London

Queen Elizabeth II. Check out her title at the end of the post.

London Bridge, staying up.

I had this past Friday off and was able to take a trip to London. I was in the locker room at the gym on Monday and they were talking about how Billy Elliot had won some Tonys the past weekend. Since I had Friday off and loved the movie, I decided that it was a great opportunity to get down there. The play was pretty good, but I preferred the movie. It's hard to get into something with a lot of singing in it. The movie was believable and did what a movie was supposed to do: it convinced me that the characters were real and I was able to relate to them. In the play/musical, that wasn't the case. Every time something big happened, it turned into a song. I don't know about you, but have never once in my life spontaneously burst into song before/during/after a particularly sad/happy/funny event.

The trip was very compact. I arrived by train a few hours before the show on Friday. I spent the whole day Saturday on my feet and moving. I was able to make it to most of the "must-do" tourist sites. I had a bit of luck when I showed up for the changing of the guard at Buckingham Palace. As it turned out, it was the Queen's Birthday. I got to the palace about an hour before the "Trooping of the Colour" ceremony began and I moved up to about five people from the front. I saw the Queen, the entire royal family, and a lengthy military passing in review complete with the old uniforms, horses, and clanking swords. I couldn't help but laugh a few hours later when I was at the National Gallery and I saw a painting from the 1700s of a similar ceremony at Buckingham Palace. The palace, uniforms, and equipment looked exactly in the same in the 1700s as they did that morning.

Besides Buckingham Palace, the Saturday highlights included Westminster Abbey, Parliament, Big Ben, the Tate Museum, the National Gallery, the National Portrait Gallery, the British Museum, the London Bridge, and Hyde Park. I was also able to make a walk past the V&A Museum, Natural History Museum, and Science Museum later that evening in preparation for Sunday, as well. After such a busy day I slept well, despite the fact that I was in a hostel room with 27 other guys and someone was playing with my foot (which was hanging into the walkway as the bed was too short and I had to squeeze my feet under the bunk bed bars) at 4:00am.

Sunday was less eventful. My train left at 2:00pm, so I was hoping to make it to 2-3 museums before I had to leave. Unfortunately, the underground was more or less shut down. It took me 2 hours and a lot of changing of plans just to get to my first destination. By that time, I figured I would be better off making my way to King's Cross just order to avoid missing my train.

I made it back to Harrogate in time to meet some friends for dinner. All in all, it was a really nice weekend.

The Rosetta Stone.

Big Ben

Apparently they made a movie about me. I love my reviews.

Yes, the mummies and 5,000 year old statues were cool, but I especially like the roof at the British Museum.

Westminster Abbey

Trooping of the Colour, Buckingham Palace (The Queen and entire royal family are in this picture. Look closely.)

As promised, here is the queen's official title, at the time of crowning, as per Wikipedia:

Her Majesty Elizabeth the Second, by the Grace of God, of Great Britain, Ireland and the British Dominions beyond the Seas Queen, Defender of the Faith, Duchess of Edinburgh, Countess of Merioneth, Baroness Greenwich, Duke of Lancaster, Lord of Mann, Duke of Normandy, Sovereign of the Most Honourable Order of the Bath, Sovereign of the Most Ancient and Most Noble Order of the Thistle, Sovereign of the Most Illustrious Order of Saint Patrick, Sovereign of the Most Distinguished Order of Saint Michael and Saint George, Sovereign of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire, Sovereign of the Distinguished Service Order, Sovereign of the Imperial Service Order, Sovereign of the Most Exalted Order of the Star of India, Sovereign of the Most Eminent Order of the Indian Empire, Sovereign of the Order of British India, Sovereign of the Indian Order of Merit, Sovereign of the Order of Burma, Sovereign of the Royal Order of Victoria and Albert, Sovereign of the Royal Family Order of King Edward VII, Sovereign of the Order of Mercy, Sovereign of the Order of Merit, Sovereign of the Order of the Companions of Honour, Sovereign of the Royal Victorian Order, Sovereign of the Most Venerable Order of the Hospital of St John of Jerusalem.

And if that wasn't enough, here are the some she has acquired since gaining the crown in 1953:

Sovereign of the Order of Canada, Sovereign of the Order of Australia, Sovereign of the Order of New Zealand, Sovereign of the Order of Barbados, Sovereign of the Order of Valour, Sovereign of the Order of Military Merit, Sovereign of the Order of Merit of the Police Forces, Sovereign of the Queen's Service Order, Sovereign of the New Zealand Order of Merit, Sovereign of the Order of St. Andrew, Sovereign of the Order of Logohu, Sovereign of the Order of the Star of Melanesia.

Believe it or not, the list goes on. Her business cards must be super annoying.

Almost Home...

I will be at the very end of this street.

I will soon have a house here in Harrogate. It's not the place I previously posted about, but there is a story behind that. To begin with, I was never extremely excited about the flat with the holes in the doors and no appliances in the kitchen. I was looking at it as an investment. With some work, I think I could have sold it in a few years for a decent profit. I still think that's the case, but I needed a place to live in the near term. Judging from how slow the speed of business is here, I could have been waiting to move into that place for months while the flooring was getting done or the cooker getting installed. Plus, it was right underneath some gigantic power lines, had no assigned parking, no outside storage, and was in a somewhat crowded neighborhood. It felt like an apartment, basically.

Living room with gas fireplace.

The realtor really messed up my bid on that first place, as well. I placed my bid over the phone on a Thursday because I was in Germany. On Saturday I called them back to see what sort of progress they were making. They had no news for me. I asked if there was anything I could do to speed up the process and the guy recommended that I bring in my mortgage in principal (pre-approval) paperwork. Even then he didn't make it sound like it was necessary, just that it would be helpful. I walked the paperwork over to their office that Saturday morning. The following Tuesday I called the bank that is providing the mortgage to let them know that I might be getting a place. The lender said that I should have been notified already of their decision, so she called the realtor for me. She called me back in a few minutes and told me that the realtor needed my mortgage in principal paperwork before they could place the bid on my behalf. By that point I was very frustrated. I called the realtor back and told them that they already had my paperwork. I told them to submit my bid. They finally did, but then called me back to tell me that someone submitted a bid before me. Long story short, I had to give an update with my "best and final offer" before noon the next day. At this point I really didn't want the realtor to get the commission, so I called the other realtor that had the property listed, but they didn't seem to be any more helpful.

Front of house.

During lunch that day at work I started looking online again for a 2 bedroom place in Harrogate. I found one at the very peak of my price range, but I immediately liked it. It had a garden (yard), it's own parking, a bbq pit, a gas fire place (just the idea of having a fire place makes me look forward to the cold winters with their 20 hours of darkness each day so that I have a reason to use it.), and it was in move in condition. When I got home from work I looked at the place again. The price had been lowered that afternoon by £5,000. At that point I knew that I wanted the place and that I had to get my bid in quickly. I set up a viewing appointment with the realtor and drove to the house to look through the windows that night.

Side of house abuts "push bike" / walking path

The next day I submitted my "best and final offer" on the first place, which was less than my first offer by £5,500. I'd still live there if I got a great deal on the place, but I was pretty sure that the offer wouldn't be accepted. (Apparently the other one wasn't either; the place is still listed). I also took a look at the new place. It was in good condition. Not great, but definitely move-in ready. I put in my bid for the full asking price. It ended up that someone else put in a bid that day as well, so it went back to the "best and final offer" stage. I raised my bid by £2,010. That evening I found out that my bid was accepted (even though the other person's bid was apparently higher) and now I am on my way to having a place to live!

I'm shooting for a move in date of July 8th, but I was already told not to get my hopes up. Things move slowly here, like I said before.

Side "garden" (yard) with storage sheds, sun deck, and brick bbq.

Kitchen with shattered window.

In other news, I am starting to meet more people and am really enjoying my job. This past weekend I went on a "house crawl." Basically, it's a pub crawl except to people's homes instead of pubs. I joined about halfway through the evening, but I soon caught up. It was a lot of fun, but the night ended badly for my phone. As I was walking home from the last house at around 1:30am, I got a strong urge to listen to Neil Young (I have a tendency to listen to American folk music a lot more regularly when I am in a foreign place). To quench my urge, I grabbed my 3 week old iPhone from my pocket, but the little guy was slippery like a fishy. It jumped out of my hands and onto the sidewalk. Everyone knows the saying, "liquor then beer, you're in the clear; beer then liquor, never been sicker." A less known piece of wisdom is, "beer, then shots, then a mixed drink, then more beer, then some wine, followed by eating all of the taco toppings after the shells ran out, then an urge to listen to Neil Young while walking home in the dark kills your iPhone." It's catchy, I know. Ironically, as Kate pointed out, Apple just announced their new iPhone yesterday and the lowering of their prices on their old models. It is going to cost me more to fix my iPhone in the UK than it would cost me to buy a brand new one in the US. Bullocks.


Something positive that came out of the house crawl was the fact that I know where half a dozen people live now. On Sunday I ate dinner with some friends and came to find that I had a flat tire afterwards. No worries, I had a full sized spare in the trunk. As my luck would have it, that was flat too. I looked up the nearest service station on my GPS, picked up the tire, and started walking. An hour later I was still walking. What I didn't know before I started is that there are no service stations in Harrogate. It was amazing. I went to the three nearest places listed in my GPS and they had all recently been converted into something else. Just as I was considering my next move, I noticed that I was standing two houses down from one of the places I visited during the house crawl! I knocked on the door and borrowed a bicycle pump and got a ride to my car. After a quick tire change, I was off and running.

That is the major news from the weekend. I have Friday off this week, so I am taking the train down to London for a weekend there. I've never been there before and I am looking forward to it. I am going to the play Billy Elliot on Friday night. I think that is one of my favorite movies of all time, so I'm guessing the play should be pretty entertaining as well. I have nothing else planned at this point, so I will have to tear into my Lonely Planet on the train.

York Minster (it doesn't have anything to do with this post, but I walked past it the other week when I was out)