As you can see, Krispy Kreme is alive and well in Londontown, and of course, us European YL staffers from America have found the nearest shop. How many of you have seen "Just Married"? Tell me that this car should not have Ashton and Brittany inside it stuck in a snowbank. If you look close you can see my reflection in the background. Unintentional, and fairly cool. It was parked directly across from my flat tonight as I walked in.

They are predicting a major snow over the next couple days here in London. It is truly strange to see how they prep for a potential storm. In a way , it is a bit like snow in Arkansas. All the sidewalks have sand on them just incase. Though it gets cold here, it rarely snows to any great degree. Like in AR, a few centimeters of white stuff will shut down school and halt most normal life activities.

I started this blog last week sometime, so that is why the date is off a bit.

I must start by saying that last night when I came home, this tiny hi-top car was parked across the street once again, but this time its nose was against the curb rather than being parked parallel. Truly, that is a small vehicle!

I have been venturing on foot through my fantastic city of Londontown. My mom gave me a guide to walks around London for Christmas, and I have been making a concentrated effort to explore. I love it! Wandering about on foot, becoming more familiar helps me feel more at home here. Last weekend, I journeyed from Bond Street to Baker Street which is very near my flat in St John's Wood. The Bond Street station is one of the places you could get off the tube to be on Oxford Street and Regent Street...the area most think of when they think of central London with tons of shops and loads and loads and LOADS of people most all the time. The next day, I went Jude-watching in Primrose Hill, another area just a few blocks away. I will end your suspense now. I had no sightings, but I did walk to the top the the "hill" to see a spectacular view of central London, including the London Eye. Where are those pictures, some of you are saying. Sorry. I am working on my issue of not wanting to look like a tourist. I will get you a picture sometime of said view. : )

I spent this past weekend in Virginia Water (Surrey) where my staff family resides. We had a regional staff day in Guilford, another part of Surrey, which is by the way, the name of the county sort of like Fayetteville is in Washington County. In this bit of Surrey is where those gorgeous scenes were filmed from The Holiday, speaking of Jude. (Zsa informed of this bit of trivia on our drive in. It is about a 30 minute drive from Virginia Water.) On the way back from V.W. on Sunday, I found myself in the midst of 3 couples speaking French as their first language. From what I could gather, one of the guys was English who was fluent in French and obviously married a French lady who did not stop talking the entire 45 minute train ride. If I sound annoyed, I just the opposite. What a beautiful language. I had to try hard to hide my big grin as I listened to them dialogue..."Ah, oui..."is the extent of what I understood. So pretty. No wonder it is one of the romance languages. No wonder Kate fell for Luc.

So, I did not see Jude, but...I did find out through my pal, Mallory, that the BAFTA (British Academy of Film and Television Arts) awards were going on last night. The comparison that was made was to The Golden Globes. She and her friend Beth were queuing (lining up) at 8 a.m. to get wristbands to stand on the red carpet as the stars walked down. Alix and I decided to take our chances around 3:30 p.m. to see if we could get close enough to see anyone. I have never been so smashed between people in my life! My calves ache today from standing on my tip-toes. Why is is that the tallest guys always stand on the front row as if they need to be close. This was the case as it always is at a "must see moment" at a concert of potential star sighting. At least 3 people behind me and on either side were using my shoulders as tripods for their cameras. I guess, the English personal space rule goes out the window when it comes to seeing celebs. Well, actually most of the people nearby were Americans, so I still think the English are more respectful of their fellow man. I mean, who is NOT taller than me? Why can't us short peeps get a break? Anyway, we were squeezed into a mass of people at the very end of the red carpet and saw the nominees getting out of their sedans and limosines. Ok, ok, who did I see? Dame Judi Dench, Sir Ian McKellen (who waved at me!), Jake Gyllenhaal, Helen Miren... I could have waited around to catch a glimpse of more maybe, but I was literally smashed. We exited carefully and went out to Covent Garden to watch the rest of the arrivals on a big screen set up there. We met up with Mallory and Beth after at a pub nearby and heard their stories and saw pictures which I will try to post next time once Mal sends them to me. It was thrilling! Not as thrilling as it will be when I bump into Jude of Sir Paul on my street, but very cool.

Being proper as I am, I ate my first fish n' chips, served with green peas, since my arrival last October in this afore mentioned pub, called The Essex and something or other. The girls all sort of mocked me, but I felt it appropriate. In the words of Ella, "Hmm...tasty!"

Oh! One more thing, in the spirit of my trying to explore Londi on foot, I walked from my flat to Covent Garden yesterday which I must say I felt extremely proud for doing so. It was easily navigated, but it took about an hour...perhaps a bit more. I would like to write a big Thank You note to the person or people who put together this amazing book called the "A to Z(ed)".

Word/phrase of the week: "all swings and roundabouts" Let's see...how do I explain this one? Mark, our student staffer Englishman, said this phrase in staff meeting this past week. Ok, if you know what a roundabout is..."Look kids, Big Ben, Parliament!", you know you could just keep going and going around and around if you so chose. I would say, it is the equivalent of a conversation "going around in circles getting nowhere close to resolution". I liked it.