Monday in London

As you can imagine, London is gray, but not raining and with actually quite mild tempertures.  How could I have missed the awful snow storm like that?  Michael shakes his head at my fortune, and his misfortune since he is coming behind me by a week!  Oh well......

I'm staying at the East India Club, a true English classic men's club (until sometime in the past 20 years) and enjoying it for its ambiance, character, location and friendly staff.  I don't even feel uncomfortable taking dinner in the dining room as a lone female.  Well done everyone......

The East India Club

The Club is situated on St. James Square, between Pall Mall and Piccadilly in Mayfair/West End.  I'll show you the wonderful public rooms of the Club for its members...strict coat and tie dress requirements.

Reception

The Tea Room

The Grand Staircase

The Club is very old, I gather originally formed for veterans and soldiers of Easter colonialization and wars.  The building is filled with enormous, beautiful full length portraits of warriors of the past.  I actually read the script of one gentleman who was painted as he was going into battle in Afghanistan after the 1858 massacre of the British in Kabul.  Sound familiar?  Why don't we learn from history?  The Brits lost, the Russians lost, we are losing......

Had lunch with James Thornton and got debriefed on the work at hand within ClientEarth.  There is so much activity that I will spend the afternoon and evening with the staff in their offices tomorrow.  However, after lunch I took James back to an antique shop nearby where I had spotted the perfect birthday gift for Michael.  We wil celebrate his 78th in Paris in the next 10 days.  How romantic is that?????

More later.

It's London time again!

I'm sitting in the Air France lounge in Paris, having arrived here at 5:30 am from Washington, waiting for my next connection to London in about 2 hours.  I must say, Air France soooo reminds me of the glory of flying Pan Am in the late 60s.  Very professional, tons of flight attendants, great pleasant service, attractive in looks and demeanor......Sure beats the "bus mentality" of US flying these days.

I've decided to just skip sleeping Thursday night and catch up Friday night in London racking up 12 or more hours to recuperate.  Saturday's plans include strolling the Portobello Road market in search of large lion head door knockers for the restoration of the Hartford Mausoleum, almost complete.  Sounds funny, but it's a task our family undertook when the trust contacted us for help in administering its upkeep.  It's a beautiful white marble building serving as the final resting place for many of the Hartford family.  Michael and I will be there one day as well!

I always enjoy the market day.  It is such a great people watching spot.  Tourists from all over the world seek a typical English treasure from there...and there are a lot to be found if patient.  Sunday I will have a  lovely traditional English lunch with James Thornton and Martin Goodman, two of my favorite friends and associates living here.  This should set me up for a full week ahead of meetings focused around the continued growth (and its challenges) of ClientEarth.  ClientEarth is the first public interest law firm founded by Michael, James, and I 6 years ago devoted to environmental issues covering the European Union and its 27 member countries.  No small feat, I can tell you.  We've put years of hard work into insuring its success and will be at it for years to come.  What a wonderful contribution and legacy for our Foundation.

In the meantime:  here is where I am at the moment.  Talk to you all again soon......