I’ll be home for Christmas

This will be the last entry until we return from our Christmas holiday:

I am flying on Christmas Eve and returning on 11 January. My wife is flying out several days ahead of me, but will return with me. See you soon!

My Third London Job

OK, I will try not to get distracted by Hugh Grants hair this time. Steady, steady,… OK I can do this…

As I said, I work at the Royal Hospital for Neuro-disability in Putney. This hospital started in 1854, allegedly at the pleading of Charles Dickens. Anyway, it started life as Hospital for Incurables. In reality, it is not actually a hospital; most of it is more like a very medical-like residential facility for people with very severe neurological injuries/disease. It is still in the original building, which is lovely as an historical monument, but rather awful for any practical use as a hospital or home, especially since it cannot be modified because it is a listed building. There have been numerous additions over the years. It really is quite lovely though.

In addition to the residential wards (one is all ventilated residents), there are several specialty rehabilitation units. One of them is a unit that specialises in minimally conscious states. The hospital seems to be known nationally for this particular unit. One of my posts is in one of the other rehabilitation units: the neuro-behavioural rehabilitation unit. It is in a separate, relatively modern building from the main hospital. The clients on this unit are exhibiting behaviours that are interfering with their therapy delivery, their relationship with their family and friends, or their own (and other’s) safety. These of course include physical / verbal aggressive and sexual disinhibition. However, for me the most challenging behaviour is the passive behaviours: when the clients refuse everything. But I have been learning and getting better at turning that around… The behavioural unit uses the Institute for Applied Behavior Analysis approach.


My other post is in the computer room. Three things go on in the computer room: (1)Clients access computers to do things like internet, email, facebook, games, word process. These clients need special equipment and software to accomplish these aims due to the severity of their conditions. One of my clients is a published author and has been publishing despite being a quadriplegic with only the slightest of movements in his left hand. (2)Clients use computers as part of their rehabilitation aims. One piece of interesting kit that we have is this hardware/software package where the client plays games but the movement is controlled by specific targeted movements that can be set using a device that measures a specific movement pattern such as bending your elbow or twisting your wrist, or by an amount of force like shift weight from your right to left leg or from your bottom to your feet whilst sitting, or just from a trace muscle contraction using an electrode sensor! (3)Clients are issued high-tech environmental controls or communication devices which we program and train the clients on. I have a client right now learning to use an eye-gaze system to speak, listen to music, email, and activate a nurse call as she has no movement accept for her eyes.

Believe it or not, occupational therapists where uniforms in this country. The green uniform is one of the many differences between occupational therapy practice in the UK and the USA. But it is wholly recognisable. More on that to come in a future entry!...

Thanksgiving

This year thanksgiving was quite exciting.  A work colleague whose mother happens to be American invited us to diner after work.  It also turns out that the mother worked on a seminal edition of Shakespeare’s plays in the 1980s.  So it was fascinating on many counts.  The most interesting feature of the diner was that the boiler in their house hadn’t been working for several days so there was no heat and no hot water in the house.  It so happens that the boiler at our flat also let go that morning and we also had no heat or hot water.  And our third colleague in the computer room also had his boiler not working, making it a clean sweep.  And we found out that my inlaws in back in the states lost their water on Thanksgiving Day also.  So there was a theme.  But the best thing about Thanksgiving this year is that we had somewhere to go to, so that was a nice change from last year.  I think it shows how we have adapted to life in London that we found someone with whom to share the American holiday.

My Third London Job

Well, it took me a few months but I finally got a job in occupational therapy.  I took the job near the beginning of the year and I am still there as of the writing of this entry.  I am working at the Royal Hospital for Neurodisability and it is in Putney.  Putney is just southeast of the center of London’s urban sprawl.  It is in a borough called Wandsworth.  My first encounter with Wandsworth is from the line from the film: Love Actually.  (Yes, they still say ‘film’ here.  It has a certain charm, like their pull-chain toilets… those born after 1970 may not have had that pleasure… but have no fear, just visit London!)  

Those of you who know me through my wife know already know that she is a huge fan of Hugh Grant’s hair.  Who isn’t?  I mean, it is really nice hair!  Well… OK, maybe she has never actually said that she is a fan of his hair.  Maybe there is some other quality that she sees in him.  However, after having seen many of his films (I am pretty sure I would have escaped this pleasure had I not met her) I am thinking his hair is really his nicest feature.  I don’t mean to demean any of his other qualities.  His hair is that good.  If Jesus had Hugh Grant hair, I don’t think anything about the miracles and parables would have made it into the Bible...  But nothing tops the ‘Four Weddings and A Funeral’ Hair, and what was he thinking in ‘About A Boy’???  

My first encounter with Putney was when I stepped off of the train on my way to the job interview.  I walked a dozen meters or so down the main road and turned down the side street and my jaw dropped.  There were front gardens (what we Americans call front yards)… and they were green, you know grass, shrubs, small trees, a few flowers along the walk and against the house… and not just one:  Every house had a green front garden!   I was overcome with euphoria from the momentary break in tarmac (asphalt), brick, and concrete.  It was like when colour coming into Pleasantville.  (Wow, I am starting to scare myself with all of these film references.)  Those of you who have visited may have noticed the conspicuous lack of grass in the old neighbourhood.  The new one, although much improved, still lacks green front gardens.  

Holloa!

Well, in the US, it is the day after: the light at the end of the tunnel. In just a few months and W will be a bad memory. Someone at work whom I cannot recall ever having spoken to before said to me as he passed me in the corridor, “It looks like your country is having a Tony Blair moment.” Most of you know that Tony Blair was the prime minister before Gordan Brown, the current one. I have to say that I think of Clinton when I think of Blair, but I was too surprised that he knew I was an American to even ask what he meant by that. Anyway, you would think that ‘the election’ (as it is referred to) was here. Just minutes ago, I was paying for an avocado at a local shop and someone said to the shopkeeper as he came in “What do you think about the election?” He gave a friendly non-committal answer and then turned to me and quietly said, “It is one thing to win an election; it is another, to run a country.” Now I know I have never seen this man before. I have never set foot in this shop. So there you go.
Here, today is Guy Fawkes Day. We don’t get it off. Guy Fawkes Day (also called Bonfire Night) is celebrated with fireworks, sort of like our Fourth of July, except it has nothing to do with independence or national origins. This guy was caught trying to blow up Parliament (which most of you know is somewhat analogous to the US Congress) while the king was addressing it (which would be analogous to a joint session, like during the State of the Union).  Anyway, there is a verse that all Brits seem to know:

Remember, remember the Fifth of November,
The Gunpowder Treason and Plot,
I can think of no reason
Why the Gunpowder Treason
Should ever be forgot.
Guy Fawkes, Guy Fawkes, t'was his intent
To blow up the King and Parli'ment.
Three-score barrels of powder below
To prove old England's overthrow;
By God's providence he was catch'd
With a dark lantern and burning match.
Holloa boys, holloa boys, let the bells ring.
Holloa boys, holloa boys, God save the King!

And fireworks going off around me as I write...  Holloa!

Our New Flat: The Movie

Following the popularity of our web entry, we have released a film based on the web entry.  Thus we enter the web-movie making generation with a video of our new flat:

Please note that the those of with dial-up connections (New Bedford parents) will not be able to view this video.

Andrew in Amsterdam

Andrew found himself in Amsterdam at the end of August, which is lucky for me on two counts. One and foremost, I got to see a childhood friend I haven’t seen in a while. Two, I got to have two days of summer. London was a cloudbank and barely got into the low 20s (low 70s) and that was in the heat of the day. My two days in Amsterdam were by contrast sunny and warm, I even got to wear a short sleeved shirt (although not in this picture) and didn’t even have to wear a jacket at night! (All right, I got the obligatory complaints about the London weather out of the way, which is required of all London residents.)

Andrew is still a proud dad, husband and senior project manager for Microsoft. As I said, the best part of the trip was seeing him. As we spent every available moment either toking wacky tobacky in the legendary ‘coffee shops’ (which explains my letting him be in charge of the map) or engaged in numerous sex acts in the legendary red light district, there is not much of that aspect of the trip I can share here. If you find that wholly unbelievable, that is because what we really did… a couple geeks in Amsterdam … we actually talked about childhood stuff that would be too weird and banal to post on a blog. Like I said, it was the best part.

The second best part was the hotel that Andrew was staying in. It is called Citizen M. It was awesome. The rooms were incredibly efficient in terms of space and technology. Notice how close together the room doors are. It was incredible. One picture is taken from the door and that other from the bed. As you can see, the toilet and shower are in glass tubes, which are opened in the picture. And there are different mood sequences you can set the room for to enhance it so when you close the tubes they are like giant light bulbs. The bed was huge and there were plenty of clever storage places. If I ever build my own bedroom, it will be almost an exact copy of this room. I absolutely loved it.

It was my second time in Amsterdam. My first time was something like 15 years ago. I visited Hannon in Germany on his postdoc. It is much like I remembered it. There are these concentric canals where every third street would be. It is lovely. And there are bicycles everywhere. We also saw the Anne Frank Museum. The picture shows the bookcase that they built in front of entrance to the hidden apartment: closed to hide the stairs and open to reveal them. It is very eerie to walk behind that bookcase. I suspect most of you are aware that her father, Otto was the only survivor of his family. He said in an interview that after reading the diary that no parent can know what his or her children are thinking because he thought he knew his daughter so well before he read it and realized afterward that he didn’t really. At his request, the secret apartment was left exactly as the Nazis left it, which was with all the furniture removed. There are lots of things on the walls, particularly in Anne's room. The warehouse portion of the building houses exhibits and, of course, a volume of the diary.

Moira Cameron

During our most recent trip to the Tower of London, we met Moira.  Moira is the very first woman Yeoman Warder (popularly refered to as Beefeaters).  Largely now a tourist attraction, the Yeoman Warders initially started as guards for the crown jewels in1485. Nowadays, Yeoman Warders are retired noncommissioned members of the armed forces.  They must have exemplary careers and hold certain medals. They live with their families live inside the tower.  As you can imagine, it is  a huge honour to serve as a Yeoman Warder.  

Moira Cameron, became a Yeoman Warder in 2007.  She joined the Army in 1985 at age 20, which makes her about 43 years old at the time of this posting.  

My wife was very excited to meet Moira.  She was kind and gracious enough to allow me to take this picture and was also genuine and full of positive energy.  And Moira was pretty cool too!

Our New Flat

As you many of you already know, we have recently moved into a new flat. While it is smaller and has less storage room than the first one, this one feels more like us. It has a large table so we can have visitors without resorting to folding garden chairs (although if you grew attached to the garden chairs in you last visit, we still have them!)  

It has an airiness to it: not to mention a kitchen. And we have our own toilet... and the shower is not in the bedroom... but the bathroom is not in the flat... you have to go into the hallway to access it. But it is our very own, well as long as we pay the rent that is. It has wood laminate floors, 

which is much easier to clean and better for our allergies. And the bed is not next to the main door, so we do not hear people  entering and leaving. It is also 15 cm wider than the bed at the other flat.  Who would have guessed that six inches could be so huge!  A friendly young Chinese couple live across the hall. And below them is a helpful and kind Italian woman. We have not talked to the rest of the house much yet. At this point, it seems unlikely that we will. The flat comes with wireless internet which gives us a better connection (and my wife could not connect at all before). 

There is a garden but it is full of building debris at the moment because they are modifying the ground floor flat. And I don't have a minefield of dog fouling to negotiate on my walk to work (a symptom of council housing near our previous flat).  We also live closer to many conveniences, several restaurants, cafes, and the like.  I do miss my Iranian laudry guy!  He let me borrow all of his Gypsy King CDs...

Stonehenge!

During Jim and Laurens visit, we visited the famous Stonehenge, which is something like 90 miles west of London. The henge is the flat circular part and is made of earth. There are many henges all over England. Stonehenge is generally thought to have started as a burial site about 5000 years ago, and according to archaeologists it has gone through many changes and variations over those years. People who study these things think that the culture never developed a written language. If that is true, there is little hope of discovering its true purpose. There are many theories. The most popular are some kind of astronomical or religious site. The actual evidence however is rather sparse.

Despite having seen many pictures of it and having read so many things about it, I had forgotten that it was here in England until Jim mentioned he wanted to see it. It would have been an awful shame to have not seen it being so close. So I am grateful to Jim for getting me out there. I think the lack of evidence surrounding Stonehenge is what draws so much attention to it. It really leaves you free to imagine whatever you want.

It was strange to see it in person. No doubt the images and writings I have experienced swelled my expectations. One of the most striking things was that it was just kind of there. There’s the road, there’s a farmhouse, there’s Stonehenge, there’s a field, there’s another farmhouse. It is like that. It doesn’t seem out of place. I wasn’t expecting that. I also think my experience was limited by not being allowed to walk amongst the stones. In fact, we were not allowed that close to it at all. I wonder if there was energy in amongst them. I couldn’t feel any from where I was standing. It was tad disappointing. It left me this feeling of wanting to sneak in at night and go inside the ring of stone. Even as I type this, I wish I had thought of darting across, although I am sure my wife is very happy I didn’t think of that. But despite not feeling any energy, it was still absolutely amazing. And we did get to walk on the actual henge, and for all we know, it may be the henge itself that is the most sacred part.

There are some obvious burial mounds surrounding the henge. Some are a bit of a distance away. But there were some that were quite close. We walked out to one of them. We met some grazing cattle on this little side journey. The mounds were fenced, but there was no one around to enforce the fences suggestion of no trespass. Several other tourists ran up and down the mounds. Unlike the stones, I had no desire to go on the burial mound. I am not sure what the difference was. Perhaps it is too close to my own cultural experiences of burial rituals. It just seems disrespectful. I have no problems with professional digging into them to learn about the culture. That to me does not seem disrespectful. But running up and down them, well that is another matter.

There has been lots of manipulation of the stones of Stonehenge in the name of preservation. Some have been straightened. Some have been filled with concrete. I for one believe that it should not be touched. Since we don’t know its purpose, we are more likely causing more harm than good. It occurred to me while we were there that it would be quite ironic if Stonehenge were a great hourglass structure. In this vision, I imagined that Stonehenge was built to usher in an age of peace, harmony, and spiritual prosperity. Each stone falling steers some intangible force into perfect alignment until finally with the last stone resting on the henge unlocking a new and great mystery leading humankind to an idyllic age. And we are blocking it by messing with something we don’t understand. But I am oh so melodramatic. Perhaps we should just build condos out of it instead. See.

Visitors in Spring

We had a wonderful visit from Jim and Lauren in the Spring, and it as absolutely fabulous. Jim enjoyed signs that you would never see in the US. Here is a photo of one of the first places he saw... Yes it really does say what you think it does...





Here they are at their London favourite restaurant: Tootsies. They had breakfast (er lunch) there almost everyday. They have good burgers and chicken, but the best item on the menu is the milkshake!







There were only two 'must do' items on the agenda. Driving a British car and visiting Stonehenge. We did them both in one day. Here is Jim getting into the car. Oh... wait a minute... which side is the steering wheel on?









Once he found the wheel, he was a master of the British road! (Stonehenge photos are for a future entry.)







Inside the Tower of London, we found a gaint bear dressed as a Yeoman Warder.













Sis & Bro outside the Tower of London

























Sis and bro at Tootsies

















The four of us went bowling. Jim and I also joined a pool club, but we are too embarrased at our performance to allow photos...

Oh, right, we may have had beer at some point too...

Breaking News: Scholarship Winner Announced

You are looking at the latest recipient of the 2008/2009 Kings International Graduate Scholarship! (Here seen receiving congratulations from a Welsh dragon…)

I'm Back!

I imagine no one is checking the website anymore, because I have not updated it in a while. The reason for my radio silence is that I was flat hunting. It was grueling. London is a strange place in many many ways. Besides the complete lack of English people and the perpetual invasions (what was once armies are now waves of immigrants… and immigrant is a dirty word here… much worse than in the states… or perhaps I was just believing the propaganda written on the base of the statue of liberty… do they even let you walk up to it anymore?) one key quirk in London is the flat letting market. There are scams everywhere. And the estate agents are so inundated with requests, they can do a brisk business with just the customers that they happen to answer the phone for. If you leave a message, they almost surely won’t call you back. And the flats disappear in a day, unless there is some huge flaw… So I have spent every spare moment in the past month trying to maneuver this bog known as the London flat letting market. We saw several doozies and met quite a few would-be scammers. But we have finally found a place.
Many of you have visited us and know what our current flat looks like. This new one, is about the same size, maybe a tad smaller. But, it has laminate floors (no industrial carpet) and an actual kitchen in its own room (although it is quite small). And while we are still left with the joys of the compact cooker, this flat also has a microwave and a toaster (for those who have not visited, there was no place to put such modern conveniences in the current flat). And (drum role please), we have our OWN BATHROOM. That’s right. No more sharing a toilet. And the shower is no longer in our bedroom. And the shower is a proper tile shower, not one from a campsite (although I have to admit, I kind of liked the camping shower… I spared my wife my camping stove idea… maybe next time…). Other nice features include a beautiful city park just two blocks away, a television attached to a roof aerial (tried to rabbit ear it in the current flat and got nothing), wireless internet. The new flat is just north of the old one. And since we have crossed over to the ‘right-side’ of the railroad tracks, we are in a new borough. But from a commuting point of view, it is pretty much the same. Anyway, we have a proper table with four proper chairs, so no more folding lawn chair and there is actually room to have people over. Anyway, here are the pictures from the web advert. We will of course take proper pictures of it once we get it ready. But I am so excited to finally not be spending time rifling through Gumtree (London equivalent to Craigslist), I just had to post a blog… I’m back!

Recent Visitors

The lack of my presence on the blog recently is partly due to the many lovely people who have graced us with visits. It has been a true joy to have an essence of home come over the Atlantic in bits and bobs (no pun intended). First, we were graced with a visit from Bob (who married us) and his wife Rhea. It was very energising to spend even just a cup of coffee with them.

Next, were my in-laws! They holidayed hard, losing half-a-stone (seven pounds) between them whilst on holiday! It took us both several days to physically recover. Their favourite features of London were the front seats in the double-decker buses, cask ales, Seashells fish and chips, Wicked (the musical), and visiting Wales. They also visited Harrods, the Tower of London, Westminster Abbey, the Globe, Warrs Harley Davidson, and they even played the lottery. They even came over for a dinner of jacket potatoes (baked potatoes stuffed with various foods) at our flat.

I also had the pleasure of meeting up with one of my instructors from my occupational therapy programme. Although I have no photographs of the visit, it was amazingly inspiring to talk with her and her travelling companions about occupational therapy. I left there all jazzed up about occupational therapy and her visit helped me to take my practice to the next level.

PS Yes, that is a stout in her hand: yes, she was really drinking it and finished it; no, it is not THE stout...

My Second Job in London

For my second job in London, I worked as a locum (temp) rehabilitation assistant for a community therapy team made up of physiotherapists (physical therapists) and occupational therapists. Although I was employed by an agency, I was actually working within the National Health Service (NHS). The job was in Haringey, which is in north London. Haringey is a very interesting mix of very rich and very poor. I started part time (three days) in January 2008, still doing two to three days at Cherrycroft in Peckham (see previous blog entry).

The job was actually pretty cool. I was working with homebound clients, just like home care in the states. It was much more clinically based than working as an activities organiser, and it was great being out in the community. The vast majority of work was assisting with physiotherapy. I would say there was about one occupational therapy referral for every ten physical therapy referrals. So I learned a bit of physio… But this opportunity came up that sounded too good to let slip by, so I took a chance… (future blog), and I left in Haringey in March 2008.

I have two pictures from my Haringey days. One is of the entrance of the home base office for the community therapy team. The other is of me proudly sporting my NHS badge.

A little bit more

Well, it happened again. Snow: but this time, it actually accumulated. Well, in a few spots.

Also on a continuation of my previous Shakespeare entry, last night I got to see the Royal Shakespeare Company (RSC) preform at the Roundhouse. This experience was cool on many fronts. One was I got to see the pinnacle of modern Shakespeare performance for only five pounds (restricted view, but not really!). The second is that the venue is a converted railway roundhouse where they stored train engines. The RSC actually built a mini-metallic Globe-like theatre inside the roundhouse that included the seats (amazing!). And I got to be a part of their running of all the history plays, which is quite a rare event (last done thirty years ago). The play was Henry IV, part 2. It is unfortunately sandwiched between two rather action packed plays in the series Henry IV, part 1 and Henry V (which is probably why I was able to get a seat at all... yes, Shakespeare venues sell out here...) but it still has the grand themes coarsing through it and in some ways is enjoyable for lack of a big battle scene... (again, my untrained opinion). Anyway, it was well worth 5 pounds...

My First Job in London

For those who do not know it, I became a Certified Occupational Therapy Assistant in 2005. It is fortuitous that I did because I would be slinging burgers at minimum wage somewhere if I had stayed in the environmental field. My environmental experience is useless here because it is so United States specific.

My experience as a Certified Occupational Therapy Assistant allowed me to get a job as an activities organiser at Cherrycroft Care Home in Peckham. Peckham is on the wrong side of the Thames: it has a very New Bedford feel to it. It looks like it may have been posh at one time, and we are always running into interesting facts about its past. The buildings and parks are residual clues of its rich past, but it is definitely not posh now.

Cherrycroft specialises in dementia care. I started in September 2007. A woman with an incredible passion for what she is doing is managing the home. She is one of those people alive with Spirit. I also worked with a very caring young man who was my activities assistant. And the residents were incredible. And the staff was like a United Nations assembly. I could write on for days about the experiences I had there.

Despite all of the positive things at Cherrycroft, there were many signs that this was not the place I was supposed to be. I am just not ready to do this job yet. I need more clinical experience first. So, I went part time in January 2008 to start my second job (subject of a future post) and left in March 2008 to start my third (more to come on this later).

I have lots of pictures, but most of them I cannot post due to confidentiality concerns…. All I can really show you is the front door.

Winter in London

We almost missed it. If I had not looked out the window at precisely the right moment, we would have never known that London had a winter. There it is folks, snow in London. It lasted about five minutes on the morning of 24 March 2008. If we capture any more London winter on camera, you will see it here...

First Visitors to London

Here are our first two visitors to London pictured at Trafalgar Square. They were most impressed by the Underground and Bus services. The visit included a very full itinerary: tea at The Orangery of Kensington Palace, a tour of Whole Foods London, a tour of University College London, a bus tour of London, (a side trip to Tesco with Dad), a west end show (The 39 Steps), a Lenten sung Eucharist at Westminster Abbey, shopping (at Harrods, H&M, Marks & Spencer, Whittard and others), and meals together at our favourite restaurants as well as a few in our flat. They are recommending comfortable footwear for future visitors, as London is a walking city.

Shakespeare

Before I even start this Shakespeare page, I am not the Shakespeare scholar of this duo so please take that into account. Here are some pictures of the currently existing Globe Theatre (version 3). The first picture is from the Millennium Bridge, affectionately known as the wobbly bridge. Apparently, when it was first built, it swayed so much that it gave its

passengers quite an uncomfortable sensation… However (sadly), it has been reinforced and it feels very sturdy now.



The next picture is a closer up shot. And then there are some interior shots taken from the stage, including one of the ceiling (the heavens). You may notice a certain Shakespeare scholar in several of the shots. The stage shots are her work… She has been to the Globe without me on several occasions. Research, I am told…

My encounters with Shakespeare and the globe have been comparatively few. The first was Macbeth on 21 September 2007 starring Patrick Stewart. He received rave reviews and I enjoyed the show immensely (although I prefer a more self-doubting portrayal in my Macbeth, but that is me and my untrained unstudied opinion). My next encounter was at the Globe Education Centre, which has a small indoor theatre. It was two boys’ companies performing two John Marston (a contemporary of Shakespeare) plays. According to my resident Shakespeare scholar, there was a genre of boys’ (as opposed to men’s) company plays at the time. The boys’ performance was incredible. I think there is a certain abandonment when boys engage in risk taking behaviour that is that adds a vitality to the performance that you don’t get with adults. Anyway, that has been it for me so far.