My Local Ghost

In order to celebrate the Halloween spirit (he he), I found a great ghost that walks the streets of my neighbourhood. Seriously, there are ghosts everywhere in this city!

Read and enjoy!

In 1803, the 'Hammersmith Ghost', was terrorising that area of Greater London. It was assumed to be the spirit of a man who had committed suicide by cutting his own throat. In December of that year, a woman taking a short-cut home through the church yard was chased by a figure that she described as being, 'very tall and very white'. When it grabbed her in its arms, she fainted. Later, her friends found her wandering aimlessly around the cemetery. She was gently led home and put to bed. She never recovered from the shock and died shortly after.

An excise officer, by the name of Francis Smith, decided to investigate the alleged spectre. Maybe he had an idea that there was nothing supernatural about this 'ghost' because he went armed with a blunderbuss. This he loaded, not with silver coins, but with lead shot. When the ghost appeared, he fired.

Unfortunately, Smith's aim was true and the figure dropped to the ground. Upon investigation, Smith was horrified to find that he killed an innocent, dust covered bricklayer by the name of Thomas Milward who was on his way home. The body was taken to the nearby Black Lion pub. Smith was tried for 'wilful murder', found guilty and sentenced to death. This was almost immediately commuted to one year's hard labour. 

When the 'Hammersmith Ghost', as it had come to called, was apprehended, he was discovered to be nothing more sinister than a man a dressed up. He said that he was frightening people in retaliation for someone having scared his children by telling them ghost stories.

However, Thomas Milward, the unfortunate bricklayer, still haunts the Black Lion Pub where his body was taken. The pub displays a plaque recounting the story. Drinkers hear their name whispered, computers turn themselves on and the upstairs floorboards can be heard creaking as if someone is walking across them.

Shopping In London

I love to shop!  Back home, I knew my favorite stores and could pick out clothes like no one's business (ask the husband, he was dragged a many a times with the promise of a Starbucks coffee which never lasted as long as the outing).  

It was really hard to discover which stores and brands I would like here once I landed but after less than a month I have discovered many wonderful things!

1. Everyone does online shopping.  With a population of over 8 million people living in approx. 1,500 square kilometers, there is no real room for stores.  So just shop online!  this size/population ratio makes is super easy to buy online, have everything shipped free to your door in 2 days and if you don't like something, you get to ship it back for free too!
2. Because of the location of our flat, we are actually within 5 minutes of the second largest mall in the UK. This has been really handy in buying things for the flat and wasting some afternoons away browsing the different shops.  The people watching is also fabulous!
3. The food courts are high-class food establishments here.  You will not find the usual burger and pizza joints that litter North American malls.  Everything is made in front of you, designed to your specifications.  Oh, and it's mostly healthy (or at least not deep-fried). Every meal is presented on china dishes and you are provided silverware cutlery to eat with.  
4. Feeling thirsty while shopping? Don't feel like a bottle of water or a pop?  How about a wine? Beer? Pimms? Yes, that's right, they serve alcohol at ALL the fast food places.  You will also be provided a real glass glass to drink your alcohol from.  

I always loved shopping but for these very reasons, shopping is a far more enjoyable experience!  

Walking in London

One of my biggest complaints about London so far is the walking.  Not all the walking that one has to do because I don't have a vehicle, but because there are no rules to walking.  In Canada, we drive on the right side of the road, and we walk on the right side of the street.  In England, they drive on the left side of the road, and they walk anywhere!.  So you must pay attention and dodge people coming towards you from all sides.

Oh, and to make it even more exciting, pedestrians do not have the right-of-way in crosswalks.  Crosswalks are mere places of suggestion to cross the street. If a car is there, you must stay out of its way. You get hit, it's your fault.

So thanks to these little tidbits, walking is far more complicated than what I learned in New York: yellow ones don't stop.  Bonus points if you can guess the movie that is from.

A typical street to maneuver in London.

I'm Finally In London

So it took a bit of work to get here, but I finally arrived September 30th, cats in tow.  We were all on the same flight but got to the flat separately which was a blessing. I could not imagine lugging two large suitcases, a huge backpack and two kennels through the tube.  Shea met me at the airport and had a car waiting to take us to the flat.  The cats got to go through their own customs where they were moved into a large kennel, cleaned (I have to assume because they smelt like cleaning product of some sort), scanned for their microchips, fed, watered, then loaded back into their clean crates and driven to the flat where we were waiting anxiously.

It took Samson a bit more time to get used to the new (cramped) quarters but they are both very well adjusted and enjoying their 6 foot tall cat tree.

My parents were here for my first 6 days as a London resident (they had been traveling Europe and visiting my brother's family before).  They were very nice in helping get some of the shopping done to make this place functional.  For example, a vacuum cleaner was a must.  We also needed some more dishes and a duvet to fit our super-king bed (its just a king sized bed according to North America; its just fun to say).  We also got to eat some yummy meals together and walk a bit of the city while Shea worked (ha ha).

Now that they are gone, I have had some time to get over a cold that was contracted on the flight here and start getting into a routine (sort of).  I am still trying to get all my papers in order so I can teach here but in the meantime I will just enjoy being a tourist and charging online purchases to Shea's credit card!

One of Samson's hiding spots (also a shot of our very tiny kitchen).

Yep, that's him on top of the kitchen cupboards.

Evea sleeping in the radiator bed.  I think this will be very popular once we turn on the heat.