Bomb Scare

I am sure many of you have heard about the two cars with bombs in them found early yesterday morning here in Central London. The city is operating "business as usual" except for a few delays on the Underground. We were at a pub last night and it didn't seem to be on any one's mind. There seems to more focus on the rain which is nonstop - it's basically like Seattle in November.

The scary part is that Greg tried to talk me into going to some dodgy bar call Sport Cafe that night to see the NBA draft which was right next to where they found the bombs. Fortunately, I had other Thursday night plans in mind....

Yes, roller disco with my co-workers. I haven't been roller skating since I was 12 or so and it was the coolest thing ever back then for about 60 days after which it because the least cool thing ever. Anyway, this place was highly entertaining with "club kids", "rock'n grannies" and this guy.
The first person to come visit us in London gets an all expense paid trip to Roller Disco!

Manchester

Tiff had a business trip to Manchester, so I decided to tag along. Actually, her business is in a suburb of Manchester (my guess is it's the equivalent of say Aloha, OR), but the only hotel we could find there made the TripAdvisor list of dirtiest hotels in Europe, so we decided to pass and stay downtown. Turns out that Manchester is GB's 'second city' behind London. The architecture is striking, in particular how different it is from what we've seen of London.

Food

We got in and had a pretty good Italian meal at Piccolinos - we'd recommend it if you're ever in Manchester. The second night we had one of the worst sushi meals I can recall (aside from some conveyer belt sushi we tried in London). Anyway, I knew we were in trouble when they brought the sake in its glass bottle. I then noticed that they didn't have a true sushi chef - rather they had a couple of 'assemblers' that basically took pre-readied rice and wrapped pre-cut fish on top of it with nori. The good news is that they had buy one get one free on 'Morinaga' candies which basically are Japanese Starbursts/Mambas. For all you in Seattle and Portland I highly recommend picking some up at a Japanese market (Uwajimaya has them). Anyway, needless to say I was still hungry so I convinced a cold and tired Tiff to go back to Piccolinos so I could get a dessert I had been eyeing the night before and an Americano with Illy espresso. Next night we went to a cool Indian restaurant called Akbar. Definitely recommend checking it out. Afterwards we went to the sky lounge on the 23rd floor of the Hilton for a nightcap. Here are few photos of me with the naan at Akbar, the Hilton hotel and bar and Tiff on the way back to the hotel.

Activities

The first day, Tiff had to work at a store so I decided to venture out to try and play some golf. I had done a little research and there is a 'municipal' course about 5 miles north of the city called Heaton Park that I was going to play. I strapped on my clubs and headed to find a cab. On the way to the course, I asked the cab driver about the course and other courses in the area. He said that Heaton was probably a good choice, but a few minutes later asked if I was more interested in playing a private course - New North Manchester Golf Club. He then took out his Tom Tom or Garmin, found the number of the course and then called and made me a tee time. You don't get that from an NYC cab driver. Course was nice. It cost me 32 pounds and I'd say it was the equivalent of a $30-35 course in Seattle or Portland. The thought of just hanging out by myself all day in Manchester wasn't all that appealing (the soccer stadium is 20-30 minutes outside the city) so I decided to go back and play NNMGC, both Wednesday and Thursday. If anyone visits Manchester, I highly recommend it. Tell Jason that Greg sent you. After round 3, I appreciated the course a lot more and think it's better than West Seattle, but not in a different league or anything. One of the days, I ended up playing with one of the club members. He was pretty friendly, loved to brag about the course, over-estimated his golf skills, was excited to play with an American and had to leave after 11 holes because his 16 year old daughter wrecked her car. Anyway, I was complaining about the exchange rate when he brought up visiting the U.S. He said he'd only been to Florida and wanted to go back to visit, but he wasn't interested in doing it now because of the U.S.'s poor worldwide reputation brought on by Bush. Maybe he was bitter because he liked Tony Blair (who was serving his last week as PM - and many believe his popularity went from 90% to 20% because of Bush) but I thought that was a powerful political statement. Some random dude in Manchester doesn't visit our country because of Bush? One of those trickle down things I just never would have imagined.

Soggy Ireland

I had to go to Ireland for work to attend the "Taste of Dublin" and then we stayed the weekend. It was a great event, despite the wind and rain. The upside was our coffee was very popular. We opened the Ireland market two years ago and it's been a huge success. The Irish love Americans so there is less resentment and they are much more of a coffee drinking society then the English.

In an effort to get Greg golfing in Ireland, we stayed at the Port Marnock Hotel. For work I stayed at the Davenport in the city. Can't say I'd recommend either (how do they make those website photos make these tired hotels look amazing?), but it was fine. Despite being only "8 kilometers" from Dublin, it was a $50 cab ride into the city from the Port Marnock . So we decided to try an be thrifty and take the bus into the city which resulted in a story that I will let Greg tell you about in a separate post. I'll just say that it's the first time in this trip where I feared for our safety.

The highlight of the trip was a tour of the Guinness Storehouse. It's the birthplace of Guinness and a must see if you come to Dublin. They have a very entertaining tour on the process behind what makes Guinness great which concludes with a free pint. One of the more fascinating parts is the an exhibit on "Coopers" who were the artisans who made the casks or barrels used to store Guinness. We found out the next day they are actually moving the facility to a fancy new spot outside the city, which is a big deal since it's been in this location since like 1796 or something. Key tip if you go...book your tour the morning of on their web site. We were amazed when we walked by 250 people lined up in the rain and right inside since we booked in advance...and you save 10%.

Here I am with my first scone, jam and clotted cream. I must say, it was delicious. I also have a proper pot of tea.

I tried to get Greg to go on a literary pub crawl with me as Dublin is home to lots of famous authors including James Joyce. He wasn't up for it, so we did our own pub crawl. We started out in a total dive spot that was full of Americans called Anseo. Next we headed to the Stags Head where I had an Irish Coffee and Greg continued his Guinness run. Lastly we end at The Cobblestone where they had traditional Irish music. It was great...but I didn't see any jigging, maybe next trip.

Restaurants in Dublin:

Little Mermaid - Perfect for a nicer meal. Great service

Town Bar & Grill - Romantic spot for a nicer diner in a cozy basement cave like space. Greg thought the food was average, but I thought it was good.

Imperial Chinese - Supposedly Dublin has a large Chinese population, so we thought it might be a good opportunity for some chow mein. It was fine...not great.

Harry's - Solid, but not worth going out of your way

Temple Bar Market - This was a great find. As you can see from the photos there are lots of tasty cheeses, crepes and many other gourmet offerings.

Quick update - GH

A couple of omissions from my last post (I was a bit distracted and in a hurry because I was in the bar of our hotel in Ireland watching the US Open and my battery was dying).

- More dog news. Saw on the news that the neighborhoods of Kensington and Chelsea are going to pass a law making it illegal to walk more than two dogs. Seriously. People are making money spending time on these issues. I hope the Chelsea coach gets two more dogs, smuggles them in on a private jet again and walks them to practice everyday through Chelsea, and then sneaks them back to Portugal when the cops come to quarantine them. So, I just read my earlier posts and realized that I didn't previously write about the Chelsea coach. Here's the context. We arrive in London back in May and Chelsea is set to play ManU for the FA Cup. It's huge. All day TV coverage, full papers dedicated to it, etc. Anyway, a couple of days before the game, the Chelsea coach is at the team's annual awards dinner when he gets a call from home and bolts out the door. He gets home to find the police there trying to quarantine his little dog. Turns out he just brought it in on a private jet from Portugal. He tells the police he will go and prepare the dog for them to take it and then comes back and tells them it ran away. Somehow it mysteriously turns up in Portugal again. He was pretty brazen about it after the fact, saying that London is now safe from a huge public safety threat. Google it. It's pretty funny.

- We finally signed up for a gym membership. It's a temporary deal because it's the one in the building of our 'serviced apartment'. Cost - $600USD for one month. Now, that's for both of us so it stays below mortgage payment status but that's easily a car payment.

- We had our first visitor. A buddy of mine from Wharton - Alex Casale had a business trip to London. Alex is my first (and hopefully only) friend with a minivan. It's a Mazda MPV that I had the pleasure to drive from Newtown CT to Boston and back. He claims it's a 'wagon'. I don't even engage in that debate it's such an absurd stance. Anyway, we splurged (actually he paid - but I think we owe him for some portion) and took him to our favorite pub - The Prince Regent. Here's a photo as well as some belated photos of our current apartment. Note the VCR (which doesn't play US format tapes supposedly) and door stops.

A post on Ireland is coming soon.

And We're Back...

by popular demand I might add.

So, why the radio silence. Well, a few reasons. One, I've been diligently looking for a job. Two, we've been traveling - Bath, US and Ireland. Three, I haven't had a reliable Internet connection since we moved out of the hotel. Most of you probably can't relate, but when your gmail connection is lost and it comes back you get a little message that says "and we're back" thus the title of this posting. **Warning - I'm gonna spend a few lines on the broadband fiasco so skip ahead if you know this topic will bore you.** At first I was freeloading off of somebody's wifi network titled "Netgear", but I had a very weak connection and I often had to put the laptop in the windowsill in order to get a signal. It was pretty ridiculous and stopped working completely after the first few days. After much complaining to the relocation "service" they gave me a wireless anywhere card with a little antenna on it - back to dialup days and it would also disconnect frequently. We finally got British Telecom to fix the broadband, but of course for some reason I can't access my gmail account. I'm sure you are all anxiously awaiting resolution of this issue. I'll keep you posted.


Daily Routine
So, what have I been doing everyday? That's a fair question and when I think about it, I'm always amazed at how fast the day goes by. Anyway, I get up around 8. Now Tiff may disagree, and I'll admit that it's sometimes a little later, but rarely earlier. I turn on my computer and while Windows loads, I brush my teeth, throw on my Aresnal hat, some sweats and a T-shirt and head downstairs to the Starbucks. By the time I get back, Windows is nearly loaded so I make myself some breakfast. I wait a little longer to login and once I'm finally online I check my email and get on iTunes to download podcasts from ESPN and Oregonlive. Around 11am I head out for a run around Hyde Park and listen to my podcasts - so in some ways I'm more well educated on sports than I was in the US. I usually grab a sandwich on my way back (2.35 pounds and no mayo!) and get back to job hunting. By the time it's late afternoon, I start thinking of how I can convince Tiff to go to a pub for dinner. On the way to and from dinner we still comment on the number of Ferraris, Bentleys and Lamborghinis we see. Not just driving, but parallel parking on the street. Good thing for those people that I didn't come over with my 97 Honda. I can wedge that baby into any opening.

Culture Shock
I think this is all about expectations. You wouldn't think that there would be a huge difference between the US and London, but that's the problem. I think that Tiff is suffering more than I, but she has to cope with workplace challenges as well. The biggest frustration for me has been attitude toward service. Customer service is truly a foreign concept and it takes forever to get anything done. We still don't have our permanent flat, a bank account, a cell phone (for me) or broadband that works. We met up with Carsten (a foreign exchange student we hosted from Denmark who now lives in London) and he said that one of his co-workers tried to get broadband for a year. Makes Comcast seem like Nordstrom. Other things I knew about, but it's hard to fully appreciate them until you're here. First, the pubs really are packed every night of the week. Not sure if the people there are typical Londoners but you take notice when you walk by a pub on a Tuesday and the sidewalk is full of people holding a pint. The other aspect is the wealth in London. Some of it could be "new" money like bankers or hedge fund people, but my guess is that it's mainly old money - royalty, oil shieks, etc. In that same vein is the cost of living in London. Once again, you know it's 2x the cost, but it's difficult to internalize that until you pay 11 pounds for a glass of wine.

London News
Here's something entertaining. So, the Underground subway here does not have air conditioning and it gets uncomfortably hot on those trains. The latest idea for cooling the cars is to put large blocks of ice in the space underneath the seats. I swear this is true. Google it. I couldn't make this up.

A Perspective from No Man's Land
**Another warning - I'm going to cover sports here so if you're not interested, I won't be offended if you stop reading.**
So, I'm in this weird zone with regard to sports. I can't see any US stuff, but get plenty of info from ESPN.com and podcasts. What I do see is a whole lot of soccer - a game I know nothing about. I think this gives me a unique perspective to comment on both.

Bron Bron and the NBA
Now, I know this is late, but I had all this written before the end of the NBA playoffs. Anyway - let's chillout on the Lebron coronation. I didn't see one play from game 5 of the Detroit series, but every bit of commentary after the game was ridiculous. I even heard some say he's better than Jordan. You must be kidding. First, the competition he was playing against was truly pathetic and even more apathetic. All of this was driven home when I was back in the US last week watching the finals games from the early 90s on ESPN Classic. Today's NBA is like watching a bunch of high school guys play when they aren't keeping score. Since the conclusion of the finals there has been a lot of talk of how to fix the league. It's not about contraction, changing the playoff format, changing the lottery or even eliminating the music during play (who doesn't love the music from I Can't Wait (Baby) by Nu Shooz). Fixing the league can be done by changing one thing - eliminate guaranteed contracts. Problem is a mediocre NBA player only needs one contract after their rookie deal to be set for life. So unless they are psychologically over-competitive like MJ you aren't gonna have a high level of play.

Billy Donovan
Let me get this straight. Billy holds off signing an extension from the University of Florida a year ago because he knows his team is coming back and can only be offered more in a year. He never was going to Kentucky but doesn't end the distraction during the tournament to leverage Florida for more money. This turns out to be a successful strategy. Florida increases it's offer from $1-1.5M per year to $2-3M per year and the deal is on his desk. Instead, he signs a deal with the Orlando Magic for 5 years and $25M. He has a press conference to announce the deal and two days later he decides he wants to go back to Florida. Are you kidding? This is absurd. Florida should go back to it's original deal of $1M per year. They have all the leverage now right? Also, if you were a recruit would you trust this guy? On second thought, just look at him. He looks like he's trying to sell you the undercoat protectant on a 98 Pontiac Grand Am. I guess if you trusted him before, you will fall prey to his jedi mind tricks now.



Soccer
I'm trying to dive into the English culture. I drink beer. Lots of beer. I'm also trying to get into soccer. But here's the thing, I don't know if there's another major sport where the players make so many mistakes. Making a shot is rare and the players are constantly committing turnovers. They kick the ball to the other team, they get it taken from them, they kick it out of bounds. Not sure if there's a fix for this or if it's just the nature of the game. So far, I'm not loving it. I also don't get the strategy. For example, England is playing Brazil in their first game at the new Wembley. They're up 1-0 in the 92nd minute (3 minutes of injury time) and Brazil scores. If you're England, why don't you have all your players playing defense? There were only like 2 guys back near the goal. Is there some rule that prevents playing defense? Someone explain this to me please. The other thing I don't get is how these teams make money. There are no commercial breaks for the networks to make ad money. You can't make that much on tickets, so where does it come from?

Enough for now. DWT - I hope this gets me back as your homepage.

A few thoughts about the fashion scene in London

I’ve had a few inquires about the London fashion scene and for the most part, things aren’t all that different trend-wise than what saw in the US before we left. What is different is the number of people participating in trends. While in the US, I only saw a few daring woman wearing large, corset style belts or graphic, floor length dresses (not sure what they are called…maxidresses?), here, I see them all the time. I would say nearly 70% of women between the ages of 15-40 are in flats and black stretch pants – sadly, as a participant in that look the first time around, I will have to pass. Patent leather shoes in bright colors, which I also saw in the States, are also prolific.

It’s such an amazingly diverse city that you see all sorts of interesting things all the time. So you don’t see the latest top from Banana Republic on everyone, which is kind of nice. The classic British rocker/punk look is still big here…not sure if it’s made resurgence or if it never really left. People take risks here and express themselves unabashedly in unique ways much like they do in New York. Lastly, I would say they are much more (or less, depending on your perspective) body conscious here than we are in the US. They dress in much tighter clothes (or maybe just better fitting?) and cleavage in the workplace is a pretty normal thing.

As for the men, they look fab in their sassy ties and suits with messy hair. We saw a guy the other day wearing a plastic headband which was interesting. Also, polo shirts with a turned up collar is the look for the prepsters, of which there are many here.

That’s all for now…more to come later. I will try to snap a sneaky photo or two of some outrageous outfits with my phone.

Aaaahhhhh Bath

We took the opportunity to spend the "bank holiday" weekend in Bath. First of all, let me dispel the myth of tons of bank holidays here. There are a total of eight, which depending on how you count US holidays is equal to or only two more than we have. What they do have is tons of vacations....five weeks. It's virtually impossible to schedule a meeting with more than 4 people without someone being on "holiday".

Bath was wonderful. It's an easy 70 minute train ride from London and worth going for the day even. It poured down rain almost the whole time (much like Memorial Day in Seattle), but that didn't slow us down. We treated our selves and stayed at the the Bath Spa Hotel (a twenty minute walk from the train station) which was something right out of a movie with maids, butlers and a drawing room. The hotel has two large swimming pools full of hot water. One is outside and it was a cool sensation to feel the cold water raining down on your face while you are surrounded by warm water. They also have a series of steam rooms and saunas with different aromatherapy scents along with a spa and a gym.

After arriving we headed to the Bath Museum which was pretty fascinating. Bath as been the place for Romans and the English to holiday for nearly the last 2000 years. The Romans discovered the hot springs in Bath back in 50 AD and thought the springs had mythical healing powers. Bath then became the social scene as well as a fashion capital (yes, I dragged Greg to the small, but interesting costume museum in Bath). The Georgina architecture in Bath is really simple and elegant. Bath's other claim to fame is that Jane Austin was a resident and wrote many of her novels there. Apparently Nicholas Cage and Jonny Depp are Bath's current celebrity residents.

Stonehenge is about an hour away from Bath so we checked it out. It was good to see, but honestly there isn't much there and the don't have much information on how or why it was built. As you can see, it was pretty windy!

Overall it was a great weekend away. We relaxed by the pool, played cards and drank wine. We arrived back in London and ready to face the hustle and bustle.

I couldn't recommend Bath enough, so add it to your list of must visits!