Of royalty and Royal Residences

Two weeks til Christmas break…Two weeks til Christmas break…Two weeks…

I’m looking forward to the break to catch my breath, do some travelling, and hopefully get a good start on next term’s work.

You’ll have to forgive the disjointedness of this post. There’s a lot I’d like to share with you but (as always) little time in which to do so and, quite frankly, I’m getting tired of writing (think academic papers) so I’m not worrying to much about style here. Just content. I hope you’ll find it in your hearts to forgive me. =)

So first things first… A few odd sightings here in London. The first I don’t have a picture of but I saw the Queen when she came to open the oh-so-creatively-named New Academic Building on the LSE campus. My second royal sighting of the week occurred at the Remembrance Sunday service I attended on Whitehall. Here’s the picture I got of the Queen then:

I think she’s behind the tree but I know she’s in there somewhere…

Here are the third, and fourth odd sightings:

That’s right, blue sky!



I’d wondered if I’d done something to offend my shadow…it had been such a long time since I’d seen it.


Just to give you an idea as to the weather here I’ve taken the liberty of including a weekly forecast from the BBC website.



In other news, I’ve been introduced to a British institution: the football match. A friend of mine got some cheap tickets to a Chelsea F.C. game so though I’m not a big sports fan I went along for the experience and was not disappointed! My first inkling that “we’re not in Canada anymore Toto” was when the ‘away’ team’s fans arrived at the stadium in a single group surrounded by police on foot and on horseback. They were escorted past the rest of us Chelsea fans (well, I had to pick a side for the evening didn’t I…there’s no such thing as a neutral party at a British footie match!) and up to a separate entrance reserved especially for them.

Once I’d taken my seat I noticed that all the ‘away’ fans had been segregated (ghettoized?) on one side of the stadium with a cordon of cops standing shoulder to shoulder between the ‘home’ and ‘away’ fans. As things got heated up more and more police were interspersed among the crowd and by the second half they were lined up around the perimeter of the playing field as well, presumably to intercept any streakers or other miscreants.

I certainly have a better understanding of British culture now! The normally reserved Britons change completely when cheering on their team. There was a bloke seated nearby who was getting so worked up we all thought was going to have an aneurism right there and then, and the language… oh the language. I think it would have made the Royal Navy blush collectively!

Now onto the other end of the spectrum. This past weekend the LSE’s International Relations Department held it’s annual academic conference which I and about 75 of my cohort-mates attended. The conference itself was OK (it dealt with rising powers in IR. The BRICs for those of you interested in, or familiar with, the field.) but the real highlight was the venue.


Cumberland Lodge is located in Windsor Great Park, about 3.5 miles south of Windsor Castle. It’s a former Royal Residence that was set aside as a centre to contribute to education and social advancement. My next door neighbour while there was Royal Lodge where the Queen is known to spend weekends. I was able to slip away and attend church at the Royal Chapel nearby but alas, Her Majesty wasn’t in attendance. We weren’t allowed to bring cameras so I have no pictures of the church but here are some of Cumberland Lodge and surrounding area.

I guess I'll finish off by posting a few pictures of the Lodge (my room, dining room, etc...)

My room.

Hallway to my room.

Dining room.

Reading room/lounge.

Music room.

Staircase to my room.

Royal Chapel.

The grounds.

Once again, my apologies for the hodge-podge nature of this post but I just wanted to get it up quickly so I could go to bed at a decent time but knowing that all of you (there must be at least two of you!) know I haven't been the victim of some terrible accident in the Tube. Hope all's well back in Canada and I'll look forward to your comments.

"Signs of the Thames"

So here it is, the long awaited, critically acclaimed Post #4. Looks like my goal of 'once-weekly' was a little optimistic...

I know we’re only four post into this blog so it’s a little early for frivolous ‘speical editions’ but I’ve collected a number of photos taken here in London that bear sharing. They’re all variations on a theme and as such I’ve entitled this little exposition “The Signs of the Thames”. Corny, I know, but hopefully you’ll get a chuckle or two out of them. Drumroll please....

Taken near Hampstead Heath, this sign demonstrates the quintessential British desire for order and propriety. So what exactly do they mean by 'foul'?

Well, just to make sure the park isn't 'fouled', the Britons have come up with this ingenuous solution (above). 'Just carry around little pooper-scooper bags" you say? Hogwash!

Shifting gears... London's a big, BIG city with lots of people and more concrete than you can shake a stick at. Consequently green spaces are at a premium and every effort is made to keep them vibrant and healthy.

Hey, if we're allowed to get sick, why can't the trees?!

Finally let's move on to something of a British obsession. Those of you familiar with George Orwell's "1984" will already be acquainted with the concept underpinning of the CCTV (closed circuit TV). There is the unshakeable feeling that 'Big Brother' is always watching. One cannot walk 50 feet without coming across one of these security cameras perched atop a fence or protuding from the side of a building. So as to garner an aura of legitimacy, the Powers-That-Be have graciously posted signs informing people to 'smile-because-every-move-you-make-is-being-watched-by-some-guy/girl-in-a-control-room-somewhere-in-the-bowels-of-some-security-headquarters'. Case in point...

Now, the local populace has not simply bowed down to Big Brother...far from it. They have commited little acts of defiance to show their displeasure. The writing is hard to make out above so I'll just tell you what it says. Below 'for the purpose of;' someone has written "Interfering with your lives" and below 'for information contact;' we can read "MI5" [MI5 is roughly equivalent to CSIS in Canada or the FBI in the US]

Sometimes the acts of defiance aren't so little...

(Please notice the CCTV just to the right of the word 'nation'...these guys had guts!)

Just so you don’t think I’ve become a shutterbug rather than a student, I’ll bring you up to speed on some of the goings-on at the LSE.

First and foremost I’ve finally managed to solidify my course docket. As it stands I’ll be taking the compulsory core course “International Politics” as well as “International Security” (which is being taught by a leader in the international relations field, Barry Buzan), and “Strategic Aspects of International Relations”. These are all full-year classes which take the structure of one lecture (1 hr) per course per week and one seminar (1.5-2 hrs with a group of less than 15 students) per course per week. Doesn’t sound like much until you consider the reading lists we’ve been given! Since none of my classes have set textbooks I’m constantly in the library looking for this book or that article which have been assigned for the next class.

The learning and teaching philosophy is very different here. The onus is on the student to learn what he/she thinks will be of greatest value in preparation for the final exam (did I mention that my finals are all worth 100% of my final grade? That’s right, 1-0-0-%. All the papers, presentations, etc. which I’m required to do count for nothing and are seen as “formative exercises”.) There is very little in the way of spoon-feeding here which is nice in terms of preparing for the ‘real’ world but also a little daunting. I hadn’t appreciated how relatively sheltered the North American system was until arriving here.

This place is amazing and of the highest caliber in a lot of respects. I really am afraid of my professors here. Part of that may just be due to cultural differences. Part of it may have to do with the fact that there is such a high post-graduate student turn-over rate. (As an aside, I’d like to share a brief story with you. At the end of his introductory lecture, the professor of a class I considered taking said in lightly accented English, “Some of you may haf noticed from my accent that I’m from Chermany…it goes vithout saying zat ziss vill not be fun.” He was so deadpan that none of us knew if he was serious or not.) I think most of all, however, it’s due to the fact that these are some really sharp cookies, so to speak. For example, I remember reading journal articles by Professor Buzan as an undergrad…now he’s sending me emails. It just seems kind of surreal. My classmates are top-notch too. I’m no longer the smart kid in the class (if I ever was). For the most part it’s really nice but sometimes there can be a little too much “Type A” floating around in the air if you catch my drift (those of you who know me well may be shocked to hear me say that!).

I’ve been keeping busy outside of school too and, much to everyone’s relief, have not cloistered myself in the British Library of Political and Economic Sciences. I’ve been involved with church activities and generally with wandering around. Most large museums here are free but nothing else is. I’ve done a lot of window shopping and meandering through parks, etc. all of which has been very pleasant and informative in its own ways but none of which constitutes anything to write home about.

OK. This should do for now. I’m in good spirits (though feeling a little bit as though I were drowning in a sea of academic literature) and thank you for your posts, emails, missives, etc.