Strawberries!

Greetings again. Last time I wrote, Emily and I had just finished our trip through the Cotswolds and a visit to Windsor Castle. A quiet two weeks has passed since then...I've been tutoring three days a week since the half-term, which is quite fine by me--I enjoy it more than supply.

Last night, David and I went to the Sound of Music Singalong at the Prince Charles Theatre in Central London. Though I had been to a similar singalong in Waterloo a few years ago, this was something else. People came dressed as everything from the hills to ray: a drop of golden sun, to boys in Austrian lederhosen, a good imitation of Leisl, and of course lots of nuns in various forms. First Candy Floss (decked out in a gauzy pink outfit) came out to prep us for the event. We each received a bag with various props (little cards dsplaying things like the will'o the wisp from How Do You Solve a Problem Like Maria?) to be taken out and held up in the air at the appropriate time. She gave us instructions about what to hold up when, and proceeded to rehearse us through these cues: we were to bleat like sheep for four minutes at the beginning as the camera zooms in on the Austrian landscape, holler our lungs out whenever we saw Maria, say a collective "Awwww..." whenever the von Trapp children came on the screen, bark for Ralph, hiss for the Baroness (and meow whenever she was particularly catty--from the people around me, one would gather that every word she uttered was mean and spiteful) and boo the Nazis. Candy's mic level was about 30 decibels too loud in my view, and I found the whole thing more than a bit overdone. Then to top it all off, we got a sideshow shortly after the intermission when two drunken nuns in the audience stood up and started duking it out, volleying insults and obscenities at each other, impervious to the increasingly hostile response of audience members around them to knock it off and shut up, until two security officers finally hauled them away after two or three such outbursts. The dad beside me (plus many others) kept up an almost constant cacophony of bleats, awws, hisses, meows, yahoos, boos, and barking throughout. it was an experience...but not one I think I will pay to see again.

This week I have been wanting to discover some of the London farmers' markets around. My mother was telling me about their bumper strawberry crop this year last weekend, and since I can't pick me own as I'd really like to, I was really itching to at least taste a real strawberry again. So I set off this morning for Parliament Hill Farmers' Market. I took the Overground train from Barking to Gospel Oak and then it was a short ten minute walk to the market. My visit was definitely worthwhile: I picked up some very luscious-looking strawberries (four baskets) and raspberries, from the dealer who seemed to have the best produce available--this was confirmed by another customer who remarked to his partner that this producer was the best. Having tasted both the strawberries and raspberries, I can confirm I was not disappointed...a little piece of heaven here on earth. I also picked up some asparagus and tomatoes, as well as a few individual quiches that I can freeze for quick shool-night dinners. Finally I also found a table of stunning baked goods, and succumbed to the millionaire's shortbread.

the haul from this morning...

Tomorrow, I'm going to a barbecue hosted by Erin (one of my teacher friends from Nipissing) and her housemates. I can hardly believe I'm getting close to halfway through my time here. I arrived last September, and my visa ends August 2011. This year as 22 seconds! :)