58 Wetherden Street, Satellite View

Well morning to you. Let's do some spying together.

As I still have a little more than an hour before my first class starts, I thought I'd link to Google Maps' satellite image of Wetherden Street. When you zoom in, you can get a pretty good view of the backyards; but I'm left wondering if any of the bomb shelters remain from the blitz. This wonder leads me to question whether most homes in London and its surrounding area have uprooted their shelters. I guess the corrugated metal domes would have been eyesores and space-wasters to many, and Ivy described her family's shelter as already leaky and flooded during the bombings. When she talks about things like that -- her family having to run to the bomb shelter for protection during air raids and inciendiary bombs -- she doesn't show any rememberence of fear, and I wonder about that, too.

Between Mile End and Bethnal Green

When I'm in London next week, one of the things I want to do is find the house where my Nanna, Ivy, grew up. She's told me the address a shameful number of times, but, right now, I can only remember that her row of houses was -- hopefully still is -- between Mile End and Bethnal Green. I think the street name is Walthamstow. If it's still standing, I'll be taking pictures to share with her when I get back to Toronto. Visiting the place where she grew up and spent most of world war two will be so good. Hopefully the current residents will be home and friendly and not mind letting me into their backyard...or maybe even touring their house! Hah, think that's pushing it?

Attention all residents of Walthamstow and vicinity: Please prepare yourselves for company!

Edit: fifteen minutes later
Alright, so I was way off and totally wrong. Nanna's old house is out in section three nearest the Leyton station. She said there used to be a bus -- the 38 -- that would take her from home to Piccadily. I think bussing it out to her area would be much better than going the distance underground. I'd love to see how London is made and how it changes through the districts. Walthamstow is where Nanna's family sometimes got their mail from. The true address to find is 58 Wetherden Street, Leyton (off of Markhouse Rd and Leabridge Rd). I've promised photos. So pardon me as I reissue my warning:

Attention all residents of 58 and 60 Wetherden Street: Please prepare yourselves for company!

Behind the Name

Imaging class this morning is full with all sorts of forgery tips. But they're being disseminated very slowly, so I've been enjoying a name etymology site called Behind the Name.

The proposed meaning of my name, Kyra, matches up closely with what I've read elsewhere. Kyra from Cyrus, Kyros...far sighted, bright light, sun.

England, England, Jordan

Received an email from Zandra this weekend: Congratulations are in order as she has been accepted onto this summer's dig in Jordan! Zab and I haven't seen eachother much at all in the last year+ due to work, school, and travel schedules (as well as some sloth on my part); hopefully we can spend some time together when we're both back in Toronto. (Zab is currently visiting friends in Nottinghamshire over reading week, and I will be leaving for Heartfordshire in less than two weeks.)

My upcoming trip to England will be with, and funded by, my mother. Relations between us are often strained. I'm unsure as to how much fun(/relaxation/enlightenment) this reading week vacation of ours will be, but I hope to make the best of it...and I've already suggested that the two of us spend some time pursuing our individual interests while in London and Paris. Thank god for June, our semi-host and tension de-fuser extraordinaire.

Creative Brief: SmartCar

Target: Upper-middle class. 35-50. Looking for a second car. University educated. $120k/yr.

Benefit: SmartCar is great/best on gas. 100k/L

Proof: Great milage. Easy to park.

Product difference: Really small.

Medium: TorontoLife

Link your way to a better day

Pop Montreal.

Ask for these days off

June 24 & 25 (Pride Toronto, 19th-25th)
July 1,2,3 (Canada Day weekend)
July 28 & 29 All day (Beaches International Jazz Festival, StreetFest 27th-29th, MainStage 29th-30th)
Labour Day weekend?