Acton

Hello everyone,

I've seen a lot of the city of London, but I wanted to get a feel for suburban English city life, so I took everyone on a day trip to Acton on the outskirts of London. We took the Tube to the West Acton station--it was a long ride into Zone 3 of the Underground.

Outside the Tube stop, there were many little Chinese restaurants. We strolled through a residential street and it looked just like Privet Drive from Harry Potter. I half expected to see a Professor McGonagall cat on the half walls around the yards. Didn't see any cats, but we did notice that the hedges are made of Christmas holly! It was refreshing to be out of London and in a peaceful place with fresh air and sunshine.

Our first stop was 3 Creswick Rd: Peacehaven. My mom went on this same study abroad trip when she was in college, and that's where the students stayed--not in London. So I got to stand on the front steps of the building she lived in when she was my age, halfway around the world from home. I got chills in a good way; it was one of those moments where you just feel really connected to everything.

Peacehaven

Past Peacehaven, which is now an international guest house, we saw a nice little park called Springfield Gardens and then a bunch of Middle Eastern fruit stands and grocery stores on Acton High Street. We went into a tiny shopping mall--this place was really miniscule: it had six stores! We went to our first 99 pence store (like a dollar store) and bought biscuits (cookies), gummy coconut mushrooms, and a Swiss cake log. It was a foot long and three inches across. Obscene!

Fruli in the background of a gummy mushroom

Gummy meercats: there are weird
gummy shapes over here

Springfield Gardens park

After the mall, we made our way down the street to the farmers' market on the Mount where I picked up some scarves as a souvenir. The best deal for patterned scarves you will get is 3 for £10. I talked to the woman selling scarves, and she was upset about the snow that was coming the next day and the cold snap they were in, which is our mild late-March weather in Wisconsin. I tried to be sympathetic.

Market on the Mount

St George & the Dragon signboard

By that time we were tired of walking, so we spent a few hours in a pub called St George & the Dragon, which has been there since 1759. We had a good time just talking, playing spoons, and eating that enormous Swiss cake. I got a pint of Fruli, a Belgian strawberry beer made of white beer and strawberry juice. It is absolutely delicious; try it if you get the chance. I just looked it up on the company website; it looks like it's available in the States--imported by PUSA in Littleton, CO. So get to it, folks!

My mom told me that the Indian food in Acton is really good, but I think the demographics have changed to more Middle Eastern and Chinese, and we had difficulty finding the Indian restaurant that I'd found online. We ended up walking a few miles too far and had to backtrack. Then when we finally found the building, it was closed for lunch on Fridays, contrary to the Google review page. Lesson learned: don't trust the internet for everything.

We were pretty hungry and tired, so we headed to the nearest Tube stop, Acton Town, and got lunch at--get this--an American diner! It's jarring to see your own culture as kitsch. The place was called Jump In Jack's, and we got the most stereotypical American lunch possible, burgers and milkshakes, and it was the most perfect ending to our day out. The food was delicious, and they even made veggie burgers for my friend and me.

Vegetarian food is widely available here; I haven't had a problem at any restaurant I've been to in any town, city, or country on this side of the world, so America better shape up before I get home! Vegetarian food is made differently here: the burgers and breakfast sausages I've had aren't the soy protein/fake meat that they do back home. Here it's actually a fried, breaded patty made of fresh vegetables (peas, carrots, green beans, corn) held together in mashed potatoes. It's quite good, and I like that it's made of whole vegetables. One other thing you should know about the chips (fries) here is that they're thicker, not greasy, and served with mayonnaise. We bring ketchup packets with us so we can mix it into the mayo and make Fancy Sauce. I'm addicted.

All in all, I had a great time in Acton seeing where my mom lived when she was my age, and we all had a grand day out.

~Red