Walk #90: London Calling...

Walk Duration: 45 minutes...The UK ranks high in my mind today. First off, Obama is over there--across the pond. Protesters are in the streets of London--burning bankers in effigy. Breaking windows. A replay of Seattle from ten years ago. Yes, the protesters have lots to be angry about. Neo Liberalism has ruined many a life in the First, Second and Third Worlds. And American leadership the last thirty years has been dismal on everything from Climate Change to Bundling Mortgages to, well, just about everything.

But, for once, I feel a little impatient with the protesters. Normally I'd be rooting them on. Go get em! But then I hear that Obama cut a deal with the Russians to reduce Nuclear Warheads by 33 percent! I'm not certain that this hour of history is the time to protest in such a fashion.

On a more personal note, I also heard from our friends over the pond today. A nice little comment on Walk #52 from the UK's leading magazine of walking. I take way too much pride in small things: Attention seeking little dweeb that I am. I'll take every little bit of positive attention I can get and run with it! This little blog about daily walks is on the blogroll of Walk Magazine. I highlight it over there on the right. Take a look...

Anyway, Mike of Walk Magazine--substantiated by the IP address of his post--said:

you deserve your place on our blogroll! keep up the good work!

Frankly, that made my day!

I took my walk in downtown St. Helena and stopped into my favorite little restaurant down there (the name of the place is "Market"). I ordered "fish and chips" in honor of Mike (and all the UK Ramblers)--even though it seemed a shame to waste fresh ling cod by slathering it with batter and frying it in grease. But today I wanted to honor my friends in the UK for saying something nice about me.

Ok. I topped the cod off with a cold AnchorSteam on tap. I had to. For some reason that cold AnchorSteam from San Francisco tastes so good at this restaurant. The secret, the bartender told me, is that they order half kegs so that the beer is always fresh. For dessert I thought about having a nice Scotch...but paying twenty bucks for 2 ounces of a fancy single malt seemed excessive.

But I did have the Fish and Chips. Thanks Mike!

By the way, the movie "An American Werewolf in London" is my favorite movie about walking in the UK. This movie has everything: humor, a naked Jenny Agutter, hiking and quirky fear inducing cheap cinematic stunts. The gore is easily handled by shutting your eyes--which is what every scary movie should make you do anyway.