There and Here

Saturday, March 5, 2022 

We spent the afternoon on Regent Street, one of London's prime retail areas, without spending a shilling.  Afterwards, we had a theater date with David and Katherine, Lord & Lady Kennington, but first we met them for dinner at Tas Authentic Anatolian Turkish Cuisine, 33 The Cut.  While it's a large, bustling restaurant, it operated efficiently, delivering very good eats.

We started with a double order of mezze, 9 dishes in all (£35).  We probably could have stopped there, but the K's are insatiable.  I followed with Pilic Shish, nicely charbroiled chunks of dark meat chicken with a side of couscous (£16.25).  The house white wine was refreshing and quite reasonable at £19.95 a bottle. 

We proceeded to The Old Vic for a revival of Caryl Churchill's 2002 play about cloning, "A Number."  Lord K agreed with me that the plot's complexities are best understood when awake. 

Sunday, March 6, 2022

Acting in a style to which we are thoroughly unaccustomed, we went to Brown's Hotel, 33 Albemarle Street, for a Champagne tea.  Brown's seems to be London's oldest hotel, founded in 1837, and is considered the quintessential setting for afternoon tea, scones, clotted cream and all that.  This exercise in extravagance was a birthday gift from the Left Coast delegation, America's Loveliest Nephrologist and the Oakland Heartthrob, for which I am very grateful.

. . .

Man cannot live on sandwiches without crusts alone, so, after a respectable interlude and a nap, we went to dinner at Harry's Dolce Vita, 27-31 Basil Street, down the block from our hotel.  While proximity was the initial attraction for us, the quality of the food and the service would draw us back from afar.  

I had Harry's Seafood Spaghetti, loaded with prawns, mussels, squid, clams and some unadvertised lobster meat in a sauce made with tomatoes, rather than just a tomato sauce (£22.75).  As I dug into it, madam was enjoying Spigola Grigliata, grilled sea bass (£24.95).  Bravo Harry.

Monday, March 7, 2022

We had our last outing with Lord & Lady K today, the British Museum's new exhibit on Stonehenge, a very hot ticket right now.  What surprised me most was the vast number of similar structures throughout the British Isles and Western Europe and the continuing mystery surrounding their creation.  On the other hand, it is remarkable how much is known or, at least, deducible about events 7,500 years ago using contemporary scientific tools.

. . .

The Upper West Side's Power Couple proceeded to a convenient branch of Boots, London's answer to Walgreens, to take Covid-19 rapid antigen tests in order to get on a plane tomorrow.  On the streets of Manhattan, pop-up booths offering free testing abound.  Here, generally, an appointment to an established facility is needed, costing at least £30.

Actually, Boots and Walgreens answer the same question: What are the two major retail chains owned by Walgreens Boots Alliance?

Results -- Good to go.

. . .

For dinner, we went to Layalina, 3 Beauchamp Place, a Lebanese restaurant.  In fact, in Knightsbridge, the neighborhood of our hotel, the man in the street is likely an Arab, although the woman in the Rolls Royce is probably a Russian.  Speaking of ostentatious displays of wealth, there's no place like London, to quote a line from "Sweeney Todd" (https://genius.com/Stephen-sondheim-no-place-like-london-lyrics).  I've seen more Roll-Royces, Bentleys, Ferraris and Maseratis here in one week than in one year in the Holy Land.

We shared the dip sampler, generous scoops of hummus, moutabal a/k/a babaganoush and mouhamarah (walnuts, red bell peppers, pomegranate molasses) (£9).  I had spice-roasted breast of duck, with sour cherries, yogurt, freekah (wheat groats) and roasted pumpkin (£28).  It was a good duck, but not a great duck. 

Madam chose two small plates -- cheese rolls, crisp pastry with halloumi (a mixture of goat's and sheep's milk), feta, kashkaval (a Balkan yellow cheese) and roasted capsicum sauce (£6.50) and grilled aubergines with goat yogurt, Aleppo chili oil and coriander (£6.50).  Our waiter, who emigrated from Lebanon 15 years ago and yearned to move on to Canada, was very friendly and informative.  

Tuesday, March 8, 2022

We departed on a bright sunny day, although the temperature remained in the 40s, as it has been all week.  Virgin Atlantic accepted our patronage and our money, something that American Airlines was only half able to accomplish.  Our return to New York was as free from drama as our departure was fraught with it. 

Wednesday, March 9, 2022

Looking back on the wonderful week that we spent in England, I realize that it may disqualify me from attendance at Bernie Sanders' Annual Rosa Luxemburg Birthday Celebration.  We stayed in a hotel where every room had its own toilet; we had Champagne tea at an institution dating back to Victorian times; we sat for two hours before boarding our flight home in the American Express Centurion Lounge at Heathrow Airport, accessible only to Platinum Card holders.  Is it sufficient to claim that I gave up privation for Lent? 

. . .

Of course, America's Favorite Epidemiologist was interested in the public health posture of the English compared to us, but the calendar tricked us.  The day before we left, the UK lifted almost all pandemic-related constraints and mandates, while the Holy Land lifted most the day before we returned.

Nevertheless, we wore our masks everywhere in London except when walking outside or eating.  By a rough estimate, about 10% of those around us usually did the same, although, when we took the Piccadilly Line to Heathrow Airport in a burst of egalitarian behavior, a majority of our fellow passengers wore masks, something that they would still be required to do on board their flights.  Also, as a generalization, a person wearing a mask was more likely a person of color.  

Thursday, March 10, 2022

Wordle is big.  We saw people on the underground playing it alongside us.  Someone has taken the trouble to measure the worldwide participation.  https://word.tips/wordle-wizards/

 

Here are the supposed results:

• Canberra, Australia is the global city with the best Wordle average: 3.58 guesses.
• Sweden is the world’s best country at Wordle, with an average of 3.72.
• The US is ranked #18 in the world for Wordle, with a national average of 3.92.
• The American state with the best Wordle average is North Dakota (3.65).
• The US city with the best Wordle scores is St. Paul, Minnesota, with an average of 3.51.
  

In case you doubt these conclusions, what are you going to do about it?

. . .

Another set of numbers that interested me is the census of billionaires conducted by Forbes. https://www.forbes.com/billionaires/ 

There are (or were at a certain moment) 724 billionaires in the United States; California has the most at 189, New York is second with 126.  I checked the list as I often scan the obituaries to see if I made an appearance.