London at Night...

Also in February, we saw some great views on a City H3 trail through Pimlico and over to Battersea.

I was excited that I managed to score tickets to The Lookout, a newly opened public viewing platform on the 50th floor of a new skyscraper. On February 23, we went with Lexi and Dan to check out the nighttime views, which were pretty incredible. 

Later we had dinner at Mr. Lasagna, which we had discovered while searching for a restaurant that served salmon lasagna for our anniversary in Europe. Although the name is corny, the salmon lasagna was truly delicious and the prices were shockingly reasonable, especially considering the posh neighborhood. Afterwards, Jimmy and I walked home along the river... 

….under a nearly full moon. 

Between the gorgeous views, we passed a bubble-themed exhibit.

No matter how often I pass it, I never get tired of seeing Tower Bridge, especially at night.

 

Muddy Hashing in Ruislip....

The following Saturday, we travelled over an hour to get to this far north-west corner of London where the hare lives. London H3 is my favorite of the local kennels because we often get out of the city center and do lots of off-road trails. For this particular trail, we spent a lot of time in Ruislip Woods, which was slow going as I tried to avoid as much mud as possible. 

Ruislip Lido is a reservoir created in 1811. 

One of the hares told us that this artificial beach was once used in a UK film that was supposedly set in Spain

First daffodils spotted this year. 

Sorry, long story ahead: Three weeks prior, we had a bad experience with another member of the RA Team. When he heard that Opee and I had been asked to RA that day, he said, “You can be my assistants” and I assured him that wasn’t going to happen. Then he said, “If you’re not funny, I’ll take over.” Opee missed hearing his grumbles, so I told him while we were running that he needed to come up with an appropriate response to call him out on his negativity. He came up with a brilliant plan! He borrowed six metal cocktail sticks from the bartender and handed them out to random hashers with instructions to hit their glasses whenever a down-down was funny. If they were silent for two down-downs in a row, we would concede the floor to the grouchy RA. Needless to say, everyone found things to tap against their glasses and the experiment was a success. 

This particular week, I was asked to co-RA with that hasher. He originally asked me to share all of my down-downs so he could write them down to make sure that we wouldn’t duplicate anything. He’s a bit older and clearly old school since I use my phone to take notes on trail and assured him that there was no way we’d have the same accusations beyond the usual hares, visitors, etc. 

Luckily we worked well as a team. 

 

Hashing in East Ealing...

It was a mild day on February 17 when we hashed with London H3 in a part of East Ealing where we’d never been before. 

Much of the trail was in parks and along waterways.

Came across some early cherry blossoms.  

We don’t have drink stops regularly at most hash kennels in London, so we always appreciate it when it does happen. 

Just two months after arriving in London, Opee and I were recruited to be part of the Religious Advisor (RA) Team for London H3. We periodically RA together or with other members of the team as I was doing that day. Regardless of who is RA, Opee often jumps in with a funny story of his own...

…and often earns a free beer for various heinous crimes. 

 

 

Arriving in Moorea...

It was quite funny when Ashlynn said that she was sure we’d never heard of where she would be doing fieldwork for three months to collect data for her master’s thesis: Moorea, an island in French Polynesia. Ironically, Jimmy and I had gone there for our honeymoon for one week in July 1993. Sadly, the Club Med where we had stayed was shut down in 2000 and is now just ruins.

Ashlynn spent her first few weeks on the island staying in a house with a family of marine biologists. It wasn’t close to the lab, but it was very close to the beach, which she loved. 

We’re really proud of how hard she worked to secure grants to fund her trip and her research. One such funding source was from the Women Divers Hall of Fame Awards 2024, which awarded her the Graduate Marine Conservation Scholarship.
 

The Girls Head Out...

On the morning of February 12, I  went with Veronica to Crossrail Place Roof Garden to help her shoot a video as part of an application for a Sustainable Futures course she was hoping to attend. 

She didn’t end up using the video, but was accepted into course to be held in Utrecht.

On our way back from Shadwell DLR Station, Veronica brought me to some cool murals I’d never seen in a park I walk through all the time.

She and Brett left that afternoon for Exeter.

Meanwhile, Ashlynn and Ciaran moved into the guestroom and it quickly looked like a hurricane had hit. Of course, it was challenging to pack for a trip to the tropics while leaving during winter.  

On February 13, Ciaran accompanied Ashlynn to Heathrow where she was catching a flight to Tahiti (via LA), where she would be spending the next three months studying tiny sea snails.  
 

Celebrating a Hash Legend...

Little did we know that A.S. Gispert, the founder of the Hash House Harriers known as G, was born in Brockley, an area we had been to many times since it borders Camilla and Tristram’s neighborhood. As part of an annual hash in early February, we went past where his house would have been when he was born in 1903.

We couldn’t resist taking a selfie since without G, we would have never met.

The organizer of this Memorial Hash was Mr. X who treated us all to a shot of whisky in G’s honor.

At the bottom of the family’s grave is a stone for G, who was killed in Asia during World War II.

We enjoyed an impromptu beer stop at Brockley Brewery Taproom.

 

Not Your Average Sunday...

On February 11, we enjoyed going to the Prospect of Whitby for a Sunday roast.

Joining us was Gerlof, who Jimmy worked with in the Dutch Ministiry of Defense and who was now living in Brussels. After we had nearly finished our meals, Ashlynn and Ciaran finally arrived from Glasgow, so we stuck around so they could eat. 

The skies were dramatic. After everyone was done eating, we headed back to our flat so Ashlynn and Ciaran could drop off their luggage. 

There was still about two hours before Gerlof had to leave to catch his Eurostar back to Brussels, so we decided to take a long walk as a group. Ironically, as we entered the lift, we did the math to check if we could all fit, but apparently the weight limit was inaccurate (this photo was taken two days later, but could have been taken over six months later as it still hasn’t been updated). According to our calculations, we had around 90 kilos (200 pounds) to spare.

We hit the G button for Ground Floor and the elevator acted like normal until we were nearly down when it came to a screeching halt. As you can see, it wasn’t a big space, especially for seven people to be stuck together for TWO HOURS! As soon as it stopped, we pushed the alarm button, which called our Concierge. He said he’d call the lift service folks and that we shouldn’t force the doors. Apparently the engineer had a tough time crossing the city because of the Chinese New Year’s Parade, but that sounded suspicious since that event doesn’t shut down the whole city. 

We tried our best to keep a positive attitude. I joked that Brett should propose to Veronica, but that actually he couldn’t because there was no space for him to kneel. And Jimmy suggested that we sing Taylor Swift songs to keep Veronica happy. Yes, we’re smiling in these photos, but it wasn’t all laughs. 

Our stress levels increased as we neared two hours stuck. We told the Concierge it was time to call the fire department, who ironically arrived at the same time as the engineer. We were thrilled when the door finally opened! We had to hop out as we ended up between the 1st and 2nd floors. Luckily we were all still laughing and weren’t traumatized. Sadly, someone on the board of the building mistook our attempts at staying calm with dancing the whole time thus causing the breakdown in the first place, which was entirely untrue. What a great way to meet our neighbors! The lift then was broken down for the next two days, making our neighbors love us even more.