The Pepper Tree on Clapham Common is a small box of a Thai restaurant where diners share long wooden tables Wagamama-style -- though PT has been around longer than Wagamama has been popular, I suspect. Not exactly cozy, given the bright lights, but it is clean, and the eclecticism and professionalism of the young wait-staff gives it an authentic cared-for feel. And the food is good, and the prices reasonable. Ian took me there to 'warm me up for' or 'ease me into' my impending arrival in Bangkok. My thinking would have been to place our farewell dinner together at the tapas restaurant on Northcote Road he's been meaning to check out, given that I'll be eating 'Asian' for the foreseeable future. Yet another example of how our thinking diverges. That said, I'm not complaining (though I can't help critiquing); it was awfully nice of him to take me out at all. He commented PT is not a 'first date kind of place', and not a place where one is encouraged to linger. His fellow hockey umpire from the match this afternoon was outside, waiting to collect his take-out.
I'm reading 'Finding George Orwell in Burma' by Emma Larkin (Penguin 2004) and am beginning to see and taste and feel places I may find myself this next month. I imagine her to be my age, with a passion for getting under the skin of a people, a country. I hope to have a chance to 'be' with people the way she did, though I realize hers was a research project complete with letters of introduction to locals usually wary of contact with foreigners.
Separately, a highlight of the day was having lunch at Philip Moser's in Highgate on the occasion of Dina's visiting London for Ahmed's wedding. Saeed and the girls (Carma is now 9 and stylish; Selma is 5 and asserting herself verbally) were along, and I met Philip's wife Anna (Swedish, architect) and kids (Lily is 3 and Gabriel just 6 months).
I've packed my backpack for the first time, and the load is 'ripening' in my room: do I really think I'll use my thermarest? should I buy one of those 'collapsible' silicone bowls, so I'll have something that won't take much space, for noodle vendors to ladle my meal into? And how about cutlery? Oh, I must pick up some rehydration tablets; etc. And I've cleared off my mini netbook, in preparation for loading only the necessaries onto it (reducing sentimental disappointment in the event of theft); I'm also going to take an external drive to backup photos (and take some photos along I hope to go through on the road). I still need to load up one or both of my iPods with music, and to figure out how to refresh podcast downloads on the go.
I've been dealing with my US taxes and hope to round that off this week. I'm all paid up on my UK taxes. I've just re-routed mail that has been going to V's, to MB&H's and Ian's. I might unearth the remains of my Booz Allen pension plan; but then again, I might not. Monday I see Claire & her baby twins and pick up my Travelex prepaid 'Globe Passport' at Selfridges, Tuesday evening I catch up with Byron, Wednesday Mark is coming up to London and I'm having dinner with Deeps, Thursday is Rene's pub crawl, Friday Vicky has said she's free to meet up without Veronica (but I'm dying to see now-3-year-old Ronnie), and Saturday I'm off!
I've packed my backpack for the first time, and the load is 'ripening' in my room: do I really think I'll use my thermarest? should I buy one of those 'collapsible' silicone bowls, so I'll have something that won't take much space, for noodle vendors to ladle my meal into? And how about cutlery? Oh, I must pick up some rehydration tablets; etc. And I've cleared off my mini netbook, in preparation for loading only the necessaries onto it (reducing sentimental disappointment in the event of theft); I'm also going to take an external drive to backup photos (and take some photos along I hope to go through on the road). I still need to load up one or both of my iPods with music, and to figure out how to refresh podcast downloads on the go.
I've been dealing with my US taxes and hope to round that off this week. I'm all paid up on my UK taxes. I've just re-routed mail that has been going to V's, to MB&H's and Ian's. I might unearth the remains of my Booz Allen pension plan; but then again, I might not. Monday I see Claire & her baby twins and pick up my Travelex prepaid 'Globe Passport' at Selfridges, Tuesday evening I catch up with Byron, Wednesday Mark is coming up to London and I'm having dinner with Deeps, Thursday is Rene's pub crawl, Friday Vicky has said she's free to meet up without Veronica (but I'm dying to see now-3-year-old Ronnie), and Saturday I'm off!
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