Well, the message below with my wife pretty much summed up my trip to London last week, except I did plan to go to a fish and chips place Thursday evening but went to a pub with co-workers instead. Had some finger foods there, including some fish and chips, but was told that was not the real thing. Had a bit too much to drink, I am afraid, but in general good times.

I highly recommend Golden Day, 好日子, a Hunanese restaurant on 118-120 Shaftesbury Avenue, phone number 020 7494 2381, not too far from Leicester Square, Covent Garden, Piccadilly Circus area. Here are some pictures.

干锅鸡

芹菜花生米

7 messages
wife Sat, May 22, 2010 at 11:44 PM
To: Haidong Ji
Hi

Hope you could catch some sleep on the plane.
Have fun exploring London. Don’t eat too much 😉

Mom and Ben
Haidong Ji Sun, May 23, 2010 at 10:02 AM
To: wife
Thank you honey and Ben. Your message is very much appreciated.

It was a brilliant, using a word the Brits like to use, day. Clear sky, sunshine, pleasant temperature. I went to the British Library and spent a few hours there. Too bad the Asian and African reading room is closed on Sundays. But I’ve got the see the British Library treasure exhibition, very impressive: Shakespeare’s writing (or what most people believed to be his handwriting), the Beatle’s handwritten lyrics, the Magna Carta documents, old Bible, Koran, and other religious text, including some fascinating old Chinese publications from China.

Then I went downstairs to see the Map exhibition. Once again, impressive. London is such a place with so much history and culture.

Love you both. Got a busy week ahead of me. I will probably go to a Chinese place for dinner. And I also want get some Python coding done and tested, and make plans for what I want to accomplish here.

Dad

wife Tue, May 25, 2010 at 11:38 PM
To: Haidong Ji
Hi,

How ya doin? WeRfine. (see-I’m writing in American- Hope u still understand-OK I am simply brilliant would you not say?! ) It’s been very hot (+90F) since you left. I have trouble sleeping.

We planted the potatoes yesterday. I also bought a tomato plant. You will have to help me buy some more dirt this weekend since the bags are more or less impossible for me to lift. I managed to buy four but that won’t be enough. I’ve also bought a sprinkler and a “wooden” moose now named Hälge. He’s guarding the back door.

The restaurant business is going fine.

Have you tried fish and chips yet? It’s probably a deadly sin to have been in London twice and not have tried this.

And I am really expecting you to follow the semi finals of the Eurovision song contest this week (Sweden on Thursday night-Finland did not make it to the final :-(). It is mucho importante to all Europeans- and I really mean ALL!!!! So try to blend into the European culture while you’re there. I’m sure people aren’t talking about anything but this important event. The final is on Friday. I guess you’ll have to miss it. Too sad!

Have you responded to Alex Kw party invitation yet? It’s on Sunday so response is needed soon! I’ve bought him a card.

There will be a BBQ in Gary and Vicky’s garden on Sunday June 6th at 4pm. I was told it is cause the neighbors want to meet us………or perhaps they just like beer;-) Anyway I said we’ll be there. I did not tell her that I’m a vegetarian yet because I didn’t want anyone to feel they had to make special arrangement for me. I figure there will be more than one grill (maybe we will have bought ours by then) and I can be the master veggie grilling chef.

I will paint the walls in the sunroom tomorrow- Hawthorne pink of course.

Good night zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

Haidong Ji Wed, May 26, 2010 at 12:05 PM
To: wife
I am doing just fine. Jet lag got me on Tuesday: I set the alarm at 6:50, it woke me up. Since I didn’t go to bed around midnight and was tossing around couldn’t fall asleep for a few hours earlier, so I figured I needed 15 more minutes. That 15 minutes turned to 3 hours…

Super busy though. Planned to go to the British Library again on Tuesday, because it opens longer Tuesday nights and I’d love to visit its Asian and African reading room. But since I woke up late so I worked to mignight on Tuesday evening. Too much work, too little time.

One of my co-workers told me about a good fish and chips place so I will probably go there tonight.

The Brits are a bit snobbish toward people from the Continent so I think they tend to have a sarcastic view towards it because they never win.

I will write to the KWs tonight. Nice to have a bbq over the weekends. Yeah, we should get a grill before then.

Terrific that the potatoes and tomatos are in. Hawthorne yellow is fine. Thanks.

Got to go back to work. Did I say I have been very busy?

Love.

wife Wed, May 26, 2010 at 10:54 PM
To: Haidong Ji
Hi,

I’m sorry you’re tired and too busy. Hope it’ll be better today.

Here it is still HOT. I take cold showers before I go to bed.

Almost finished the walls in the sunroom- only have the hard to paint places left to do.

I hope it will rain tonight. If not the lawn will need to be watered soon.

I bought a cordless electrical lawn mower from Sears (WORX ECO WG780 19-Inch 24-Volt Cordless Electric Lawn Mower). The “sale” price is $450 (Ordinary price $550). The price at Amazon is the same. However since the mower is not sold by Amazon I would have to pay shipping charges +$50 if I bought it from there. AT sears I can pick it up at the store in 9-11 days. I also get an additional $100 mail in rebate which is nice since the cheapest cordless lawn mowers start around $350. It has good reviews and is supposedly good at mulching (cutting the grass in very small pieces-the grass can then be left on the lawn- will save a fortune since won’t need to use so many yard waste bags) http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0015GH5UG/ref=s9_simh_gw_p86_i1?pf_rd_m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&pf_rd_s=center-2&pf_rd_r=1AB1J4GST8XJ09YV78QB&pf_rd_t=101&pf_rd_p=470938631&pf_rd_i=507846

Please let me know that you have RSVPed to Alex Kw. It would be very rude not to have done so by now.

I’m doing laundry right now. I think i should move the bed down to the basement. It’s very nice and cool there.

I’m running out of meaningful things to tell you so…good night, sleep tight and don’t let he British bed bugs bite.

Haidong Ji Thu, May 27, 2010 at 5:08 AM
To: wife
Thanks a lot for the note, honey. I appreciate it very much. Nobody here seems willing to lend a shoulder for me to cry a river. What a cruel, cruel world it is…

Read through reviews for the mower. Looks nice. Thanks.

Anyway, went out for supper with a Chinese-Malaysian coworker at Golden Day. The guy does not drink. I hope he liked the food, although he did say the chicken was a bit spicy. Later we had bubble tea with the sago balls, and talked a bit about work, citizenship, green card, and such. Went back to the hotel and worked for a few more hours. I guess my Python prowess will improve if I keep at it like this.

Talked a bit about Eurovision song contest with a British co-worker. She thinks the whole thing is a bit political, and some people would watch this old fart making sarcastic and funny comments about it on TV. She mimicked last year’s winner’s violin playing, which was pretty funny. She told me Andrew Lloyd Webber wrote some songs for the event last year and did an active publicity campaign for it. This morning I picked up a copy of Daily Mail somebody left on the train to read, a practice that I’ve seen a number of people do, and didn’t see mention of the contest. It was all about a serial killer, David Cameron’s tax policy, Fergie and Sharon Osborn is even “bigger” in Hollywood now.

Speaking of the subway, the tube I took was absolutely packed in the morning a bit after 8:00. I did notice there are other lines that had a bit more room.

Will probably go for a fish and chips fare tonight. Hopefully I can catch a bit of the song contest and cheer on for my Swedish brethren.

Looked at a grocery market chain, the day I arrived, Sandbury’s (spelling?). Pretty decent selections. I debated if I should buy toothpaste there, but I got a dental kit from the hotel so that wasn’t necessary. I did notice no toothpaste advertising “whitening”, which I like. I looked for a type of regular toothpaste that does NOT advertising “whitening” in Chicago but couldn’t find it! Who knows what kind of rubbish they put in for this dubious “whitening” claim?

Had lunch at a butcher’s shop yesterday, went for the British Cornish, it was pretty good.

Seen this guy setting up his fruit stand on High Holbon street for a few days in a row now and hawking his ware. He was shouting some fruit names, I think, but I didn’t quite get it.

Haven’t seen a department store yet. I want to buy underwear here as the comfortable ones I got in Sweden a few years ago became a bit, shall we say, scanty.
I shall remember to get some crisps for Ben. Yeah, I did reply to the KWs, informing them our new address as well.

Should go back to work now. Later, give a hug to Ben for me.

Love

wife Fri, May 28, 2010 at 12:17 AM
To: Haidong Ji
Hi,

The fender on the car was damaged today when parked at Home Depot. It was hit by a truck from Stoughton Trucking. It’s not badly damaged. One corner is scratched and dented. The driver waited outside until i came out from the store. He has my information and I has the contact information for the safety supervisor at that company. Hopefully, everything will be taken care of smoothly.

I had a message from the realtor today. The village is arranging “bike to open houses” day on June 13th. She wants the house to be available for showings on that day. I will just tell her that’s OK but I can’t guarantee this place will be cleaned up.

I might be in the house painting tomorrow when you get home. Give me a call.

Hope you have a nice flight home.

See ya tomorrow dude.

Your dudette