More money than sense

So, I'm reading Daily Candy today, and what's the featured hip new fashionable item du jour? Ooh - a stunning necklace, each one individually crafted, and all the more covetable because of its ephemeral nature. And more than being simply beautiful, the necklace is a wearable piece of social commentary -- rather than purchase something momentarily trendy, which you then tire of after wearing it twice and it gets old and faded and then you send it to the charity shop but no one wants it there either and then it adds to our ever growing mountains of rubbish threatening to swamp the earth -- rather than that, it just melts away in a few weeks. Ah, beautiful and eco-friendly. And only from £120. What a triumph of jewellery making.

Er, no. It's ROCK CANDY people! As the designer herself says - sugar, water, and string. Get a do-it-yourself kit here. Or go to the grocery store - I think you may be able to find the rare ingredients there...

[BTW, I realise this rant may make me sound like either a philistine or a grumpy old woman -- but really! Rock Candy necklaces 'from £120'??? What happened to the recession?]

NPR puzzle - about TV, so how can I miss?

To enter this week's NPR puzzle:

"If you take the title "Candid Camera." and write down the first appearance of each letter, in the order they appear, ignoring any repeated letters, you get C, A, N, D, I, M, E, R. Or "LA Law" would be L, A, W.

By doing the same thing to the title of what other well-known TV program do you get the letters S, E, A, M, T, R?"

If you can get the answer by 3pm Eastern time (about 11 hours from now as I write), be sure to submit it to NPR, and maybe you too can play the Sunday Puzzle on the air with Will Shortz. Not sure he calls London, but have my phone ready if he does!

On the road to domestic goddessness

I took one more step closer last night, courtesy of the London College of Fashion, with the first night of my... (drum roll) SEWING CLASSES!! Yes, I've finally enrolled in a basic machine sewing course after talking about it for ages and eons and even years.

No faffing about, we got straight on the machines, industrial ones at that (ooh, scary. Very fast, and very powerful). I learned that in some beginner courses you start on paper, with no thread (huh?) just to get the feel of the machine - but not us. Nope, right into bobbin winding, needle threading, and line after line on squares of calico. (which, by the way, is not the printed floral cotton I knew it as in the US, but rather a plain unbleached material -- like thicker muslin. Thanks, Wikipedia, for clearing up my confusion!). By the end of the first class I was feeling quite in control of my machine, ooh miss, look at me and my straight seams.

Until it was, erm, miss - I seem to have broken my needle... The industrial machines may be powerful, but clearly no match for me. Stay tuned for next week's installment: what can she break next!?

Where did the week go?

How did it get to be Saturday already, with only a few minutes until we head off on our lovely (we hope!) long weekend in Lugano??

My week off playing hometown tourist disappeared far too quickly -- however I did manage to do more than just sit around watching Rockford*. To wit:

*finally taking in Ice Station Antarctica at the Natural History Museum -- great exhibit... if I were about 30 years younger. Impressive for kids, would've been better if they had more things to keep the parents amused
*didn't take in the Russians at the Royal Academy -- lesson: book in advance for popular shows in their final week!
*took lesson to heart - and successfully booked in advance for Vanity Fair Portraits at National Portrait Gallery. Fab. Will get the book, definitely.
*window shopped -- including the new Banana Republic, first in Europe. Great dresses, I wanted most of them - however disappointingly, either they believe all Londoners are between size 0 - 4, or the larger sizes had sold out.

And now, off to Adventures in Switzerland!

*the fact I'd seen them all before may have helped

Rhythm-tastic at the Kenton

Why were we in Stoke Row at all to experience the great April snow of aught eight? The now annual appearance of the Roy Bailey Band at Henley's Kenton Theatre (featuring Ed Hall on drums -- aka Ashley's Dad). This year's theme was Fascinating Rhythm, which allowed them to pull together quite an eclectic mix of differently-timed (but all toe-tapping) tunes. From the title track to Abba, from Oye Como Va to West Side Story and In The Mood, it was a well rounded musical evening to say the least - and once again, it was all I could do not to jump up and start dancing (or worse - start singing along!)

Speaking of singing, in addition to keeping the fascinating beat throughout, Ed led vocals on one number... take it away, Ed Hall, with his take on The Lady is a Tramp:

If April showers bring May flowers...

...what do April snows bring?

I guess we'll find out, as this past weekend saw temperatures across the UK dive from a lovely spring-like 68 degrees on Friday, to below freezing by Saturday evening. And *this* is what I saw out the bedroom window when I woke up in Stoke Row (at the in-laws) Sunday morning:

I think this is more snow than I've seen in the UK in the 10+ years I've been here. Granted, I was outside London, but still --it's not like I was in the wild Scottish north! Stoke Row still counts as the South East. (at least I think so - my English geography is still pretty poor...)

Poor daffodils in the back garden...

Taking Millie for a walk by the sports field (she didn't fancy too much walking or ball chasing -- preferring instead to lie in the snow...)

All I can say is, pretty as the snow may be, the flowers and I hope spring returns soon...

A-a-a-and STRETCH

So, last night was the last of my 6-week beginners Pilates class (for you Pilatophiles out there - it was floor- not machine-based). I think I liked it less and then more than I thought I would -- which just about evens itself out. On the positive side -- the class was small (6 - 8), and we were all starting out from the same super novice beginner state. And the instructor was great -- very hands on, physically moving us each into the correct position if we didn't quite get it from just watching her movements. And we went over the basics, quite thoroughly. So I do think I learned a lot.

And yet. I'm not sure I really felt like I was DOING anything. I did start to feel the exercises properly after the first few lessons -- but still. We'd do one exercise about 5 times, and then she'd say 'ooh, that's enough, don't over do it'. So at the end of the hour class, I felt quite relaxed, but not sure I felt that, um, exercised. I think the only way pilates works to 'sculpt your body', a la every magazine cover, is to do it more than once a week.

Hmm... will have to think about that one...

What will they think of next??

Thanks, Kris, for pointing me to this fab new application from Google. Why review the past when you can search the future!? I wonder if it only works Down Under, however...

WWLD?

I woke up this morning to film crews on the Green AGAIN. Yep, Kew Green appears to be quite the picturesque spot for commercials -- Mars last week, Activia today. And -- sigh -- 2 more opportunities to get my big break lost through lack of initiative on my part.

If I were Lucy, I would've manufactured 101 ways to get into either of those commercials. Perhaps impress the director by scarfing 100 Snickers bars in 10 minutes, for a little product knowledge? (and then of course being too sick to film the actual commercial...)

Of course, if I *were* Lucy, then my husband would already be in the commercial himself and I'd spend most of the day trying to get on camera while simultaneously disguising myself so he had no idea I was there. And hilarity and hijinks would ensue.

Ah - simpler days... I've just decided my new life motto: What Would Lucy Do?

Margot in the kitchen

No, not the sequel to Margot at the Wedding . Rather, Saturday afternoon saw me at my friend Margot's flat, trying to cook as many freezable recipes as possible in a couple of hours. Why? To see her through the next couple of weeks as she recuperates from surgery to repair a skiing mishap-caused torn ACL. So, sending many get-well-soon wishes to Margot -- hope you enjoy the defrosted veggie soup, chicken cacciatore, and teriyaki chicken! It's amazing what you can freeze -- did you know there's a whole movement dedicated to freezing food for a month, so you only cook that one day a month. I think that requires more dedication and planning than I'm capable of!

And to Kim, who suffered the SAME injury on the same ill-fated trip -- I wish I could come to New York & cook with you as well! At least home delivery is that much more prevalent in NYC...

mmm... steak

What goes better with last week's potatoes than a juicy steak? And now, having been sucked into watching Ramsay's Kitchen Nightmares for the first time (I swear - I only turned it on while folding laundry!), I now want to try a steak at the Olde Stone Mill Steakhouse in Tuckahoe -- according to Google Maps, only 7.2 miles from White Plains! Though I'm slightly disappointed Gordon took the signature funnel salad off the menu -- that would have been a sight to behold.



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*really - I'm not being ironic -- I do want to check this place out. Gee, I guess I *am* influenced by celebrity, however tenuous.

My cup runneth over

Can you believe it? It seems that not only is this British Pie Week, it is in fact the whole Year of the Potato. And that’s backed by the mighty UN, so it must be for serious.

Some little known facts about the potato:

• It does not, in fact, end in the letter ‘e’ (ok, most people know that already, but in an election year, I thought it was a fun reminder of some lighter moments in Republican party ineptitude. Makes a change from the more serious ineptitude of late)
• There’s not only a year dedicated to it, but a new book -- and Marie Antoinette was a potato promoter... so perhaps she could've said 'let them eat pommes de terre'
• The potato is the world's fourth most important food crop (answers to 1,2,3 most important below)
• The potato was first domesticated by hunters and gatherers around Lake Titicaca (I think it probably looked something like this)
• If you're lucky, you too can read the very first issue of the Frozen Potato Product Newsletter -- and get in there on the ground floor
• There are 7500 varieties of potatoes (how come there are only about 3 or so at the grocery store then -- tiny, a little bigger, and baking size?)
• And finally, the best mashed potatoes in the whole world are made by none other than Ashley Paul Agar. And reader, I married him.

*top 3 crops ahead of potatoes are maize, wheat & rice, btw

mmmmm.... pie.....

Clearly I was meant to live in the UK, given my love for foods stodgy and carbohydrate-intensive. Baked beans -- mmm. Mash? Can't go wrong. But nothing beats a good savoury pie. Yum and double yum, so let's all celebrate British Pie Week.

Of course - I completely disagree with Jus-Rol's site -- puff pastry topping is *not* the way to go. Far too light and fluffy. You need a good solid crust, such as found on Square Pie pies.

Only 5 more days left of Pie Week, and I've yet to have a single pie. Guess I know what's for dinner tonight! (I wonder if I can get take-out from the Greyhound next door...)

Groundbreaking news

Or is that earth-shaking?

Last night at 00:54 on the clock (because I looked!), Ashley & I were woken up by a little rumble, and the sound of things on hooks clinking against the walls. My first thought? Earthquake. My second thought? Don't be silly - England doesn't have earthquakes. It must've been a really large truck or something going by (not that I heard the noise of a truck - but still, it seemed to make more sense than an earthquake.)

But as I always say - stick with your instinct, go with that first thought. Turns out England did indeed have its biggest earthquake for 25 years. And despite it happening about 160 miles away, we can vouch for the fact it was definitely felt in London!

Citibank? Yep, still sucking...

When last we left our heroine (?) it had been 24 hours, several phone calls & still no access to her account.

Well friends, it's now been 48 hours and -- surprise, surprise -- still no account.

But yesterday did bring a few more twists & turns in the grand Citibank Adventure.

Just to remind you, when I called yesterday morning, I was promised a call 'by the end of the day'. Of course, I foolishly took 'call' to mean 'account open with money in it'.

Unable to wait, I checked my account around 2 pm... silly me -- 2 pm is NOT end of day. Of course my account wasn't open! With a little time on my hands (work's been a bit slow for a change), I did a little digging and found the names of the heads of the UK retail banking operation, Messrs. Kerr and van der Meer. And a little more digging gave me a good steer towards their likely e-mail addresses. SO, e-mail them I did. (hmm - am I straying into grumpy old woman territory here? I think I have the right to be in this case!)

I was quite measured in my letter, and didn't make crazy demands or accusations -- but simply (and more briefly than in this blog!) detailed the poor service I'd received, and my hope that by providing feedback, at least perhaps they might change some processes and perhaps others wouldn't have such an absolutely horrid time...

And then I got back to checking for my still non-existent account.

Hmm - what exactly constitutes 'end of day'? Surely 5 pm is end-of-day-ish? And yet -- no call. And of course, still no account showing online, and still no money.

So back on the phone, back on hold, and back to the promises. 'Yes, your account has been activated, and I can see your account has been credited the £800+-- however it's not yet accessible. A supervisor will call you later.' Really? A supervisor will call me later?? That makes me feel so much better!

And then, shock of shocks, 15 minutes later my phone did indeed ring!! And I was speaking not with Call Centre Supervisor # 6, but in fact Mr van der Meer. Yes, the same head of UK retail banking I'd sent my complaining e-mail to 3 hours earlier. He apologised profusely, and said he'd reviewed my file, and it sounded like I'd had an incredibly poor experience, and he would be calling the head of that call centre, and they'd look at their processes, and he definitely appreciated my feedback, and assured me that they care about my customers, and did I feel confident that my account was being taken care of. Um, well, I'm not sure. It looks like progress is being made -- but I STILL DON'T HAVE MY MONEY.

And yet, it worked. I was quite impressed he took the time to call, and actually a bit charmed and my rant softened slightly. And this was followed about an hour later by another phonecall, this time from yet another call centre supervisor, who promised me my account would be open this morning. Oh, and of course, a promise of a call on said morning to let me know that my account was indeed open.

And so, gentle reader, I told my slightly mollified self that if indeed my account was open this morning, I'd stick by Citibank for at least a little longer. Thank you Mr van der Meer for restoring my faith in Citibank's customer service.

Er - wait - I take that back. Because it's 10:30 (that's morning, right? Or do I need to wait until noon to be truly hacked off?) and STILL NO MONEY. So, Mr van der Meer, good try, thanks for the call, but not quite good enough.

Now the big question (after 'when do I get my money back') has to be 'which bank do I switch to?' I think First Direct just got another customer!

Citibank Sucks

So, yesterday morning, like so many mornings, I stop by the ATM machine for a little cash for the week. And get a 'sorry we can't help you - please contact your bank' message. Thinking it was a simple computer error, I try again - same result.

Hmm. Strange. But at least I had enough for a Starbucks, so hey - not such a bad start to the day. Until of course I checked online -- and not only was cash not available from the ATM, cash wasn't available. Period. My UK Sterling account had completely and utterly disappeared from existence -- including the £800+ it held. The only thing showing was my zero-balance US $ account that I'd tried to close 2 weeks previously. Hmm. Curiouser and curiouser...

Straight on to the phone I go... and after the whole 'enter your account number - enter your PIN - press 1 2 3, etc' (*0 to customer service works every time!), then a little hold music, I was on the phone to customer service rep #1 - time, 9:04 a.m. 'I'm so sorry there's a been a problem. Did you request for your dollar account be closed on 30 Jan?'

'Er, yes, that's why I took the balance to zero.'

'Can you hold please?'

10 minutes later... 'Well, it seems there's been a technical error, and your sterling account was closed instead. We're so sorry.'

'Um - why would I have asked to close an account with money in it? Can you just re-activate it, and give me access to my account and cash again?'

'I'm so sorry - a supervisor will call you in no more than an hour and will have a resolution to this'.

'Er, ok -- but the only resolution I want is my account open and money back in it.'

Well, 10:30 came, and no call -- so, of course I called back. After more 'press 1's and more hold music, and re-explaining the issue, I was assured by CSR #2 that a supervisor would call me in 15 minutes.

At 11:30 -- I'm sure you can see where this is going -- I'd still not been called back by the mysterious supervisor, so once again I went through the lengthy dialing process. And was promised by CSR #3 a supervisor would call me within a half-hour. But a-ha -- I said 'No, I don't believe you, why should I? I will hold here until you put a supervisor on the line.' And hold I did, until the line went dead about 10 minutes later. But I would not be thwarted, and called back. Again. And held. Again. Until I finally talked to -- after explaining the story again to CSR #4 -- yay, a supervisor! Who told me that they were working on reactivating my account as a highest priority, and it should be sorted by the end of the day, and someone would call me by 4:30.

A happy ending? I'm sure it comes as no surprise that no one had called by 5, and when I checked in with friendly CSR #5, I was told definitely that I'd be called by 5:30.

And, at 6:38, on my way out to client drinks with empty wallet and non-working debit card... my phone actually rang. 'Hello, this is Citibank. We have a note here you asked for a supervisor to call you?'

'No, actually, I asked for the mistake to be fixed and my account to be opened and my cash to be returned.'

'OK, yes, we're sorry for the error. I'm calling to tell you your account has been reactivated.'

'Great, excellent, thank you. So when I get out of this cab, I can go get cash out of an ATM?'

'Are you talking about your overdraft? That will be sorted tomorrow'

'No, I'm not talking about an overdraft, I'm talking about my account. You know, my cash. You know, the £800+ that was there.'

'Oh no, your account balance is zero. When your account was closed. and I know this was our error, you were sent a bankers draft for the balance. You should receive that in the next few days'.

Grrr.... I explained I don't want a cheque that I'll then have to deposit somewhere, (and if that somewhere is citibank, that will take a few days, as there are only 3 branches in London). What I WANT is for the situation to return to what it was a few days ago -- money in my activated account, accessible online and/or through an ATM machine.

After more apologies, and more being told my matter was a priority, I was told it would be sorted by this morning.

I'm sure I don't need to tell you that... it's NOT. Latest update -- 'We're making this our highest priority, usually it would take much longer to re-open an account, but as this is our error, we're speeding up the process. But there are steps we have to go through, I'm so sorry. Someone will call you by the end of the day.'

SO -- Citibank makes an error, I spend hours on hold and out of pocket, and all I get is 'I'm sorry'. Many times over. And now having read this account, instead of another 'I'm sorry', I may in fact get a 'You're terminated'!

When will Stefanie get access to her account?? How many more hours will she have to sit on hold? Will Citibank ever call her back??? Tune in tomorrow, to All My Bank Accounts to find out!

Geni idea!

So, another thing that's been occupying my time recently is building my family tree, with this incredibly easy to use site, Geni.com, though I must say Ashley has taken it even more to heart, dressing up the tree with some, um, creative photos...

View more of Stefanie's tree  |  

To make additions / changes yourself, I think I need to invite you directly from my tree... so if you're a wulfagarleonardolsorogge type, look for an invite in your e-mail soon & help us grow the Planet Wulfagar tree!

Weekend update

Sigh... such a lovely relaxing weekend I've only just now revved up enough to write a recap.

I knew the weekend was off to a good start, as I bested the master in Trivial Pursuit. (though to be fair, it was a very very close match, I did get a few ridiculously easy questions, and Ashley finally got tired of catching me out on sports questions at the end, so switched to a more achievable category. But hey - a win's a win, right?)

Saturday, after homely errands and chores, Ashley went off to make up for his trivia wounds by bashing around a cricket ball for a while -- leaving me to luxuriate in a sunny flat and no work to do. Hello, T is for Trespass, and hello, too, overpriced box of Wheat Thins, courtesy of American-food-stocking-Partridge's grocery store... Could the day *get* any better?

Well, yes, indeed it could. For Saturday night was engagement-anniversary-night -- celebrated at the same engagement-making restaurant, in 'our table', and -- thanks to my husband's chutzpah -- a complimentary bottle of prosecco. Ah, tradition... (the restaurant & table, not necessarily the chutzpah!)

Sunday was equally sunny, and equally unstressful -- leisurely paper reading, yummy brunch, stroll home through Kew Gardens, stopping at bench after bench to soak up the most-welcome sun, followed by a spot of tennis in the afternoon (note to self: must learn how to serve), and delish (if I say so myself) enchiladas for dinner (note to self: must make more recipes from the Seattle Junior League cookbook, thanks mom, and never buy packaged enchilada sauce again!)

Just a shame weekends don't come on week-middles as well!

The original Tevye

As my mother rightly pointed out, the true originator of Tevye was Zero Mostel... so here goes Mom:




(though looks strange without the beard!)

Wonder of wonder...

Miracle of miracles! I managed to get Ashley to another musical, and -- despite being a self-professed musicals-hater -- he seems to have liked this one too. So, Fiddler on the Roof goes into the 'not so bad' file, along with The Producers and Wicked... I'll convert him yet!

Overall, I was quite impressed, and have been humming ‘If I were a rich man’ and more since leaving the show last night. Ok, maybe I was even humming *during* the show, but I promise no one could hear, seriously.

I think the Tevye role must be one of the most difficult to give your own personal spin to, given Topol’s role-defining performance. However, Henry Goodman (no, I hadn’t heard of him either, a proper stage actor in this age of 'celebs' treading the boards) was quite good, with a nice mix of humour, cynicism and frustration at changing times (I do think he was a bit over the top in Rich Man – though the audience seemed to enjoy).

Overall, however, fun show, great dancing, nice use of a relatively small space and sparse staging for a variety of scenes (I particularly liked the dream scene, with people popping up from ‘graves’ in the floorboards). And, most amazing of all, the tailor Motel Kamzoil looked just like Jess! [my brother-in-law, for the odd reader I may have who isn't a family member or close friend I've begged to read this blog]. So much so, in fact, that at times it was distracting, as I expected him to sound like Jess as well… Instead he sounded like a weird mix of English and faux-Yiddishy something… but that’s another story.

So, yabadebadebadabadabadebadebadum and L’Chaim!