Happy Valentine's Day!

48 days, 7 books, 3 big puzzles, 1 entire sitcom, (Schitt's Creek), mountains of Indian food and priceless solo time with me baby. I'm down to the final day of my London pandemic vacation. Tonight we are celebrating with good English beer and sticky toffee pudding. When I get back to Italy I'll start a diet by weaning myself off all the baked goods I've been living on. It's cold, spitting snow and wildly windy out there right now but spring has given signs of arriving. I saw buds and green sprouts galore on my walk in Regent's Park the other day. There are daffodils, snow drops and crocus out already in the sunnier spots. Soon I'll be able to see what survived the winter in my little renovated covid garden in Italy. Let's keep looking forward folks! xxoo me

Highgate Cemetery East is a bit larger, flat and laid out in a grid. It doesn't have the spooky aspect of the West side. What it does have though are vast wooded areas filled with tombstones. They look like so many little stone trees. It also has Karl Marx.

Here lies the big guy himself. His tomb is enormous.

There are many newish graves with odd or funny or horrible stones. Here the sculpture is grotesque.

The stone in front is an artist pallet, the one to the right, a Penguin book cover, is for "an avid reader"

This is my favorite. It's the grave of Patrick Caufield, Pop Artist. Look carefully at the stone. It says "dead". Perfect. xxoo me

I made it to Highgate Cemetery last Sunday. A cold and drizzily day, it was perfect for this creepy place. The cemetery is in two parts, Highgate Cemetery West and Highgate Cemetery East, straddling each side of Swain's Lane. The west side is the oldest and the most prestigious. Famous folks there include Michael Faraday and Christina Rossetti. The paths weave all around, up and over hills. There are catacombs and tunnels and chapels. It's very cool.

The entrance gate.

Elizabeth jackson was the first person buried in the cemetery. She died of cholera in 1854.

This guy Wombell owned traveling animal shows. The lion is Nero.

Thomas Sayers is buried here. He was a famouse bare-fisted boxer who had the largest funeral the cemetery has ever seen. The dog is Lion, his constant companion.

This is the grave of Queen Victoria's Horse Slaughterer!

Listen to THIS clusterf@#*. The NHS (National Health Service) developed an app for tracking the virus. The app contacts you if you have been within 2-4 meters, for 15 minutes or more, of a person who has tested positive for COVID. Of course the infected person would ALSO have to have the app. They suggest but do not obligate the public to download the app. As G is working with the public, she got the app. She is, however, the ONLY employee at her shop who did so. Well a couple weeks ago she was contacted and told that she had been exposed to someone the previous day and needed to self-isolate. The notice came at 5:30 am as she was on her way to open the shop up for breakfast. She continued on to the shop, met up with her asst manager who then contacted the powers that be and then came home and stayed off work for the next 10 days. Tuesday morning her manager called and said that she was being "investigated" by HR in collaboration with the NHS, for having gone into work the morning she was notified. Let's consider this. The day she was "exposed" she was at work where customers are permitted to enter only to order and pay but then must exit and wait outside for their food and drink. So the 15 minute exposure to someone within 2-4 meters means either soemone she worked with or a customer who was standing OUTSIDE. As no one she works with has the NHS app and no one has tested positive, it MUST have been someone standing OUTSIDE of the shop but within 2-4 meters of the counter of the bakery. SHE was contacted because she followed the government's suggestion and downloaded the contact app, but her coworkers with whom she worked the day of exposure, were not contacted because they don't have the app, NOT because they weren't exposed. She was already near the shop when the notification came and ONLY stopped in to inform her boss(es) that she had been contacted by the app. BTW, the company has no protocol for this situation and are also "investigating" 7 other employees in similar situations. So yesterday was the inquisition and she has has her hand slapped and recieved a formal warning. Generally warning are given to employees who tell a customer to F@#* off or punch a co-worker. Really. So inept. On another note, I just got back from a walk in the park where I saw DAVID MITCHEL!! You may have no idea who he is but I am a big fan as I love British panel games shows and he's a regular on my favorite. So exciting! He's short and tubby and reminds me of a hobbit. xxoo me