Friday: Pimms No. 1 and The London Symphony Orchestra

The picture above shows the view of Canary Wharf just outside the office, a popular gathering place with many lively pubs and restaurants. After work on Friday I was invited to join my London colleagues for an end-of-the-week beer at a pub called The Slug and Lettuce, just out of view on the right side of the picture, behind the trees. After socializing over a pint of Guinness, I went back up to the office to make a few phone calls to my New York colleagues who were all still hard at work due to the time difference. I finally called it a day around 8:40 pm (as you can see by the clocks in the picture).

I discovered the London Symphony Orchestra was doing an outdoor concert in Canada Square Park, just behind me as I snapped that picture. The concert was half over by this time, but I wandered over anyway. Even though I was tired, I couldn't resist hearing just a few pieces.

Intermission was in progress so I decided to get something to drink before the music started. The makeshift outdoor beverage stand offered only two (alcoholic) choices: Budweiser and Pimms. Well, I had not come all the way to London to order a Bud, so I ordered the Pimms. I thought it curious that the bartender put ice and fruit in the glass before she filled it from the tap. It looked like beer, but was it? The taste was... well... not at all like beer. Almost sweet. And one of the pieces of fruit was actually a cucumber! I drank a pint of the stuff and never did figure out what it was! Thanks to the internet, I can now tell you that Pimms No. 1, as it’s called, is a gin-based drink which consists of a slice of orange, lemon, apple, cucumber, and a sprig of mint -- all placed in a glass of two parts lemonade to one part Pimms. Apparently it’s as British as tea and is only drunk in the summer.

Canada Park was crowded, but I found a little place on the edge of the grass (on a curb, actually) where I could see the conductor on one of the big screens as well as the bandshell through the trees to my right. The "picturesque" crane in the background served as a reminder that Canary Wharf in the Docklands was an industrial area before it became London's ultra-modern version of Wall Street.


As soon as I settled in with my Pimms, the second half of the concert began. As if just for me, the London Symphony was performing a program of American music.



Now Bernstein, Barber, Gershwin, and Copeland are all serious American composers, and Richard Rodgers always makes good summer fare. But John Phillip Sousa??? What was he doing with that lot? But never mind. Sousa was last on the bill, and I planned to leave before then. I'm not very fond of Sousa, probably because I played Sousa marches ad nauseum in my high school marching band.

The concert was lovely, and it was nice to sit out in the cool summer air. As the program progressed and the orchestra launched into the first Sousa march, I got up to leave. However, the audience reaction to the music stopped me. The British obviously found these marches much more exciting than I did. People were clapping in rhythm and cheering at the chirping piccolos. I decided to stay and observe the crowd. Then I began hearing the marches through their ears, so to speak. It was an amazing experience. By the end the crowd couldn't stop applauding. They gave the orchestra a huge standing ovation and were rewarded with an encore.

I left before the encore ended. I needed to get back to the hotel and pack. Maurene and I had a big weekend ahead. In retrospect, though, I must say that I have a whole new appreciation for Sousa marches. They will always make me remember the enthusiasm of that Canary Wharf audience and wish for a Pimms No. 1.

(P.S. All the photos in this post are mine.)

© 2006, Linda Mason Hood
Truffles, Turtles & Tunes Copyright Statement

Struggles with Jet Lag

I’m not very experienced with jet lag. I expected the flight from New York to London, across five time zones, to make me feel awake or tired at the “wrong” times. I have learned, however, that jet lag can manifest itself in a variety of other ways.

I arrived at the Britannia International Hotel on Sunday 7/23 at about 3 pm London time. In this picture you can see the Docklands Light Rail train (referred to as the DLR) which stops very near to the hotel.

(I took all these pictures, by the way.)

Since I had slept about five hours on the plane, I felt pretty good. I met my London friend Maurene near the Tower of London. Walking around its perimeter, I remembered what fun I had with my family when we visited London together in 2000.


Maurene and I walked along the Thames River. We were fortunate enough to see the Tower Bridge, a drawbridge, being raised. Very cool!


We had a beer on the porch of the Dickens Inn and then went up to the dining room for dinner.


It was after dinner (by now it was about 10 pm) when JET LAG STRUCK. For a split second I felt jolted – everything stopped abruptly just for an instant. Not wanting to sound like a drama queen, I said I was feeling a little tired. We finished up and I headed back to the hotel, a mere six stops on the DLR. At the fifth stop I was awake and alert. Also at the eighth stop. The stops in between don’t exist in my memory. Unlike when I doze on trains and buses in NYC, I wasn’t conscious of falling asleep or having been asleep. I literally blacked out.

Missing my stop was not a problem. I just went to the other side of the platform and backtracked on the DLR, being careful not to sit down or relax too much. That strategy got me back safe and sound.

On Monday, my first day in the London office, I kept noticing a set of clocks that show the time in five cities around the world -- NYC, London, Sydney, Singapore, and I forget the fifth. It disturbed me to see that it was 4:30 AM in New York when I went for my morning tea. As I went to the 11 AM meeting, I noticed it was 6 AM in New York. Looking at these clocks was becoming painful, and I vowed to keep away from them til afternoon.

About 12 people attended the 11 AM meeting. My role was to observe and learn more than to participate. Thank goodness, because about 30 minutes into the meeting I began experiencing some very strange things. First of all, my vision blurred. Thinking I might fall asleep, I drank my tea and moved about in my seat. No, I was awake enough. Just had blurred vision. I chalked it up to jet lag. As the meeting progressed, I found myself seeing all the participants as having only heads, no bodies. The heads were talking in rhythm. Suddenly I was aware that if I spoke, my flat American speech patterns would disturb the flow of the British English surrounding me. I imagined vowels and whole words colliding as the stress was placed on differently on syllables within the same word. I avoided speaking for a bit. This was trippy. Who knew what I might say! Then, as quickly as it descended upon me, it passed. My vision cleared and the talking heads became whole people again. I concluded this was one of the stranger manifestations of jet lag.

Around 3 pm I started feeling absolutely GREAT. I became an extrovert and enthusiastically participated in all conversations, asked good questions, and zipped through my email to the NY office. I realized it was 10 AM now in NYC – the time my brain starts to work on a normal workday. Hmmm. Jet lag again.

I did not go out on Monday night, choosing instead to get a bit more sleep so that my jet lag symptoms would subside. And it worked. Tuesday really was better. I had a recurrence of the blurry vision after lunch, but it didn’t last long and didn’t include the weirdness of the Monday meeting. The sleep helped, yes, but equally important was the fact that I avoided those clocks until mid-afternoon.




© 2006, Linda Mason Hood
Truffles, Turtles & Tunes Copyright Statement

Business Class Lounge

One very effective way to discover the difference money can make is to fly business class out of JFK on British Airways. My new job is sending me to London for training, so I'm having my first business class overseas flight experience. Please forgive me if I sound a bit like a kid in a candy store. I can’t help it.

After eight hours of laundry, errands, and packing in 85 degree heat and 100% humidity, I arrived at New York's JFK International Airport to find that my 8:35 pm flight to London had been delayed until 11 pm. Generally when flights are delayed, the airport becomes a madhouse. But not for business class passengers. Check-in was a breeze, only one person in front of me in the special business class line. Getting through security was also a piece of cake since there is a separate security checkpoint for business and first class passengers. Again, only one person in front of me going through security.

The Terrace Lounge, which British Airways shares with Iberia Airlines, is extensive and very pleasant. As I sit here in my cushioned Adiondack-style chair with footstool under a beach umbrella facing a zen-like fountain where water tumbles down into a bed of rocks with plants all around, let me describe my environment.

There is an area for business, of course. Desks, small tables and chairs, phones, faxes, copiers, PCs with access to the internet -- whatever you need placed in appropriately businesslike decor.

Need a break? Just around the corner is the snack zone. There you can graze on juices and sodas, chips and pretzels, cookies and fruit. Moving on, you come to the coffee corner with gourmet teas and coffees (including espresso and cappuccino machines) and freshly squeezed juices accompanied by mounds of fresh apples and oranges. Across from that is the bar area where wine and beer as well as hard liquor are attractively displayed for self-service. Off to the left is the Pre-Flight Supper buffet. Everything is “free.” Whatever you eat or drink is included in the hefty fare you already paid. And throughout, one finds a variety of sofas, chairs, recliners, tables -- all grouped for easy conversation or solitary relaxation.

After surveying the lay of the land, I helped myself to a glass of chardonnay and called my husband. This conversation was more relaxed than my frantic goodbye as I straddled a puddle to get into a cab in the rain. We chatted until my wine was finished, then I stowed my backpack laptop carrier in the bins provided for that purpose and headed off for my Pre-Flight Supper. There were many interesting selections, all served buffet style. I had a lovely salad with yet another glass of chardonnay. My main course was lamb stewed with shitake mushrooms and asparagus, garlic mashed potatoes and peas and carrots. (What can I say? Sometimes my love of the TASTE of good food is stronger than my vegetarian resolve.) I ate at a table that overlooked travelers entering the terminal, all more anxious and harried than I was at that moment.

A little card placed on the table suggested the diner should retire to the lounge area for an after-dinner liqueur. I took that advice, so here I am in my lounge chair under the indoor beach umbrella, sipping a cognac. Looking around, I notice that there are NO TELEVISIONS in this lounge. There was lovely jazz in the dining room. Here, there is some very faint background music, but no TV. Not even the BBC or CNN. It’s wonderful. My British friend Maurene described this absence of television as being very upper-class British.

And who are the other people in this lounge? Business travelers, of course. Some can’t resist working, evidenced by the phone calls I overheard. But there are also families. How much money does it take to fly an entire family business class? Maybe the fathers have so many frequent flyer miles that the families are flying free. But still, a lot of money was spent by someone at some point in time.

I noticed how much easier it is for mothers here to manage the needs of traveling toddlers. Mothers in the coach lounge were sitting on the floor along with their kids because it was so crowded (all the flights are delayed due to thunderstorms). Here, there is space, soothing music, relaxed atmosphere. One little Indian boy bumped his head in the dining room. A dining room worker brought the mother crushed ice stuffed into a latex glove. Not only did the ice soothe the boy’s head, the stiff fingers filled with ice made him laugh.

This lounge is nice, but not sumptuous. It doesn’t reek of wealth. I’m sitting in a wooden chair fitted with plain cloth covered cushions. The cocktail tables in the snack area are simple stainless steel with high stools placed around them. It is very clean, simple, and tasteful, but more importantly, it is secluded, not fraught with the anxiety of international travel. The element of luxury is based on the fact that we are separated from the masses.

Speaking of separation, there is another lounge for first class passengers. It probably is sumptuous. I shudder to think what the differences must be.

So… I have finished my cognac. I still have about an hour before boarding. To tell you the truth, I don’t care how late the plane is! I am perfectly content here. Sometimes working for a living has its advantages. And although I am not working tonight, I must say… I LOVE THIS JOB.

© 2006, Linda Mason Hood
Truffles, Turtles & Tunes Copyright Statement

Career Satisfaction, part 2

(This post is an addendum to the 5/22 piece entitled Career Satisfaction. )

Four weeks into my new job at Reuters and I am still happy with it. The global atmosphere there is really refreshing. In my group are 9 people. Most of them regularly speak more than one language in the office. Only 3 of us have American accents. One person is from Britain, one from Mexico, one from Argentina, one from Ireland, one from Asia, one from the Caribbean. The rivalry and teasing surrounding the World Cup games these last two weeks has been very amusing!

I am making good progress figuring out what my job is and how to do it. I know that sounds weird, but nobody in the US does what I am supposed to do, so there is no one to teach it to me. The other people who do what I do are all in London, so it was decided that I should go there the week of 7/24 to work with and learn from them. I'm very excited about that, and about the whole trip in general. I will be flying business class and was encouraged to take advantage of the weekends to visit with my good friend Maurene and do some sightseeing. So stay tuned... this blog will become a travel diary very soon, complete with pictures!

When I realized I would be changing jobs this summer, I decided not to go to the Irish Arts Week in the Catskills. For the last two years I've signed up for a week's worth of flute or whistle lessons and basked in the rarified air produced by playing and listening to Irish music from morning til the wee hours of the NEXT morning. Well, Irish Arts Week has arrived. Monday evening I was really depressed thinking of all my Irish music friends up in the pavilion on the hill in East Durham listening to wonderful music, and there I was in my hot kitchen trying out a new vegetarian recipe. After much deliberation, I decided I had to go too, just for the last 2 days if nothing else. I mustered my courage and after only one month's employment, I asked for 2 vacation days. My boss had absolutely no problem with it! As soon as I got off work, I rented a car, packed my bags, and at 6:30 am tomorrow I'll be on my way to East Durham.

So what more could a person ask from a job? Reasonable work and reasonable pay as well as interesting business travel and vacation at the right time! I LOVE THIS JOB!

© 2006, Linda Mason Hood
Truffles, Turtles & Tunes Copyright Statement

Career Satisfaction

I have accepted a NEW JOB -- and resigned from my current job. Finally! Been job hunting off and on since last November.

I’m now in that weightless period defined by no longer bearing responsibility for any particular set of job-related problems. Nirvana. Handing off all my present projects, and not yet having taken on new projects.

A brief Florida vacation on the horizon.

What a wonderful period of time! I will savor every moment until June 12 when I begin the new job. Hopefully it will be better than this one.

Hope… yet another defining quality of this period of time. Hope has been restored to my workaday world. Things appear rosier. Ambition and confidence return. Life is good.

Maybe it will take longer this time, before it all starts to deteriorate and the search must begin anew.

© 2006, Linda Mason Hood
Truffles, Turtles & Tunes Copyright Statement