body boarding his way through a tube of water about 6 feet in height. He’s shaded but we were enjoyingthe sun!

He’s happy to have gotten the chance to ride. I am happy as we’re on our way to lunch. Are you sensing a theme here? I am eating my way through 2009. Besides that I’m busy running more often as well as doing a lot of yoga and I’m beginning to teach again as well. I found a few gyms very close to our house to teach yoga at and a really great Pilates studio with the proper equipment to teach on just around the corner from my house. The weather has been a bit all over the place and the recession has slowed the process of getting anything going here, even for the already established.

This year is looking to be a year of major changes for many of us. We have a new president. The people of the world are as happy as we Americans. Much of the world is in a recession but is seeking ways to counter this. It’s like a company going bankrupt. The owner can only look at ways to rebuild and restructure in a better way. The world can only but benefit from reflecting on how it got to where it is today. What better a time than now, in the winter, when even mother  nature is contemplating how she will regenerate herself come spring and always in a seemingly effortless manner as well. We could all learn a lesson from her process, allowing the time in which life passes and the occurances that take place during that time to be the only effort needed to make the necessary changes.

Sydney Harbor

Sydney Harbor, originally uploaded by The Magins.

Australia equals adventure. Its non- stop action sprinkled with long relaxing days swimming, beach walking and sight seeing. Kim and I really like it here and are excited about the potential move downunder. It almost seems hard to believe that we started talking about moving there less than two years ago and it could be a reality in less than a year from now!

Even though we’re here for “business” we are also here having fun. Click on the photos above for a small photo journal of our trip so far. We landed Sunday the 8th and stayed with our friends Colin and Jen and their new little baby Abbey before caravanning for 6 short days. The weather was HORRIBLE! We did have one day of sun and got some hiking in. We saw the Three Sisters and climbed what seemed to my legs like a million steps. I may walk a lot on London but it doesn’t prepare you for a hike in the mountains. I am out of shape! The rain came just in time for us to go down under, down under. The Janolan caves were only 40 minutes from the town of Katoomba where we hiked.

We saw an underwater river. Our first ever. The water was so pure and clear it didn’t look like water was even there! The cave photo that looks like a sandy looking rock actually has super clear water over it. About 1 meter.

It then rained for the rest of that night near the Janolan caves where we stayed. We woke and I felt like I was back in the UK; cold, gray, wet and rainy so I made an executive decision and we headed to the coast where the weather wasn’t much better but we found a really great beach town called Avoca and had amazing dinner inside. It was warmer on the coast too, even though it wasn’t much dryer.

The next day we drove back to Sydney and hung out with our friends Colin and Jen. They have been super accommodating. They had lent us their couch to sleep on, their GPS to get us around Oz, their car to drive around in, their yummy drinks and snacks at their house, and most importantly their great company. They are so much fun!

We took two days to hang out in Sydney. We did a few touristy things and just walked around a bit to do, well the things you do in a city, eat, shop, dodge cars and people. Sydney proper has the biggest concentration of people I’ve seen yet in Sydney. There is no traffic and really not much people dodging even on the city streets. We like it!

We have been diving. Haven’t taken any shots yet underwater, as we haven’t seen too much worth taking shots of. We did see a school of about 200 Barracuda about 2 meters below the surface today. We don’t know what they were doing so close to shore other than that they might have been chased by a big shark. We didn’t see the shark. I am so glad we didn’t. I’m not sure of I’m ready for that yet!

We have about one week left before going back to the UK. I am a bit bummed we have to leave but at least be have something really great to look forward to!

Long Day

Today I got registered with the NHS. National Health Service. It was painless and a rather pleasant experience. My doctor’s office is a five minute walk from my house. Rather convenient and clean. Always a bonus.

I’m feeling more officially a part of society here each day. Still not feeling English blood flowing through me but I do feel the English chill every once in a while.Its rained as usual today.

Really tired. Going to retire.

Caffeine Addict

I need coffee sometimes. Not want but need. Well my brain tells me I need even though I really had given up coffee for a few years prior to moving here. Funny how old habits can creep, right back, up on you without any warning. Without asking, “Hey am I welcome back in your life?” Forget about asking they sort of just tell you what their demands are for some reason.  We then just comply, until some other system in the body starts screaming…”cut it out! I’ve told you before and I’ll tell you again and again stop doing that. I’m warning you, I will make you jittery and edgy!”

The passive aggressive body parts rely on rich, advertising companies to get their message across. For instance the cigarette boxes hear in London have warnings the size of a shirt tag saying “SMOKING KILLS”. Another good example is a billboard ad that has a picture of a bare chested guy, probably in his 50’s with a skin tone coloured belt around his chest squeezing it like a tourniquet. Just writing about it just made me want to take a deeper breath. If you saw it, it would make your chest feel tight. Or at least it makes mine tight. I wonder if it makes people stop eating their artery clogging fish and chips? Another favorite of mine. Back to coffee…

I feel I’m doing myself a favor by not only getting out of the office to fulfill this habit but by not drinking the awful instant coffee that offices in England tend to serve. I’m at least drinking my daily does of caffeine with a “proper” cup of coffee rather than just any old coffee flavored caffeine fix.

I get to Starbucks and I order one of the fancy holiday coffees they have, Ginger Bread latte (which by the way isn’t as good as the Toasted Almond Latte) and proceed to ask for a small or a Tall as it’s spoken in Starbuck’s language. I’ve already committed to satisfying my fix and have already agreed a small is enough when I’m not supposed to be drinking a coffee to begin with. Starbuck’s Host I of course forgets what size I ordered, between asking me and then grabbing for the size cup he needs to make my yummy treat with. Starbucks Host II pipes up and says Grande, a.k.a., medium. I was like yeah that’s fine. I said to Starbuck’s Host II you just talked me into that you know. He smiled as if he’s going to make more money for that or something. He tells me he’s been working at Starbucks for five years and he does know how to sell anyone a cup-of-joe. I was impressed with his stealth marketing tactics and his ability to be so modest when confronted. They worked on me for sure. He’s from Bangladesh and seems to love his job at Starbucks. Good, as an agro host makes for a bad cup of coffee.

I asked him when my favorite holiday drink was going to be arriving- the Eggnog Latte. He said only in December. I said I’ll be away for three weeks in December. I’m going to Australia and he says you better drink as many as you can as they don’t have Starbucks in Oz. Unreal-maybe the southern hemisphere hasn’t been blessed with such franchises yet. They are the better for it, if that’s the case. This fact of course was given to me by SH II himself with another, I know more than you about Starbuck’s smile.

So I got my coffee and sat down in Starbuck’s for a few minutes to pretend I wasn’t really on a break from work but on a fancy European vacation and with nothing better to do my 24 hours today than enjoy a cup of fresh roasted coffee. I quickly snapped out of that when I realized I had to go back around the corner to finish making calls. Maybe I should invite SH II with me. Maybe he could make me some cash with his keen selling skills.

On the way home I passed by a group of school girls. They still wear uniforms here. They looked like little proper Mary Poppins with their Navy Skirts, shirts and matching berets- very cute. Even without the coffee I was reminded that I am certainly in a foreign place. I like that.

Dependent or not on caffeine it a reliable source that brightens my day. We all can’t rely on the sun for brightening in London.

Emergency Conclusion

I decide to write last night because for several reason but my amazement in how everyone, including myself, didn’t panic on the train last night even when an emergency alert was being sounded. I actually found out why there was an emergency today.

Trevor, one of my co-workers, and I had worked a little late last night. He had a meeting that was going to take him cross town on the Central line, which runs east/west. The northern line run North/South. They intersect at Bank tube station.

Trevor normally goes east on the line but he was meeting a candidate and had to go west to Holborn. He noticed a bag behind his head with a perfectly knotted tie on it. He asked a few people around him if it was their bag. They said no. He said he thought for a second and decided to report the bag to the underground authority.

This kind and concerned action caused the entire of Bank Station to be evacuated. Which is what our train pulled into the middle of. Trevor had left not more than five minutes before me that night from the office. Timing can be of life’s gems or not so sparkly features. Fortunately last night it was a gem. A light hearted tale.

I not only found irony in the fact that I have been meaning to write and I finally sat down to write, but was the given the link to conclude the story from last night. Unreal!

The English are not only tolerant but kind smart.

The Northen Line

Each day I take the Northern Line from Balham to Old Street Tube stations. The commute takes me twenty minutes from the moment I step onto the train to the moment I step off. That is if there are no delays. Now delays can come in many forms. Something as minor as someone’s bag stuck in the door. The train conductor either makes a lude comment or the beeping noise that the train makes when the doors are about to close sound over and over again until that person gets off or squeezes themselves in tighter to release their bag.

Other side tracks, excuse the pun, could be the train signal is down, someone threw themselves on the train tracks (this is more common than you would think.) or even bad weather conditions can keep the train from moving, or keep one waiting on the platform for what seems like an eternity. Especially when one doesn’t have anything to read.

Today however I got to the large interchange of Bank Station. You can catch about 5 other trains  from this stop. There are alot of people going in and out of this station regularly. I was standing in the aisle in front of people seated on the train. It wasn’t too cramped today. It was bearable. Just before the train was about to take off I hear an announcement “Due to an emergency call. Everyone is to evacuate the station” No one seemed alarmed. Again, “Due to an emergency call. Everyone is to evacuate the station”and again, no one seemed alarmed. No one on the trained moved- non- the less flinched. Many people had head phones on so they never hear a thing. Most people were still engrossed in their book or free nightly newspaper. I said to the lady next to me should we get off the train? The train wasn’t making a move but it hadn’t been that long of a wait yet. Poeple outside the train carried on waiting as well. Some people scurried to get on the train. Most were trying to figure- at least it looked like- if they should get on stay underground or brave going up the stairs to see what was going on at the surface.

Then the train beeped indicating it was about to take off, eventually the doors shut and we carried on down the tracks like nothing had just happened. So interesting. I have no idea what happened. I am however very happy I made it home safely.

I am forever impressed with the calm demeanour of the English. Their stiff-upper-lip attitude towards life probably saves many of them from what many others would suffer from, a variety of anxiety ridden ailments. I also admire their ability to just get on with it despite bad weather, failing train systems, and loads of foreigners like me scrutinizing their every move!

Long live the Queen.

Bone Chandelier

Bone Chandelier, originally uploaded by The Magins.

This is a chandelier made from the bones of the victims that died of the plague. A half blind monk made it his life’s work to construct this and many other ornate pieces of work from plague victim’s bones. This piece, along with the others, hangs in a church just one hour outside of Prague. My friend Jen and I made a day of it last weekend during my 4 day trip to Prague.

He constructed a large chalice out of pelvic bones too! It may seem freaky and even a bit weird but it was so fascinating for me, having working worked on the muscles that surround these fascinating structures called bones. Some of the skulls still had teeth! Unreal.

Click on the photo to see more of the church, it’s artifacts and Prague (Praha).

Paris, France by bike or chopper?

SEE ALL PHOTOS HERE, originally uploaded by The Magins.

My parents came to Europe for the first time about two weeks ago now. They had a blast… as you can see with the photo posted above. Kim and I booked a 4 hour bike tour around the city center of Paris, France as one of the many excursions with my parents. They say it was their favorite part. I think you can all see why… Click on the photo to see a few more of the sights we saw.

London Bridge was one of the stops. Our guide was entertaining while telling us all the facts about the castle situated in modern day London. I still can’t believe the history seeped into the landscape of the city I call home now.

We took them to our favorite Italian restaurant in Wapping, London- Bordello. The train wasn’t working properly so we took them on a bus to get there, an experience as no one we were hosting that night had used a bus as a means of transportation around the city yet. I wouldn’t say we went through the nicest parts of town to get to the very nice restaurant we went to!

We also went north to Liverpool to experience where and how the Beatles became famous. When went to the houses where John and Paul grew up. John was from a middle class family and Paul was from, let’s say, the other side of the tracks. We also went to into Wales and stayed at a beautiful hotel just along one of the may canals that create beautiful system of waterways all throughout the north of the UK in the country of Wales. We took a horse drawn boat ride down one of the canals while there.

My Mom’s best friend Marjorie, her sister Mary Ann and their friend Lee were here visiting at the same time as my parents. We all went to London Bridge and Bordello together. Lee decided to rent an apartment in London for three months to take in all of London. He’s really enjoying being here and it seems he’s fitting right in. He says he’s using the lift these days not the elevator.

I worked through most of the visit but did manage to take a few days off. Summer came when Mom and Dad arrived and left when they departed for the states. I think they brought the Georgia sun with them. We had the best weather during their entire stay. I think it rained once while we were touring inside the Palace at Versialle. The sky opened up when we went to the gardens after lunch.

These are just a few of the photos that Kim took. I am going to put a few more of the photos my parents took once I go through them. Plus, I’d like to show-off northern UK. It’s beautiful!

As always.. enjoy and feel free to comment as you feel!

Berry Hungry & Clever Monkey

We saws this monkey in June while visiting the Howletts Wild Animal park in Kent, UK. This is just one of the many cute animals we saw. He got a spot on the blog because he was so clever. Watch!

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