London with very little rain!

I'm having a tough time getting the labels to sit by the proper photos. So, here's a brief description of some of what follows. Portabello Market! (The world's largest antique market!) Charm near Notting Hill.
Then, British Museum.

Followed by random London sites. Notice the piece of art made up of open umbrellas!! (Shot while passing rapidly on a double-decker bus!)

Finally -- Where Hillsong London meets on the corner of Oxford St. and Tottenham Court Rd. at Dominion Theatre.
Final photo -- Nigerian antiquities at the British Museum.

Of Teas and Tearooms

I didn't get many tea photos but these few are proof of the total delight that tea can bring, even to a coffee drinker like Jim! We had proper Afternoon Tea at the lovely British Museum restaurant on Easter afternoon -- two of the photos are from there. And that was just the beginning as we generally had some lovely tea somewhere every afternoon -- sometimes along the seashore in Cornwall, sometimes in the meadowlands, ...

One day in London seemed to be my Tea Day. Jim was in meetings so I focused on the things he wouldn't feel cheated to miss. In actuality, he was relieved to not share in this day but he smiled, obligingly, at my tales!

It began with tea in our hotel room, as was my custom! Then I took a taxi to Harrods, did a bit of strolling/viewing, had Earl Grey tea in one of the restaurants in Harrods, and bought a charming English bone china tea cup and little creamer. Then I moved on to Harvey Nichols and bought some of their own tea -- Earl Grey, of course (and coffee for Jim). My next stop was in a little Crabtree and Evelyn shop where I bought some lemon cookies in honour of the many teas with C. and E.'s lemon cookies that Jeri and I had after school in her elementary school years. (Yes, Jerz, I'll bring the full tin to Thailand on my next visit. Have the tea ready! ;-)) I then bought some Earl Grey tea from a little Whittard of Chelsea shop. Finally, I strolled along the lovely streets (Google walking-map in hand) to Claridge's for my 3 p.m. Afternoon Tea reservation. The price was high but it included some amazing tea sandwiches, scones and clotted cream, pastries to die for (or maybe I should say "from"!), Earl Grey tea, all accompanied by fabulous violin and piano. The place was packed! I sat very near a table of perfumiers or whatever the term is for high-fashion perfume designers. They were entertaining fashion writers as they were unveiling the new perfume that will be launched in August.

I attempted to walk off some of the calories with a brisk walk back to our hotel. I tried to look "normal" but I'm sure there was a suspicious grin on my face as I walked along, causing the locals to assume I was up to something! How do you keep from grinning after such a "telightful" day!

Trip to England: The Cotswolds and Oxford

For the next few days I'll be posting thoughts and photos from our most amazing vacation in England. The photos here are from a brief 1 1/2 day drive and walk through the Cotswolds and Oxford. A week would be more reasonable! "The Cotswolds" refers to the charming hilly (hill=wold) region northwest of London that features Painswick, Stow-on-the-Wold, Chipping Campden, ... and Oxford, well ..., is amazing. I didn't realize that all of the 36 (I think that's the number) of colleges in Oxford were built/begun in the 1600s! The inn in which we stayed is from that period and is made up of some attached Flemish cottages that were used by the lowly laborers who served the more educated. The cobblestones at the inn date back to Medieval times.












Jim's dreams will never be the same after driving this little gem for a day!









































































































Local musical groups, some more serious than others, appear out of nowhere! Delightful!
And, Jim wanted me to take this photo of him as proof that he "studied in Oxford!" Yeah, right!

The land of tea drinkers!

I am definitely a fan of tea ... some might say "fanatic"! So you can imagine my excitement level as we make our final preparations for our 2+ week trip to England. Back in the U.S. I have many, many tea pots and many, many, many more tea cups. I brought a few of the most cherished ones with us to Nigeria (like my "Early Grey" tea pot from my sis!) and I've been able to accumulate many new cups and pots during all of our travels -- a Greek handmade tea pot, a tea cup from Thailand, ... lovely additions! And everywhere we go I'm always on the hunt for some new-to-me Earl Grey tea. The best I've ever had was a tea made in Russia that I found in Paris. I bought two tins but they've long ago been emptied. So, to think of visiting a place where, no matter how small the town/village/hamlet, one can find a proper tea room ... sheesh! And Jim (a dedicated espresso-drinker) promises to join me in my tea-drinking adventures! I'm overwhelmed!

Add to the tea anticipation this lovely list of plans for our two weeks --
-- Easter services at Hillsong London!
-- tea (okay, back to that for a moment!) at Claridge's -- where they have a string quartet accompanying the experience!
-- Les Miserables!! (I'm bringing the book along on the trip to re-read it, we've watched the movie with Liam Neeson, and we've been listening to the music from the original production!)
-- gardens and gardens and more gardens
-- a leisurely week in Cornwall -- Penzance and beyond
-- Bath, the Cotswolds, Oxford, ...
-- castles and castles and more castles
-- museums, art galleries, ...
-- back to Hillsong London, again!
-- (and Jim has some meetings thrown into the mix and some work along the way)

Whilst (must practice my Brit vocab!) we are doing our final packing we are already feeling so very blessed!

Tea, anyone?

Mixun

Today I had my first experience with pharmacies in Nigeria. Jim has an ear infection and saw the doctor (a good, expat doctor that has the company's approval). Unfortunately, the doctor's office didn't have the antibiotic Jim needed. So the doc wrote out the names of what needed to be in the drops and I went searching for the meds this morning.

Shocking. I knew it to be true, but to see it first-hand was simply shocking. No one needs prescriptions for anything. They can (and usually do) self-diagnose (prices are too high to see a doctor and he might not know much, anyway!) and then they buy what they think they need. In any dosage, in any volume. For a small price, too!

I found what Jim's doctor had recommended. The price was less than 1/4 of the price in the U.S. But with it comes risks. Risks that cause me to appreciate the U.S. regulations. I know they seem like killer prices to all of you but that's better than killer meds!

Jide, our driver, gave me quite a lesson on what can be found in pharmacies, through "chemists," and through little old ladies with their small tables of provisions on the roadsides. (In return for the lesson, I gave Jide a basic health lesson.) Legal or illegal, it matters not. Just about anything that a person wants can be found.

And this brings me to the point of the post title, "Mixun". For around 20 naira (1.3 cents) a person can ask the chemist for some Mixun. The chemist will open his "plastics" -- large containers that have hundreds of a certain tablet. They will spoon out 2 tablets from various plastics -- 2 pain relievers, 2 tablets for stomach aches, 2 Vit. Cs, 2 Folic Acid tablets, and who knows what all else. When they've collected about 12 tablets per each 20 naira, they'll put them in a small waterproof (plastic bag) and hand it to the shopper. "Such a deal," the locals think! Then, if the shopper has three sick children at home, he'll ask his children to share the Mixun. Often, one person will down 12 tablets at once ... and wait to see what happens! "Honestly ... no matter how!"

My little health lesson for Jide had some effect in the area of un-approved drugs that you can only get from the little old ladies. I explained that the reason the gov't wouldn't approve the drugs is that there is great risk for longterm side effects -- ruining kidneys, livers, etc. Hardly worth the short relief from a headache. He and his family won't use them anymore.

But Jide and his family use Mixun. He promised to bring me a bag of it -- to see, not use! -- the next time he gets some. I couldn't convince him about the negative effects of Mixun. Even when I explained that too much Vit. C will be sloughed, taking with it all of the good iron in the body, etc. He just figures that it can't hurt to take a little bit of something you don't need with the hope that you can be helped by some of the tablets. Even my illustration of a hunter who went into the bush to get an animal to feed his family and he wore a blindfold and shot the gun up toward the air in the hopes that he would get the much-needed food ... , even that didn't help. So, Jide and I need some more Mixun discussions!

And even though we are soooooo anxious to leave this place, I will miss it on so many levels when the time actually arrives.