"The Youth of the Middle East rise up for basic freedoms.The Youth of London rise up for a HD ready 42" Plasma TV"

As Dorothy says in the Wizard of Oz , "We're not in Kansas any more Toto".  Some day I will have to visit Kansas.  But right now Seattle is occupying our attention.  Not completely, because our beloved London is currently being ransacked by greedy, ignorant mobs of thugs bent on nothing but destruction and self gratification. The heading for this post is a tweet from Lulu Rose, who aptly sums up the sad situation in London. Our old neighbourhood is completely untouched so far, which only goes to show that living in an area with nothing but coffee shops and sandwich joints has some advantages after all. I worry about all my friends and colleagues, some living in the worst affected areas.  All reporting back safe, for now.

Back to Seattle, settling in and getting our bearings. We've hardly been in the central part of the city.  A brief foray on Friday to get my phone set up with a US number, and lunch in the International District with friends from Maryland.  The rest of the time has been spent within a couple miles radius of the Google office, trying to find a place to live that isn't on top of a hill, has enough of the right kind of space, but is not too big. Our London apartment was a marvel of spatial efficiency, as yet unmatched by anything we've seen.

 Yesterday I spent the afternoon running errands in Ballard and Fremont (flat, near the ship canal) on my little Brompton, amusing bank tellers, receptionists and shop keepers with the folding and unfolding.  I finished up at the vast emporium known as Fred Meyer. As the lad at the checkout said, 'we're like Wallmart only better because the employees here are well treated".  It was so big, I got lost, several times, and began to wonder if I would ever find my way back out.  Ironically, for a place the size of Rhode Island, right next to the Burke Gilman trail (now there's a real cycle super-highway), they only had one tiny cycle rack!

Last night we met some friendly local morris dancers, who take advantage of the beautiful summer's evenings to meet in Gasworks Park.  I ended up in the set as a place holder (I didn't run into anyone, but was generally on the wrong foot) and my feet and legs really missed those lovely sprung dance floors at Cecil Sharp House. We headed back to our encampment on the hill as the sun was setting over Puget Sound.  The ship canal looked especially lovely, reflecting the pink and salmon coloured clouds. The exercise must have done us some good, we slept through until six am this morning!