2012: Week 38

2012: Week 38, a photo by MAStapleton on Flickr.

My 9-year-old son picked the photo for Week 38, as it was the highlight of the week. My uncle and cousin were visiting from the States, so we took them around The Big Smoke to see the sights. As it happens, my son had a random inset day so he was able to tag along too. After a very full day of sightseeing, a river cruise and a trip around the London Eye, he said what he *really* wanted to do was go on the Starflyer.

The Starflyer, for those who don't know, is a swing ride on steroids. It reaches half the height of the London Eye and then you swing around. It's a miracle that (a) I got a photo that was in focus (b) I managed to capture Big Ben and (c) I didn't drop my camera. This is when a point and shoot really shows its muscle.

In any case, we survived. I found that the important thing was to Not Look Down. Ever. The 9-year-old? He loved it. And he thinks he found the most fun way to conquer his fear of heights. It's not how I would do it, but hey, whatever works.

2012: Week 37

2012: Week 37, a photo by MAStapleton on Flickr.

The 2012 Olympics are well and truly over, but it was blast while it lasted. On Monday in week 37, the Olympians and Paralympians had their victory parade through the streets of London. They estimated about 1 million people lined the streets to cheer them on.

Where I stood, at the corner of Canon Street and Queen Victoria Street, in front of the Mansion House tube station, it felt like every office worker in the area had taken their lunch break and decided to go. I could not believe the crowd. You can just see the athletes behind the Tube sign. When I got home, my family asked me, "Who did you see?" I replied, "I have no idea."

Spare a thought for the poor teachers I saw who took their classes to the parade. I can't imagine the stress of keeping them together in such a crowd.

But even worse, this poor guy had to retrieve his bike and then carry it above his head through the masses watching the parade. I submit that this is its own Olympic effort and deserves a gold medal all its own.

HOORAY! This photo got picked by The Guardian in its weekly roundup of photos for the week. You can see the others that they picked by clicking through this hyperlink sentence (now that is a sentence with SKILLZ.)

2012: Week 31

...Where we attempt to recreate the Sistine Chapel using foam fingers., a photo by MAStapleton on Flickr.

...Where we attempt to recreate the Sistine Chapel using foam fingers.

Given the rules of the 52 weeks projects regarding any Olympic trademarked things or locations, this is the best picture I could use for Week 1 of the Olympics. They were giving these out free during the dressage portion of the equestrian events of the Olympics. I can faithfully report that the foam fingers also soaked up the rain quite well.

We love a foam finger. We love a foam finger even more when we can use it to recreate the creation narrative from the Sistine Chapel. I'm sure Michelangelo would have approved.

This is actually the photo I liked better, but I couldn't post it to the Guardian group, given the Olympics rules.

2012: Week 29

2012: Week 29, a photo by MAStapleton on Flickr.

Seems only appropriate that in the weekend that Bradley Wiggins became the first Brit to win the Tour de France that I include a picture taken at the Herne Hill Velodrome, where he used to train. My sons now go there every Saturday. Will they become the next Wiggo? Only time will tell.

2012: Week 23

A Royal Jubilee knees up! Another round of God Save the Queen. Roll on fun., a photo by MAStapleton on Flickr.

A Royal Jubilee knees up! Another round of God Save the Queen. Roll on fun.

During the course of the Jubilee weekend, we attended five Jubilee parties. I had to go on a cake detox when it was all over, but it was great just the same. This picture was taken at a street party in Royal Hill in the Royal Borough of Greenwich during the Royal Jubilee. Is that enough Royals for you?

2012: Week 22

The Diamond Jubilee @thamespageant through my trusty periscope (in a slightly enlarged version)., a photo by MAStapleton on Flickr.

The Diamond Jubilee Thames Pageant through my trusty periscope. Sure, I had to sell a bit of my soul to the Daily Mail to get it, but it was worth it.

We battled the crowds for hours in order to get the best spot, and we still were about six people back from the river, but at least my trusty periscope allowed me to see some of the action on the River Thames. It was a very soggy Jubilee Sunday, but we had a brilliant time just the same.

Rain, rain, go away.

Thing 1, rain and The Shard. #nofilter, a photo by MAStapleton on Flickr.

We have started referring to the British drought as "The British Drought" (making the motions of quotation marks while we say it) this week because it's been raining. A lot.

This is a snap from today of Thing 1, a train, rain and The Shard. #nofilter

2012: Week 13

Trafalgar Square, on a beautiful spring day., a photo by MAStapleton on Flickr.

Trafalgar Square, on a beautiful spring day. With added attraction of new Fourth Plinth!

It's been a fantastic week for spring weather. I found myself basking in the sun in Trafalgar Square two days in a row, which was brilliant because (a) it was warm enough in March to do so; and (b) I don't often have the time to do it. But I did, and I'm glad. Happy Spring, everyone.

2012: Week 12

The Great London Easter Egg Hunt seems to be missing an egg. Maybe they've hidden it in a harder to find location than Trafalgar Square., a photo by MAStapleton on Flickr.

The Great London Easter Egg Hunt seems to be missing an egg. Maybe they've hidden it in a harder to find location than Trafalgar Square.

It turns out-- no big surprise here-- that it was stolen. Maybe it will make a surprise appearance when they bring all the eggs together in Covent Garden in April

2012: Week 7

I see you. I see me. #ilovelondon, a photo by MAStapleton on Flickr.

We did a huge amount of fun things during half term, all of which produced some interesting pictures. Funnily enough, this picture, taken on the DLR during a gorgeous sunset, turned out to be my favourite.

HOORAY! This photo got picked by The Guardian in its weekly roundup of photos for the week. You can see the others that they picked by clicking through this hyperlink sentence (now that is a sentence with SKILLZ.)

2012: Week 5 (Revisited)

I know I posted the other Spot picture for Week 5, but upon further reflection, I decided I wanted this one to be Week 5 because it was just so unique/mad/only in London picture.


This was one of several gum art installations between the East India DLR station and the gallery at Trinity Buoy Wharf showing the "Gum Art" by artist Ben Wilson. It was about the size of a 50p coin. This is one instance where the iPhone camera really works well because I could get it about three inches away from the gum to get the shot, rather than having to use a macro lens.

2012: Week 5

This weekend, while we were kicking around Mayfair (as you do, obviously), we went to the Gagosian Gallery in Mayfair to see the Damian Hirst show. It is one of 11 being held worldwide. In fact, if you can get your act together, visit all 11 shows (verified, obviously), you'll get your very own signed Damian Hirst. Since we possess neither the millions nor the frequent flier miles necessary to succeed at this, we'll just satisfy ourselves by maybe going to the two shows here.

(If you do want your own Damian Hirst, better get your skates on. The shows all end on 18 February.)

A London Sunset

Looking for a good-looking diversion when you're supposed to be working? Look no more. Check out this beautiful time-lapse video of London at sunset yesterday, November 27, 2011.

First Person / The Sleepy Bowl

The following is a column I wrote that appears in today's Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. If you want to read it on the P-G site, as well as read all of the essential Super Bowl news, click here. For those of you too lazy to click on a link, I've copied and pasted it below.

First Person / The Sleepy Bowl

Pity us expats who must watch the Steelers in the wee hours

Saturday, February 05, 2011

By Maureen Stapleton

LONDON -- When I tell my friends here that I'll be cheering for Big Ben on Sunday, they think I'm talking about England's most famous timepiece. Such is the problem for diehard Steelers fans living in a foreign country.

As the Steelers once again march their way into the Super Bowl, spare a thought for those of us who must go to extraordinary lengths to support our favorite team.

It is not for us to have a comfortable Sunday afternoon of getting the snacks and sofas ready for the big game. No, our Super Bowl Sunday involves careful preparation.

We have to beg off on Sunday invitations, as the day must be spent conserving energy and taking naps. As we are five hours ahead of Pittsburgh, the game is scheduled to kick off at 11:30 p.m. London time, and it won't end until the early hours of the morning.

It is not for us to enjoy the game with a big platter of wings, a big bowl of cheese dip and a large vat of chili. In the United States, food consumption on Super Bowl Sunday may be second only to Thanksgiving, but our most trusted culinary companions during the game will be big mugs of strong coffee.

That said, it certainly is possible that if at 2 a.m. the Steelers are winning and I'm feeling a bit peckish, I might wander into the kitchen to rustle up a Primanti Brothers-like sandwich with cole slaw and fries. It won't be as good, but Primanti's doesn't deliver to our ZIP code.

•

Discussing the game with friends and neighbors can be challenging. If I were to say, "The Pittsburgh Steelers are playing the Green Bay Packers in the Super Bowl," the entire sentence would need to be translated to my British friends.

In the face of quizzical expressions, I would find myself expressing the importance of the game this way, "The American football team, the Pittsburgh Steelers, from my husband's hometown and the city where we got married, are playing another American football team, the Green Bay Packers, who are supported by fans called 'cheeseheads' in an end-of-season matchup called the Super Bowl, which is like the Champions League Final."

I could translate the latter part of that sentence for you, but this could go on all day.

In a land devoid of news about The Big Game, this morning the beating of my heart quickened when BBC's Radio 4-- like National Public Radio, but with a British accent-- said they had a report from Pittsburgh. But rather than a story on something important -- such as Mike Tomlin's game strategy or Troy Polamalu's hair or Brett Keisel's beard -- it was about East Liberty's Conflict Kitchen. Interesting, but not what I wanted to hear.

Following the report on Conflict Kitchen came the sports report. I thought a few sentences about the Super Bowl surely would be the perfect transition between a story about Pittsburgh and sports. Alas, no.

No mention of The Big Game, and worse, the first sports report was about England's one-day international cricket match against the Australians in which the British scored 333 for 6.

I could translate that last sentence for you, but again, this could go on all day.

•

Another big thing you miss as a Steelers fan abroad is the communal joy (or despair, but let's stay positive here) following a Steelers game.

If we were living in Pittsburgh, we could talk about the game with anyone, including strangers on the street. I can't do that here, as people would think I had lost the plot. I might even be called barmy. At least the Steelers fans we know and love are only a phone call or e-mail away.

So when you're gathered around the television set on Sunday to watch the Steelers beat the Packers, spare a thought for those of us on the other side of the world, awake in the middle of the night and cheering as quietly as possible so we don't wake the rest of the house.

As the Steelers lift their seventh Lombardi Trophy early Monday morning in London or mid-afternoon in Asia, one thing will unite Steelers fans around the world: A feeling of absolute joy.

Maureen Stapleton, a writer, moved from the United States to London 12 years ago and has watched a lot of Steelers games in the middle of the night.

Read more: http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/11036/1123060-109.stm#ixzz1D4yyjEUX

The Summer in One Picture

This probably isn't the best representation of the summer-- after all, it's not in the sunshine, it's not in the U.S. (where we spent almost all of August) and it involves no form of swimming, roller coasters or ice cream (some of our favourite summer time activities). It's not even in focus, but that's phone cameras for you. (I refuse to moan about mobile phone cameras because after all, it is A PHONE WITH A CAMERA, something I couldn't have ever imagined when I was their age).

But I love this photo. My favourite boys in front of my favourite artist on day when we popped into the National Gallery-- only 20 minutes away from our front door-- so Thing Two could see some Leonardo da Vinci pictures, which had been his Top Interest at the time. But most of all I love the spontaneous hug. Soon after I took this picture, the guard came around and told me off for taking it, so I suppose it's almost a once-in-a-lifetime picture. Unless we want to take the chance again.

New Imax: Legends of Flight

We love the Science Museum. Always have, always will.

Last night, we took advantage of our Science Museum membership to see the European premiere of the new Imax film, "Legends of Flight".

("Oh! Another premiere!!" Thing One said. I really have to stop this, as they're beginning to think it's normal.)

I was really looking forward to it. I thought it might be like my first-ever Imax film I saw in the late 1970s, "To Fly!" which was shown at the at the National Air & Space Museum, part of the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C.

"Legends of Flight" is predominately about the development of Boeing's new airplane, the 787. It also shows some other historic airplanes, such as the Constellation and the Harrier jet.

In some respects, it was like the best bits of "To Fly." There were several scenes of amazing cinematography, especially when the glider is flying over what appears to be Alaskan glaciers. They also used animation pretty well, showing the structure of a plane versus the physiology of a bird.

But the film also certainly marked a cinematic milestone: the use of Imax technology to show a business meeting. I wish I were kidding, but I'm not. They actually had several (not just one) Boeing (or should that be boring) meetings about the development of the 787. Is that really the best use of Imax technology? I think not.

The boys loved it, and both awarded it a thumbs-up. I might have given it a thumbs-up if there had been less meetings and more flying.

Yet again, I am either a good mother for taking them to something exciting, or a bad mother, for not getting them home until 10:30 p.m. on a school night. It's a toss up.

"Legends of Flight": if you'd like to see a business meeting through the magic of Imax, this is the film for you.

Wimbledon 2010

They came, they saw, they conquered.

Obviously, I'm not talking about Andy Murray and Venus Williams at this year's Wimbledon. I'm talking about Thing One and Thing Two, who had their first Wimbledon experience.

Now that they're old enough to sit still, be quiet and stay up until 11 p.m. on a school night, (the last milestone being the last one reached), we headed to the tennis tournament after school on Thursday of the first week. The boys had been to Wimbledon just last summer (see below), but when we were there the most active people around were the people working at the tills in the museum shop.

At the height of the tournament, it's completely different. First of all, the Wimbledon station is completely decorated with Wimbledon posters and promotional materials, with big signs leading you to the bus queue or the taxi queue. (Although we didn't go there this year, in the past, Southfields underground station had astro-turf across the Tube platform, with tennis court markings).

We took the shuttle bus to the grounds, which was a mistake for us, because we were joining the famous queue, meaning once we got off the bus, we had to walk about a mile to get to the back of the queue, and then walk some more to get through the front gates, doubling back and crossing over on our past several times.

Once inside with your Ground Only Passes, it was fantastic. Even though it was 6 p.m., matches were still being played on all the courts, and thousands of people milled around the grounds. We got to see Sue Barker from her broadcast booth (reference lost on US fans). We also were one row behind the perimeter on Court 16 to see the No. 9 seed Na Li beat another ranked player. The boys were amazed at how fast the balls flew by and how hard they hit them.

As the day wound down, we got lucky when two older women stopped the boys and asked them if they'd like to go see some matches on Court No. 1. By this time, it was a women's doubles match for which not many people stayed. The guard either didn't notice or didn't care that we only had two tickets for three people, and it didn't matter any way since the court was only half-filled.

All in all, it was a fantastic memorable day I can't decide if I'm a bad mother for getting the boys home at 10:45 p.m. on a school night, or a good mother for taking them to Wimbledon. Maybe it's a little of both.

I got to go back to Wimbledon the following Wednesday for the men's semi-finals with the tickets we won in the lottery for Court No. 1. We got to see Rafael Nadal play, and even better, I got to see Rafa change his shirt! (which he did frequently between sets). It was just as much fun the second time.

We'll do it again next year, for sure.

London Elephant Parade

This summer, London has been taken over by a herd of elephants. Not literally, obviously, because it probably would have made the news. These elephants are part of Elephant Parade London 2010, and will be auctioned off next week to raise money to help in the conservation of the endangered Asian elephant.

For the past few weeks, we've been on an elephant hunt. With 259 elephants in total, we have our work cut out for ourselves. Luckily, three of the elephants live in Greenwich, so we checked those off our list without breaking a sweat. After a lot of walking, we've managed to see 45 elephants, a paltry 17 percent of those on display.

But it's been a blast looking for elephants, particularly on a one day during the half term when we made it our mission to see as many as possible. All of the elephants will be on display together this weekend at the Royal Hospital Chelsea, but frankly, if you claim that you've seen all the elephants by seeing them all in one place, that's cheating. The elephant auction will be held on 3 July.

Without further adeiu, here are our favourites:

Thing One's favourite, No. 127 called Gloria:

Thing Two's favourite: No. 57, called Help!

(Green! His favourite colour)

My favourite was not my namesake, which is in front of the Royal Festival Hall on the Southbank, but the one pictured above, No. 45 New Map of London. I do love a map, even if it's on an elephant.

Hunt them while you can.

Happy Birthday to Shakespeare

Thing Two has been on a Shakespeare kick of late. It started with his class production of "A Midsummer's Night Dream" and has continued from there, including a recent request for "The Complete Works of Shakespeare" -- all 752 pages of it. (And yes, dear reader, I did buy it, since it was only £3 at the local bargain bookstore).

The Globe Theatre in London celebrated Shakespeare's 446th birthday last weekend by opening its doors and having workshops throughout the day. Thing Two was incredibly excited about the prospect of seeing the theatre, and spent most of the weekend talking about how much fun it would be.

Thing One was less than impressed that he had to go as well. He offered up several alternatives to his time: rock climbing, bike riding, football, running around in the park. No. No. No. No. We all had to go, we told him. He had a bit of a pre-teen sulk, made it clear that he wasn't happy about our trip to the Globe-- despite the fact that his brother was ecstatic-- and off we went.

It was a beautiful sunny Sunday, and we had a great time walking along the Thames before getting to the Globe. After mistakenly sitting through a 45-minute lecture on Shakespeare play "Henry VIII," we got to see the theatre itself. We happened upon an audience participation play, with a "Dating Game" featuring Henry VIII and three wives. (He picked all three, natch.) The actors then looked for a willing volunteer to be an executioner. I enthusiastically pointed to Thing Two next to me, who also had his hand raised. But guess who they picked? Thing One, of course.

Thing One performed with aplomb, if I do say so myself. He looked nasty when directed to, swung the heavy axe when told to do so, and even waved to his adoring public when departing stage left.

Cue bitter disappointment, tears of frustration and sadness and wails of protest from Thing Two. He was not happy. You could say that it was a Tragedy of Shakespearean Proportions that he didn't get picked, given that his brother didn't even want to go in the first place, but that's overstating it a bit. It did, much like many of Shakespeare's plays, provide a useful life lesson: You don't always get what you want.

It seemed all the more appropriate that this dramatic lesson would be taught at the Globe.

Thing One demonstrating his "Evil Face" as executioner.

The Best of the Volcanic Sunset Photos

This amazing photo was taken by my friend Kirstin on Friday night when we happened to run into them at Greenwich Park for the meeting of the Volcanic Sunset Appreciation Society, Greenwich chapter. Thing One is on the left, closest to the Observatory.