Highs and Lows of 19th Year - Part 1

Hard to believe that we’ve lived in Europe for 19 years as of November 22, 2024. Once again, the four of us weren’t together then, but were reunited for our first Christmas in London. We reflected on our year on Boxing Day (December 26) at a restaurant with quite a silly name: Mr. Lasagna. As usual, here are our lows first:

• Ashlynn generally not feeling like her old self
• Buddy’s “ball gladder” scare
• Global election results moving far-right
• Climate change
• Ongoing conflicts in Gaza and Ukraine
• Continued issues with visas and passports
• Being stuck in the lift for two hours
• Jimmy: less than positive experiences at the start of the year at work; feeling more sluggish than one year ago; Jim leaving Europe; Harrier Central concurrency issue hard to solve; cracked ribs from fall on trail in Croatia
• Melissa: suspected hairline fracture of arm from fall on trail in Croatia; lack of discipline to update this blog; dealing with a 14-year-old TV; Carlin and Kent moving out of England
• Jimmy + Melissa: cranky downstairs neighbor; not being allowed to light Hanukkah candles in our flat due to strict no flames rule; still too many boxes after unpacking
• Veronica: having to remove 10 ticks on a single day; Brett moving away again; struggle to find funding for PhD fieldwork; huge increase in cost for website hosting Coves to Cliffs blog; watching both the Netherlands and England lose in Euro 2024; downfall of Twitter; missing aerial convention
• Ashlynn: wake-up call to academic life; CRIOBE shitshow and lack of supervision in Moorea; toxic relationship; being sexually harassed by close friend in Moorea; sea snails dying which messed up data collection; not feeling well enough to work as a bartender; lack of help from doctors and therapists; social life going downhill; suffering from staph and strep at the same time

 

Off to The Hague...

We were so relieved when we arrived the morning of April 10 into the Netherlands without any visa problems. However, we had some minor transport problems and ended up on the Randstad Rail into The Hague; at least I finally got to see this cool new platform at Den Haag Central. We dropped our stuff off at Terri’s, where we were staying for two nights. 

Terri was just getting back into town herself, so I left to meet up with Carlin, who happened to be in town on a house-hunting trip, and Jimmy went to the office. Most of the trams in The Hague have been replaced with modern cars, but it brought back good memories to ride on one of the old versions that we first started using regularly for the school commute back in November 2005. 

Carlin forgot to bring along walking shoes, so we kept our plans pretty nearby. We saw the beautiful tulips in front of City Hall... 

…which had Escher murals on the side.

After trying to find an artsy movie, we settled on a film that we had never heard of: Arthur the King. We were both amazed how much we enjoyed this exciting movie based on a true story about a stray dog that becomes part of an endurance race team. Couldn’t resist taking this photo of a dog in the loo after the show.

Terri threw an extra special book club that evening by inviting a few of the ladies from the AWC Book Club as well. and surprising me with an incredible photo book entitled The Life and Times of Melissa in the Netherlands. It featured photos of many of the parties, balls, AWC activities and hikes Terri and I have experienced together, but also had sections with other close friends with their personal notes. No surprise that it brought tears to my eyes that she dedicated so much time to make me such a beautiful and loving gift.

The love, wine and tears continued to flow after everyone left. I am so thankful to have this amazing woman in my life!
 

Shadwell Basin...

When I walk to the grocery store, I often take the long way to walk along Shadwell Basin, which was once part of the London Docklands. While it looked particularly inviting for a swim on this calm day in mid-March, the water is deeper (up to 30 feet) and colder than it appears. Apparently several people have died in the recent past, so there are lots of no swimming signs.

Further along on my route are two old ships permanently on display at Tobacco Dock, a cool old warehouse from 1812 that hosts occasional food festivals. 

One of the creepier things I spotted on my walk in early April. 

While these photos weren’t taken from the same angle, they show the transition of spring arriving in our neighborhood.

More April 7th...

As you can see, we still needed to wear coats, but that didn’t stop us from enjoying our first drinks in 2024 on the terrace of The Salt Quay, a pub which we can see from our flat.

To get there is just one stop on the Overground, although it is actually entirely underground at that point as it crosses under the Thames. 

We were greeted by a lovely sunset as we walked to the Prospect of Whitby...

…for dinner and a few rounds of Rummikub.
 

Reverse Mudlarking...

On April 7, we took a walk to Rotherhithe, on the southern shore of the Thames. As we crossed Tower Bridge, we saw cherry blossoms near the riverfront.

We explored some back streets of the area known as Shad Thames, full of converted warehouses. Despite its grim water, I loved this sculpture that we came across: Waterfall by British artist Anthony Donaldson in 1991. 

As we walked along the Thames Path, we were happy to spot our building across the river.

Our destination was Rotherhithe Beach, which is directly across from our flat. Since the river is tidal, we timed our visit for low tide.

It was interesting to see this boat up close, which we see daily from our living room windows. I have no idea why the boat is allowed to be parked in such a random place blocking the view of several riverfront flats. It appears a family is living onboard.  

Jimmy’s goal was to return some bits of tile and glass that we had collected with the girls many years ago from the beach at Southbank, west of this beach in an area full of tourists. Unbeknownst to us then, a permit is required to legally mudlark (to scavenge the banks of a river for items of worth). We have several jars of our findings, but there were some leftover bits that didn’t fit. Instead of tossing them in the trash, Jimmy wanted to toss them where someone else will likely find them. 

We didn’t find anything worthy of adding to our collection, but did help remove some trash on the beach.

 

Rooftop Bar near London Bridge...

After seeing the tulips, I met Jimmy at London Bridge Station to check out a nearby rooftop bar on top of a mostly abandoned building. After climbing many stairs up, we were rewarded with some cool views of the Shard...

…and London Bridge Station.

While I enjoyed the views, I didn’t enjoy the loud music and was unimpressed with the menu, so we only stayed for one drink.

My visit to the loo brought back good memories of the flat in Tokyo where Ashlynn and I lived for six weeks in 2015.

We wandered past this sculpture outside the Shard while in search of a restaurant.

On our walk home, we saw my favorite view from our neighborhood. 

 

Tulips in London...

While there was a lack of green in many of the parks in early April...

…I visited one full of tulips: Victoria Embankment Gardens, which was made out of land reclaimed from the River Thames in 1865. It was lovely to see such a wide variety of tulips planted in lots of different patterns.