independent adventures...

This week I have had off, most of my days off now are alone, since Alex works Monday through Friday and I work sporadic shifts, our days off our unfortunately not often together. So, we have each been forced to do  a bit of exploring solo. We have been visiting slews of new boroughs to find the perfect location. In this exploration there have been wonderful new discoveries and great disappointments. We have unearthed hidden gems that I feel so many Londoners turn their noses up at because they aren't the most known, or maybe at one time had a bad reputation, or "gasp" are south of the river! oh, the horror! Well, we are saying heck with them! We see great potential! Together we explored Muswell hill (north of the river, just up the road from where we live now). It was wonderful, had a small village feel, it isn't on the underground lines, thus making it a bit less traveled through and at a lower price point. We explored this area to quite an extent and fell in love with the rolling hills reminiscent of those in San Francisco. Though after prodding farther we discovered other hidden treasures with plenty to offer, and more space for our money. The next areas of consideration were explored on a day off together, they included Honor Oak Park, Forrest hill, East Dulwich and Dulwich. These areas had pros and con's as well. Honor Oak and Forrest hill simply weren't for us, East Dulwich is lovely as well, definitely one to keep in the running. Dulwich it's self, is a bit out of our price range, though it made me feel like we were back in the States with detached homes, cars in driveways and immaculate gardens. Yesterday I explored the likes of Woolrich Royal Arsenal and Greenwich with a bit of Canary wharf  mixed in. Woolrich, the most amazing development, made me feel the closest to the apartment buildings and complexes I was used to. They are old, heritage listed buildings from the old military grounds re-furbished and made into extraordinary properties. The shops around are in no doubt lacking. I guess I should jump back and explain a bit of what I look for when we are considering area's to live. Proximity to small quaint shops for me to pop in and out of on days off. Area's to wonder about and roam aimlessly while feeling safe, and last but far from least, satisfactory grocers. This can be, waitrose, whole foods, or choice other organic food markets. Though, this is me being a bit picky. Waitrose does deliver, which may become our usual if we move, but one area we simply refuse to compromise on is our food. With that said, Woolrich was lacking in all of the above, other than a wonderful development, which includes gym membership! After becoming annoyed and deciding to head home at treat myself to Indian on the way, I spoke to Alex, we talked about how close Greenwich was... so I reluctantly decided to pass up a wonderful helping of Madras chicken and rice to explore yet another area, one that I most certainty could not live in at the moment, but could explore and pop over to in a moment's notice if we decide to live in Woolrich. I am happy with my decision. As I traveled on the DLR (Docklands light rail) it, is wonderful. For starters, it is new, and it travels over the river, where you can see it. Ah, the water, there is simply something about it. As I got of at Greenwich I struggled to find my way to the all so famous Greenwich village at first, and with out a doubt became distracted at a book shop having a sell out sale (I am proud to say, I withstood any purchases!) I ventured farther, stumbled into the market, in and out of wonderful shops, just the kind I like. Passing by bakeries, op shops and hair dressers. It was a lovely little area. I then stumbled upon a large open courtyard space which drew my interest as it said university, I thought I might pick up yet another university tee-shirt for Alex and see what was around. The book store of University of Greenwich was, well, nothing short of disappointing. Though I then saw a sign for restroom and being that London has so few public toilets I should take advantage of an offer. As I made my way I was greeted by an array of historical memorabilia from the ancient past. Stumbling through it all I happened into a guide shop, picked up a free news paper and read the caption with a photo at the bottom, that was all of the paper I ever did read. It said, after next month 10 (pounds, I cannot figure out where the key is on my computer) to stand on the Meridian line. Me, in my blond ignorance had not registered that I was in Greenwich, like the Greenwich, Greenwich mean time. I walked up to the counter, and asked, how do I get here. The lady just kind of looked at me, pulled out a map, and told me it was where the one was! This became my new mission, why not right. I mean, usually I would have thought, Alex and I should come back and go together, but yesterday was the 22nd! That means it is almost next month! That means it will soon be 10! So, why not make it alone. As I head in what I believe to be the correct direction I stop and ask a guard for direction. Our conversation was a bit odd, I think it went something like this:
Me: Hi, can you tell me what street this is?
Guard: x street, whatever it was, maybe park? Anyway... Where are you trying to go?

Guard: you want to go there?
Me: Ya, sure, why not, right?
Guard: Slight chuckle at my naiveteness OK... look out there, see that red ball...

Here there is a bit of a struggle as the ball is far off and it was quite overcast, I sort of lied and said I saw the ball after some squirming around and him continuing to point in the exact same spot. He told me, this is were I needed to be, at this red ball. So, I head off in the direction, as I walked I half wondered if there really was a red ball or if he was just making me feel like a fool and and full well known that I had lied to him. But then, in the distance on the top of a hill, I spotted the infamous red ball! I made my way to the planetarium with hoards of other people marching to see the spot where time begins. And I stood there, I stood with one foot at East longitude and one in West. This was Greenwich mean time, this was point 0. Wow, what a discovery! A part of me felt as proud of myself for stumbling up on the discovery as thought I were actually the one to discover it. I was so excited, such a fun thing, something I didn't set out to do, blindly didn't think of being there, and naively didn't connect 2+2. Being that I was alone, I had someone take a photo for me. I then continued to explore the museum hosting old clocks and much on Maritime time keeping and location determining. I then bobbed my way through the planetarium and learned about stars, touched a piece of meteorite  that claims to be 4.5 billion years old and saw the wonders of our universe on film. All in all, I feel as though the day was quite the success. We still continue to search through undiscovered (to us) parts of London and accidentally stumble upon treasures that remind me that I live in this wonderful city with so much, literally at your doorstep to reach out and explore.