ROUNDABOUND

While in Amersham, I got reacquainted with all the roundabouts - those Brits don't much like stop signs.  This kept playing in my head.

While awfully European to have ROUNDABOUNDS, they posed quite an obstacle for my running excursions around town.  No matter how much I tried to look the correct (wrong) way for traffic, I felt like I was constantly putting myself in danger when I crossed the street.  They don't have those signs to "look right" like they do in London.  So I tried to remember to look right, then left, then right, but the cars come at you in a very disorientating way since they're on the "wrong" side of the road.  I decided that I could only cross the street if there were absolutely no cars coming from either direction.  This is all fine if I'm just crossing one street, but how are you supposed to cross a roundabound?  Well, I came to the conclusion that you're not.  So my rule became to never cross the street.  If I came to a roundabound, I had to go left.  That actually came in handy for not getting lost, but it also made me go in circles.

THOSE ROUNDABOUNDS.  Correct.  YES, that is what I said!

harry and sandy

warped rooftop

hobbit door, as tall as me

the OFFICE

Harry Potter-ville

I was called to go on a last-minute business trip to the London area with 48 hours notice!  I freaked out because it seems like a big trip, but I had forgotten how easy of a trip it is.  It's just slightly longer than my usual westward trip to California.  It was cold and dreary with yellow and orange leaves falling everywhere.  This is exactly how I picture the English countryside. SO DAMN QUAINT!!

See it?  Way out there - it's the scary, broken crane.

I luckily made it home from London before Hurricane Sandy.  I got to hunker down with my hubs, which is quite frankly, what we'd love to do all the time anyway.  We maintained power, internet, and water through the whole ordeal.  P and I even ventured outside (against all warnings from public officials) to experience the wind and take a peek at the Hudson.  I hadn't experienced a hurricane before, so I just HAD TO SEE!  The wind and the swooshing trees made the short walk over to the river an exciting one to say the least.  You can first HEAR, then SEE, and lastly FEEL the strong gusts of wind coming at you.  The river water wasn't gnarly like you saw at the beach, but it did rise to the level of the pier at the time we saw it.  The water eventually covered the entire pier and went up the embankment behind it.  We watched the river for all of 30 seconds before we were ready to head back to safety.

While we have emerged unscathed from Sandy, I cannot begin to fathom how others have to pick up the pieces of their lives and go on.  Coping with the destruction has only begun, and the amount of work to rebuild is unnerving.  While I have my fair share of complaints about New Yorkers, it is in times like these that their inspiring resilience and bravery shine.