London, City of Espionage

This post is part of my City of Espionage series started earlier this year, about, well, cities associated with espionage and intelligence world in both fiction and the real world. This series is itself a part of a broader series of posts about spy thrillers. Today is about London. Of course, London is famous for being the residence and office base of the most famous fictitious secret agent in the world. But he is not the only secret agent that lives in London when he is not on a mission. Of course, London is the city where the headquarters of SIS/MI6 are. Also called Vauxhall Cross. Impressive piece of architecture, which unfortunately I haven't seen in real life just yet. It's in my bucket list. If I can ever take pictures of Vauxhall Cross (one never knows, with the intelligence community), I will share them here. In any case, just because of the MI6 Building, London deserves to be mentioned as a city of espionage. Obviously, it's also an essential centre for the intelligence community.

A Poutine in London

It is Saint John the Baptist's Day, also known as the Nationale Day of Quebec. Even as an expat, I celebrate it every year. On the day itself and, since 2024, in London the Saturday before, at the the Garden Bar. As I mentioned last year, the DGLQ organises every year a special event there for all the Quebec expats living in the UK and their friends and families. It allows me to speak to my fellow Quebeckers (and in French), listen to Québec music and... eat poutine. Far from the best poutine I had, but a decent one, with real cheese curds. This year, they had nothing else on the menu, knowing nobody wanted anything but what we truly long for. By the way, one word about our most famous national dish: make no mistake, this is 100% a Québec invention. With its fairly new popularity, poutine has been often labeled a Canadian dish. Truth is, it has been snubbed by the rest of Canada for years until fairly recently. So I always get a bit miffed when someone claims it's a Canadian dish. Because it's truly Québécois, both in origins and spirit. It's simple, yet unapologetically excessive.

Préparer la Saint-Jean

 Nouveau billet sur la Fête nationale, que je fêterai ici pour la vingtième fois, si je ne me trompe pas. Le plus gros de la célébration, nous la célèbrerons à Londres le 20 juin, puisque la Délégation générale du Québec à Londres prévoit quelque chose pour les expatriés comme moi. Ce sera ma troisième participation cette année. Je vais me répéter sans doute, mais fêter la Saint-Jean en expatrié nous fait vraiment prendre la mesure de notre québécitude. 

Un dragon noir à la Tour de Londres

Photo prise dans la boutique de souvenirs de la Tour de Londres. C'est le deuxième dragon que j'ai pris en photo cette journée-là. Ce dragon-ci était un dragon toutou énorme et il était là pour faire beau, il n'était hélas pas à vendre. Pas que j'aurais pû le transporter, mais petit loup aurait beaucoup aimé le rajouter à sa ménagerie.

Ghosts in the Walls

Is it okay to think about Halloween already? The weather has been kind of gloomy, in a good way (but then again I love gloomy weather), so of course I am thinking about Halloween. I spend the year preparing for the coming Halloween, I love the holiday that much. I am always on the lookout for something spooky. So during our visit to the Tower of London last February, I found in their souvenirs shop Ghosts in the Walls, which I purchased immediately. Subtitled "Spooky stories inspired by real history," I had no choice. I'm not sure when I will start reading it, but it's on my to be read list for the next few months.

Mysterious Black Cab

I was walking on the High Street last week when I saw a unusual sight: a bona fide black cab going up the street. Now, there are plenty of taxis here, but you usually see black cabs in London, and even there, you don't see as many as you used to. I had seen them in other cities, but as far as I can remember never in our town. I always loved black cabs since I first saw them for the first time as a child, back in the late eighties, I thought they looked like the quintessential English vehicle. They are taxis with a certain style. The driver didn't seem to know our town one bit, he had his mobile in his hands giving descriptions of what he saw. I guess he probably dropped a client picked in London and he was trying to find the quickest way back to the city. I wonder what errand brought him here and who was the client who paid the expensive fare. Because London is fairly close, but not that close, especially by car. And this begs another question: why pay a black cab instead of, well, anything else?

La Saint-Jean à Londres

Petite annonce pour les Québécois expatriés en Angleterre comme je le suis: la Délégation générale du Québec à Londres organise une célébration de la Fête nationale pour le 20 juin. J'y serai et je vous encourage à y aller.

Sherlock Holmes in London

Today, I am blogging again about this edition of The Hound of the Baskervilles by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. The first edition I read of the novel and the very first Sherlock Holmes novel I read. As it was aimed at younger readers, it was accompanied by many pictures, really nice ones. We sometimes forget that a substantial amount of time of the plot is spent in London, where Holmes and Watson first see the villain of the story, although only from afar. The antagonist is also disguised under a heavy fake beard, so his identity remains a mystery at this point. It makes for a suspenseful chase in the city, which concludes with the Holmes being bested (by his own admission) by his unknown adversary. This image renders very well the tension and gives to the scene and the setting a neat aura of menace.

The Violin Thief

 I blogged last year about the theft of a 285-year-old violin worth £150,000 in a London pub. Well, there has been some development to the story since the man was arrested: he has been charged with theft. It was about time. As a music lover, the stealing of a rare and ancient musical instrument is to me both morally and aesthetically repellent. Hell, you could argue it is a crime against our civilisation's memory. That said, it could be the subject of a great crime story. Everything about it makes for a great drama. An atmospheric one too: he stole the violin in a London pub, after all. I'm sure there is a scriptweriter working on it at the moment. I'm kind of tempted to try my luck at it and write a short story on the subject.

Pumpkin Spice Latte at the Yellow Ladder

 I am posting again about Yellow Ladder Coffee, the coffee shop we found out in London last month and which we really liked (well, I really liked it). You can find my original post here. I had forgotten to mention one other reason why I really liked this little known chain. They offered to my wife a pumpkin spice latte, which was the daily special brew, if I remember correctly. Now, I don't drink coffee, I actually hate the taste of coffee, I don't enjoy the effect it has on me, and it's the same with lattes. However, as an autumn and Halloween lover, I am glad I live in a world where pumpkin spice latte exists. It's one of those signs of my favourite season and my favourite holiday. I blogged yesterday about a possible early sign of Halloween to come. Well, this brew is the exact same thing: a reminder of autumn and Halloween. On a cold winter day, it also makes perfect sense to enjoy such brew, if you like coffee. In any case, Yellow Ladder Coffee just won themselves a new customer.

Yellow Ladder Coffee

 For those visiting London and looking for a decent coffee shop when you are on the go, I have a recommendation for you, especially if you stop at Whitechapel station on the tube: Yellow Ladder Coffee. We stopped there at random during our last family trip to London, the staff was so very nice and helpful and Wolfie even got a free babyccino. After a stressful journey to and through London, it was very much appreciated. We will stop back there when we can.

The Keys in the Tower

 I took this picture in the Tower of London last week. What you see here is the ensign of The Keys, which is the pub for the staff living in the Tower, among them the Yeomen Warders, also known as the Beefeaters. Well, it's not technically a pub, as it is not open to the public (what a shame), in fact its true name is the Yeoman Warders Club, it is in all practicality a pub for the people living there. And I think it's kind of cool that there is a boozer in the Tower.

Un dragon dans la Tour

 J'ai pris cette photo à la Tour de Londres. Un dragon fait de métal, sur des barils de poudre. Je n'ai pas eu le temps de m'attarder, étant occupé à suivre un jeune garçon hyper dont l'attention passait d'une chose à une autre. Je crois que le dragon est plus ou moins lié à Guy Fawkes, mais je n'en suis pas certain. Dans tous les cas, toute représentation d'un dragon m'intéresse et mérite une photo. J'ai donc pris celle-ci. Et ce n'est pas le seul dragon que j'ai vu dans la Tour de Londres, mais c'est le plus original et de loin le plus imposant.

The Ravens of the Tower of London

 Last week, as it was half-term, we decided to go to the Tower of London to meet a childhood friend of my wife, her eldest son being the very first friend of Wolfie. It was my second visit there, and we all had a very pleasant time, in spite of the cold (or maybe even because of it). I'm not sure which one was my favourite part, but I do have to say I really enjoyed seeing the ravens of the Tower. Because I love ravens and because of the legend associated to them: they must remain in the Tower as if they fly away, the British Crown will fall and Britain will too. I don't think it's true, but it's just cool to have ravens as residents.

Hamlet on stage

It struck me recently: I haven't seen a play in a long while. Not since I am a dad, at least. A few years ago, I used to go and watch them whenever I could. I need to put this on my new year's resolutions list: go and see some plays. And I also found out, thanks to the Facebook page of the National Theatre that they are making a production of Hamlet. It is the very first play of Shakespeare I read and maybe my favourite one. Yet I don't think I have ever seen it performed on stage, only in films. So I might see if I can watch it on cinema screen, like I did for many NT productions a decade or so ago.

The Bright Kid

 Yesterday, we went to a family gathering on my wife's side (well, of course on my wife's side, my own side of the family is kind of far). One of her aunts told me that the last time they had all been together like this was on our wedding day. There was one of the people there, the son of my wife's cousin, whom I hadn't seen in a while and was really eager to meet again. You see, when he was like two or three, he had become quite fond of me, a sweet little boy with an inquisitve mind. We always got aong well. Well, the sweet little boy just graduated from the University of Oxford this year and will start his very first real job this September in London. I am really impressed and feel so priviledged that he always liked me. We didn't have time to speak much, but we really enjoyed our catching up. So yeah, long story short, I'm the friend of a really bright kid.

The Violin Theft

Here's a bit of crime news I found out recently, which both shocked and fascinated me: a man was arrested for the theft of a £150,000 violin. First thing to say: wow! That is one expensive violin. To be honest, its value is not exactly surprising. There are expensive musical instruments out there, artifacts from another time still in working condition.This one is from the 18th century. It's just the sheer audacity of stealing a musical instrument that I find morally repellent to the extreme. It's one of the worst kind of thefts I can think of. Unfortunately, the violin has not been recovered as I am typing this. On another note, this could make for a great starting point for a crime novel. It already did, sort of, I mean I read one crime novel featuring a stolen violin. If you want to know which one check this link (otherwise: spoiler alert). And the theft happened in a London pub, because of course it did. So please keep your eyes open. Probably your ears too. I hope they find the violin.

New Scotland Yard, New Mr X

A few days ago, my wife said that we should play board games more often with Wolfie. We have a few, but we seldom take them out. And there are a lot which I would love to own. Among them, there is of course Scotland Yard, my all-time childhood favourite. I recently discovered that they have updated the look of the game, or at least the box, with a more modern take. It's a very contemporary London and Mr X looks far darker and more menacing, even though he sitll wears the rather anachronistic hat. He looks like he belongs to a spy thriller, which I guess Scotland Yard could be, as much as a crime adventure. Anyway, while I love the old fashioned look, I must say, I think the game's antagonist gives a proper sinister vibe.What do you think?

Giant Chessboard

During our last trip to London, we went to a park. I can't remember the name now. But anyway, it had a few interesting things there, such as a giant chessboard, with its pieces. A grandfather and his granddaughter were playing it, but they allowed me to take a picture. Not the best shot, but it gives you an idea. I used to love playing chess as a child, but stopped playing when I reached teenage. I hope I can find another giant chessboard one day and it's free. So I can maybe play a game with it. I don't think I would be very good (I never was), but it would be thrilling.

Cadran solaire

Lors de notre dernier passage à Londres, nous avons visité un parc, dont le nom m'échappe au moment où j'écris ces lignes. Mais bref, il y avait un cadran solaire. Que j'ai décidé de prendre en photo, rien que parce que. Et en passant, quelqu'un sait comment lire un cadran solaire? Et est-ce que c'est fiable pour lire l'heure, ou c'est très imprécis? Ou alors maintenant on les place dans un lieu public juste pour faire joli?