France to go

It’s always a pleasant surprise to get a link back from a blog — especially one that doesn’t belong to a friend, but I’ve had some pretty big surprises this past week, which resulted in some pretty big traffic for this little blog.

First, Cracked.com linked to my wavy facade post — in an article called 15 More Images You Won’t Believe Aren’t Photoshopped (see #12) — which had a link to pictures I took of a building in Paris that looks like it’s melting.

Overnight it brought thousands of people to the blog, overloading the servers for a time. I have noticed that post frequently gets found in searches, so I imagine it was the first thing the author found, and he linked to it. Thanks, Cracked!

Also, my recent Hitched interview with Alimi Ballard has been picked up by People magazine’s Celebrity Baby Blog and b5 Media’s FBI Dramas Blog, both with ample quotes from the interview. That doesn’t bring anyone back to this blog, but it’s still very cool to see my work being quoted.

It’s nice to see the reach of some of my pieces — especially ones I didn’t really expect to have much impact. It’s good inspiration to keep writing more.

Today, after going to Tuttle and having a lovely Friday morning talking to friends and making new ones, I headed to Hyde park with my watercolors, intent on painting something in the afternoon sunshine. What you see above was my one and only creation — a view of the end of the serpentine, facing the Hilton Hotel (which you can see rising over the trees). I was never particularly talented with watercolors, but I still like to try. And sitting on a bench in the middle of the park, I just didn’t really have the patience for mixing colors or measured brushstrokes. I’m also pretty horribly out of practice, though it was fun to be outside, doing something.

In the park, I notice that things were completely different from two weeks ago when Evan and I went and took photos. The tulips in those striking gardens were almost completely gone and their flowerbeds looked frazzled. The supposedly dead tree that people were climbing — seriously, it had NO leaves or even buds — was lush and verdant, forming an intriguing bower. And the beautiful flowering tree, with full, pink blooms, had no flowers to speak of. My how things change…

Writingwise, this week has been busy. It was my last week at Sugarscape.com. In my 6 weeks there, working three or four days a week, I managed to write 69 stories, not counting competition copy (the numbers on my page are a bit off since it includes individual photos for galleries). It was sad to leave Alex and Becs, who were lots of fun to work with, and they bought me a lovely bouquet and a travel journal for my summer trip.

I also wrote a post for Londonist, “Shocking: Amy Winehouse Arrested, Let Out on Bail,” and a post for Workology, “Want to reduce your WTD? Get a VA!” I would love for all you freelancers and small business owners who read this blog to come join me at Workology, or at least comment on my blog posts — as of today, you don’t need invites anymore to join the new social network for independent workers.

And if you haven’t read the blog post about Best Supper Ever (I know, it’s just below on the page right now), go take a gander — Battlecat gave an awesome interview.

I finally made it to another one of Andy Bargery’s blogger meetup — this time at the Coach & Horses — and had a nice evening catching up with Londonist folks, seeing some people I hadn’t seen in a while and meeting a few new ones, too. I worry that since I know some people at the events now, I don’t spend as much time mingling as I should. It’s always nice to catch up with people, but I need to find a balance between meeting new people and spending time with the people who I only really see at events like this.

The best moment of the night was when I was chatting with TikiChris, the food and drink editor for Londonist, and meeting a new Chris, who said, “I just emailed with someone from Londonist… Francine…”! Of course, I told him that it was me and introduced myself. He works for is doing some work for Lactofree, and had found my blog and emailed me about my Lactofree posts, and we’d been exchanging emails just a few days earlier. We had a good chat about lactose and food allergies, and he said some new Lactofree products are in the works.

I was happy to see M@, Dave and TikiChris from Londonist, Siany, Annie Mole, Tim, Peter, Andy Roberts, and Melinda. And it was nice to meet some new people like Chris, Tom and Jaz. I also met Malcolm, who blogs about breakfast, so I had to do a bit of ranting about how I haven’t actually found a very good breakfast here yet. He says Americans just don’t like British breakfasts (I could agree to that). I did get some good recommendations, though, and I’ll be trying some out — top of my list is the Wolesley.

Sorry if I forgot to mention anyone… it was quite a busy night!

It’s been another busy week in London. I’m still writing up stories on Sugarscape, only managed to do one blog for Londonist — “London - Bangladesh? Let the Train Take the Strain” — and started posting on the Workology blog.

Other than that, I also made it to another chocolate tasting, this time at Keith Hurdman’s Melt chocolate shop in Notting Hill (I’ll write more about that soon), went to Tuttle Club/Social Media Cafe and started to do some interviews for some upcoming posts on the Workology blog. (Thanks, LJ, for doing my first video interview!)

Well, it’s been a busy week to say the least. I started an internship at Hachette Filipacci, wrote a new Entrepreneur.com article (you’ll see it soon) and still managed to write Londonist posts four out of five days.

I also managed to make it to the Museum of London for a pub quiz last night with the Londonist crew. I was pretty useless at answering questions since they were all about London (I think I knew 2), but I did excel in the arts and crafts bonus round, helping create an interactive, turning version of the London Eye, which we’d like to fondly call the Londonist Eye, out of paper straws and pipe cleaners. (In the photo, it’s nearly finished). Lindsey wrote a good post about it this morning, which really describes the evening well.

Today I went to Social Media Cafe at the Coach and Horses to catch up with my Friday morning friends, and went to lunch with the much more daunting sounding Social Media Mafia, which is actually a lovely group of people. We had curry on Brick Lane — my first time there — which ended up being a long and leisurely lunchtime feast. I’m still recovering.

The weekly reading list:

• Squished Up Worship
• VR Tube Ride Still a Harrowing Experience
• BA Lost Your Luggage? It May Be Going to Italy
• Will a Bullet-Proof Hoodie Ruin Your Street Cred?

Just had to give a quick link to the Londonist April Fool’s joke yesterday: “Piggy-Back Plan To Beat Heathrow Congestion.” A little excerpt:

 With the situation showing little sign of improvement at the brand new T5, London’s aviation bosses are keen to turn the public’s attention to plans for dealing with the real elephant in the Heathrow departure lounge - the traffic congestion caused by still only having two runways. Yesterday saw the first test of a solution that could be in commercial use as early as next year. The bold plan seeks to double potential runway capacity by using long-haul aircraft to carry smaller planes “piggy-back” style out of West London.

Also, seeing the image of an Air France flight strapped atop an Air India jet like a space shuttle was fantastic. It couldn’t have been a better prank on such a timely subject since Heathrow is just a mess right now.

Well, coming back from Barcelona on Tuesday, it was a short week, though one full of work. The Londonist posts for the week:

• Starling Numbers Still Slipping: Lots of Londoners participate in a garden bird survey, and the numbers show even fewer Starlings than ever before, though they’re still London’s most populous garden bird.

• Pigeon Promotion Takes Over Leicester Square: 5,000 paper pigeons released for a promotion for an art exhibit.

• Madge Mouths Off About London Traffic: Madonna wants to make some changes to the congestion charge.

Happy Friday, everyone. And even happier in London where everyone has Good Friday off, which also means a four-day weekend, since Monday is a holiday, too. Because of my traveling last weekend and today off, I only have three Londonist posts to share, though I did have a Hitched article from earlier in the week, if you’d like to check that out, too.

• Cannabis Cop Faces Charges: This story is exactly what you think it is — a cop stealing pot from the evidence locker.
• Posh Handbag Pincher Brought to Justice: A moped gang (yes, apparently moped gangs exist in England) have been smashing windows and stealing designer purses.
• Cling Film Arsonists Get Off With Drunk Defence : These two twentysomethings are thanking their lucky stars that they got off with only a light fine and community service after wrapping 5 cars in cling film then lighting them on fire when they were drunk. Their defense? They were too drunk to remember. (Oh, and for my American readers concerned with spelling, defense is spelled defence here.)

Later today, I’m off to Barcelona for the weekend. See you Tuesday!

As you read this (well, if you’re reading this when I posted it) I’m on my way to New York. I’ll likely be offline for the weekend, but I’ll be back in London Monday and I’m sure I’ll have plenty to report.

But as is current Friday custom around here, check out my Londonist posts for this week:

• Bactrian Burglars in Bishopsgate: Have you seen Brian the camel?
• Richmond Park Cull: No Other Option? A new cause for London’s animal lovers — save the deer!
• Lewisham is Seeing Spots: Measles outbreak due to low vaccination rates.
• Grape Case Quashed: A man pulls a silly suit on Marks & Spencer and loses.
• Lessons Learned: Melt Chocolate Master Class: More on the chocolate class from Wednesday, plus the recipe for the chocolate martini. (This link may not work as I couldn’t check it, since it hadn’t been posted when I wrote this post. It should work, but if it doesn’t, you may have to scroll through Londonist.com or just wait for me to post the right link later. Sorry if it causes any trouble.)

Photo of a Bactrian camel from the Budapest Zoo, July 2007. Brian looks substantially different, but it’s the closest thing I have.

I’m very excited about my new Hitched article, just published today, called “The Family Blog.” It’s all about how personal blogging can help you stay connected with family and friends and create an evolving keepsake for your family.

Though it focuses more on the technical, how-to aspects of setting up a blog, I wish I could have injected more of my own experience into the story — things like how my parents and grandparents read the blog whenever I post (hi guys!), or how even though a lot of you reading (most of you reading, really) won’t leave comments, you will tell me that you’ve been keeping up with my adventures through other means.

I must say, though: Leave comments. Say hello. I want to hear what you’ve been up to as well. And I like to know you’ve come to visit my little sliver of the web.

While it’s fun to keep this blog as a bit of a travelogue for myself — and it is handy for remembering what I’ve been up to and when — I write for you, to let you in to what I’m doing. I never would have even started this blog project if it weren’t for everyone asking if I would be keeping a blog while I was traveling.

Also, if you’re interested in blogging, let me know if I can help you set something up. I’m happy to do it.

Well, I haven’t been posting here much this week, but I have been writing on Londonist. Check out my latest blogs:

• 68-Year-Old Love Letter Returned to Writer
• Tube Censors Pink-Boxered Christ
• Met Recruitment Unwittingly Headed by Monster
• Dog Bites Double
• Congestion Charge a Health Benefit?
• Trippier than Towing

My parents are leaving tomorrow, so I’m off for one last afternoon of sightseeing and one more dinner. Then blogging should be back to normal, with lots of pictures, drawings and my usual inane commentary.

I’ve done two more posts for Londonist, which has been lots of fun so far. I’m working on sounding more British and trying to remember my extraneous U’s and such. It’s a work in progress.

The two posts are both about the tube, though quite different. Today I wrote about a man who scammed the London Underground out of £5,000 in “Tube Scammer Complains His Way To Conviction.” I also learned that you can get a refund if you’re delayed more than 15 minutes on your journey, which is always good to know. And yesterday, I wrote about underground improvement works in “Sick of Taking the Stairs?” Apparently more stations will be getting stair-free access. That would have been amazing on my first two days here where I lugged my 70-pound bag up and down way too many flights of stairs. At least people pitied me and helped out on occasion.

I had the good fortune of meeting some of the Londonist crew at the Blogger Meetup at the end of January, and I’ll be doing some posts on there while I’m in town. Today, I wrote my first item: “Fuzzy Friday News: Pups Are Musical Snobs.” I’m planning on doing some food writing too, as it’s become a near-obsession on this blog. Thanks Chris, Lindsey, Hazel and everyone else I met at the Meetup.

Image courtesy of It’s Greg’s Flickrstream.

I decided to try out the shared rss feed I can create from Google Reader and let everyone in on the things I’ve been reading that I find interesting. Check it out below my Twitter posts and let me know what you think — especially if you want more than 5 links down there.