Living in London

From the latest news . . . We are in solidarity with the 80% of Brits who plan to celebrate New Years Eve at home. According to this article in The Guardian:

most Britons would rather see in the New Year nestled into their Christmas sweaters, with a glass in hand and the chimes of Big Ben on the telly more than six million can expect an injury later tonight Those who do go out will spend big: an average of £106 by men and £71 by women, adding up to£4bn in a single day about 1.6 million people are expected to get into fights today . . . and 60,000 will end up seeing in the New Year in a police cell We hope that you welcome in the New Year in a safe and meaningful way.

The Flower Walk	Please Do Not Feed the Animals!
The British are famous for their tact and diplomacy. However, they sometimes have a hard time getting to the point. Here is a great example of how they can't get what they want because they can't say what they mean. Our daily jaunt through Kensington Gardens takes us through a beautifully manicured area called "The Flower Walk." The plants are breathtaking and the path is shared with numerous squirrels and pigeons. Tourists and locals alike often bring peanuts and bread crumbs to feed the little critters. It seems that this unnatural food source has resulted in a swelling of the critter and fowl population . . . and these animals have taken to scavenging through the finely manicured flower beds when the humans fail to bring enough food. The Parks Department would like visitors to stop feeding the animals. Instead of posting a sign saying "Do Not Feed the Animals," they have written a short essay that they have posted on the gates at each end of the walk. The text of the message is shown below. Bedding Displays Our annual bedding displays are enjoyed by visitors from all around the world. It's hard work, and the plants -- in the volumes we need -- are expensive. But we think it's all worth it. The wonderful sight of pansies and tulips nodding in the breeze lets you know that spring has finally arrived. But the beds are under threat from an unexpected quarter! When the last morsel of bread has been thrown, pigeons and squirrels turn to our flower beds to find more food. Normally, this is not a problem. We can manage some loss and damage. However, in this area, feeding has encouraged unnaturally large populations of both squirrels and pigeons, which are causing extensive damage to the beds. Over the next few weeks we will experiment with netting the beds in an effort to prevent damage. We want to make sure there's a great display of spring colour in the Gardens. You can help too by not feeding the squirrels and pigeons. May I offer a simpler, perhaps more effective, suggestion for a sign:

After the clouds and dark days of earlier December, the last two days have dawned clear and cold, and left all of London feeling a bit manic I think. We went on a long walk today though Kensington Gardens and Hyde Park where it seemed most people were smiling and laughing, out for a Sunday stroll and dressed in their Christmas best. Many children received either scooters or roller blades from Santa and they were all in the park trying them out.

It occurs to me that this type of weather, and resulting behavior, may have afflicted Dickens when he wrote A Christmas Carol -- Scrooge, the cranky, penny-pinching miser, felt so much better when a clear and sunny Christmas Day dawned, that he reformed. Or maybe he had just gotten an iPod and could finally listen to his own playlist as he walked! In either case, we send out our best wishes for a Happy New Year to all our friends and family.

"I don't know what to do!" cried Scrooge, laughing and crying in the same breath; and making a perfect Laocoon of himself with his stockings. "I am as light as a feather, I am as happy as an angel, I am as merry as a schoolboy. I am as giddy as a drunken man. A merry Christmas to everybody! A happy New Year to all the world! Hallo here! Whoop! Hallo!"

Check out this site for great information on how much Dickens influenced the modern idea of Christmas.

Today we were up early (relatively speaking) and headed to the Borough Market near the Southwark Cathedral to pick up our Christmas snacks - cheese from local and Spanish dairies, fabulous local bread and meat pies, clementine oranges (they call them satsuma here), dried berries, and, because this won’t be enough calories, a beautiful buche de noel for dessert.

It is a blustery Christmas eve day, and we are hoping a little snow blows down from the Artic to complete our first Christmas in London (bookmakers are putting the odds at 9 to 4 that we will not see snow in this southeast corner of the country).

We are now snuggled in, waiting for Santa and are toasting this holiday season with a glass of Hollick wine.

We have done our best today to get into the London version of holiday spirit. Beginning on the capitalist front (plenty of opportunities to participate on this level) we shopped up and down Marylebone High, New Bond, and Regent Streets, marveling at all the stuff and all the high prices.

The shopping concluded at the new Apple store (no shortage of products or of buyers) where Linda finally succumbed to the pressure to become a pod person. (It’s a mini, silver, and it has a little stocking of its own.)

After a brief rest at home we ventured back out to the Royal Albert Hall to enjoy Carols by Candlelight. We even sang along to a few carols. (The Little Town of Bethlehem has the same words but a completely different tune here!)

Because Royal Albert Hall is only a few blocks from our flat, we are able to walk home from Royal Albert Hall, and en route we stopped at the beautiful Milestone Hotel for a glass of champagne.

Today is December 21, the Winter Solstice. That means that today is the day of the year that the sun is farthest south.

More importantly, it means that today is the shortest day of the year. This morning the sun rose in London at 8:05 AM. It will set at 3:55 PM for a total of 7 hours and 50 minutes of sunlight. Of course, I use the word "sunlight" here in a theoretical sense, since the sun has been obscured by clouds all day.

At least for the next six months the days will be getting longer. The future is so bright . . .

(Thanks to Jim Wilson for the picture of nearby Stonehenge, where the solstice is celebrated with a passion.)

[Update: for our friends in Alaska, we sympathise with your darkness. I heard Esther mention on the Whole Wheat Radio audio magazine on Monday that on the winter solstice the sun was going to rise at 10:25 AM and set at 3:30 PM. Wow. That is only only 5 hours of daylight. I will never again complain about our 7 and 50 minutes of daylight again.]

After several weeks of travel we are back in London, and happy to be here. Sure California was 65 and sunny every day, and our home there is spacious and comfortable. Sure we miss our family there (not to mention our friends whom we were unable to see). Sure our dollar was actually worth something there. But hey, as our friend David Campbell would say, "did we mention that we are in LONDON?"

We restocked our inventories of things from America that we need for winter. We brought bottles of lotion for dry skin induced by the cold weather. We brought coats from places where our dollar actually allowed us to purchase nice ones and we brought boots to keep our toes warm. We brought yarn to knit some fabulous scarves (contrary to what most Americans would believe, the knitting stores here are nothing compared to those in California where knitting is a full blown craze).

We are ready for a white Christmas London. Lay it on us.

You don’t realize what you have learned, and how you have changed, in a number of subtle ways, until you come back to the place you started. We have been in London about five months now, and have returned for a week to the San Francisco Bay Area.

Noticeable immediately:

• Over-the-top friendliness: Every person with whom you make eye contact on public transportation (yes we do have a little of that here) smiles. Not a tight little grimace smile, but a big, happy, generous smile. At least half a dozen complete strangers have started conversations with me. The store clerks act like they are so pleased to see me. It’s a bit scary. My mother-in-law asked if Americans seem "needy" and I have to say "yes."
• Teeth size and color: My god they are all so enormous and white. Is all this smiling friendliness, or just showing off the dental work? This goes hand-in-hand with the note above, but it really has to be called out on its own because these teeth are just stunning.
• Christmas décor: There are hardly any Christmas decorations, even around Union Square. Some of the smaller areas, like Berkeley’s Elmwood district, have nice, understated decorations in the stores, but I haven’t seen anything that comes remotely close to London's celebration of Christmas. It’s warm here, around 15 Celsius, so maybe people just can’t get into the season.
• Driving, driving, driving: It’s endless. We need two cars and have put more than 600 miles on them in five days. (We really feel the lack of any physical exercise whatsoever.) The cars on the road are all huge and spotlessly clean. As a further homage to time spent in car, the "vanity plates" are numerous. More friendliness I guess.
• Sunshine! You actually need sunglasses here (for the sun, not just the smiles).
• Pedestrians: People in the street have the right of way here, and they know it.

We took another step in our commitment to living in the UK: I sold my car today.

I originally listed the car on Craig's List but was too sceptical about potential fraud. Back in college, when I sold the first car I ever owned, the buyer wrote me a bum check that bounced. When selling the BMW I was nervous about accepting a large check from a Craig's List buyer.

Hence, I decided to sell the car to a dealer. I got a little less money but I know that the check is good.

Good bye, my steel blue baby. The BMW was an awesome car to drive. I definitely see another bimmer in my future. The 5 series are looking quite nice these days.

We got hammered with a ton of spam recently by some online poker sites. There were more than 1,000 comments inserted into our posts.

I deleted all the junk and set up some safeguards to protect against future spam attacks. Of course, the risk is that we ended up blocking legitimate comments. If you ever find yourself blocked from entering a comment send me an email and I will resolve the problem.

Will we ever win this battle of wasted time and bandwidth against these

I am having a heck of a time figuring out the way people write phone numbers in this country. In the US every phone number is 10 digits with a 3 digit area code, a 3 digit prefix and a four digit number. So a number in the US looks like xxx-xxx-xxxx.

Not so in the UK. First of all, the UK has the preceding 0 if you are dialling from within the UK but that is not used when dialling from outside the country. Hence our phone number in London is 0208 xxx-xxx when dialled locally but 44 209 xxx xxxx when dialled from outside the UK. This is very confusing for Americans.

However, that is not the worst of it. What I can't figure out is how many digits there should be in a standard phone number and how digits should be arranged. For example, here are some actual phone numbers taken from customer service sites around the web:

0800 800 151	10 digits	BT Customer Service
0800 316 3876	11 digits	Euroffice Customer Service
08702 420444	11 digits	PC World Online Support
020 8824 1000	11 digits	Cisco UK Headquarters
08700 100 222	11 digits	BBC customer Service
800 80 20 20	9 digits	NSPCC
0870 60 60 747	11 digits	www.tvtravelshop.com

The thing to notice here is that the numbers range from 9 - 11 digits and they are arranged rather willy nilly. Sometimes the digits are grouped 4-3-4, other times it is 4-2-2-2 or 5-6, or 3-4-4. There does not seem to be any rhyme nor reason as to how the individual digits are grouped.

If anyone can shed any light on these number patterns I would be most appreciative.

The electrical voltage is different in the US and Europe. In fact, it is different all over the world. In Japan and most of the Americas the voltage is between 100 and 127 volts. In the rest of the world it is between 200 and 240 volts. Some countries have an alternating current of 50 Hz (cycles per second) and others, like the US, use 60 Hz. Of course, the plugs and sockets are different in most countries as well.

I planned to do a little research on the internet and then write a concise post on why one system was better than the other. Alas, the explanations are more political than scientific.

In the early 1900's Nikola Tesla, a genius ahead of his time, did a number of experiments with electricity. He is credited with creating alternating current and the induction motor. Through his research he concluded that 240 volts at 60 Hz was the best for efficient generation and transmission. It is natural to assume at this early stage in the life of electricity that all the world would follow with 240 Volts at 60 Hz. If only life were that simple.

In the US, Tesla's preference for 240 volts put him at odds with Thomas Edison who already had several patents on devices that ran on 110 Volts. Edison was more politically powerful than Tesla and 110 volts, 60 Hz became the standard.

Originally, Europe was slated for 110 volts as well and a German company, AEG, built the first European generating facility based on 110 volts. However, since they used the metric system, the AEG engineers preferred 50 Hz over 60 Hz because 50 fit neatly into multiples of 10. This turns out to be an unfortunate choice. 50 Hz is 20% less efficient in generation and 10-15% less efficient in transmission. In order to boost the efficiency they doubled the voltage to 240.

Now we have a hodge podge of voltages and plugs in use around the world. Only a handful of countries (Peru, Ecuador, Guyana, the Philippines and South Korea) follow Tesla’s advice and use the 60 Hz frequency together with a voltage of 220-240 V.

Many thanks to the World Standards site for the excellent information on voltage and frequency as well as sockets and plugs.

Linda and I are in Brussels for the weekend. It has been a rainy and chilly couple of days but we managed to visit the plant where they produce their little sprouts.

The rest of the weekend we visited Bruges and strolled around Antwerp. Just to be polite, we sampled several varieties of local beer and tasted as many Belgian chocolates and waffles as we could. They were fabulous!

I finally figured out a way to avoid over eating on Thanksgiving . . .

Move to London, where the fourth Thursday in November is just another workday.

Sigh . . .

Eiffel Tower at Night	Arc De Triumph
We are back in London after a 40 hour whirlwind tour of Paris. Linda was impressive as she dug deep to remember her high school French phrases. We rode the Metro, ordered meals from entirely French menus and were able to give accurate directions to the taxi drivers. It was a wonderful trip and we are already planning a return trip in the spring.

As I write this in am riding on the Eurostar to Paris. Last week we were in Prague. This week Paris, and we will be in Brussels for the weekend. Damn! Are we international travellers, or what?

We will be flying back to London so I thought I would offer a comparison between the Eurostar and air travel.

• Cost: My BMI ticket was £12 plus £30.31 surcharges and taxes. Total BMI was £42.31. The Eurostar ticket was £149! Three points: air travel.
• Time: The Eurostar trip is 2 hours and 50 minutes (170 minutes) while the BMI flight is 90 minutes. However, Eurostar only requires you to be there 30 minutes in advance for check-in and airlines require at least an hour (90 minutes is more realistic). The Paris Charles DeGaulle airport is much farther from the city downtown area than the train terminal so the Eurostar is at least as quick for getting from London to downtown Paris. Tie: No points.
• Comfort: The seats on the Eurostar have about 3 more inches of legroom compared to typical coach seat on an airplane. The tray table is large and accommodates a laptop very well. One point: Eurostar
• Work Time: The train car is very comfortable and conducive to working. It is quiet and we have not been interrupted for any reason or told to turn off electronic devices until the plane has reached a cruising altitude. One point: Eurostar.
• View: We are cruising at 100+ miles per hour through rolling hills and beautiful countryside. Except for the 20 minutes that we spend in the Chunnel, there is no way to compare the view between air and rail travel. Three points: Eurostar.
• Personal Movement: Airlines are very restrictive in allowing passengers to move about the cabin. On a plane you have to be strapped into your seat during take off and landing and at the pilot's whim during the remainder of the flight. The Eurostar, on the other hand, offers no restrictions. There are no seatbelts and no flight attendants dragging drink carts up and down the aisles. One point: Eurostar.
• Extra points: On the Eurostar you have the freedom use the toilet or grab a snack from the food car whenever you want. One point: Eurostar.

Penalty Points: I just returned from the loo where the toilet was plugged and the tissue is rougher than 180 grit sand paper. Minus two points: Eurostar.

So in the end, it is Eurostar ahead by two points. It was a very nice trip. Once we arrived in Paris we realized that we were much less stressed than if we had have flown. Highly recommended.

Set your VCRs. Schedule your Tivos. Heather is about to make her television debut. If you live in the UK you will want to tune to a new show on the BBC 2 on Thursday nights called The Culture Show. On Thursday, November 25th at 7:00 PM GMT Heather will be featured as an enthusiast for the latest technological craze to sweep the internet.

Podcasting has recently exploded as a new form of audio content and a new channel for distribution. Basically, the idea is that people record audio shows on their computers and upload them as MP3 files to their blogs. Some simple software automatically downloads the shows and loads them onto my iPod. Of course it works with most any MP3 player but the iPod has become a household word (like Kleenex or Xerox) and the name "podcasting" has taken root. My current favourite podcasts are Coverville and the Whole Wheat Radio Daily Rant. There are hundreds more and new podcasts are being added every day.

The producers of The Culture Show wanted to capture some enthusiasts who listened to podcasts and I was an eager volunteer. On Tuesday Colin Lennox from the BBC stopped by our flat with a digital video camera for about an hour and a half and recorded me pontificating about podcasting. Upon reviewing the films they liked the footage and called back to ask if they could get some additional shots with me listening to my podcasts in real life situations. I met a different recording crew this afternoon at a café in Oxford Circus. Five of us (and one big camera) boarded the fist uncrowded bus to come along while the camera man shot video of me standing at the back of the bus enjoying my iPod. Finally, we picked a stop where I would get off and they filmed me walking off into the crowd.

Thanks to Brian Ibbott at Coverville for connecting me with the BBC people. The taping sessions were a blast.

I returned home to London today while Linda remains in Prague throughout the week for her work. My original flight from Prague had a 60 minute layover in Munich. There were only 8 passengers on the 30 seater turbo-prop and I was becoming a little distraught when my flight was posted with a 40 minute delay.I had no expectation that I would make the connecting flight and began to resign my self to a long day in airports. Worse, based on previous experience with delayed flights I had no expectation that my luggage would arrive at my final airport on the same flight as me.

The smaller airplanes (such as turbo-prop jobs) do not rank a terminal gate and are relegated to park on the tarmac at what seems like miles from the terminal. Arriving into Munich with only 20 minutes to make my connecting flight I was pleasantly surprised to find a separate car and driver ready to whisk me and the three other London-bound passengers around the tarmac directly to the gate of the London flight. Maybe parking on the tarmac isn't such a disadvantage after all. I still wasn't sure where my bag was but I was relieved to have made my connecting flight.

The icing on the cake was when my suitcase was the SECOND bag to come tumbling onto the luggage carousel at Heathrow. The original check-in agent in Prague had labelled the bag "HOT" and Lufthansa delivered!

Yesterday while out walking around Wenceslas Square, we went into an old Soviet style department store to use the Water Closet. After paying the surly attendant 3 Kc (12 cents or 7 pence) we entered the toilet where we learned (just in time) that we needed to take the toilet paper from one main dispenser before entering the stall. Gave me a feeling of what "state control" must have been like. Wonder what happens if you take too much?

Today we went on a tour, mostly via bus, which turned out to be a blessing since it rained most of the morning. We saw the highlights of Prague, walked around the castle, and stayed for the changing of the guards. The architecture here is really very amazing; every style is represented, from early Roman to Baroque and late Renaissance. In many cases the different period styles are represented all on one block and in some cases even on the same building!!

The tour was given in both English and German and, having once taken a tour in both Japanese and English, we reinforced our vows to NEVER take a tour that is provided in two languages. The tour guide in these cases just doesn’t have enough time for anecdotes and stories that make the tour interesting. They are too busy telling the same basic facts in two different languages.

Our tour guide was about 60 and has lived through many changes during her life here. She made and interesting an haunting comment. She was telling us about the devastating flood in Prague in August of 2002. She said "We have had at least two major wars in every century from the beginning of our history. This last century was the worst. There were two world wars and then communist rule for 20 years. We finally got free and then this terrible flood happened. The heavens do not favor us." It was so sad and made us wonder if the people here have always been so down. The echoes of Communism reverberate through the city and as we walk the streets we sense an air of fatalism.

Then tonight we went to a short concert and our spirits were lifted. Prague embraces their rich history of classical music and there are many classical concerts advertised around the city. We decided to avoid the big venues and went to a baroque library in an old church. As we sat there listening to Mozart's A Little Night Music and Vivaldi's Four Seasons, music that is over 200 years old, played by the members of a fabulous little chamber orchestra, we realized something important: there are some things that transcend war, tyranny, and natural disasters. Bravo to the Prague Chamber Orchestra.

Although the Czech Republic joined the European Union in May of this year, they have not yet converted their currency to the Euro. They have retained their national currency called the Czech Crown (Koruna) abbreviated as Kc. With today's exchange rates $1 US Dollar = 24.39 Kc and 1 British Pound = 44.98 Kc.

Costs are reasonable here. A 30 minute taxi ride from the airport to the hotel was 650 Kc ($26.65 and £14.45) and a 500 ml (17 oz) bottle of Coke from a street vendor is only 25 Kc ($1.03 / £.0.56)

Other observations on our first day:

• The majority of the Czech Republic is comprised of a region in central Europe that was known as Kingdom of Bohemia
• Franz Kafka was born in Prague when it was still the kingdom of Bohemia. He worked for the Workers Accident Insurance Institute and refused to publish any of his work during his life time.

Well, we arrived in Prague and had the chance to walk around a bit this afternoon. Pretty much what you would expect - lots of smoking, sausage grilling street vendors, and fur hats. Also Pilser Urquell on tap for $1 a glass. These are the highlights so far. We hope to take a tour tomorrow and become better informed.

-LmG

Today was clear and cold in London, and I think we may be leaving Autumn. We are going out of town for a few weeks, off and on, to Prague, and Paris, and Brussels, and even to California for a week. When we come back old man Winter will no doubt be in charge of London, and we will be in the grips of the Christmas spirit.

Watch for the next post from Prague.

-LmG

A Numerical Guide to London
Check out Capital Numbers . . . because London Counts.

Click on any number and you will see many fascinating facts about London related to that number.
For example:

• number 10 reveals that London's most famous address is 10 Downing Street
• and twenty six informs us that it was "at the 1908 Olympic Games in London that the twenty-six mile marathon race from Windsor to White City was extended by 385 yards to finish in front of the Royal box. All modern marathons have been 26 miles 385 yards long ever since.

Fascinating site.

-HrH

We made a fantastic discovery today. We found the Royal Academy of Arts.

The academy is a fine building, next to the Royal Astronomical Society and the Society of Antiquarians, with a nice blend of old and new architecture. They had an exhibit of the work of William Nicholson, a British painter, print-maker and theatre designer who lived from 1872 - 1949. His wood cut prints are just fabulous, and still somewhat available.

I have become suddenly aware this week, over my few days off, that we need to buy art to remember our life here and to decorate the fabulous new place we are going to buy. Better get back to work soon or this could get expensive.

LmG

The management company of our housing complex has decided to invest some of the homeowner dues in a few capital improvements. Their current project is to update the lobby in our building and today they are pouring concrete. As a result, we had to be out of our apartment between 10:00 and 5:00 PM. Well, actually they didn’t care whether we were in or out, but they did, in the very polite British way, say that we should not annoy them by running in and out all day. Rather than risk having to climb out the bathroom window with an urgent need for a latte, we decided to just leave and play tourists for the day.

So off we went, only to discover 5 minutes into our adventure that we had forgotten the camera. (Doh! We were scared to go back lest we end up embedded in concrete.) Cameraless, we plodded full speed ahead. Our first stop was Westminster Pier only to discover that the boat tours of the Thames are rather limited this time of year. We had hoped to take a cruise down to the Thames Barrier, a part of the flood defense defence system protecting London against rising water levels and tidal surges. (We know you all remember that the Thames is a tidal river which means its level can rise or fall up to 20 feet!).

So we looked around for the biggest tourist attraction we could find, feeling it is our duty to visit each of these so we can steer our American visitors to only the best when they finally get over here.

We ended up at the Tower of London, slogging through the rain listening to taped tours. The place was filled with a surprising number of people given that it is 52 degrees, rainy, and a Monday in November. The highlights were the Crown Jewels and the six ravens that are permanent residents of the tower. We would rate it a C overall, which means that you should probably see it if you are interested in British history, but we won’t be going back with you. (We have been educating ourselves on British history through Simon Schama's 6 DVD setA History of Britain.) Delighted to tell you how to get there however!

-HrH and LmG

On Saturday we decided to go to the London Transport Museum.

We took the tube from Gloucester Road to Covent Garden (exit only at Covent Garden from 1:00 pm to 5:00 pm on Saturdays because there are SO many people around there!) and spent a couple of hours at the museum. It wasn’t that interesting. We often find that when museums are geared to be learning events for children, they aren’t all that appealing to us. Anyway, we did get a couple of excellent posters we will keep as mementos of life in London.

To our good fortune, we discovered that the Transport Museum is adjacent to the Covent Garden Market that just happened to be holding a Food Lovers Fair on Saturday. This fair is recognised as a "showcase for the very best of sustainable, traceable, British produce." We tasted some delicious samples, and watched some good street performers before purchasing some weird-looking but delicious-tasting Scotch Eggs.

-LmG

London Bloggers is a tube map with links to all the bloggers operating from near that tube stop. Click on the phrase "To see a list of stations with weblogs already registered, click here" and then choose "High Street Kensington" to see the seven blogs in our area, including YOUR favorite blog in London.

-LmG

Every country in which I have lived seems to have an annual fireworks celebration. In Canada we celebrated the queen's birthday with fireworks on the last Monday in May. In the US, of course, there is the 4th of July, and San Francisco even has KFOG's Kaboom concert in early May.

Here in London we have been hearing fireworks for a few nights now, but last night, Friday 5 November, it sounded like we were in a battle field. It’s Guy Fawkes day in England. Each year fireworks and bonfires are burned on November 5th to celebrate the Gunpowder Plot, in which a group of Catholic conspirators attempted to blow up the British Houses of Parliament on that date in 1605. The plot failed, and in their relief, the British have continued to commemorate the day for 400 years with explosives and fires of all kinds.

This event, and legend, is the source of the familiar rhyme begins ‘Remember, remember the fifth of November'.

Remember, remember the fifth of November,
gunpowder, treason and plot,
I see no reason why gunpowder treason
should ever be forgot.

(The full text is available at this Wikipedia entry.)

-HrH

On Thursday night Linda and I ventured out to the historic Gielgud Theatre for another dose of London's West End Theatre. The theatre was first opened in 1906 and one has to assume that people had shorter legs in 1906. The leg room was horribly cramped.

We saw the critically acclaimed One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest with Christian Slater in the lead role of Randle Patrick Murphy. I am a big fan of Christian Slater, having loved his performance in the black comedy, Heathers. Unfortunately, Christian Slater's performance was underwhelming. He just didn't look comfortable or convincing on stage.

However, the joy of the show was the two supporting lead characters, Mackenzie Crook (who plays Gareth on The Office) and Frances Barber, who played Nurse Ratched. Both of these actors were a delight to watch on stage.

-HrH

The British have a strange relationship with W's. Not far from our house is a street called Warwick Road. The British pronounce the first W but the second is ignored: it is pronounced 'War-ick.'

Similarly, there is an area of London just east of us called Chiswick, (pronounced Chizz-ick). Strangely, the W is not acknowledged.

I guess sometimes it is hard to know what to do with a W.

-HrH

We see a wide variety of sights on our walks in Kensington Park. The dogs remain my favorite: they are so happy and free-spirited and well behaved. Here’s a big guy who decided to go for a dip just to see if his master would pull him out (as I’m sure she always does).

Click each image for a larger picture
Time for a little dip	Aaargh. I need help getting out of here	Brrr . . . anyone have a towel?

-LmG

Today we took our first ramble. In England, people who like to take long walks through the countryside (most of which is publicly accessible unlike the US) are called ramblers. We left the house at 8:15 am, and via the Tube and train, travelled northwest to Berkhamsted. When we alighted at the train station there, we wandered around the local area and found both some locks in the canal where the little houseboats move back and forth, as well as the ruins of a castle dating from the time of the Norman Conquest and ruined since about 1245.

We used our guidebook, and our compass, to travel up and down the picturesque English hills and fields, following hedgerows, and forest edges, and walking trails, in a large 6.5 mile loop. We encountered few other ramblers, but saw a herd of deer running across a golf course, shared a pasture with many cows and sheep grazing in the fields we crossed, and of course, rabbits! (Just kidding about the rabbits.) Along the way we learned what the ramblers version of a stile is (as in "turnstile" without the "turn"), complete with a dog door. We walked back through the door here at 4 Walnut Court at 3:15 pm and are happy to finally sit down!

Click here for a complete slide show of all the pictures linked above.

-LmG

The previous post about rabbits in the park is a joke dedicated to Steve Danziger. The rabbit photos are compliments of bunny-rabbits.com. Thanks Steve!

-HrH

p.s. there really are rabbits in the park.

Our friends Steve and Cynthia have been visiting for the weekend from San Francisco. We had a wonderful time walking in the park, visiting museums and enjoying fine meals together.

After bidding farewell to Steve and Cynthia yesterday Linda and I headed for an extended walk in Kensington Gardens and Hyde Park. It was a beautiful autumn day with hundreds of people and many happy dogs enjoying the sunshine. As we walked along the Serpentine Lake we were pleasantly surprised to find a nest of three young rabbits huddled together near the path. It was the perfect cap to a great weekend with good friends.

-HrH

On Sunday we took a delightful tour of the Royal Mews. In England, mews are where horses are kept so, of course, the Royal Mews is where the Queen's horses and carriages are housed. It was a wonderful glimpse into some of the old traditions of the British monarchy. A few highlights of the tour include:

• the gilded carriage weighs 6 tons and is only used for the most special occasions (such as the coronation of a new king or queen)
• it takes 8 Windsor Grey horses to pull the gilded carriage.
• it takes 10 men 1 1/2 days to remove the gilded carriage from its display room
• there is one groomsman for every two horses
• the horses are very well cared for (including six weeks of "vacation" a year where they have their shoes removed and are allowed to run free in a pasture)
• many of the uniforms worn by the horsemen and carriage drivers are the original garments that were made over 100 years ago

-HrH

On Friday we we went to Greenwich (pronounced Gren-ich), a delightful little village in Southeast London on the Thames. We took a guided tour that started at the Cutty Sark, and took us by some of the highlights of Greenwich. We saw the Old Royal Naval College, the Painted Hall and the National Maritime Museum. It was one of the most interesting sites we have visited.

The highlight of the day was visiting the Royal Observatory, where Greenwich Mean Time is marked. It turns out that, until the 1750's, navigation at sea was a problem. Navigators could determine their latitude (how for north or south) by measuring the angle of the sun in the sky. But they had no way to determine their longitude (how far east and west). In one incident in 1707, Admiral Cloudsley Shovel and his fleet were afloat in fog and thought they were in the middle of the ocean; they ran aground and over 2000 men died.


The first approach to address the problem was to create a detailed catalog of all the stars in the heavens including their precise locations at exact times. The idea was that ship captains would take measurements of stars in the night sky and determine their longitude from the star catalog. The Royal Observatory was commissioned 1n 1675 to create the catolog. Later, with success elusive, the British Government created the Longitude Prize in 1714 to encourage a solution.


Unfortunately, creating such a detailed account of the heavens turned out to be more difficult than expected. After nearly 100 years the catalog was still not ready, the Longitude prize was unclaimed, and sailers were still struggling to navigate the seas. John Harrison, an English clock maker, had a better idea. His plan was to make a chronometer that would be sufficiently accurate at sea. The clock would be set to a specific time in a specific location (say, Greenwich, for example). Using the sun, the sailor could determine high-noon by noting when the sun reached its highest point in the sky. The time difference between Greenwich and their current location would allow the sailor to determine their longitude.


[It works like this: there are 360 degrees of longitude in the globe. Since there are 24 hours in a day, each hour difference between two locations represents 15 degrees of longitude. By noting high-noon at their current location and calculating the difference in time between the ship and Greenwich, the sailor would have an accurate reading for longitude.]


However, creating a clock that would keep accurate time on a ship was not an easy task. Most clocks of the day were based on pendulums and these did not work will in the tossing seas. It took Harris more than 30 years to perfect the design that was finally adopted for wide use.


Accurate navigation made global seafaring possible. The rapid expansion of the British Empire quickly followed. Soon there would be British Colonies in so many parts of the word that it would be said that "the sun never sets on the British Empire." Learning how Britain conquered the world with their navy by figuring out how to measure longitude was fascinating. We were with our friends from California, Steve and Cynthia, and we will definitely revisit this site again.


-HrH

Although London is now home to more than 7 million people, it was once a collection of small towns and villages spread across the countryside. As each town grew towards the other they eventually joined to become one sprawling city.


Unfortunately, each town chose to keep the names of their streets. As a result, now that the city is one contiguous block, the same street will change names many different times. Today I have to walk about 500 yards from the Bond Street Underground station (bottom of picture) to a small café on the corner of Marylebone High Street and George Street. While walking north on the SAME STREET, the street will change names five times.

• Gilbert Street
• James Street
• Mandeville Place
• Thayer Street, and finally
• Marylebone High Street.

Thank goodness I have a actual size map!


-HrH

After my interviews with Netflix back in August and September, they offered to put me on their beta program to help test the new UK systems. It was wonderful to have a steady supply of DVDs again.


Today I received an email from Netflix saying that they had decided to delay their UK launch for another year. Current operations would be closed and I was welcome to keep the DVDs that I had at home.


This is a sad day. I was very excited that Netflix was coming to the UK. The only consolation is that we got a free copy of Monster and Secretary. We are nothing if we are not eclectic in our taste for movies.



-HrH

I had an excellent interview yesterday at a company called Servista. They provide billing and back end services for UK companies that want to enter into the newly deregulated energy and Telecom markets. Lloyds TSB, Tesco, and the Post Office are able to offer gas, electricity and/or telephone service with the help of Servista.

The position is for the head of the Programme Office. They have many programs that run multiple projects to manage the installation of new customer services. The company has about 140 employees and is at the stage of growth where they are realizing that they need to start building processes into their culture or they will not be able to scale. This is the perfect environment for me and one of the ideal scenarios that I have been trying to find.

They are interviewing other candidates and will not get back to me for a couple of weeks but I will keep my fingers crossed.

-HrH

I just purchased a round trip ticket from British Midland Airways from London to Brussels for a weekend trip in November. The fares are amazingly low. It was only £20 for a round trip ticket. This is wonderful! Only £20 for a round trip ticket from London Heathrow to Brussels. These low cost air fares are really amazing.

However, after completing the transaction, I was greeted with the following line item at the bottom of the statement:

Applicable taxes, passenger surcharge, and insurance surcharge £39.60

The total ticket was £59.60. The taxes and surcharges were 198% of the ticket charge.

£59.60 is about $107. That is still not a bad price for a round trip ticket on a 200 mile flight to another country. But it sure is a surprise when a £20 ticket is three times the price with all the surcharges and taxes.

-HrH

The Wall Street Journal recently posted an excellent article on the financial and tax implications for American citizens living outside of the United States.

The U.S. levies income taxes on its citizens regardless of where they live. (Generally, Americans working abroad are able to exclude up to $80,000 of earned income.) "One thing that's always a kind of a shock to our clients is when they discover that as U.S. citizens they still owe U.S. taxes, even though they live in another country," says Gavin Leckie, an international wealth advisor at JPMorgan Private Bank in New York. To stop paying the U.S. income tax, you must renounce your citizenship -- but even that drastic step may not be enough to keep the tax man at bay. The government presumes that wealthy Americans who renounce their citizenship are doing so to dodge taxes.

Under a 1996 law, anyone with annual income of $100,000 or more, or a net worth of $500,000 or more, who renounces citizenship must continue to pay taxes for 10 more years unless they can prove that they should be exempt from the law. (Those figures, indexed for inflation, rise to $124,000 and $622,000, respectively, for 2004.) And it's not just income tax, which nonresidents face, but also taxes on gains on the sale of certain foreign property, stocks, bonds and other investments that generally would not be taxed for nonresident citizens. What gets you an exemption? "You get can out of it if you're a dual citizen by birth, or if [the person is] going back to live in the country in which he or she, or the spouse, was born," says Mary Clarke, a private wealth-services attorney.

Where the Americans Are

An estimated 4.1 million Americans (excluding military) live abroad in more than 160 countries, with the greatest number residing in Mexico. Below is a list of the top 10 foreign countries where most Americans live:

1.	Mexico	1,036,000
2.	Canada	687,700
3.	United Kingdom	224,000
4.	Germany	210,880
5.	Israel	184,195
6.	Italy	168,967
7.	Philippines	105,000
8.	Australia	102,800
9.	France	101,750
10.	Spain	94,513

Source: The Association of Americans Resident Overseas.

-HrH

I stopped at the bank today and asked for 2 rolls of £1 coins. (The washing machines at the laundrette eat 3 £1 coins for each load so I was trying to stock up a bit.) I experienced one of those awkward moments where, as an outsider, I have no idea what the local custom is. The teller looked at me as if I had asked for a ligabob from her wheatatsawhosits. She didn't understand my question and I didn't know how to ask it any differently. She finally asked me how many I wanted and when I said, "20" she offered me a bag of £1 coins.

It turns out that the British manage their coins in loose bags rather than nice, neat little rolls. As I was walking away I heard the teller say to her co-worker, "did she mean paper rolls?" Ahh, the local customs one must learn in a new country.

-HrH

I am entering into an intense period of job hunting and have not had enough time to make a daily post here. I am now part of a job search work team at Lee Hecht Harrison. I meet every week for 2 hours with fellow job seekers during which time we report on our progress and offer advice and encouragement to one another. The expectation is that I spend 30 - 35 hours per week in job searching activities. I guess the vacation is over

To allow our fans to keep up with the new postings, however sporadic they may be, we have created the option to join a mailing list. Every new post will be followed by an email announcing its arrivalt. Click here if you would like to be included on the list. We will notify you via email every time something new gets posted. You can always change your membership on the list by sending me an email and asking to be removed.

-HrH

We saw Jerry Springer - The Opera last night. The show has been running for more than three years in London and continues to play to rave reviews. One critic, described the show as an

English opera whose main character is an American chat-show host who is accidentally shot by a black nappy-fetishist aiming at the Ku Klux Klan, and sent to hell to interview Satan, Jesus, Adam and Eve as if his life depended on it.

David Soul, (of Starsky and Hutch) fame has made his home in London and stars as Jerry. He bears a remarkable resemblance to the original.

It is hard to explain how bad we thought the show was. It was irreverent and sacriligious to the point that it made us uncomfortable. I guess we are just a couple of conservative mid-western girls at heart.

-HrH

We have been in London for almost four months now and many people have commented on the high cost of living here. But just how much more does it cost to live in London as compared to the US? Well, based on the

few items selected below, on average it is 40% - 60% more expensive to live in the UK.

The calculations include the difference due to the currency exchange. First we list the price of a typical item in the UK. Then, we convert the value in pounds to the amount in US dollars using an exchange rate

of 1.83 dollars/GBP. Finally we compare this converted amount the typical cost in the US and calculate a percentage. The average premium of all the items shown is 63%

Item	UK Cost	US$ Equiv (x 1.83)	US Cost	London Premium
Typical bottle of wine	£8.00	$14.65	$10.00	47%
Launder trousers	£4.00	$7.33	$5.00	47%
20 oz soda	£0.90	$1.65	$1.25	32%
DVD: Star Wars Trilogy	£27.00	$49.45	$42.00	18%
Burgers and chips for two	£31.00	$56.78	$25.00	127%
Pol Roger champagne	£25.00	$45.79	$40.00	14%
Full spectrum bulbs	£24.95	$45.70	$28.00	63%
4 AA batteries	£2.94	$5.38	$4.77	13%
US gallon of gasoline	£3.10	$5.68	$2.14	165%
First class stamp	£0.47	$0.86	$0.37	133%

-HRH

Just how far is it from San Francisco to London?

• As the crow flies it is 5,350 miles (8,610 km)
• London is 950 (1,528 km) north of San Francisco
• and London is 4,563 miles (7,343 km) east of San Francisco

Thanks to Larry G for the graphic.

-HrH

Click each image for larger view
	London is 950 miles further north than San Francisco. This difference in latitude has a significant effect on the local times for sunrise and sunset in each city. The longest day of the year in London has 16 hours and 40 minutes of sunshine whereas the longest day of the year in San Francisco has only 14 hours and 47 minutes. On the other hand, the shortest day of the year in London is a mere 7 hours and 49 minutes of daylight. The shortest day of the year in San Francisco has 9 hours and 33 minutes of sunlight.
	Sunrise In the summer time, the sun rises at its earliest in London at 4:45 AM. In San Francisco, however, the earliest sunrise is at 5:45 AM.
	Sunset The differences for sunsets between the two cities are similar. At its earliest, the sun sets in London at 3:51 PM. The earliest sunset in San Francisco occurs at 4:51 PM
You will also notice on each graph that London switches to Daylight Savings Time in the spring one week earlier than San Francisco but that both cities switch back to Standard Time on the same day (October 31, 2004) I will gladly send a copy of the spreadsheet that contains all these calculations on request. -HrH

The word "queue" is one of my favorite words (along with "triage"). I just like the way it sounds.


I remember the first time I ever saw the word. I was about 10 years old and was spending the day at Cedar Point Amusement Park. Right outside of the monster of all roller coasters was a sign that said "Form Queue Here." I was impressed. I mean, Cedar Point is in OHIO! Wouldn't "line" been more appropriate that "queue?"


Now that I live in London, I find the word used frequently. At the airport on Thursday the gate agent asked everyone to form a queue and I overheard a fellow passenger say, "we (i.e. the British) invented the word."


In Passport to the Pub, the authors have captured very well the British attitude towards queues:

Many visitors have observed that queuing is almost a national pastime for the British, who will automatically arrange themselves into an orderly line at bus stops, shop counters, ice-cream stalls, lifts, entrances, exits and sometimes in the middle of nowhere for no apparent reason.

Well said.


-HrH

I flew back to California yesterday in order to attend a meeting of the Haas (Berkeley) alumni board on Tuesday. A few hours into our trip the captain encouraged us to look out the left side of the airplane for a spectacular view of northern Greenland. Normally that part of the country is covered in clouds but yesterday we were treated to a beautiful, clear day.


The sea of snow was punctuated by small ripples of snow capped rocks made for a stunning sight. The picture only begins to capture the view.

-HrH

One thousand and thirty pounds of our personal belongings arrived from California today. The movers were an hour early and the crew of three had us unloaded in about 30 minutes. We have now officially moved to London!

Linda is in Brussels so I spent the day unpacking boxes, trying to find places for things, and cutting my finger. (It took me forever to find the box with the bandaids.)

It is nice to have all our stuff here. Some of the most welcome additions include:

• sharp, Henckels knives
• our comforter
• popcorn bowls
• yoga mats
• our Calphalon saute pan
• organizer baskets and bins
• some teaspoons

Still, somehow, it feels like we brought too much. I guess it is because the smaller closets are stuffed to the gills with clothes. Perhaps we will take even less stuff with us the next time we move.

-HrH

I bought a file system today from the local Ryman's store. It is designed to hold hanging files (or "suspension files, as we call them here in the UK) so I bought an additional supply of hanging files as well.

Imagine my surprise (or dismay) when I got home and the hanging files would not hang on the rails of the file box? It would seem as if the rails were about 2 mm too far apart to support the standard hanging file.

I returned to the store and checked all the other file boxes that they had on display. They were all manufactured identically . . . identically wrong. I got a refund and bought a similar system from another store.

Quality is a funny thing here in the UK. I am still trying to figure it out. Stay tuned . . .

- HrH

Here is an example of what can happen without the oversight of a Home Ownership Association. This picture was taken of an apartment building on Gloucester Road. It would appear that there are satellite dishes on the roof of the building and each tenant has run a cable down the outside of the building and into their flat through the window. Very nice. - HrH

The Church of England is a warm and open place where all souls are welcome to worship.

However, if your are a member of the Church of England, or one of the Anglican/Episcopal churches you are hereby ordered to get thy butt into a pew pronto.

-HrH

First there was mix up with NTL Cable. Fortunately we rescheduled and are now enjoying countless channels of news and entertainment.

Today's SNAFU is more disappointing. Earlier this week we received notice from the moving company that our air shipment was due to arrive on 9/3. What excitement! Linda and I were planning on being in Brussels for the weekend so I cancelled my ticket (sacrificing $166 on the non-refundable ticket) and Linda scheduled a trip back to London on Friday night in order to help unpack on Saturday. (She will return to Brussels on Sunday to resume her obligations there.)

What they didn't tell us is that our shipment was only due at the airport on 9/3. It still has to get through customs and be scheduled for a delivery to our flat. We won't see our stuff until next Tuesday or Wednesday.

Who knew? We rearranged our lives and got our hopes up because we thought our shipment arrived today. Not understanding the intricacies of international moves, I am reminded of the old saying, "If you think education is expensive, try ignorance."

-HrH

During one of my interviews at Netlix here in the UK we were discussing the lowered expectations of the average British citizen. It turns out that all shipping addresses are validated against the Royal Mail database. Apparently, this database is fraught with errors. Most Brits believe there is only a 50% chance that an online order will be correctly delivered to their home.

I gave credence to this state of disarry this week. I ordered a USB Hub from the Linksys distributor in the UK. Yesterday the web site said that the package had been delivered. Unfortunately it wasn't delivered to me.

When I called today the only part of the delivery address they had right was 4 Walnut Court. The rest of the address was for a flat on the other side of town. I am still waiting to find out where my hardware is.

-HrH

Each day -- well, alright, most days . . . when the weather is ok -- we take a 3 1/2 mile morning walk in Hyde Park. We follow the same basic route each day. Half way through the trek we cross a bridge over the Serpentine Lake.

We have decided that this will be a great place to track the changes of the seasons. Each week we will take a picture from exactly the same location. As winter arrives we will have great timeline of the changing view.

-HrH

Tuesday marked the 7th anniversay of the death of Princess Diana.

Each morning we walk through Hyde Park in London. On the west end of the park is Kensington Palace, where Princess Di lived when she was in London. This morning we strolled by the palace gate and were moved by the amount of flowers and photos that had been left at the gate in memory of Diana. The picture at the left will give you some idea of how many people still mourn her loss and cherish her memory.

-HrH

Thanks to Larry for the great link to Passport to the Pub. I read the first two chapters on Sunday and felt embolden with my newfound understanding of British culture. Linda and I set off with confidence to our "local" that evening for a pint. To my dismay, the first place we stopped didn’t have any beer on tap! I was completely thrown, I was ready to stay "two halfs of ale please" and they had no beer on tap!

We moved up the street to a more traditional pub but they only served mundane beers like Carling and Fosters. We continued around the block to our new "local" where we had a delicious pint Young's, our new favorite Pilsner.

Perhaps I will read the rest of the guide before I try to conquer more of the local traditions.

-HrH

Today is a bank holiday in the U.K. What are bank holidays? See answer here

The British are disturbed that they have so many fewer holidays, and days off from work, when compared to the rest of Europe (a comparison they are loathe to make on any other topic by the way). They have actually taken a poll about what would be some good dates for additional public holidays.

"We work the longest hours, and have the fewest public holidays. It’s about time we caught up with the rest of Europe in the holiday stakes. So we asked the Great British Public which one it should be, and this is what nearly 20,000 of you told us: Results

"Commenting on the poll results, TUC General Secretary Brendan Barber said: “In the past, bosses have wildly exaggerated the costs of introducing more bank holidays, but our calculations suggest that the UK can well afford to bring in extra days. If we all were able to take a few extra days off work, rather than losing out, employers would benefit from less-stressed, more contented, productive staff."

-LmG

Today we took a tour of London’s East End. This is the area that was originally to the east of the old Roman Londonium, where the winds would blow the smells from the tannery, the crematorium, and others away from the old city. It has strong parallels to the New York’s Lower East Side, including the City (London’s Wall Street), a rich Jewish history (here bookended by large communities of Huguenots and Muslims), and interesting markets and street history.

Londonium was surrounded by a wall, built originially by the Romans and added to over the years. Here is a picture of the last remaining piece of the wall with Sean, our tour guide.

-HrH and LmG

This weekend is Carnival in the Notting Hill area of London. To kick things off, Carnival organizers hold a Percussion Panorama north of Notting Hill. We went there Saturday evening and took these photos. It’s an amazing operation. Each “orchestra” with many, many steel drums and pans, is set up on a flat bad truck. When it is an orchestra’s turn to compete, the truck – rolling with the weight of drums, people, and all their accoutrements – pulls in front of the judge’s stand to play. The truck is absolutely hopping up and down with the energy emanating from the players. They appear to all be high school kids. Quite impressive.

Click to see the photos

On another note, this Carnival has some weird crowd and racial undertones, and the crowd can apparently get quite rowdy and unpredictable. You will see in the photos that many shopkeepers board up their storefronts and close for the weekend. This allows the graffiti artists many new blank canvases on which to work. It was interesting walking around seeing the neighborhood preparations, but we decided that the Percussion Panorama was enough for us.

-HrH and LmG

Interesting facts about the UK:

The unemployment rate in the UK is around 2.6%

The rate of illiteracy is around 20%

Does that mean that that 17.4% of the people who are working are illiterate? Nah . . . it doesn't work that way.

However, it might explain why the clerk at NTL Cable told me this week that an installer would be here today (August 28th) and yet scheduled us in their system for September 14.

Sigh . . . Nothing like waiting around all day for the cable guy.

-HrH

My first job prospect in the UK is with Netflix. They are currently expanding into the UK and expect to launch to the public in Q4.

Previously, I had submitted my resume through at least 4 different people. I even had Tom Campbell, the Dean of the Haas School of Business at Berkeley, forward my resume to Reed Hastings, the founder and CEO of Netflix. Yesterday, I met with the Managing Director of the UK expansion.

They hava a financial/marketing analyst position available that I am considering. The position is very junior for me but it may lead to other things within the company. Stay tuned . . .

-HrH

Popcorn is one of our favorite "meals" at home. Orville Redenbacker's Smart Pop tastes wonderful smothered in some grated aged Gouda. Unfortunately, microwave popcorn seems to be a rarity in the UK. So . . . to celebrate our last official night in California we enjoyed "something old and something new."

Something old was a splendid feast of microwave popcorn and something new was our new favorite champagne, Pol Roger. Winston Churchill’s loved this champagne and has been quoted as saying he needed Pol Roger in defeat, and deserved it in victory.

Off we go to London . . . where there is no microwave popcorn, but we can find plenty of Pol Roger!

-HrH

Yesterday we were up at 4:00 AM to catch a flight to LA. We were headed to the British Consulate to get our work permits so that we can work in the UK. To our pleasant surprise, the entire operation went rather smoothly. We arrived at the Consulate at 8:45 AM and waited about 2 hours. The agent processed our applications very quickly and without significant questions.

We then had to keep ourselves busy until 2:00 PM when our entry visas would be ready for pickup. After a leisurely lunch and some light reading at Starbucks we were on our way home with our newly minted visas.

We have passed a major milestone in our adventure. We can now both work in the UK!!

-HrH

Someone once use the term "London's swamp of a summer" and I think I have a good understanding of this phrase now. It is about 80 degrees here with 85% humidity at 9:30 pm. I am looking forward to returning to California tomorrow and spending almost the rest of August there, attending some meetings and getting the rest of our things packed up and shipped. We won't be posting for the next three or so weeks.

- LmG

We have finally managed to post the pictures from our tour of Cambridge. Take a look.

-HrH

Last night we had the most amazing and intense thunderstorms I have seen in years. Tons and tons of raw sewage had to be dumped into the Thames, heretofore known as Europe's cleanest revitalised rivers, because so much water came down in such a short period. They say one month of rain fell in one hour. Several people were hit by lightening in Hyde Park when they took cover under a tree. Fortunately I was home at the time and able to watch the whole thing from the comfort of my living room.

-LmG

On Friday night we went to a table tennis match! England's premier Table Tennis champion, Matthew Syed played another professional and several members of the audience in a challenge game at the Institute of Contemporary Arts. It was more fun than you might imagine. Matthew is quite a funny guy and gave us a great overview of the technique used by the athletes in his sport. We learned that the funny stance and the stomp many pros use when serving the ball is designed to hide the type of spin the server is putting on the ball. There were numerous members of the audience vying for a chance to play a few rounds with him, and it was a lot of fun to watch them striving to understand his spins and techniques. He will be a color commentator for table tennis matches at the Olympics next month, broadcast for ten days on the BBC.

-HrH

.
Last night around 03:00 we were awakened by a high pitched crying noise, like a cat in heat, but much louder and vociferous. I looked out the window and saw a strange little dog-like creature running away from some bushes on the side of the building. The crying went on for a little while and then we fell back to sleep. Today, the tree trimmers are here and I asked them about it. The fellow didn't even hesitate to say "foxes." Apparently they are all around London. Adaptable animals I guess, although there are so many parks and wild areas in the city I guess there must be alot of good places to build a den. Remember this is where fox hunting originated.

Check out Urban Foxes for more information on wildlife in London.

-LmG

Our new TV is a beauty . . . but it is a bit smaller than the TV we have in Oakland. Fortunately, it is just the right size for our London flat.

-HrH

Yesterday Heather and I toured Cambridge University, about 45 minutes north of London via train. One of the things we did was visit the Cavendish Laboratory where Francis Crick and James Watson discovered the double-helix structure of DNA. We also got to see the Eagle Pub where the famous discovery was announced. Today, we read with sadness that while we were there learning about him, Francis Crick passed away.

We hired a Blue Badge guide, named Susan, to give us a customized two-hour tour of Cambridge. She was really helpful. We learned about the 31 colleges that compose Cambridge University, the history of the area, the stories of some of the Royal Family who have funded the colleges for the past 800 years, as well as some interesting details about the chapel at King's College that took over 100 years to build.

-LmG

8:30 AM: Sainsbury's for laundry detergent
10:30 AM: Launderette to wash sheets and rugs
12:30 PM: Return laundry to flat
12:35 PM: Home Base for mop and bucket
1:30 PM: Rush home for delivery of TV, stand, DVD player and audio system
1:50 PM: Receive delivery
2:00 PM: Back to Home Base for screw driver and hammer in order to assemble TV stand
3:00 PM: Assemble TV stand, install everything
5:00 PM: Sony store for cable to connect TV to DVD player
6:30 PM: Dixons for cables to connect TV to audio receiver
7:30 PM: Gloucester Station to meet Linda
9:00 PM: Shower! Whew! a long day of settling in

-HrH

No posts today. It's my birthday and we are off to Cambridge for a day of history and exploration.

-HrH

Our first catalog arrived in the mail yesterday . . . and so marks the beginning of our onlaught of junk mail. The good news is that I actually requested to be on the mailing list for this catalog. We shall see how long it takes to start receiving stuff that we did not request.

-HrH

Heather schleps home the day's shopping booty via one of the famed London cabs.

Without a car, the standard modes of transportation are bus, The Tube, or cab. London cab drivers must pass a very rigorous test called The Knowledge. It takes an average of three years to pass the test and only 30% pass on their first attempt!

The “All London” Licence requires you to have a detailed knowledge of the 25,000 streets within a six mile radius of Charing Cross with a more general knowledge of the major arterial routes throughout the rest of London. If you wish to work as a taxi driver in central London or at Heathrow Airport you need an “All London” Licence.

The drivers are truly amazing. You give them your address and they know where you live.

-HrH

British coins are not quite as easy to use and identify as the British currency. Pictured above is the
£2, £1, 50 pence,
20 pence, 10 pence, 5 pence,
2 pence and 1 pence.

The 10 pence coin in the middle is about the size of a US Quarter.

Although the £1 peice is rather small it is very thick (and heavy) in your purse.

-HrH

Growing up in Canada I became accustomed to colored bills. Then after 27 years in the US I learned to live with monochromatic money. How nice it is to be back in a land where different denominations are different colors. The British even go one step further: each denomination is also a different size, with £5 note slightly smaller than the £10 note, which is slightly smaller than the £20.

Until 1971, British money was made up of pence, shillings and pounds. There were 12 pence in a shillings and 20 shillings in a pound. There were many British coins with exotic names and confusing conversions. You can see them all listed on these pages.

Since 1971 British money has been calculated on the decimal system, with a standardized scheme of 100 Pence to the Pound. Thank goodness.

-HrH

The images found on these pages are intended for general information purposes only; they are NOT legal tender.Any use of these images to produce counterfeit currency is illegal and punishable by law.

A warm towel is such a simple luxury. Our flat in London is equipped with heated towel racks. When you run the shower the hot water first circulates through the towel rack resulting in a toasty warm towel when you have finished your shower. Very nice.

-HrH

We were very excited to learn that Whole Foods Market is expanding into the UK. The nearest store was about 1 1/2 miles from our flat so we combined our Saturday morning exercise walk with an excursion to Fresh & Wild, as they are called here. Although the store was much smaller than a typical Whole Foods in the US, they were obviously committed to the same level of quality for organic, locally grown foods. Whole Foods recently bought this store and is slowly adding its influence. According to the checkout clerk, new products are being introduced and the name will be changed from Fresh & Wild to Whole Foods in the near future. It is nice to find a little piece of home . . .   -HrH

In space starved flats in London, washer/dryer combos are installed in the kitchen as the norm for laundry appliances. Our flat is no exception. These units are only able to wash small loads of laundry and dry half as much at a time. Large items, such as sheets and duvet covers will have to be sent out to a cleaners or schlepped to a laundromat on a regular basis.

Sitting in our living room on a Saturday night listening to some Lyle Lovett and workng on our computers, Linda was doing a load of whites. As the dryer neared the completion of its cycle, Heather noticed the distinct smell of cotton being toasted. Linda rushed to the kitchen only to find that, although the dryer was stopped, it was still completing its cycle and would not unlock the door. She frantically pushed buttons and turned dials as wrinkles settled into her clothes. When the door finally opened a few minutes later the items were too hot to touch.

Nothing was burned and all is well. I guess we will use the lower setting on the dryer next time.

-HrH

While walking to the Tall Shop in a central London neighborhood yesterday I spotted a very strange building. Upon closer examination, it appears to be the headquarters building for British Telecom.

Very weird design . . .

-HrH

We are now live with Internet connectivity from our London flat. BT (British Telecom) was adamant that the service would not be available until Friday. I decided to be proactive and configure the modem and wireless router today (Thursday). To my surprise, the DSL line was already live!! Praise be to the provider of packets, the master of modems, the budha of bandwidth.

Thank goodness I will not have to schlep my laptop up to a smokey, noisey cafe just to get another internet fix. We are back online!!

;

A few more amenities to make life seem normal here. Although we have Arrowhead Springs bottled water piped to a faucet on our kitchen counter in Oakondo, we will make due with a Brita water filter here in the UK. The microwave is a basic, space-saver model. As long as it heats the beans for my English breakfast I will be happy.

-HrH

The UK electrical system is 240 V. The US is only 120 V. If you
plug a device into 240V that was only designed for 120V you get a wonderful shower of sparks and a blown circuit breaker. As a result, we have had to purchase many new items upon our arrival in the UK, as shown above.

Fortunately, many high tech gadgets, such as laptops, PDAs and the iPod all work fine with 240V.

-HrH

Newspaper and magazine subscriptions are handled a bit different here in London. Instead of calling the paper and arranging for home delivery, I simply went over to our local newstand across the street from the apartment and asked that they deliver the London Times every day. She asked me if I wanted any other papers or magazines delivered.

What a great idea! It costs an extra £2 a week and I can have any magazine or paper that I want. To change or cancel my "subscriptions" I simply walk back across the street and make my requests. Very cool!

-HrH

The French Connection UK is a popular brand of clothing for the young, urban crowd here in London. Unfortunately, their logo forces you to do a double take every time.

-HrH

We arrived back in London on the afternoon of July 9th. The move has been a bit more traumatic that we expected.

Click here for a list of a few of the surprises / challenges that we faced upon our arrival.

I am sure there is a huge bouquet of roses among the thorns here somewhere

-HrH

We finally returned home yesterday on a very pleasant flight. It was a large 747 with only 60 passengers. We practically had the entire plane to ourselves and received constant attention from the full flight crew that was used to providing service to hundreds of passengers.
In the last 3 weeks we schlepped these seven bags to SFO, to 3 different hotels in London and back again to San Francisco. We had to pack for professional and pleasure as well as the possibility of warm and cold weather. Next time we return to London we will move into our new apartment so NO MORE SCHLEPPING!

- HrH

After three long weeks in London we are ready to return to California. With 5 roller bags (2 large suitcases, a medium suitcase, a computer bag, and a small roller carry-on), a duffle bag, a back pack and 2 purses, we piled into a cab and headed to the airport. Imagine our surprise when the check-in agent redirected us to a ticket counter. The inbound aircraft had experienced mechanical problems in Washington and wouldn't arrive until 10:00 PM. Our flight had been rescheduled for 8:00 AM Saturday morning.  Aarghhh! Another night in London is not a problem, but all that luggage to schlep to another hotel and unpack again.

United has put us up in the Sheraton Skyline just across from Heathrow. Despite the fact that a take-off runway is directly across the street from the hotel, the room is pleasantly quiet.

- HrH

New Mini vs. the Original

With the high price of petrol, cars are smaller in the UK. With the possible exception of a few Land Rovers, it is very rare to see an SUV in London. The BMW Mini Cooper is very popular here. When the Mini Cooper was re-introduced in the US it was deemed "cute" and ranked among the smallest of US cars. However, in London, the new Mini Cooper is more like an average sized car. It is amazing to see the new Mini Cooper beside an original Mini, which is a much smaller car (see picture above). Other popular small cars includes the SMART car, a two-seater that Linda and I have our eye on. -HrH

The cost of owning a car is very high in London. Gasoline, or "petrol" as we like to say here in the UK, is heavily taxed. The good news about the fuel costs is that the roads and highways are in excellent condition and there is an abundance of good public transportation.

To appreciate the cost of fuel, lets convert the price of a litre of petrol in London to an equivalent gallon of gas in the US.

Since there are 3.785 liters in a gallon, £0.819 per liter is £3.10 per US Gallon.

And since the exchange rate today for US dollars is about $1.83 per British pound, this means that an equivalent gallon of gas in US dollars is $5.67/gallon.

In case we haven't mentioned it yet, we plan on living without a car in London.

-HrH

As a long time fan of the rock group Queen, I couldn't resist the opportunity to attend the critically panned show in London called We Will Rock You. We had front row seats at the Dominion Theatre, a large but aging venue in the London's west end theatre district - akin to Broadway in New York.

I can't argue with the critics. It was everything they said that it was and it wasn't. Yet, as a diehard fan of Queen, the show was wonderful, the music was great and the acting and dancing were fun to watch.

Here is a sample of some of the critic's reviews:

• A super high energy show with a wacky story that all Queen fans will love.
• Not a great show, unless you happen to be a fan of Queen.
• Shallow, stupid and totally vacuous new musical.
• The songs are recreated meticulously. Diehard Queen fans may be satisfied...... You will find nothing bohemian, and precious little that's rhapsodic, here.

-HrH

London's weather is always an adventure. It's sunny and a bit warm today with the thermometer threatening 30. Tomorrow should be much the same with cooler days in store for the latter part of the week.

Take a look at the 5 day forecast. Be sure to look at the humidity – it determines how comfortable you will really be here.

The calculations for converting Fahrenheit temperatures into Celsius is Tc = (5/9)*(Tf-32). To convert a Celsius temperature into degrees Fahrenheit use this formula Tf = ((9/5)*Tc)+32 . For a good approximation of the Celius to Farhenheit conversion that you can do in your head, “double the Celsius number and then add 30.” So 20C is approximately 70F (2 x 20 + 50 = 70)

Or you can use this handy dandy converter. Just enter a temperature in either box and the other temperature will be displayed.

- HrH

Mind the Gap!. If I ride the tube every day, I wonder how many times I will hear this phrase during my assignment here? A million? Two? Is it a metaphor for something in my life?

It means pay attention to the gap between the bottom of the door and the tube station walkway, which could be lower or higher than the door.

The train conductor mentions it at least twice at each stop and there is a recording that plays inside the station as well, saying it over and over and over again when the train is in the station.

-LmG

Left the hotel at 7:35 am, walked to the Gloucester Road tube station, and took the Piccadilly Line out toward Heathrow to the Hatten Cross station. Took exactly 40 minutes. For the next phase of the journey I waited with some other Cisco people for the free silver bus to take us to the Bedfont Lakes office. It picked us up five minutes after I arrived. A short 10 minute trip later and I was at the office. It could potentially all come together and take me less than one hour to make this commute. Or not. It’s not cheap, with a round trip fare costing £7,00 or approximately $280 per month.

I spent the day at the office, a big modern glass and metal building outside Heathrow.

- LmG

Sunday was a quiet day as we had breakfast at our new favorite breakfast spot and then visited two great museums. Most museums in London offer free admission so it is a wonderful way to spend an afternoon.

The Natural History Museum had the usual assortment of fossils and dinasaurs. The higlight of the visit was an interesting exhibit on hair.

Right around the corner was the Science Museum. As a techie at heart this museum captured my interest with a landing gear assembly of an Airbus 340 in the lobby. Once inside the museum, the first floor is a progression from of the evolution of technology. As you walk from east to west ot the main floor you move from the technology of the late 1700's to the present. It was a joy to stroll through steam engines and early cars to a Cray supercomputere and MRI machines. It is a fascinating world in which we live.

-HrH

Today we went on a bus tour to the Cotswolds, a beautiful and scenic area about 90 minutes northwest of London. We visited four places – Burford, Bourton-on-the-Water, Broadway, and the Blenheim Palace, home of the Duke of Marlborough and the birthplace of Winston Churchill. I must say, Blenheim Palace is one impressive homestead.

Our tour was a bit rushed but we understand now how we might get out of town for a weekend and do some hiking. There are 3,000 miles of footpaths in the Cotswolds. They are all documented in the comprehensive maps that provide area details right down to each farmer’s plot of land.

We have posted a photo journal of our day on Heatherland.

- HrH

Everyone knows that the British have their own way of
pronouncing many common words. Here are some of the more outstanding words that
we have discovered in the last few weeks. By clicking the links you will hear
the words the way they are pronounced in London.

Weather
Pedestrian
Fried Eggs
Guiness Beer
French Fry
Soccer
Sidewalk

-HrH

As part of the Year 2000 ceremonies, London built a giant ferris wheel that is now called the London Eye. It has become a beloved landmark along the Thames. The wheel moves very slowly completing one revolution every 30 minutes.

Last night Linda and I ventured to the heart of London for a ride on this essential tourist stop. Here are the pictures that we took.

- HrH

Tomorrow we are going to the Cotswolds on a bus tour. Finally some rest for our aching dogs. Heather has calculated that we have been walking around five miles per day.

-LmG

Here is some more background on the Kensington Green development where we may be living soon. I have completed the application and the landlord has tentatively accepted our offer. This beautiful gated community was once the Kensington Workhouse, known as St Mary Abbots:

The workhouses were private or government-funded homes for the unemployed, poor and disabled. If private, the administration was often church-related. Parishes, the governing subdivisions in London, had historically been responsible for law and order and for the care of the aged, sick, disabled, and unemployed. All who wanted aid had to live in a workhouse. Since many paupers were also sick or disabled, infirmaries were added to workhouses, including isolation wards and fever wings.

Here’s a long bit on what life was like in a workhouse in the 19th century. It’s pretty amazing. When you come to visit we can have an authentic workhouse meal if I can find a good recipe for gruel. Otherwise we can go to the Muffin Man bakery or Fait Maison French charcuterie or the number of other incredible little food shops along Stratford Road, right outside our front gate.

-LmG

After much thought and deliberation we decided that the quaint apartment on Edwardes' Gardens just wouldn't work. Today we revisited a more modern apartment on the grounds of the former St. Mary Abbots workhouse and hospital. Unit 4 in Walnut Court is in a larger complex called Kensington Green, with a 24 hour Porter, a fitness room and a parking space (for our eventual Smart Car!)

Upon the second visit we realized that this apartment would be perfect for us. The furnishings are contemporary, the bathrooms are wonderful and the grounds are VERY quiet. It is located in a beautiful neighborhood with a darling little community of stores and shops just across the street. Check out the latest photos on Heatherland for a tour in pictures.

To celebrate, we went to the London Eye tonight. We will post some pictures tomorrow.

-HrH

We must have looked at a dozen apartments in the Kensington / Chelsea area today. The weather was brutally hot with a record high 32 degrees (90F) with muggy humidity but we managed to traipse through many very nice apartments and four too many basement units. We were escorted by a real estate agent whose air conditioned car was a welcomed reprieve from the heat. Her constant Britishisms on everything from her family to the Royals kept us entertained.

The winner was the 4th apartment on the list. It is located on South Edwardes Square a 10 minute walk from two great underground stations. We were smitten when we stepped into an ancient elevator that was the size of a refrigerator box and had the old fashioned metal gates that had to be closed manually. The apartment was on the third floor and as soon as we opened the door Linda and I knew that we both liked it a lot. The picture below is of the very traditional, very cosy "reception room" (aka "living room). Across the street is a beautiful private garden that takes up a complete city block. We will have access to the garden as tenets in the building.

We will return in the morning and take a lot more pictures. For now, we are excited about the possibility and hope that no one else has placed an offer on it yet.

-HrH

We spent Saturday walking the west end of London from Chiswick (chis-ick) to Richmond. We were looking for potential neighbourhoods in an effort to decide if we could live in this area.

Alas, the whole area is on the final approach to Heathrow so every 90 seconds a large aircraft thunders overhead. Too noisy!! For the time being we are still sold on the Kensington area.

Photos from our trek are available on Heatherland under London Photos

Tomorrow Linda heads out to the Cisco office and I visit the London School of Business. Stay tuned . . .

-HrH

Another day of wandering hopefully around the streets of west London in search of an Internet connection. In frustration and disappointment we decided to open our laptops and watch the wireless indicator as we trod home with the hope that we would stumble on some free bandwidth. We were standing in front of a small hotel at the time called the .Kensington House. Imagine our surprise when our wireless meters registered a strong network. Further exploration revealed that it was an open network with free access.

We have found our new home away from home. Daily trips for wine and light dinners as we sit in the quiet bar of this adorable hotel and take in the free access to the Internet.

Problem solved . . . on to the next hurdle.

-HrH

En route to Dublin from London, Alice Cooper's band was on my flight. Alice and a band mate posed for me at baggage claim.

I feel like an heroin addict scouring the streets of London for a WiFi connection. I spent £13 yesterday for a 3 hour fix.

Today I slogged my way to an appointment at Lee Hecht Harrison 2 hours early in the hope that I could use their computers, or better yet, a WiFi connection. I was welcomed at LHH despite my early arrival and, to my delight, discovered an open WiFi network. Ahhhh, the relief . . . Unfortunately, they either have extremely tight security on their networks or they have a problem with their DNS. I was able to pull up perhaps one out of five web sites and retrieving my mail was fruitless.

Plan B: LHH has a room full of PCs available to their clients. I can simply access my email via a web client and do a bit of surfing. Not a bad compromise, especially since it wasn't costing me anything. Damn if their desktops didn't suffer from the same network problems. I was unable to open my web-based mail client on their system.

Plan C: Costa Coffee, 105 Cannon Street in London. A beautiful little coffee shop across for the underground station. I had mapped out his place prior to my trip in the event that I would not be able to use the computers at LHH. I ordered a decaf Mocha and must admit that is was the best I have ever had. Now, with a full mocha at my side, I opened my laptop for a fix of connectivity. WiFi is provided by British Telecom at this location. After several failed attempts to purchase service I could only conclude that BT does not accept US credit cards. Strike 3!

Plan D: Abandon half of a fabulous mocha and return to a cursed Starbucks were the inflexible and expensive T-Mobile will gladly accept my credit card for £5 per hour. Ahhhhh . . . the soothing pleasure of another Internet fix.

-HrH

I had my first interview in the UK today. I met w/ Kevin Elderfield of Quorum International, an Executive Search firm. We met at the Goring Hotel, just a stone's throw away from Buckingham Palace. Rumor has it that the queen likes to visit the dining room at the Goring for lunch.

The interview went well. Kevin was enthused by my capabilities and promised to search through their client base for a possible fit. He understand my quest to find a company, not just a job. When I find the right company, I can wait until the right job opens up. Or, more likely, I will create the job at the right company.

Tomorrow it is off to Lee Hecht Harrison to learn how to find a job in the UK.

-HrH

Welcome to Linda and Heather's weblog of adventures in London and Europe. We moved to London in August of 2004 from northern California where we have both lived for a long, long time. Together for seven years now, we are living in London on a two or three year assignment that Linda’s company has asked her to undertake.

Heather was born in Canada and recently became an American citizen (can you imagine that?). Her interests include personal technology, music, film, and politics. She regularly reads Wired, Business Week, PC Magazine, and The Economist. You can find out more about her at her website.

Linda is originally a Michigander who loves the California lifestyle, and whose interests include food and wine, design, art, music, and film. She regularly reads The New Yorker, Harvard Business Review, Dwell, and People (when she can find it).

Feel free to send us an email or leave a comment on the site.