Answers and Questions

I am afraid I must begin this post with a chastisement of sorts. Despite my wonderful efforts at creating a game for all of you, no one played. At least, if you tried to guess the characters, you didn’t post your answers in comments, and therefore I have no clue as to who won. Despite that, I am now going to take the time and give the answers for the game.

1.   Pumba

      This was an easy one. The species was a Warthog, and the reference was to the eternally classic Disney movie Lion King.

2.   Kevin

      This pic was of the skeleton of a giant, extinct flightless bird. In calling it Kevin, I was referencing the Pixar movie UP. Since Kevin’s species is never fully named, I would have accepted answers such as “Monster of Paradise Falls” or “Venezuelan Giant Bird” or some such thing.

3.   Richard Parker

      The species is, quite obviously, a tiger. The reference was for the novel Life of Pi, wherein a boy spends months adrift at sea, forced to share his lifeboat with a fully grown Bengal Tiger named Richard Parker.

4.   Ublaz Mad Eyes

      No, this is not a weasel or a ferret. It is in fact a pine martin. The name Ublaz is a reference to the Redwall book series by Brian Jacques, specifically Pearls of Lutra, in which Ublaz the pine martin is the main baddy. 

5.   Hedwig

      Another gimme; do I really need to say it? Oh well. Snowy owl, Harry Potter.

6.   Angus

      This ferocious looking beast is a Scottish Wildcat. The name Angus refers to the pet of British teen Georgia Nicolson in the Young Adult book Angus, Thongs, and Full Frontal Snogging. The character of Angus actually has a personality very close to that of the cat in the picture.

7.   Pickwick

      Remember how I told you all to read some Jasper Fforde? If you had, you would have gotten this one. Pickwick is a Dodo bird, beloved pet of Thursday Next, heroine of some of Fforde’s novels. Pickwick is possibly my favorite character in the entire series, as Pickers steals every scene she appears in.

8.   Frightful

      In a flash of nostalgia, I took a picture of this peregrine falcon and named it after the bird in My Side of the Mountain, a favorite of mine from when I was younger. 

9.   DH82

      Ok, I’ll admit this one was hard. This is another pet from Fforde’s books, this time the household companion of Thursday’s mother, Wednesday. The species is a thylacine, or Tasmanian tiger, all of which are currently extinct in the real world, even if not in the fictional. (BTW, I can spell thylacine without looking it up, but Microsoft word doesn’t recognize it.)

10. Teddy

      This little fella is straight from the pages of Sherlock Holmes. He is a mongoose, and he is mentioned in “The Adventure of the Crooked Man” in The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes. Teddy doesn’t do much, other that puzzle Sherlock (which is quite hard to do) and eat a canary, but he does stick in the memory.

I’m going to spend the rest of this post answering some of the basic questions people have been asking me about my stay in London. These are the questions that I’ve been asked by multiple people, so I figured I would put the answers out for everyone to read.

How’s the weather?
A bit drizzly sometimes, but usually it is just overcast. Scarily similar to NC weather actually.

Seen any shows yet?
Yes! I have seen Oscar Wilde’s An Ideal Husband, and I plan to go see many more very soon.

Where do you live?
My neighborhood is called Little Venice, mostly because of the canals that run through it. It is actually a pretty ritzy part of London. When I meet people at the school I practicum at, they all seemed surprised that we, as students, were lodged in such an expensive part of town. Several big names live in LV, including JK Rowling (!). It also provides a nice opportunity for punning; I passed a newsagent (small corner store) that had “Merchant of Little Venice” on the sign. The building I live in is Clifton Gardens, and it is a nice, white building with a little wall in front. My flat is big: 3 bed, 3 baths. It has to be, there are 8 of us that share it. It is a really nice flat, we have snazzy leather furniture and glass tables that are all brand new because the students before us complained so much that Anglo American updated all the flats.

What are the meals like?
Pretty good actually. I know British cooking is supposed to be stereotypically bad, but it isn’t like I am living in a British house or anything. My meals are all either cooked by me or bought at a little café, pub or restaurant if I eat out. I will say this, the Indian and Thai food is INCREDIBLE. We have a Thai place just down the street, and another restaurant that delivers if you order above £10 (very easy to do if you order as a group).

What’s the deal with money?
Confusing. Far too many coins (there are like 8 or 9 in common circulation compared to America’s 4). My aunt actually gave me great advice on saving money though: when you hear it in pounds, automatically double the price in your head for dollars, even though that is not the exact exchange rate. Therefore, you will think you are spending more money than you are, and stop spending sooner, therefore saving money. Another great thing about the Brits: no sales tax; it makes reckoning the bill from the menu prices so much easier.

If you have any questions you want me to answer, put them in comments and I will answer them in my next post.