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.
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Re: Notes from mirror-world AngryMike
wrote on Fri, 09 Feb 2007 05:15
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... ;)
Re: Notes from mirror-world Brett Boysen
wrote on Sun, 18 Feb 2007 01:15
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
Re: Notes from mirror-world jack
wrote on Sun, 18 Feb 2007 16:33
Hey Brett, that's me all right. Good to hear from a fellow Austinian.
Re: Notes from mirror-world kyle
wrote on Sat, 17 Mar 2007 22:39
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?
the queen's english Jack
wrote on Sun, 18 Mar 2007 03:32
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.
