Beattys Overseas

Saturday morning started late - due to a late night on Friday - and we went for a long brisk walk around the Queens Park neighborhood where our dear friends J & V live.

Among the many notable characteristics of this London neighborhood are the obscenely large leaves that have fallen off the trees during this Autumn week.  John Love knows what kind of trees they are, but they produce some extremely gargantuan leaves (see Love's comment below).

Other notable aspects of Queens Park is its very diverse community (there are two Islamic elementary schools in the neighborhood within walking distance of a Starbucks, a Fried Chicken takeaway restaurant and a pub featuring Salsa dancing on Thursday nights), the extremely well-maintained park (featuring an almost storybook-like parade of parents/nannies with babies, old men playing soccer, gardeners tending to flower beds, and senior citizens practicing tai chi), and the confusing sidewalk protocol (where English pedestrians stay to the right of the sidewalk when you pass each other, which is a direct opposite of the driving rules here where you stay to the left side of the street. Essentially, the pedestrians follow 'American' rules of the road. Maybe I'm a silly American tourist, but this really throws me for a loop.).

Other than that, we've had an expectedly swell time in the land of the Royals.  Sorry, there are not too many London photos or journal postings, as we have been here before and haven't done any tourist/sightseeing activities.  We promise to post more educational & enlightening journals in the future.  Tomorrow, in fact, we're heading to Ireland for a few days, then onto Scotland.  Cheerio!

- Whitney