Notes from an Extra Friendly Island

Isle of Arran. 

Hey all
 While London was gearing up for the Opening Ceremony of the Olympics, I and two friends quietly escaped up to Scotland for a few days. It was definitely a smart thing to do!! I`d been hearing all year what a magical place it is, and my time in Edinburgh, Glasgow and the Isle of Arran didn`t disappoint. For light reading, I brought Bill Bryson`s "notes from a small island" (as well as the heavier "The Smartest Guys in the Room"' about the Enron scandal). Bryson`s often charming, sometimes hilarious observations about England and Scotland were a very appropriate commentary for our traipse up to the land of haggis, golf and Adam Smith.

Edinburgh.

First stop: Edinburgh. The city is undergoing construction for its new Tramway system, keeping up with its commitment to green modes of transportation. I loved the city`s small-town vibe mixed with lots of history and grand and stately buildings. Highlights included having drinks at the Balmoral Hotel, climbing Arthur`s seat and trying on ridiculous tartan-motif'ed hats at the tourist shops along the Royal Mile. I would have maybe spent a bit more time in Leith, we went to this seaside area on a lovely warm afternoon and quite enjoyed the view and the coffee walnut cupcakes at Mimi`s Bakehouse.

Next up: Glasgow. Home of Charles Rennie Macintosh`s exquisite buildings (including the quirky and very interesting School of Art on Renfrew Street), numerous museums and tea shops, and people with difficult accents.

My friend had tickets to the Japan-Spain soccer game, but I begged off and had a splendid time wandering around the art galleries. By chance, I walked into the Glasgow Centre for Contemporary Arts which has a very neat exhibition by an Indian graphic artist named Sarnath Banerjee ("History is Written by Garment Exporters"). I also traversed the oasis of calm that is the Kelvingrove Park and made my way to the Kelvingrove Art Gallery, where they were shooting an episode of the BBC antiques show, "Flog it!". (No joke.) At the Gallery, I learned about Miss Cranston`s tea rooms - the esteemed lady`s brother was a tea importing merchant, and she herself, being of the entreprising sort, commissioned Charles Rennie Macintosh to decorate a series of tea rooms, which I gather were quite popular for the "ladies who lunch in big straw hats" crowd. I was quite sad to hear that most of these tea rooms have disappeared, although next time I'm in Glasgow I will try to visit the Willow Tea Rooms, one of the surviving establishments.

University of Glasgow

Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum. There is a functioning organ - concerts are played every day at 1pm. 

Isle of Arran- by the harbour front. 

Last stop: The Isle of Arran. Home of seals and porpoises (although we`re going on faith on this), the Goat Fell hill (poor thing!) and of delightfully friendly islanders.

The Isle of Arran was definitely the highlight of the trip. It was, as Scottish weather is wont to be, alternatively cloudy, rainy, drizzly, sunny, dazzlingly sunny, cloudy-but-wait-there`s-sun-at-the-other-side-of-the-hill.  We were glad to have brought several sweaters ("jumpers") and pairs of socks for our hikes and bike ride - my friend even bought herself another two layers while on the island. Weather notwithstanding, it was a perfect summer getaway! We ate mussels and lots of smoked salmon, as well as "full Scottish breakfast" on both days. Arran is a quiet place but after two days of hiking up and down rocky slopes, biking, dodging barking dogs and stray sheep, getting wet and dry again, we were grateful to get to bed early.

We stayed at a great B&B - I do highly recommend The Glenartney if you ever find yourself in this area. They have a comfortable lounge area, from which we watched the Olympics Opening Ceremony and the Phelps vs. Lochte 400m swimming race.

Me and my cow friend. Near Lamlash, Isle of Arran. My feet were soaking wet from the rain but when we met the cows, it was sunny!!

It feels quite nice to be back in London, even though I could have spent another two or three days on "vacation". I'm looking forward to a bit more Shakespeare, a bit more socializing, and even  my dissertation-writing for the month of August.

`Love to all.
Miss Engagée xox

Oh Mr. Sun!

Just wanted to point out that IT`S FINALLY SUNNY IN LONDON!!

The Wenlock in its Natural Habitat

Bonjour tout le monde,

Un petit bonjour pour vous rassurer que je me porte bien et que je travaille fort sur ma dissertation (!) quoique je m'amuse toujours. 

It seems the whole world knows that the Olympics are taking place very soon in London & as a result strange little creatures like the one below are popping up all over town. I`m not involved myself in any way, except to post commentaries on how expensive and disorganised the Olympics will be & how the Olympics Committee is using sponsors like Adidas (exploitation! they pay their workers 34p an hour!!) and Dow Chemicals (which bought over the Union Carbide company, responsible for the Bhopal incident many years ago which killed and injured thousands of people. They are still waiting for compensation.) . Maybe this is because I`m a bit of a Grinch when it comes to organised sports. 

This animal is called the "Wenlock". Its natural habitat is the county of Shropshire, but it has been popping up around the Tower Bridge area with alarming frequency.  The Wenlock is remarkably proficient in modern telecommunications and has been sighted on many electronic portable phones.  It has been known to slide on rainbows. Take no notice of those predators which call it a "One-Eyed Compromise Monster". 

Of course its not all doom and gloom. I`ve had the pleasure of hosting another good friend from Canada who stopped here on her way to Belgium and Germany. We went to Cambridge & really enjoyed ourselves although I have no photographic evidence of our jaunt. We saw Phantom of the Opera and Chicago, had high tea and generally had as much fun as possible notwithstanding the constant rain.

Close to Lincoln`s Inn in the Holborn Area. 

I am almost done with my stint at War on Want. It`s been really interesting even though I was less involved in the activist side of things than I would have liked. (Yes, I know "interesting" can be both good and bad... on the whole I would say working at this NGO was interesting in a good way, though I learned a lot about inter-office dynamics and how to manage conflicting opinions).

Trying to finish up a few more sections on my dissertation before my friend and I go to Scotland for five days. We are planning an epic trip which may or may not involved haggis. I definitely look forward to staying on the Isle of Arran and to wandering around Edinburgh. I will update the blog upon my return!

Je termine bientôt mon petit stage à l'ONG War on Want, qui oeuvre à la lutte pour les droits des ouvriers. Ce fut un environnement bien intéressant quoique j'en ai appris beaucoup sur la gestion des conflits d'opinion. Je pars bientôt pour l'Écosse- Edimbourgh, Glasgow et l'Ile de Arran- restez à l'affût, je vous parlerai de mon aventure au retour! 

Stay tuned. Lots of love, as always.
Mia   x

Pride 2012

Today was Pride 2012 and we went down to Oxford Street to enjoy the parade. I had lots of fun dancing around to the samba music despite the occasional rain and the lack of funds this year, which meant that there were no floats, sadly. 

Apparently 44 members of the Commonwealth still criminalise homosexuality. Holding the World Pride in London seems to symbolise that struggle for equality which in many countries is very dangerous. We with our "academics-in-training" hat had a discussion about the over-commercialisation of the Pride parades all over the developed world, but ultimately I am grateful for the progress that has been made. And it makes for a great party - we even joined part of the parade. It was a great way to get in the spirit of things and feel part of a larger community. Happy Pride everyone!

Happy Canada Day (belated)

Canada Day in London is known for being a great party. Unfortunately this party involved a bit of rain and somewhat cold weather, but this didn’t put a damper on the crowd’s enthusiasm. I met up with some friends on Sunday at Trafalgar Square and we watched some road hockey and listened to some Canadian classics (such as the “Good Old Hockey Game”, which I actually have only heard once or twice.... and not too many Québécois songs, unfortunately). 

To top it off, my friends are big film buffs so after checking out the Nova Scotia lobster tent, we went to the East End Film Festival kick-off day in and around Liverpool Street Station and the Shoreditch area. We heard some interesting Spoken Word artists, including a young woman who started a blog about her personal project to speak to strangers every day for 100 days, "Speak to Strangers" is the self-explanatory title. We also saw some silent films and animations made by film students and presented by Gorilla Film Magazine. (When I asked the magazine crew why they picked that particular name, they replied that it refers to "Guerilla film making" e.g. small independent projects. Sadly, there were no gorilla mascots in attendance.) It was quite an enjoyable Sunday afternoon, & we ended up watching the Eurocup soccer finals at the Rich Mix art centre.

A belated happy Canada Day!!
xox