This final part is being written en route to SFO from Heathrow. By the time you get this, I will be on the ground in California.

 

Greetings from United Flight 900

Started Monday morning with great plans for a long walk (including a visit to the oldest synagogue in London, which I learned was only a few blocks from the hotel) and finishing another project I had brought with me and shopping and…. But obviously very over-ambitious.

Opted to get work done before setting out to meet Emma and Hem for lunch at yet another wonderful restaurant; Indian — Gymkhana (which I had hoped to try when I was in London in November, but it was booked). We were all still a bit full from the big dinner the night before, but we managed to get through the two-course meal. They had two, three, and four course meals for lunch. Cannot even imagine how anyone could eat more than the two course version. I opted for the dosas with duck and cocoanut chutney followed by a spicy baby goat dish with vegetables… Lots of small starters and the usual Indian accompaniments.. We talked and ate.. and then Hem and Emma set off to Tiffany’s to do some wedding ring shopping ( I think just looking and getting ring sizes confirmed). I headed to the tube back to Threadneedle, deciding it would be best to get back to work rather than take the walk I had planned.

Then at about 7 I headed to Kennington to see Lara and Elliott’s apartment and have dinner. They live in a Council Housing high rise. Council Housing (social housing) is sort of like our public housing. The building is 1970s vintage; concrete; one of three towers; about 15 stories. Kennington is a politically progressive area and so a lot of council housing was developed there. Under Thatcher, there was a big effort to sell off council housing and turn it all into market rate ownership. Apparently a friend of theirs bought a unit, and now Elliott and Lara are renting that unit from her. While the entrance to the building, the lobby, and the hallways could be improved, the units are quite nicely done — two levels within each unit; terraces with great views; two bedrooms; and nice kitchen with eat-in zone. They say that apparently 10% of the units were sold and the remainder remain in the pubic supply. It’s a strange situation it seems, with 90% of the housing being subsidized and 10% being private. Not clear how well it works, but they seem to like the apartment.

Greetings

My last note (yesterday) focused on my first 36 (or 48) hours (and mostly gastronomy) and this second note focuses on my last 36 hours here in London. Short trip indeed.

It’s now about 10 pm on Monday (Memorial Day — which is also a “bank holiday” here in the UK. I think I left off on Saturday night after dinner.

On Sunday morning (yesterday), I strolled the neighborhood which was deserted given that I’m really in the very center of the old City of London, where all the banks are located (hence, my tube stop is Bank Street!). It’s the area where all the big bank headquarters (the old bank buildings) are located. Indeed, my hotel is a repurposed old bank building. The Bank of England is located just a stone’s throw away and has been located here since 1734. The London Stock Exchange used to be here on Threadneedle Street. So the street is buzzing with “suits” Monday through Friday, but given that I’ve been here over a weekend, it’s totally dead.. but very convenient and walkable to most places and the Bank Street tube station has the Central, Waterloo, Northern, and City lines.. so everything is close at hand. I worked for several hours catching up on all the work I brought with me and was committed to finish.

Then mid-afternoon, I strolled back to Spiralfields Market which is known to have a special “made market” on Saturdays and Sundays. It was packed.. stall after stall filled with handmade clothing by locals, jewelry, and other goodies. I didn’t buy anything, but took in the site and the numbers of stalls. I also strolled up a few blocks to St John’s wine and bread bar and was able to get a nice bottle of champagne to bring to dinner. Walked back to the hotel so that I didn’t have to carry the bottle around for the rest of the day, and also made sure it stayed chilled. Then ventured to Covent Garden to stroll that neighborhood and to find a small housewarming gift to bring to Emma and Hem’s. After many false starts at this shopping goal, I finally found a really nice (well designed) watering can with rain spout and great gardening gloves — which seemed ideal, given the great interest in getting the garden going at their house (and the jump start with plants purchased the day before when we had lunch at Petersham Nursery).

By then it was drizzling (that kind of misty dampness without any noticeable rain drops).. I caught up with Lara and we headed back to pick up the chilled champagne and off we went to Leyton to see the new house that Emma and Hem purchased just a few months ago.

To get to Leyton from Bank Street is actually quite easy — about four stops on the tube and then a city bus (or a walk of about 40 minutes). Given that we were running late, the bus made the most sense. Getting out of the tube at Leyton you are transformed into a very different place than my little world on Threadneedle. Leyton is within Greater London — in East London and part of the Waltham Forest Borough. I think it’s basically about 6 miles from central London. Leyton includes part of Olympic Park, where the 2012 Games took place. I gather there are some remainders that locals enjoy, including a fantastic swimming pool. Leyton is mostly residential, with some neighborhood shops (or at least that’s what it seemed like from the bus window). Houses (many of which, like Emmas, are row houses of a nice scale) seem to have been built in the late 1800s and early 1900s.

My quick and dirty research reveals that some housing in Leyton was ruined during WWI, and then about a decade later the area was built up to become a strong industrial zone where neckties and thermoses were manufactured. But Leyton suffered during WWII because of its proximity to the docks and the rail yard. After WWII, Leyton faced significant industrial decline that lasted about 50 years… But as East London began to develop (and gentrify) things began to change. And with Leyton’s proximity to the site of the Olympics, many improvements were made to the infrastructure.. Leyton is clearly a place where many immigrants moved and remains a population that is majority non-white. Most people would say it’s a working class district, but it’s clear that there are also many Emmas and Hems settling there — given the high cost of real estate in East London and other neighborhoods located closer to the center. The bus from the tube to their house was heavily populated by Pakistanis, but our short walk from the bus to their house on Simonds Street gave a sense that many Asians, Eastern Europeans, and Africans are also living in Leyton.

The house is adorable — two stories but with some interesting stair configurations: three bonafide bedrooms; 2-3 bath rooms, depending on how you count; great kitchen and dining and a really good size living room with bay style windows. The guy who lived there previously did a fairly good job renovating, so it was in move-in condition. Other than the fact that there truly aren’t any closets, the house is great. (But they are tackling the closet issue — trying to decide between armoires or built ins –my guess is they will go for the latter, since the house is old, but definitely updated with clean lines and well thought out modern details). All wood floors that have been scraped and sanded. Oh, they also have a garage which they use for storage since they don’t have a car.

We had a great dinner (Lara and Elliot joined in) — definitely in the Michelin star category — cooked by Emma and Hem (who are very busy planning their August wedding). After a long night of food, wine, champagne, and good conversation, we called for a cab to take us to the tube station. It was pretty funny, since Hem called the local taxi number and the guy said: “Well you live right around the corner from us — the taxi company — so why don’t you just walk over and the taxi will be waiting. So off we went.. I took the tube back to Bank Street and got there just in the nick of time.. as the tube shuts down at midnight. Got out of the station at just about midnight and only one exit from the tube was still open.. so I had to meander a bit to get back to Threadneedle.

Gotta get to bed so as not to miss the 5:00 am wakeup call… But I’ll send one more note from the plane about today’s adventures, including another great meal, and seeing Lara and Elliot’s place which is in “council housing”…

Best — 86 hours is really a short time for this visit.

Fern

Greetings from London –

The story starts with the fact that I had an unused ticket that was to expire and I decided that rather than giving it back to United Airlines, I’d hop over to London for Memorial Day weekend.

Crazy? Maybe.

So after an incredibly intense Thursday, beginning with being deposed for a lawsuit involving a van hitting a pedestrian (who was in the crosswalk and walking with the light in her favor), moving on to facilitating a meeting at the San Mateo County Office of Education, I dashed to SFO to catch a nonstop flight to Heathrow. Plane left at 7:30 p.m. and I arrived on Friday around 2:30 p.m. Must admit that I’m pretty spoiled about travel given my high status with several airlines so this was the first time in many years when I haven’t been upgraded into Business Class. I was first on the upgrade list, but no seat came through. It was fine, although the comfort of having a seat that lies flat like a bed, and getting attention on the plane was sorely lacking. Anyway, arrived safe and sound.

Immediately took the Heathrow Express to Paddington and then taxi to the Threadneedles Hotel (located in the one-square-mile of the City of London). I chose Threadneedles because it’s affiliated with Marriott and I had a lot of points. I feared it would be a typical Marriott and I generally shy away from American chain hotels when traveling. But Threadneedles is actually quite nice — located in a former bank building with very high ceilings throughout and a wonderfully huge stained glass dome in the center of the lobby. I believe the dome is from about 1850. The hotel is sort of eclectic old and new. Rooms are large and very “connected” — so I’m a happy camper. And the location is great.

Dashed inside the hotel at about 4:30 — just enough time to shower and head to Borough Market to meet for two hours with a professor from Coventry University (who I met when I spoke at a symposium there in November). We met at Arabica, a bar and restaurant (where I was scheduled to have dinner at 8:30 with Mike’s niece and also my god-daughter). So off I went. Good conversation and then between drinks and dinner Emma (Mike’s niece) and I took a stroll to the Shard. It’s a 95-story skyscraper designed, I believe, by Renzo Piano. It’s part of the London Bridge area development. It’s more than 1,000 ft. high — tallest building in the EU — and includes restaurants, apartments, viewing floors, offices, shops.. their idea of a vertical city. It’s sort of a glass pyramid. I believe that it is owned by the government of Qatar! We went up to the 32nd floor where one of the bars is located and where we could take in a really great 360-degree view.. Then we walked back to the restaurant.

OK Foodies, here we go..

Dinner at Arabica (Mediterranean sharing plates)… muhummara spread (spiced red peppers with ground walnuts) with pita; chicken and pistachio shish (with lots of cardamom, honey, and some green chilies); lamb with walnut harissa; tabbouleh; heritage tomato salad; and some eggplant dish that had lots of lime and lemon and some other ingredients.. and topped it all off with mouhalabieh (a milk pudding with saffron poached pear and pistachio).. and chocolate covered dates stuffed with almonds. Good conversation and catching up all around amid great food. The restaurant is very modern in design, set in an industrial locale inside a Victorian arch with bricks and steel. Obviously quite hip. After dinner we strolled a bit and eventually took a taxi to the hotel. By now I had been going for about 39 hours..

Woke up this morning and headed to meet Emma and Hem (the fiancé) at the Bank Street Tube Station — hopped on the Waterloo line and then on the train to Richmond where we headed to Petersham Nursery, in Richmond on Thames– A restaurant set inside a greenhouse amid a few acres of greenery and plantings. It’s a Michelin star restaurant.. and you are literally sitting among the plantings.. It was a bit overcast, so it must be delightful when the sun is out. Today was Emma’s birthday, so it was a bit of a birthday lunch. We had several wonderful appetizers including fried borage with chickpeas (squash blossoms); lasagnette with green beans and pesto; john dory; speckled hen cooked with mascarpone, prosciutto, romesco, and a few other things; and a great salad; and green bean side dish.. and for dessert which came adorned with the obligatory birthday candle: a lemon tart and also a cake with elderberry ice cream.. By the way, they were very big on using lemons.. Amalfi lemons.. I assume flown in from the Amalfi coast, but couldn’t really discern any particular taste.

After this, I headed to the hotel to get a sweater (It’s in the 50s and 60s) and then met up with Lara and walked to Spitalfield Market and Red Church street… and then eventually made our way to dinner!!! Went to 40 Maltby — which is a small place (yet another one of these tiny restaurants) where you only have stools, no chairs… and it’s literally located under the arch above which the train whizzes by.. creating the feeling you are inside the station. But the food is great.. we shared several dishes and good wine.. and lots of talk..

And now, I’m headed to bed.. It’s about midnight here. And by the way, to enable me to do all that eating (actually the portions are very very small), I walked about 7 miles (per my app on the iPhone!)

Tomorrow I will work all morning to make up for all this play time.. and then catch up with folks in mid afternoon.. and head to Emma and Hem’s new house in Leyton.

I’m here for just three and a half days.. I get back to the states on Tuesday; straight to the office.

Fern

Hi All –

Well, this is a first… I was almost done writing my little Coventry travelogue and my computer crashed… and the entire document disappeared.. While I still think it is somewhere here, I cannot find it at all.. Not even part of it.. So, though frustrated, I am starting fresh here on the plane from London to Seattle via Houston… and hope that my frustration will not impact the stories.

Here goes (I’m really terrible at redoing anything, so this may not be the best of my travelogues… which I remind you are all on the blog site – about 300 of them, produced over the last 9 years).

Arrived in Coventry Sunday night – by train having started in London – to be greeted by rain. It was a short 1 hour ride from Euston Station. It was hard to get an immediate impression of the city as it was damp, cold, and dark. Settled into the “luxurious” Ramada Inn.. And then Chris and I (Chris is a colleague from UWT and we were both invited to this symposium) decided to venture out for dinner. We had heard that Spoon Street had some nice restaurants so off we went. Spoon Street is one of the few areas (about a two block strip) that is representative of old Coventry, with most of the city being destroyed during WWII. To get to Spoon Street we walked down dirt paths (a shortcut suggested by the hotel receptionist who clearly is not trained in the world of the hospitality industry that usually suggests a carefully configured and often not direct, walk that ensures you see the “best” of the city) eventually reaching the “subway” (underpass) which takes you beneath the complex road system above. The subway is important because the road is totally impassable to pedestrians and gets you from one side of a set of ring roads that are criss-crossing everywhere. After you emerge from the subway you walk between the IKEA and the Casino (another non-place) and wind up on Spoon Street (about 15 minute walk in total). So there are a handful of Medieval structures – all of which are now restaurants and bars. Many of the restaurants (including the one recommended by the hotel) were closed because it was Sunday.

We opted for an Indian restaurant which was fine (except for the canned okra in the okra curry side dish that we ordered). We walked back (same route) to the hotel and then I did some FTA work and polished up my presentation for the symposium the following day. We would be picked up (“collected” as the Brits kept referring to it.. They would “collect” us each morning) at 8 am in the morning.. After a few beers at the Indian restaurant, I’m not certain how much fine-tuning I really did.

OK.. So now why I am here and then more about Coventry and Coventry University which is the reason for my visit.

Coventry University is a fairly large (28,000 +/- students), openly ambitious “modern” British university located in this somewhat depressed (or as they say “disgustingly average”) city of about 330,000 (or 370,000 depending on who’s counting). I believe they use the term “modern” to differentiate newer universities and/or colleges and polytechnics that converted to university status in 1992 by act of the national government. It appears that Coventry has surpassed many of the others in status and based on banners hung everywhere was voted “Best Modern University in 2013 and 2014″…

Coventry University began as a training school for people in the silk industry that was the main economic driver of the city about 150 years ago. It evolved to train workers for the bicycle industry and then the automotive industry, etc. – always reflecting the jobs and companies of the city and region. It became a polytechnic some years ago – to include planning and engineering – and then when it took on university status many things changed. From a 98% local student population it is now just 30% local students, has a global footprint (but also professes to be “local”), has branch campuses in London and elsewhere in Europe and soon Asia, and is a major research university in the UK. It is still heavily tied to local industries and also attempting to “build” a modern industrial base in the area, so there are many partnerships with companies.. And to some extent they seem to be very reactive in their approach to creating programs within the university – heavily driven by external needs (of the business community).

For some reason (not completely revealed), the university administration – realizing that it was no longer very engaged with the local / regional community – decided to launch something they are calling the City University Initiative (which includes a conglomeration of programs such as the Neighborhood University, 40 x 40, the Age Project, etc., a research faculty and project directors). As background for their new initiative two senior faculty traveled to the US to visit universities they had heard had been successful at engaging with community. This included University of Illinois Chicago, Arizona State University, and University of Washington Tacoma (where as you know I am a faculty member). They had also heard (maybe even read ??) a 200-page document FTA had produced in 2007 for ASU documenting the work of many universities across the US and setting out a strategy for ASU to become socially embedded in Greater Phoenix.

After I met these folks, they decided to host a symposium with people from these universities (the ones mentioned above) to learn more and to brainstorm with their staff and leadership. So, that is why I spent 58 very intense hours in Coventry, ending early this morning when I took the train back to Euston, a taxi to Paddington, and the Heathrow Express to get to the airport by about 10:30 am to catch this flight to Houston and on to Seattle (so I can teach tomorrow).

OK. I’m not going to go into detail about the meetings.. Which would be a dissertation on its own… There were 5 Americans including me and Chris and the Coventry group included senior leadership, the president of the University, and the newly minted staff and program managers (all of them having been hired within the past few months). There were about 10 folks from Coventry (with some moving in and out depending on the topics).

The first morning included a lot of presentations from them, from us and some good Q&A (mostly the Americans asking the questions to better understand why we were invited!) We had lunch in their student cafeteria (one of many). We were all pretty shocked by the fact that you need key cards to access all buildings and also all of the rooms, including bathrooms and food places. (Obviously, you can imagine that I had a lot to say about that in relation to the idea of working with community!) Apparently all of the UK is like that with all public buildings including schools and libraries. And at the grade schools, students gain access with fingerprint machines.

The afternoon was filled with discussion and an effort to hone in on similarities and differences between the US universities and Coventry.

In the evening we all went to Coombe Abbey which was founded as a monastery in about the 12th century. It later became royal property. It has a very interesting and complicated history which I didn’t completely get… but it involved the Gunpowder Plot.. Later the same architect who designed Buckingham Palace designed an extension for the Abbey… and then for several centuries it was owned by an Earl… Then around 1960 the city of Coventry bought the property which was in disrepair and vacant.. It includes 150 acres of parkland which is public now… The very very colorful history was told to us before and after dinner by a talented orator dressed as a monk. To get to the place (about 20 minutes from town) you walk from the parking area over a moat… The building has undergone many many changes and part of it (an extension) was built in the late 1800s I think as a French chateau. An interesting California connection is that after a private owner decided to sell the property (he had been living in the place alone – all 140 rooms for himself), he decided he could make more money if he tore down large portions and sold the stone. It turns out that he sold the stone to the Hearst family for the building of St. Simeon! I guess it’s all the years with the monks and then the single owner that created many of the myths, including the belief that the place has ghosts.. Didn’t see any. If you go to Coventry, you can stay at the abbey, now turned into the hotel. It’s a real trip! Don’t check into any of the lower numbered rooms.. They’re the ones with the ghosts. There are 140 rooms in the hotel now (I think).

Dinner was a long formal event hosted by the President (whom I was seated next to) beginning with champagne toasts, moving into several courses with the main course being lamb.. Lots of desserts.. Matching wines and aperitifs…

We were collected and dropped off at the Ramada at about 11:30 pm and we 5 Americans decided to continue on at a student bar close to the hotel. We closed that place down at about 1 am.

Day two (which seemed to start about an hour after we got to the hotel to sleep) included site visits to several programs and a huge amount of walking in the rain. We passed the quite famous Coventry Cathedral – the old demolished one standing next to the new modern one. The city of Coventry has a long history of being a haven for immigrants and also a city of “reconciliation.” Both the university and the new Cathedral have a lot of programs that focus on trust, peace, and reconciliation. Some of our stops included meetings with students (from every part of the world). It’s a huge campus, but very much an urban campus with less green than we see in typical American universities. But then again it’s an urban campus.

Lunch was in a very cute part of the city – walking distance from the University. And lots more talk about how to collaborate and what that would look like. As we walked back to the offices for the Initiative we wondered why the project wasn’t located in the neighborhood we had just walked through rather than in a very official building with key card entry.

At the end of the day, we met with a group of Commonwealth Scholars (all from Africa) who had been selected competitively based on the work they were doing in their own country related to racism and peace. That was actually a fascinating conversation, although divorced from the Initiative.

Dinner was at a wonderful little Mideast restaurant called Habibi.. A lot more wine and talking and eventually heading back to the hotel after midnight.

So that sums it up… 58 hours in Coventry… 48 hours in London (see other post)… and about 40 hours of travel if I combine both directions and include travel to and from airports… There you have it.

I’m tired, am fortunately upgraded and am on that new Boeing Dream Plane. Anxious to get to Seattle to sleep in my own bed but that won’t happen until well after midnight (and my body time will be about 8 am).   See you in California on Saturday. Lots to do before Thanksgiving.

All my best –

Fern

Greetings from Coventry, England (just arrived by train after spending the weekend in London).

So this will not be my usual exotic travelogue since it’s not a very exotic trip.

Arrived in London on Friday afternoon after a somewhat complicated week and flight. I was in LA on Tuesday (to press check the annual card for the office Open House) and in Seattle on Wednesday — arrived in Oakland after midnight and after spending most of Thursday at the office, headed directly to SFO. Had hoped for an upgrade but as the day went on, my chances became dimmer and dimmer, even though I was first on the list for an upgrade into first class. When I got to the airport, both business and first class were booked solid, and completely checked in full. So I settled in my economy seat (took out everything I’d need during the flight from my bag).. Then just after they closed the plane doors they moved me to business class… Turns out someone in first class was a no-show, so a global person was put into first class, opening a business class seat for me! At least I would be able to get work done and also (hopefully) sleep.

Arrived in London at about 2 pm Friday… and after settling in met up with Lara (god-daughter who now lives in London) for dinner at Lima Floral (Actually, we first went to Lima only to find that our reservation was for Lima Floral — a 5-minute taxi ride away). As the name implies — Peruvian food, but definitely with a contemporary twist.. We started with classic Pisco Sours (naturally!) and several starters including ceviche, crudo mar (sea bream) which comes with a sauce made of tiger milk; escabeche salad, followed by a lamb dish and a monkfish stew… topped off with a dessert of chocolate (sort of mousse) with Peruvian cacao and wood sorrels and then a bit of sambucca to cap it off. We just about closed the place down. Food was fantastic, with all sorts of South American spices and marinades.

I warn you this travelogue is heavy into food.. since I’ve been to London too many times to have to do much sightseeing.

Stayed in the Marylebone neighborhood.. hotel lobby complete with huge print of the Queen with her eyes closed. It is a classic image— done by ‘accident’ by the artist, Chris Levine. Looks like she’s meditating. The story is that he was commissioned to do a portrait of the Queen in relation to 800 years of the Isle of Jersey’s “allegiance to the crown.” He was doing it as a holographic portrait, a process, a high resolution digital image using a camera that moved along a track taking hundreds of images every few seconds. At times the Queen could rest for a few seconds. I guess she closed her eyes at some point during the rest and he snapped the image. In recent years, the Queen has been fair game and many different artists portrayed her in less than royal ways…. as a commoner, as a Black woman, etc.

On Saturday, I explored more of Marylebone and Covent Garden as well as Soho and some other neighborhoods (managed to do a little shopping as well) and had very leisurely lunch at Balthazar in Covent Garden. In the past few years I’ve mostly stayed in East London so it was a change to be on the west side and definitely very different. And then at dinner, was joined by a colleague from UWT and also by Lara’s husband. The four of us shared about 9 different small and larger plates — each better than the next. After practically closing the place down (last ones to leave at about 1 am), headed back to the hotel to pack up.

On Sunday morning I took the tube to meet up with Lara in Brixton (an area in South London where I had never been). Brixton is a multiethnic community, with a large percentage of people of African and Caribbean descent… or at least before recent gentrification. brixton has a rich history, including as a wealthy “suburb” at the end of the nineteenth century. The main street of Brixton is called Electric Avenue because it was the first street in London to be lit by electricity. By the start of the twentieth century those big houses were converted to flats and the middle class was replaced by a large influx of working class people. The area grew quickly and soon the largest shopping center in South London opened, along with a large market, a cinema, and a theater. It is said that Brixton was the shopping capital of South London in the 1920s complete with large department stores and the earliest branch of Bon Marche. The area was bombed during WWII which contributed to a housing crisis and also urban decay. Later Brixton was the focus of slum clearance and the building of a good many “council houses” (affordable public housing).. and then large populations of immigrants started to settle in Brixton in the 50s… mostly West Indians, and more recently Portuguese and other Europeans and Africans. Apparently there is also home to a lot of seniors, although you wouldn’t know it from those populating the cafes in the Brixton Market.

Today, Brixton Road is home to a new middle class — young people who cannot afford central London.. and the market (actually a series of three separate buildings) has been transformed into scores of little cafes and shops but the exterior streets are lined with ethnic food stalls and shops. We ate in a tiny little place that served buckwheat savory crepes of every description.

And then I headed to the hotel to check out and hopped in a taxi to the Euston Station to catch the train to Coventry.

Arrived in Coventry on Sunday night… More in next email where I’ll explain why I’m in Coventry and what it’s like.. very different from London.

Fern