Photo recap: Lovely London.

London stone is a lot paler than I expected, Sydney has warm sandstone whereas London is mostly grey/white stone. Westminster is a bit golden, but Buckingham Palace, Whitehall, and Trafalgar areas are so pale. So the colour scheme of london is quite striking against the pale streets: the bright red buses and phone boxes, the black cabs, black iron fences, green grass. This is St Pauls cathedral, with beautiful buses brightening up the photo. I think every photo in London is improved by a bus.

 Another example, Westminster from the London Eye. No bus, bus. Makes a difference, I think.

Two things I like about a lot of their street design is that they weren't afraid of repetition in architecture, and they appreciate the beauty of the curve. Anything built with curves is a pain compared to just building straight lines, but there was a craze for it in the olden days, and I love it. This is Kensington, then Piccadilly, then some other nice street with lovely red buses.

Speaking of curves, apparently the same man designed the bridge and the phone boxes. So they have the same arch, you can see, under the bridge and on the roof of the phone box.

Finally, things look nice in the rain. This is one of my favourite photos, even though nothing famous is happening. I just like the effect of reflections in composition.

Photo recap: Victoria and Albert Museum

I'm going to backtrack and share holiday photos every so often. This is a selection from the V&A in London.

There are several very large galleries filled with plaster casts of masterpieces "from the continent" at full scale, originally cast and brought over and constructed so that people could see fancy things without travelling overseas. This room was closed, but from the balcony I took this photo because look, David.

This is an actual regency muslin dress, as per Jane Austen. It's very simple, but very fine and detailed.

This is a close up of a tapestry portrait of Wellington, I think.

This is one of those dresses that sticks out sideways. It's not round, it's just sideways. I didn't think they were real. The embroidery was beautiful though.

This is some ikea furniture. Except that it's not, it's high class design, original modernist masterpieces.

There was a lot of nice arty statuary.

So there you go, the Victoria and Albert Museum, free, and full of lovely things.

Jumping back on the treadmill.

I have not done any exercise all week. I have been poised, building up to it, biding my time until I leap on. Once I'm on I can stay on, I think. Tonight or tomorrow night will be the moment, time and laundry basket and hair dirtiness are all lining up nicely, and then my routine will be able to keep going. I do Jillian on a night when my hair is dirty, so that means 3 times a week usually—it's a good system. I find dirty hair very motivational. I always want to make the most of it before I wash it, so that's when I want to get sweaty or go swimming.

Anyway, after 5 weeks I'm expecting to get rather stiff. Sort of looking forward to that feeling!

What I did on my first day back.

Realised that it is cold. It is 4 layer weather outside in the morning.
Realised work is hard, and a working day is longer than a day when you sleep in.
Unfriended 100 people on Facebook.
Used my last teabag.
Reunited with James Valentine on the ABC.

Relaxing.

Not much to blog about since other than driving to a local game park and seeing wild giraffe a bit closer, we've settled into a normal sort of holiday routine. Eating, food shopping, little jobs, playing board games, reading, and watching a movie at night. Last night the men started watching Band of Brothers while the ladies took to bed with a laptop and Larkrise to Candleford and some English chocolate. Yesterday the fellow who lives downstairs was hit by a train at a level crossing, which is somewhat of a feat apparently since there are only 3 trains a day in Windhoek. The car spun a little and is a write of probably, but everyone was ok. So that was a little bit of interesting gossip. The book I am reading is quite enjoyable, it is based on Oscar Wilde solving crime. Perfect holiday reading. Tonight we are going out to have Chinese with the family and an american couple who are about to go back to the US as their farewell and our introduction to African Chinese food.

Lots of firsts.

Stayed in my first luxury resort, 3 hours north of Windhoek. Saw African animals for the first time, on the game drives. We were unlucky in the lion department, saw nothing, but saw elephants and got charged by one as well. Got nice and close to a cheetah, and also got a good look at giraffes, white rhino, warthogs, the tops of hippo heads, wild dogs, squirrels, lots of birds. In the car on the way back, lunch wasn't sitting too well. When we got home, I was feeling definitely seedy. When I started to feel like throwing up I realised I was having the true traveller experience. I haven't thrown up since I was 9 years old. I thought I was immune to everything! I won't go I to details about it. I only threw up once during the night, and mostly I just feel achy like a flu. So this morning I'm hoping that panadol and sipping on water and Gatorade is all that happens. I'm not the only one with the bug, but happily this is a house with plural bathrooms. Tomorrow I will hopefully teach some people how to use InDesign.