2007 02 07 - Wed
posted by jack at 03:49 CET in / life 
In London on business this week, first time in England. Here are some observations:
- This whole cars-driving-on-the-wrong-side-of-the-road thing is really disconcerting. I thought it would be easy to deal with! Notions about traffic, and which way cars will be coming from, seem to be more ingrained than I thought.
- Hyde Park is really bloody dark at night. And the gates are closed. I believe these two facts are related.
- England has some great chips (which I'll not yet call 'crisps'), such as the "Walkers Sensations Vintage Cheddar & Red Onion Chutney flavour crisps" I'm eating right now.
- My fellow Americans are just as conspicuous in England as they are in Sweden, with the loud talking and whatnot.
- I feel nervous sitting in a pub by myself for any length of time, for fear of being that conspicuous. I keep to myself, consume my consumables, and leave quickly.
- Shops are open until 7! or 8! Marvellous! (<- note olde englyshe spelling)
- It's tempting, when I see the small numbers (compared to Swedish currency) on price-tags in shops, to think I'm looking at dollar amounts. If only.
- English taxis are much bigger on the inside than you'd think just by looking at them. I think this is the true origin of the Tardis.
- Whoever's doing up my hotel room wants me cold. Last night before going to bed it was just 20 degrees C in here. I cranked it up to 23 but was cold all night. Coming back from work today, I found that the heat was off, the window was open, and it was down to 16. Brrr.
- The curse of "reality TV" seems to afflict England at least as much as Sweden. Based on casual channel-flipping a few times the past few nights, it seems like at least 2 of the 5 channels on the hotel TV are showing some sort of "reality TV" at any given time.
- A surprising number of bathroom sinks here feature double faucets, one for hot and one for cold. This invariably leads to comically waving hands back and forth, Mr-Bean-style, to get the right mix of temperatures.
- I miss my family. This is the first time I've been away from my kids longer than, say, a long workday followed by an evening out! Dang.
Comments
Re: Notes from mirror-world
AngryMike
wrote on Fri, 09 Feb 2007 04:15 |
|
Sounds like a nice trip. Make sure you refer to "Football" as "Soccer" and make sure you bring up that Americans will soon own three Premier League _Soccer_ teams. The end is near... ;)
[ reply to this ]
|
Re: Notes from mirror-world
Brett Boysen
wrote on Sun, 18 Feb 2007 00:15 |
|
Hey! I just came upon this by accident. I'm assuming you're from Austin, MN. Best of Luck, hope all is well.
Brett Boysen
[ reply to this ]
|
| |
Re: Notes from mirror-world
jack
wrote on Sun, 18 Feb 2007 15:33 |
|
Hey Brett, that's me all right. Good to hear from a fellow Austinian.
[ reply to this ]
|
|
Re: Notes from mirror-world
kyle
wrote on Sat, 17 Mar 2007 21:39 |
|
Hey old guy nice site, yes yes me like veeery much. England... sounds fun, just curious is the queens english easier to learn than swedish?
[ reply to this ]
|
| |
the queen's english
Jack
wrote on Sun, 18 Mar 2007 02:32 |
|
Hey Kyle, The biggest difference in the form of English they speak in the U.K. (which I like to call Old English just to bother James) and proper American English is just using different words for some things, e.g. "chips" become "crips", "fries" become "chips", "hood" (on a car) becomes "bonnet", "trunk" (again on a car) becomes "boot", etc. In general though, it's all about the same, and I feel like I can understand most British folks at least as well as I can understand the drawl of a native Texan.
[ reply to this ]
|
|
Your Comment
|
shameless begging
I'm sure you'd like to buy Jack something from his Amazon Wishlist!
Or, just send him money with PayPal by clicking the button below! What a deal!
|
