A few weeks back, Adrian was invited to speak at Cambridge, and I tagged along for the weekend. I left our house in Brussels at 5:15pm on Friday, and I was walking down the streets of Cambridge by 8:35pm.

Our hosts for this trip were Grant and Michelle, Kiwis that we met in Australia who are now post-docing in Cambridge. They fed us, entertained us, and even put us up for two nights. They gave us a tour of the old and mysterious colleges, took us to a bakery that sold cupcakes, and showed us the Mathematical Bridge. I hope this won’t be the last trip that we make to visit this charming and picturesque town.

Being in England is so strange. In Brussels, when eavesdropping on fellow travellers I struggle to pick out a few common words – manger (to eat), travailler (to work), mes amis (my friends) – and see if I can piece together a vague understanding of the context. Over there, it is almost like I can read minds – as I can understand everything that people say to each other, even if spoken quickly or quietly. The announcements, the fine print, the instructions, all of these communications are instantly comprehensible to me. In Belgium, it takes me ten minutes to translate a text message, but over there, I can absorb a page of text in a moment. I can express myself quickly and easily. My linguistic burden dissolves whenever I travel north through the chunnel.

We were even able to pop down to London to go see a broadway play, because over there, most of the theatre is conducted in English. We went to see Avenue Q, a play about muppets on the wrong side of the tracks. I laughed, I gasped, and I cried as I watched the little monster puppets struggle with the challenges of life. Afterwards we had dinner at one of the many delicious curry houses on Brick Lane. We haven’t found any good Indian restaurants in Brussels yet, so it was a great chance to fill up on some cheap and delicious naan and palak paneer.

We ventured into the supermarket to pick up the little things that we can’t find easily in Brussels – crumpets, hot cross buns, korma and tikka masala and tandoori sauces, crème eggs and other Cadbury’s chocolate, and gravy granules.

Grant and Michelle have found that one delight of living in Cambridge is walking to the next town for a pub lunch, and then walking back. They took us for a picturesque walk past Midsummer Common and Jesus Green to The Plough in Coton. The food there was amazing – for dessert I had a toffee bread and butter pudding that just melted in my mouth. Not only that, our hosts cooked us a hot breakfast of pancakes or waffles every morning. Another reason to return soon.

I had such a wonderful time in London. I am so lucky that such a charming city is less than two hours away. How amazing it is to be able to catch a train under the English Channel and just pop out the other side. Best of all, our delightful hosts Luke and Shyla were waiting to greet us on the other side. While Adrian and Luke spent the morning at the British Humanist conference, Shyla and I celebrated our free thoughts with the rituals of shopping and drinking tea. They even graciously permitted me to spend the night in their georgeous apartment. I was bestowed with the presence of their cat, Suma, kindly watching over me while I slept. I opened my eyes in the middle of the night to find her perched on my pillow, staring intently at me. When I said “Hey Suma”, she freaked out and fled from the room. Luke claims that she was whispering “I’m just a dream – I’m a dream” as she disappeared. Playing with their charming kitty really made me want some of my own.

Over two days Shyla guided me through a bunch of wonderful British stores and I bought a range of scarves, Cadbury caramel eggs, and a “Keep Calm and Carry On” card. This is one of my favourite propaganda posters. It was one of three posters designed in 1939 during the war with Germany. While the other two, ‘Your Courage, Your Cheerfulness, Your Resolution will Bring Us Victory’ and ”Freedom is in Peril’ were distributed immediately, this design was held in reserve in case of invasion. The poster was forgotten for sixty years until it was discovered folded up at the bottom of a box of books by Stuart Manly of Barter Books. They framed it and put it up on the wall of their bookshop. So many people asked for copies that it is now one of their most popular products.

Another extraordinary experience in London was my visit to the Smythson bespoke stationery office on New Bond Street. For our one year wedding anniversary, Adrian bought me a hand-engraved copper die of my full name written in Saint Germain, and commissioned a set of social cards on Mayfair Smooth White with Deep Purple ink. On the weekend I was lucky enough to visit the flagship store to discuss my options of using the same die to commission some personalised writing paper with my favourite stationery company.

We were ushered to the back room, and sat down with a gentleman called Christopher who placed an extraordinarily large and thick book filled with hundreds of samples on the mahogany desk in front of us. I was lucky enough to have my friend Shyla by my side, an expert in both paper and design. She was an excellent consultant and a great source of support and enthusiasm through the difficult decision making process. I told her that I would like to have a splash of purple, perhaps purple tissue lining and a violet ink colour for the letterhead.

Then, of course, there was the choice of paper. Nile Blue, Bond St Blue, and Park Avenue Pink did not work well with violet. So we were left with the choice between Mayfair Smooth White, White Wove, Ermine White Laid, Cream Wove, the pale brown Marston Mill, or the pale green-grey Three Crowns. None of them seemed to stand out above the crowd. Then we turned the page and caught sight of the daring peppermint coloured Glen Clova. Our assistant told us that this paper had been designed for the Queen Mother’s 100th birthday, but warned us that it was now at very limited stocks and would not be renewed. It has a unique watermark that reads “Smythson Glen Clova” when held up to the light. It was inspired by the area near her childhood home of Glamis Castle (also the setting for Macbeth).  He told us that there would be enough for one order, but no refills. The co-ordinating correspondence cards were already unavailable.

With Shyla’s encouragement, I decided to take the plunge and choose the bright and vibrant colour combination of green Glen Clova paper with Violet accents for my set. Our assistant then revealed that he had chosen the exact same colour combination for his personalised stationery, and pulled it out to demonstrate. I am not sure that Miss Manners would approve of such unconventional colours, but I am excited to see the result. The last decision was the size of the paper, and we decided on Kings (203mm x 159mm), slightly larger than Dukes and smaller than Imperial. The paper is milled in Scotland, and then is cut, pressed, and folded by hand in Wiltshire. The boxes should arrive by courier in three weeks.

All photos from Smythson

One of the many highlights of my trip to London was the much-anticipated Britney Spears concert. This was a bad night for the Jubilee underground line to be closed. Luckily the organisers had sent out an email to all ticket holders alerting them to this fact, and I was able to discover that replacement buses left from West Ham. So in order to give myself enough time, I got there at 6pm. The entertainment starting at 7:30pm, and Britney was due on stage at 8:45pm. I still had to wait for four buses to go past until there was enough room for me to hop on.

I arrived at the O2, and I was surprised to see not a single scalper or unauthorised merchandise seller. My ticket warning to only purchase authorised merchandise within the venue had got my hopes up the surrounding streets would be filled with all sorts of tacky Brit Brit relics. I was hoping to get my hands on a snow-globe or pink wig or some such, but the setting was tightly controlled. As I came closer to the venue, I saw that the surrounds were filled with circus games and rides. Stilt-walkers, jugglers and entertainers walked through the grounds, adding to the atmosphere.

About half the people there seemed to be dressed up to some degree. There were matching “I love Brit” t-shirts, and hundreds of people in various music-video outfits. The most popular was the schoolgirl outfit from “One More Time”, but there were also plenty of homages to “Womanizer”, “Toxic”, “Circus”, “If U Seek Amy”, and so on.

Within the venue, the merchandise stall took up an entire wall. The choices ranged from a 2 Pound window cling to a 75 Pound embroidered jacket. The line was ten people deep, as it really seemed that every person who attended also bought a little bit of Brit to take home. I did the same and bought a red circus t-shirt. The sizes were very small, though. I bought one in the large size, and the girls next to me were very upset that there were no women’s styles that were big enough for them.

I made my way into the stadium (no re-entry) and found my seat. I was very impressed with the position. I was right in front of the main stage, block 102 row S, 19 seats from the front. The people right down the front were very lucky. Their tickets included a preshow party, backstage tour, a show bag, and standing room right next to the stage. The ticket prices ranged from plush loveseats right next to the center stage for 700 Pounds per couple to the nosebleed Level 4 seats (not recommended for those who have a fear of heights) for 50 Pounds each. This is a view from the seats much higher than mine:

Photo by ILikeRamen

The show began with Ciara performing some of her R&B hits. I wasn’t terribly impressed. She was not permitted to take advantage of any of the benefits of the stage. She wore black, as did her four dancers, and remained on the center stage. But she did at least sing live, even though she seemed more like an aerobics instructor than an entertainer. She begged us to buy her new album and follow her on twitter.

The NY Big Apple Circus was next on the stage. They were really amazing acrobats and aerialists. There was a man spinning a giant hollow cube, another moving around the stage inside a large silver ring, and martial artists with an impressive display of strength, agility, and dexterity. For me, the most impressive feat was a gymnast who performed extraordinary jumps and flips while bouncing up and down on a tiny beam on the shoulders of two men. The whole audience gasped whenever she was about to land, but she stuck every landing.

The arena went dark, and a thrill of adrenaline rushed through the audience. Britney was about to arrive. She was introduced to us by a video of the exuberant blogger Perez Hilton, dressed up as Queen Elizabeth I with the American and British flags in his hair

“Enter one, enter all… the circus of the bizarre… … I’m here tonight to give you a treat… a woman, yes, I’ve maligned in the past… I was a bit of a beast, I admit, I’m bad… that’s why I’m feeling so fierce to give you the return of the fine Lady Spears… the queen of the circus… the mistress of ceremonies… the ringleader in charge…what a show… ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls of all ages, welcome to the greatest show on earth… Just follow me, the Lady Spears will give you a treat… we’ve got it all… welcome to the circus”

Then the 23,000-strong audience went wild as she descended from above, dressed in a black top hat and a red ringleaders jacket to “Circus” (I’m a put-on-a-show kind of girl/ Don’t like the backseat, got to be first). While she spoke very little, only saying “What’s up London? I am so happy to be here tonight”, I was very impressed with her dancing and the overall choreography. Her moves were very sharp, and she really used all three stages very well, ensuring that she paid equal attention all four sides of the arena.

She removed her jacket and climbed into a gilded cage to sing “Piece of Me” (Guess I can’t see the harm in working and being a mama… I’m Mrs she’s too big now she’s too thin). It was very obvious that most of her songs were pre-recorded. Not a single breath could be heard, even when she was dancing up a storm, and she unconsciously touched her microphone whenever she used it to speak to the crowd. Though, I don’t think that anyone could belt out those tunes while moving like she did, so I don’t hold it against her. Her agent simply states “Britney’s microphone is always on”.

Photo by guilherme zamarioli

The circus theme continued throughout the show. One of my favourite parts was “Hot as Ice” when the magician appeared on stage with an empty, elevated box. He covered it with a cloth, then whipped it off, and voila, there was Britney curled up inside, swathed in sparkles and playfully grinning at our astonishment. He then took her to the other side of the stage where he proceeded to cut her into thirds, before reassembling her and then finally making her disappear.

When she strutted out onto the stage in an Arabian-themed outfit for “Me Against the Music”, I hoped that Madonna might return the favour and offer us a cameo, especially in London. However, it was not to be. The only song that she sang live was the ballad “Everytime”, her voice warmed by some sort of transformer. She said “I hope you don’t mind if I slow it down and sing a little ballad”, and then sat underneath an umbrella while she was elevated above the stage. It was a beautiful and gentle moment as she sang softly, clasping the microphone between her hands.

It was a shame that she wore sunglasses for some of her outfits. I think that it distanced her from the audience, and made it more difficult for her to make a connection. The whole audience roared their approval when she removed her blindfold during “Touch of My Hand”. I was also very surprised that during the show the cylindrical LCD screen that circled the main stage was not used to show live close-ups of Britney, but instead pre-recorded video or computer graphics. While I was close enough to be able to make out Britney’s smile when she faced my way, people further away would only be able to identify the star by the spotlights that followed her.

She seemed to be having a lot of fun. A lot of people have worried that she is performing too soon after her breakdown last year. However, from the looks of it, she is really enjoying herself, and I hope that this helps her heal. I think that she wants to put the drama of last year behind her, and become a successful artist again. Selling over one million tickets to her tour is going to go a long way towards reaching that goal. She especially seemed to enjoy performing “Boys”, with a military theme, ordering her dancers to do push-ups, and grinning at them as they circled around her.

Physically, Britney seemed to be in top condition. She looks healthy, strong and energetic, and I think that she is a much better role model at her current weight than back in her early days. She performed 17 song segments in 105 minute set with verve, alacrity, and effulgence, and really seemed to shine in the spotlight.

At the end of “Slave 4 U”, Britney was lifted from the stage under a huge ring of blazing fire. While I suppose all the spectacle is required for someone of her calibre, I don’t think that she really needed all those dancers or props. In the end, we were all there to just see her perform.

Her true final song was an extended remix of” Womanizer”, which she performed dressed as a policewoman. The performance then ended in confetti and fireworks, and amusingly all 23000 people running for the exits as we all attempted to beat the rush to the limited number of buses that were waiting to take us home. Britney has succeeded in a remarkable comeback, and I hope that she finds enjoyment and happiness from her continued success.

Photo from Perry St