Struggling to be a good parent

http://www.phillymag.com/articles/bad_parents/page1 . This article, forwarded by Lisa Kerchinski (an I.U. friend), is a great article on the struggle to be a good parent. The author says, in a nutshell, that we should lay off the micromanaging of our kids' lives and stay focused on the values questions. It's a good and thought-provoking article.

Grateful for our kitchen

It's official, according to the Zagat Guides. London is the most expensive city in the world for eating out, with an average meal costing 39.09 pounds - that's $79.35 per person, per meal, on average. New York, just for comparison's sake, averages $39.18 per person, per meal.

That's average, of course, and we're able to eat out for less than $20 a person. Indian, Thai, and Japanese tend to be relatively inexpensive, at least in London terms!

Public Health 101

London is one of the birthplaces of public health practice. In 1854, there was a cholera epidemic in London. At that time, the cause of cholera was unknown. Dr. John Snow mapped each casualty of cholera on a street map, and deduced that many of the victims got their water from the same water pump on Broad Street (now Broadwick Street) in Soho. While most people thought his theory was absurd, he felt so strongly about it that he removed the pump handle. The cholera epidemic in the neighborhood ended shortly thereafter. The handleless pump in the first picture is a re-creation.

In 1854, water was drawn directly from the River Thames for use in drinking, cooking, and washing. Most people had access to water only through public pumps located around the city. Unfortunately, all the waste from the city was also dumped into the Thames, often just upstream of the water intake points.

These are a few of my favorite signs

These signs seem very British to me. The first is on an admittedly ugly building right at the edge of Russell Square. The second is a temporary sign by where they have our road dug up. It seems very profound for a notice of water pipe replacement. The last is, I think, self explanatory, but I thought it was funny that it was built into the pavement.

London Eye

On Friday, which was another beautiful day, we went up in the London Eye, which is the world's largest observation wheel. Attached are a few pictures - the Houses of Parliament/Big Ben are in one picture and there's another of Bloomsbury, where we live. The large building with the green roof is the British Museum.

First day of school!

Abby started school today! Here are a few pictures of the big day. Most schools in this part of London are in older buildings. Each school has one class per grade, with 30 kids in the class. The classroom has a teacher and an assistant. As you can see, Abby's school requires uniforms. Since she was admitted late yesterday afternoon, shops close at 7, and school started this morning, we had to hustle to get enough of the uniform for her to get to school. We'll get the rest this afternoon. We were puzzled by a couple of the items. What, precisely, is a pinafore? What are plimsolls? Luckily, we were able to find incredibly helpful shop assistants to help us at the trusty John Lewis on Oxford St. The room for school uniforms rivalled any U.S. store the day after Thanksgiving.

Abby was very excited about going to big kid school. Her school should be interesting - 50% of the kids don't speak English at home, so there's a lot of diversity.

Dinner for 15 in a 1 room flat

All the students are safely here - last night we hosted dinner for 15 in our flat (spaghetti, of course - I didn't know what else to cook for so many on short notice!). We asked them to bring their own plates & forks! For this event, Abby & I made a shopping run to a larger grocery store a bus ride away. It was somewhat less expensive, but not enough to be worth the hassle of carrying bags of groceries on and off the buses. The students are a nice group - I think Wayne will have a good term with them.

On Saturday we went to Hyde Park, Kensington Gardens, the Alfred Memorial, and the Natural History Museum. It is amazing to me how much of this city of 7 million is green space. In parts of Hyde Park it feels like you're in the countryside. Unfortunately, the very cool playground at Kensington Gardens was closed, though we did find the statue of Peter Pan.

The Natural History Museum was great. They even have an animatronic T-rex - very cool. The picture of Abby looking skeptical is from when we entered the room with the T-rex growling and looking around. Plus they have a life-sized model of a blue whale. The building itself is wonderful - every column has plants or critters carved into it.

Word is there will be a strike on the Underground tonight, so I think we'll stick close to home, except to go shopping for Abby's school uniform - tomorrow is the first day of school!