Welsand's in London

A few small things that add up to one post...

So I don't have enough per item to create a post for each so decided I would combine various small odd items into one...

Sophie and I were walking up our street the other day when we saw the weirdest "slug" with a blue horn! When I touched it with a stick it went crazy squirming around using that horn to fend me off. Of course, I had to find out what this odd creature was. After searching for some time on slugs I realized it wasn't a slug and tried to search under worms and finally realized that it was some type of caterpillar that we saw on our sidewalk. It was a Lime Hawk-moth Mimas tiliae. Which is a reasonably common species in the southern half of Britain, it was most frequent in the London area, where there are still extensive tree-lined avenues, which ours is. They are typically green with yellow stripes and a blue horn at the rear. When ready to pupate, they change colour to a dull greyish or purplish and begin to wander, looking for a pupation site. This is when they are most often encountered, which is obviously why we saw him.

On a more exciting note we walked by Helena Bonham Carter on the high street in Hampstead yesterday. She was pushing her son in his buggy chatting with a friend pushing her child in a buggy as well. She dresses so funky and cool--you can tell she has some money.

We got a note in our mail slot from the BBC Waking The Dead VI that they will be in film production from 12:00 to 22:30 in an apartment at Parliament Court, further down Parliament Hill from our flat. They will be filming for the majority of the time inside one of the apartments and about 20:00 will be in the front entrance to the middle section of the block finishing around 22:30--I may just have to go out for an evening stroll to be nosy....I wish I had a television, I am so out of pop culture here!

Finally, I was at the first board meeting for the Hampstead Women's Club at a member's house up in the Hampstead Garden Suburb last week. At the end of her block lives Jonathon Ross an English television and radio presenter. He has a beautiful house as all the houses in that area are. He didn't pop out and say hello though...Oh and on the way to the meeting we drove by the house of the former King of Greece, Constantine of Greece. Life is so interesting and filled with celebrities in London.

posted by Chris @ 9:02 AM