Friday night, Anne met our friend Jessica and KU Phi Psi couple (the Illifs) for happy hour at Madonna's The Punch Bowl. By the time I caught up with the group at AutoMat for American cheeseburgers, everyone was in pretty good spirits. Turns out, Anne learned that the British pint of ale (or cider) in this case, is not only bigger than her traditional Miller Lite bottle (19.3 oz. to 12) but also contains more alcohol (5.3% to 4.2%). Despite my best efforts, I was not able catch up. We then had this exchange when we got home:
Me: "Do you want to go to this Dutch festival in Trafalgar Square tomorrow?"
Anne: "Yeah. (change to sorority party girl voice) Holla is for Holland"
We are going to run that line into the ground before our trip to Amsterdam.
Saturday, we finally got the internet set up and then attended said festival with some of Anne's E&Y colleagues. The food was decent (best thing was the stack of mini-pancakes with powdered sugar and chocolate on top).
The highlight of the afternoon was the concert, which was headlined by the world-famous band "Crack & Smack." Now we try to keep this blog for the kids (what would baby Clare think if she knew her godmother were listening to a band), so please forgive us for the band name. I would link you to the band's homepage, but I get a message from PwC telling me that even trying to locate such a title through Google violates corporate policy. I mention this pillar of the music community only because of the hilarity of the bandmembers.
So apparently, Crack & Smack's gig is that they have two lead singers (one male and one female) and they cannot be on stage at the same time. So at first we are treated to this Sheryl Crow wanna-be, complete with a leather mini-skirt over faux-leather tights.
Following a less than smooth transition, we are blessed by the arrival of the long-lost Euro Blues Brother, who (I am not lying) in the picture is singing the Constant Sorrow song from "O Brother Where Art Thou," backed by a synthesizer. The Dutch / Brit crowd ate it up.
I could take you through the whole band, but really my favorite was the Chris Statham look-a-like who appa
rently was a good enough musician to remember and lip-synch the words to every song, but not a good enough singer to earn a microphone to sing back-up. He is the keyboard player, but is not satisfied with playing a stand-up keyboard. I almost choked on my Heineken during the guitar keyboard solo.
Dinner was quiet sushi and tempura affair.
Sunday was also beautiful, so we went to the Prime Meridian in Greenwich. Nothing crazy to report. I would imagine a picture or two will make its way on to Facebook.
One quick (or not so quick) note: much has been made of our decision to start our tour TV-less. Apparently, having a TV is equally important to both Americans and Brits. That said, the quality of what is shown on that TV is not of a similar caliber.
When we were in Corporate housing, I watched the Fast and the Furious trilogy over three nights on one of the major public channels. I can watch the first installment without too much detail. The second and third movies are all-out rubbish, but I still had them on because (a) I was making a futile attempt to figure out whether Paul Walker or the unknown guy in the Tokyo Drift movie was a worse actor (side note: they tie) and (b) the other TV-viewing options were no better. I feel showing all three movies on three consecutive nights is acceptable for TBS or TNT, but not for one of the 6 major stations in the land. During night two, I channel-surf and find a Jay Leno episode, which I don't believe is too common a sight on BBC2. Of course, his lead guest for the evening is none other than Mr. Vin Diesel.
Now that you understand what rests at the centre (sp) of the British TV universe, our decision to go TV-less makes a lot more sense. DVD box sets and ITunes gift cards will be high on the Christmas lists.
Have a great week!
Burr
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