Ah-woooooo! GraceD in London.

If you're anything like me, and I hope for your sake you are not, every location of note is associated with a song. When you visit that location, the associated song spins in a continuous loop in your head. For example, when flying into Logan Airport, the old Standells song cues up - "Oh I love that Dirty Water/Oooooooh, Boston, you're my home..." When driving up 80 to Reno, I hear the Grateful Dead line from Friend of the Devil - "I lit out from Reno, I was trailed by twenty hounds..." And, this is so horrible to admit but I'm going to tell you anyway - standing on Park Avenue in Manhattan, the Green Acres theme gets triggered - "Oh, New York is where I'd rather stay/I get allergic smelling hay/I just adore a penthouse view/Darling I love you but give me Park Avenue."

(Yup I can recite the theme song lyrics from a sitcom starring a Gabor sister, yet am completely incapable of recalling the steps in carbohydrate catabolism, despite my pre-med studies, which included a grueling year of biochemistry. This is yet another reason why India will surpass the US in contributions to scientific progress, though we can probably whoop their asses in Trivial Pursuit.)

And, so here we are in London and a whole ipod full of music is rattling in my head: Eighties favorites 'London Calling' and 'West End Girls'; cowboy Jerry Jeff Walker's honky-tonk 'London Homesick Blues'; that stupid, stupid song by Roger Miller, 'England Swings' ("like a pendulum do/Bobbies on bicycles two by two..."). The list goes on.

The jewel of all-about-London songs is the great, late Warren Zevon's, 'Werewolves of London'. An underrated masterpiece of the 1970s, a BBC Radio 2 audience poll rated "Werewolves" as having the best opening song line in history:

"I saw a werewolf with a Chinese menu in his hand
Walking through the streets of Soho in the rain
He was looking for the place called Lee Ho Fook's
Going to get a big dish of beef chow mein."

To be followed with the chorus everyone my age can howl -

"Ah-wooooooo! Werewolves of London."

Offset that with an upbeat four chord keyboard refrain, and you have brilliance. Oh, Warren, how we miss thee.

Imagine my delight as we took our anti-jet lag stroll (don't nap + get sunlight = helps in adjusting to the time zone), once we arrived in town Tuesday afternoon. I learned our lovely lodging is located in the posh Mayfair neighborhood. Hey! Mayfair's in the song!

"He's the hairy-handed gent who ran amuck in Kent/Lately he's been overheard in Mayfair."

We turned the corner from Picadilly to Park Lane, a busy thoroughfare bordering Hyde Park. Greeting us was the Hilton London Park Lane, a frightful, round highrise. We walked up the driveway to ask the doorman if we were heading to Oxford Street, the shopping center of the city (retail therapy is a proven aid in preventing jet lag, so I informed the hubs).

The doorman cheerfully confirmed we were on the correct route and presented us with a tourist map. While he drew lines and circles on the map, I spied the entrance to Trader Vic's next to the hotel's revolving door. I gasped and tugged on the hubs - "Oh, my God! Here it is, the Trader Vic's in the Warren Zevon song! DUUUDE!"

"I saw a werewolf drinking a Pina Colada at Trader Vic's.
His hair was perfect."

Both the hubs and doorman stared as if I was speaking another language, perhaps Klingon, and neither of them were Star Trek fans.

And, there you have it - my initial utterance of what will likely be many exaltations of "DUUUDE!" along with the first of many bizarre observations that only I can offer during our visit to this splendid, ancient and noble world capital.

Clearly, I'm not your typical tourist. Though I'm fond of seeing the sights-one-must-see, I also venture well off the beaten track to local haunts. I'm interested in how folks live and I take pictures in unlikely photo ops such as grocery stores. Indeed, one of the first items on my London Must-Do List was a visit to Marks and Spencers, a store dear to my heart from the time I lived in the UK in the 70s. We went to the M&S's Food Hall to seek out the British comfort foods of my youth. My excitement level attained the pitch of a tourist agog in viewing the Crown Jewels at the Tower of London. However, instead of "Holy crap, look at the size of that flippin' crown!", it was "Oh, George honey, look! Steak and kidney pie!"

Your blogger consumed her fair share of these fine pies back in the day. Yes, I was loving on those kidneys, too.

That was our first afternoon, in the basement level of a revered British retail giant, walking up and down the aisles, taking pictures of crisps, cordials, rashers of bacon, cheeses and biscuits/cookies. All of the pics turned out blurry because I began to get nervous and jittery. What if the M&S clerks turn me in as a terrorist because of my bizarre photographic interest in the fresh produce bins? Likely I was hatching evil plans to infiltrate the nation's food supply.

There is, of course, much more to our trip than dragging my hubs down memory lane via food shopping, but despite the anti-jet lag meansures, I'm up and at 'em at 4:00 in the morning. I'm a little woozy after a long day yesterday, starting with a brisk morning run and ending in a smoky, jam packed little club in Camden, watching our "family band", Silversun Pickups. That venture to see our Brian and George's kiddo Tracy is worth three blog posts at the very least, complete with praise and admiration for our kids along with the usual bitter complaints of my being way too old and menopausal for clubbing. But, the music was superb, the band was well received and many of the young Londoners in the audience were mouthing the lyrics.

Flickr pics here, a few salvageable pictures of the band's performance to be posted.

My dollin werewolves, Good Night and Good Morning from Mayfair.

Comments

[Pamela]

Enjoy your time there. I love Marks and Spencer, and all of the prepared salads.

[Elkit]

I posted it over in Voxland for anyone who wants a listen:

http://elkit.vox.com/library/post/a-little-old-lady-was-mutilated-late-last-night.html

[Em]

Man! You're in my city and in my part of town! If I'd been out and about I could have bumped into the GraceD - damn my laziness!
Have a *great* visit - I think it's going to rain on you though.....

[margalit]

The Harrods food court is MUCH better than Marks and Sparks. Plus there is so much to look at in Harrods. The old maps, the pet shop, the hairbrushes, the books.... I love that damn store. ANd try Harvey Nichols. Posh plus.

I sing just like you do. All the time. And yes, even in London and the environs. If you have time, go to Hempstead Heath and take a walk about the neighborhoods. You'll love it. And the east end, to see the sari shops and indian restaurants. YUM.

[samirah]

is it not enough that i just had mono so bad i couldn't go to my own college graduation, that i lost over 15 pounds because i was physically incapable of eating, that i turned an oddly unappealing yellowish color and my eyes sunk deep into my head? none of that was enough and now, now, i have to be jealous that you're in london and i'm still in bed. unfair.

ah, well. have a fantastic time.

[Lisse]

A disturbing number of my posts have been song titles (or lyrics), so I'm with you there.

I have this amusing picture in my head of store security dragging you off as you are yelling "I'm a blogger, not a terrorist!!"

[Tola]

Don't forget: Enjoy Every Sandwich. I miss Warren too.

[Izzy]

I've never been to the UK and thus I am SO jealous!

And I had to laugh when you said you heard the Green Acres theme song when you were on Park Ave. I hear the same song whenever I'm in NY, particularly in Times Square. Funny!

Have a wonderful trip and come back with lots of stories to tell us :)

[SusieJ]

It would be tough for you to be a "typical tourist" in England! So glad you're having a great time, and maybe teaching the Londoners a things or two about having a good time!

[Linda]

If you're in Mayfair, find Shepherd's Market and go to the King's Arms or Ye Olde Grapes for a pint! And there's a wonderful take-out sushi place on Piccadilly - get your lunch and go to Green Park and watch the walkers, joggers, and dogs! I love London!

[Mom101]

Oh yes, I know the geography/song syndrome well. Having the blogher conference in San Jose was torture on me last year - only Ipanema would have been worse.

Continue having a rockin' time, Grace. And don't let those Brits look at you funny. They're all wasted most of the time anyway.