tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-57376262012-01-05T06:43:17.952-08:00London CallingThis is what we call Mary Poppins land, although I have yet to see her. I have seen some homeless guys, though, and some lewd Italians. What an experience.Patrickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00079089698602132118noreply@blogger.comBlogger231100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5737626.post-1113454461942731272005-04-14T00:52:00.000-07:002005-04-13T21:54:21.943-07:00Testing 1, 2, 12...Patrickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00079089698602132118noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5737626.post-1081888081868023742004-04-13T13:27:00.000-07:002004-04-13T13:30:51.966-07:00Ciao, Italia! pt. 2
Upon our arrival in Rome, the first thing we saw was a Roadhouse Grill, which Becca explained to me was akin to Lone Star Texas.
"It's a peanuts on the floor, beer swillin', stomp your heart out kind of place," she said. "Funny that it's the first thing we see in Rome."
Additionally, we saw a poster for "Return of the King" -- in Italian. Took a picture of that. Saw sewer Patrickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00079089698602132118noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5737626.post-1081373378978569312004-04-07T13:56:00.000-07:002004-04-07T14:37:38.780-07:00Ciao, Italia! pt. 1
Are you ready for an Italy update? Like, you know, a rundown of Italia? Sure you are.
Here goes.
"Well, you'll not only see those, but before the evening's half through, you'll be leaning against the Leaning Tower of Pisa, you'll mount Mount Everest, I'll show you the Pyramids and all the little pyramidees, leaping from sphinx to sphinx!"
-"Mr. Deeds Goes To Town"
We flew Patrickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00079089698602132118noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5737626.post-1080660003217287232004-03-30T07:18:00.000-08:002004-03-30T07:22:39.140-08:00Alright, my fine and furry friends, this is a post to say that early Thursday morning (late Wednesday night for most of you lot), I will be leaving for Italy, where I will be until Sunday night. Hopefully by then you Americans will have your daylight savings stuff worked out so that we're back to being 6 hours apart from the Midwest.Patrickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00079089698602132118noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5737626.post-1080308080098109042004-03-26T05:32:00.000-08:002004-03-29T01:41:06.500-08:00What Makes the British Press Different, take 1
*Team is NOT an it over here. Imagine us reading the sports story that starts, "Chelsea have announced..."
*Courtesy titles like Mr. and Mrs. are used all over the place, ala The New York Times, but unlike The New York Times, these titles do not have periods. Mr, Mrs, Dr, etc.
*Sometimes, auxiliary verbs might be the only verbs you'll see in a Patrickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00079089698602132118noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5737626.post-1080225080920017672004-03-25T06:08:00.000-08:002004-03-25T06:37:22.576-08:00Birthdays of note:
March 17 -- Protz
March 19 -- Wendy
March 25 -- Courtney's mom
March 26 -- Luke
Flip Your Wig:I'm the Boss, Applesauce
I was at the Inns of Court yesterday on a lecture and trip explaining how the British legal system works. There were formalities (barristers still have to wear wigs and black gowns) and informalities (the barristers and the three judges interrupt each other, Patrickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00079089698602132118noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5737626.post-1079954473581116302004-03-22T03:20:00.000-08:002004-03-23T07:00:50.043-08:00NOTE: A few weeks ago, Patrick was on his Spring Break. For this holiday, he decided to go to Ireland with fellow I.E. student Erin. They went to Dublin, and then spent the weekend on a backpacking bus tour, seeing the countryside and rural sights. They returned on Sunday, 7 March.
Please enjoy this series of recollections, ending with this fourth edition.
Cheers,
The Management
A Sort of Patrickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00079089698602132118noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5737626.post-1079447936441959432004-03-16T06:27:00.000-08:002004-03-16T06:41:18.106-08:00A Sort of Homecoming, pt. 3
We spent Friday night in Doolin, a sleepy little town on Ireland's west coast, past Lisdoonvarna and the cliffs of Moher. When I say sleepy little town, I do mean it. The roads were not paved, and instead were dirt and gravel. There were two pubs, and those were the landmarks, besides the hostels. There was one phone box in the town, and though Mick says there were Patrickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00079089698602132118noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5737626.post-1079344608165624552004-03-15T01:53:00.000-08:002004-03-15T02:01:14.263-08:00A Sort of Homecoming, pt. 2
We woke up early on Friday morning and trekked down O'Connell Street to the departing point for our Shamrocker bus tour. See, we had wanted to go to Dublin, but we also wanted to experience Ireland beyond the main tourist city, beyond the urban sites and attractions. We wanted to experience authentic Ireland, or if not 100 percent authentic, something simpler than Patrickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00079089698602132118noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5737626.post-1079275822561699342004-03-14T06:50:00.000-08:002004-03-14T06:52:42.106-08:00Birthdays of note:
March 14 -- My mom
That's right, folks, today is my mom's birthday.
It's that reason that we're taking a holiday. Today's post will have no other content but to say "Happy Birthday, Mom."
Thus, without further ado... Happy Birthday, Mom.
Neither I nor the management have forgotten about the Ireland postings. Part 2 is at the LondonNet office, and Part 3 has already been Patrickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00079089698602132118noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5737626.post-1078842017697427682004-03-09T04:57:00.000-08:002004-03-14T06:47:41.140-08:00NOTE: Last week, Patrick was on his Spring Break. For this holiday, he decided to go to Ireland with fellow I.E. student Erin. They went to Dublin, and then spent the weekend on a backpacking bus tour, seeing the countryside and rural sights. They returned on Sunday.
Please enjoy this series of recollections, beginging with this first edition.
Cheers,
The Management
A Sort of Homecoming, pt. 1Patrickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00079089698602132118noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5737626.post-1078057891313097152004-02-29T04:30:00.000-08:002004-02-29T04:33:37.013-08:00One of the must-do activities for anyone spending time in London is to hit up Portobello Road. It's a stretch of road near Notting Hill, where you will find open markets selling fish, chickens, shirts, pashminas, socks, purses, mushrooms, handbags, jackets, pants, magnets, keychains, postcards, jerseys, hotdogs or any other combination of the aforementioned items.
It's a cramped area, because Patrickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00079089698602132118noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5737626.post-1077894659156297772004-02-27T07:05:00.000-08:002004-02-27T07:13:03.250-08:00My brother Brian posed me the following question(s):
I was thinking about how evidently a large amount of people in London eat out all the time, and never cook. But what about you? What do you eat? do you cook? Have you tried blood pudding?
Well, Brian, that's a good question, bruvah, good question. Because we here at London Calling are kind and helpful, I thought it would be a good e-mail Patrickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00079089698602132118noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5737626.post-1077793893876885072004-02-26T03:07:00.000-08:002004-02-26T06:30:39.013-08:00People here say "Cheers." It's interesting, because it takes the place of "Thanks," "Sorry," "Bye" and "Good luck." You can say it when parting ways with someone, and it really is the most appropriate thing to say after "bye," because, well, you don't necessarily have anything to thank them for, you're not sorry for something, and there's nothing to anticipate that would necessitate a "Good luck.Patrickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00079089698602132118noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5737626.post-1077629746044624132004-02-24T05:18:00.000-08:002004-02-27T07:20:37.360-08:00Harry Burns: There are two kinds of women -- high maintenance and low maintenance.
Sally Albright: Which one am I?
Harry Burns: You're the worst kind. You're high maintenance but you think you're low maintenance.
I love that you get cold when it's 71 degrees out, I love that it takes you an hour and a half to order a sandwich, I love when you get a little crinkle above your nose when you're Patrickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00079089698602132118noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5737626.post-1076541804769282092004-02-11T15:23:00.000-08:002004-02-14T02:47:29.246-08:00NOTE: At the bottom, you'll see that comments are back in order. Please use them. Or else.
Birthdays recently have been...
Feb. 6 -- Paige
Feb. 9 -- Erin
"I was on a Paris train
I emerged in London rain
And you were waiting there
Swimming through apologies
I remember searching for the perfect words
I was hoping you might change your mind
I remember a soldier standing next to me
Riding on Patrickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00079089698602132118noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5737626.post-1075648966095213152004-02-01T07:22:00.000-08:002004-02-05T05:14:46.610-08:00Birthdays this week:
Feb. 6 -- Paige
Feb. 6 -- Ronald Reagan, if I remember correctly
Other fun things of interest to occur this week:
Feb. 1 -- The Super Bowl
Feb. 2 -- "Along Came Polly" press preview
Feb. 4 -- Trip to Bath and Stonehenge
Feb. 5 -- Press preview and dinner for "Edge," a one-woman show about Sylvia Plath
Feb. 6 -- Erin, Liz and I leave for Paris, and we don't mean the town inPatrickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00079089698602132118noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5737626.post-1075307949065905962004-01-28T08:39:00.000-08:002004-02-01T06:44:02.873-08:00Happy things this week:
*Talking to Erica on the phone
*Getting a card from Courtney
*Getting a postcard from Kerry, complete with a tale about Michael's bad dream (about a sandwich with a tomato on it)
The comments feature is still off, but here’s a new post.
It’s now been been two and a half weeks since we first got here. The second week had a lot more regularity to it than the first, becausePatrickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00079089698602132118noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5737626.post-1075073638980204642004-01-25T15:33:00.000-08:002004-01-25T15:35:30.153-08:00Birthdays of the past week:
Jan. 17 -- David
Jan. 24 -- Colleen
Jan. 24 -- Mrs. Harbaker
P.G., phone home
I called Kerry the other day and she put Michael on the phone. It was midnight here, and 6 p.m. there.
Michael: Hi, Uncle Patrick.
Pat: Hi! How are you, Michael?
Michael: Oh, I'm good. I sure do miss you, Uncle Patrick!
Pat: Well, I miss you too.
Michael: Maybe I could come to London Patrickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00079089698602132118noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5737626.post-1074278395766737102004-01-16T10:39:00.000-08:002004-01-16T10:41:17.623-08:00Well, I haven't given the obligatory shout-outs for birthdays this week, and even though I'm in a new country in a new time zone, that is no excuse.
The following are people who, if you know them, you should have wished them a Happy Birthday.
Jan. 6 -- Christine, former Missourian reporter and current Missouri London Program participant
Jan. 9 -- Shaffer, co-chair of Club Graffixxxxxxx, denizenPatrickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00079089698602132118noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5737626.post-1073940170479409502004-01-12T12:42:00.000-08:002004-01-12T12:44:08.610-08:00On our first night here, we met three British guys -- one who lives in London and two of his childhood buddies who live near Birmingham. I asked them about how they perceive Americans ("Always smiling and too optimistic") and Tony Blair ("We don't like him much"). In honor of my brother, the Smiths and the everso famous football team, I asked them about Manchester.
"Manchester?! What do you wantPatrickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00079089698602132118noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5737626.post-1072148664478645132003-12-22T18:57:00.000-08:002003-12-22T19:05:22.450-08:00I finally sent off a big batch of (overdue!) paperwork today. Hopefully this will prevent the lady in Naperville from having yet another Pat-inspired ulcer.
I leave two weeks and four days from today. It's fitting that the last American city I'll see is my favorite: Chicago. I'll have a whole day to kill there on Friday, Jan. 9, which I've already speculated will be spent at:
a) Murphy's
b) Patrickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00079089698602132118noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5737626.post-1062047244387132422003-08-27T22:07:00.000-07:002003-08-27T22:32:06.246-07:00I now have:
*my paperwork for London
*$1,066 in the bank
*a kickass Frommer's travel guide from my parents, including info about clubs and pubs in Manchester
*an equally kickass book from Erica about Irish and English identity, complete with a wimpled nun drinking Guinness on the book's cover
*a collection of Beatles songs to whet my appetite
*a copy of "Q," a British music mag
*a collection of Patrickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00079089698602132118noreply@blogger.com