The Chap Olympiad

Butler-Baiting, Umbrella Jousting, Port Passing, Bounder Hunt.  Not your traditional Olymipics, a more refined, genteel games played by well-dressed British men and women dressed in their vintage best.  Can I just say it was the most awesome thing I have seen so far in London?!? That grown men in bowler hats and striped top coats will ride the tube in fancy dress with picnic baskets full of gin and tonic ingredients and cucumber sandwiches to a private park to participate in silly games made my day!

Sponsored and created by The Chap magazine, a "guide with sartorial tips for men," the Chap Olympiad is in its fourth year of refined modern day goofiness.  My flatmate Katie and I followed one tall gentleman wearing black wellingtons and full-length silk brocade dressing gown down two blocks in order to find the games.

Gustav Temple, editor of The Chap, writes, "A chap is a sprightly fellow-about-town who applies the mannerisms and dress of an Edwardian gentleman to the modern world...A lady, can, of course, be a chappette though.  All she needs is a good suspender belt and a high tolerance for martinis."
--Time Out London, 19-21 July 2013.


This sweet chap hold us he served in Afghanistan with American Marines.  He related his disappointment in having to shave off his long mustache, which he used to curl at the ends to the delight of the Marines, when he got back to London.  (I longed to asked him if he shaved it for a girl or for his job...)  He clarified Butler-Baiting for us, saying the chaps throws newspapers and curse at a proper butler, the winner is the one who can rile up the usually unperturbable servant!

There was a live band playing when Katie and I arrived, the crowd was just queueing up to pay 20 pounds to get into the normally private park.  There were all manner of chaps, top hatted ones, Sherlock Holmes impersonators, rajs, servicemen, many Jay Gastby-types, all sporting the required full-dress even in the 92 degree heat!  The ladies were elegant in stockings, hats, gloves, lipstick galore and, of course, lovely heals.  British men and women both wear shoes like you would not believe here.  Leather shoes like butter, always dress shoes as they walk down the street on any given day.  One chap had an incredible pair of green wing-tips on with his Bermuda shorts, long socks, tie, and sports coat.  The event was a like a hilarious dream, a fantastical bit of cheerfulness and frivolity in the heart of London today!

Polite applause is acceptable.

The proper transport for a chap.

Katie in the chap's helmet.

Parking it in London

London can be frenetic, crowded, smelly, dirty and exhausting.  That was true a thousand years ago and is still true today.  What is one to do?  Go to the park!

This is really exists in Regent's Park.

We've been walking around London for just three days, and I have lost count of the number of parks we have been through. Thank goodness! The green space is a haven of peace in the middle of a stone and concrete urban jungle.  We have passed at least two parks that are private--iron fences and padlocked gates ensure that only the residents of the posh adjoining houses gain entry.  But, the vast majority are open to all and, in contrast to parks in the States, are very well used by all ages and socio-economic statuses.  We've lunched in parks along-side gaggles of men in suits and women carrying Coach handbags.  Parks are filled with school children on field trips and retired people doing tai chi.  We are constantly amazed, as a group, both at the loveliness of the park and at the number of Londoners just hanging out there.

Willow tree overhanging a reflecting pool.

Children practicing cricket on the "pitch".

Regent's Park is home to the London zoo,

Elephant topiary. 

My lovely flatmates in the Rose Garden.  Hillary, me, Melissa, Keila, and Katie.

Our day today was mostly spent inside Regent's Park--it's huge (over 400 acres)--we were marveled at the extensive rose gardens with their intense perfume.  Then heard a marching band perform as we walked to Primrose Hill, which looks out over London and is the sight where Mary Poppins takes Jane and Michael to fly kites in the book.  We ate our picnic lunch (as we do as a group most days when we are out sight-seeing) and then tried to get the kites we carefully brought from the States up into the air.  It wasn't quite breezy enough to do it without running full speed downhill! We headed out of the park and through a residential neighborhood to re-created our own photo of the famous cover of the Beatles Abbey Road album!

Not Four, but still looking pretty Fab!

THE WORLD'S KNOWLEDGE

THE WORLD'S KNOWLEDGE is the humble motto of The British Library.  The 17 librarians and future librarians in my Digital Media Production for Libraries class were practically giddy as we entered the hallowed halls of the formidable institution.

The Rules

The library is much, much, different than what we are accustomed to in the states when we think of public libraries.  For one thing, not just anyone can read the books.  You need to register, via computer, ahead of time for a reader's pass and tell what and why you are researching.  One of our Master's level classmates was denied a temporary card (and therefore access to books) because she didn't have two proper forms of I.D.  Once you present your acceptable identification and your pre-assigned number, you are directed to a computer to complete another online form.  Then you queue to be interviewed, told the reading room rules, and photographed for your British Library card.

The Interview

The rules for the reading room include: having clean hands, no food or drink, no photography, no bags or coats (they must be checked in the lockers located in the basement), and absolutely NO PENS.  The gift shop seems to do a swift business selling pencils to people who want to jot down notes.


After you check your bag and turn off your phone, you go to the prescribed reading room (humanities, social sciences, rare books, etc.).  Passing through security, you present your card to the librarian and receive your items.   Yes, they are pulled from the closed stacks for you, but, you must request them at least 70 minutes prior to when you would like to look at them.  This process, I need to stress, is for all materials, not just special or rare collections.  As part of our class experience at the library, I requested three books on multiculturalism in Britain.  They were right there, available when I asked for them.  After you get your items, it seems like a "normal" library--you can take them to a desk, read and take notes in a setting that is very similar to an academic library.  But nothing is checked out to patrons, items are used exclusively in the library.

The Eye is on you.

I felt like this was a great picture to illustrate the way using the British Library felt.  It is a very controlled process.  Some liken the British Museum to the American Library of Congress.  I was only there as a child, and can't recall much about it, except that we requested, and saw, a book of poetry written by my grandma in the 1930's.  So, I can't speak to the differences in access between the two libraries, only that today was a unique library experience for me, a person dedicated to open access in public libraries.

Conversely, one part of the library, the Treasures of the British Library room was so much more thrilling than I expected.  It is really a museum of remarkable texts and manuscripts.  Today I saw one of the four originals of the Magna Carta, the oldest complete New Testament (in Greek,  from the fourth century), Mozart's marriage contract, John Lennon's scribbled lyrics to "Michelle" on the back of an envelope, and the Diamond Sutra (a Buddhist text printed in China), which is the worlds oldest dated printed book.  I was surrounded by beautiful illuminated texts and invaluable documents of immeasurable historical significance.  Wow.
The best part of the British Library, the Treasures, is free and open to everyone.  It is really what made my time there so memorable!

But, I do also have this really cool souvenir.

City of London

The Great Fire of 1666, The Blitz, war, plagues, terrible conditions of the poor in Victorian England, religious persecution....sometimes the history of London can be gruesome, if not downright depressing. The Museum of London is a free journey through time, from earliest settlement to last year's Olympics. It is dark and heavy inside, which sets the mood for the dark tone it takes.










The disasters, disease, imperialism, turmoil, and discord of the past are emphasized, leaving one hoping for a happy ending.    The final exhibit is a cool inter-active touch screen extravaganza which could focus on dreams for the future.  Instead, the way it is set up below waist-level forces you to hang your head while exploring social problems that are apparently rampant in London today--racism, garbage, over-crowding, pollution, socio-economic inequalities--all spinning around and coming at you with no visible solutions.  It makes you want to step outside for a breath of air.

The grounds outside of St. Paul's, full of life, roses. and sunlight today.

Leaving the museum in a sad-for-the-state-of humanity mindset, we walked a couple of blocks to St. Paul's Cathedral.  It is the forth one built on the same spot, began after The Great Fire of 1666.  It was bombed repeatedly in The Blitz but survived do to dedicated volunteers who slept at night there for years putting out fires before they could engulf the building.  It houses the remains of war heroes and memorials to  doctors killed by IRA terrorist bombs.  But, it also has the remains of Arthur Sullivan, co-author of some of my favorite comic musicals and painters like John Singer Sargent and, actually, Florence Nightengale.  The soaring beauty of the cathedral is a monument to what Londoners can accomplish while the memorials are testaments to the depth and ingenuity of humanity.  Walking through the grounds and eating a picnic lunch on the grass with hundreds of Londoners was a much-needed uplift.

Uplifts are also available by the pint. 

Stationary Store Philosophy

Nothing really big, exciting, or earth-shattering happened to me in London today, but it could have.  I could have seen Colin Firth or been robbed or got invited to an Indian wedding feast or been kissed by a stranger in the rain underneath a lamppost.   Anything could happen today.

This, umm, thing, was on a shelf in an expensive stationary store we stopped in on the way home after eating at a local pub (where I was going to have fish and chips for the first time but they ran out of fish-- if you can believe that).  The thing wasn't a functional thing, it was just an object put forth by the universe to remind us that, indeed, the possibilities are endless in this world.  When we wake up, we never know what might happen in the next 24 hours.  It might be great things--wonderful serendipitous surprises that fill us with joy, or it might be tragedies which remind us to treasure life.  The beauty is that life is an unknown mystery which we have the privilege of, not unraveling, but experiencing each moment. 

Sometimes, when we are lucky, we get reminded of the infinite directions life can take us.  And sometimes, when we are really lucky, life takes us to London!

I Have Arrived!

'London is a beautiful place when the weather's good; the mood is lighter and everybody's smiling.  But for the other 350 days a year, it's miserable," says Simon Kusner, a former resident of the city in Londoners by Craig Taylor.  Luckily, today was one of those 15 beautiful days a year.  A good thing, because I arrived four hours late, worn out and with two of the four wheels AND the handle broken off of my suitcase.  I was standing in the Customs line when the Welcome Reception was going on at the Florida State University Student Center for my class.  I debated taking a uber-expensive taxi from the airport, but ended up on the Heathrow Express, a modern, fast train to the center of town.  When I saw all the stairs I would have had to carry my broken suitcase down at Paddington Station in order to make my Tube connection, I opted for a cool black taxi cab. Phew!

So here is the Georgian building where FSU houses its students, including me.  I have four "flatmates."  I checked in while they were all out on the walking tour.  I missed that, but they pointed me in the direction of the grocery store, where I bought tuna and sweet corn salad.  Yum!  Finally feeling settled in and now ready for the learning/adventue/fun to start!

Video Editing Exercise