Nothing in Particular

I should probably write something meaningful about something important, but anh, what the hell.

Tesco's raised the price of their chocolate chip cookies by 4p. This may not sound like all that much, but when you plow thru a sleeve of 'em a night, it really adds up. Although some of the food here takes some getting used to, the Tesco brand chocolate cookies are hands down the best thing about living in London. Well, them and the proximity to the Continent. With a nice cup of tea, they are a great way to end the day. Bleah. Now I feel sick.

So it's back to work, and no rest for the wicked here. December is like Friday. You get a bit of work done in the morning, go out for a long lunch, have a nice chat with your friends in the afternoon and then head down the pub for a nice finish while the sun's still out. January, on the other hand, is the Monday of the year. Everyone's back from vacation, energized and ready for work, so you have no choice but to pull your socks up and get on with it. It's been a busy two weeks here, which is actually good, since being busy does make the days go faster.

My grandmother sent me a clipping the other day from Time magazine about Boris Johnson, one of the candidates for London mayor. If I could vote, I just might vote for this guy. He's sharp, eccentric and endearing. Speaking of elections, what's going on in the US? I have to say, I kind of like this Obama guy. He seems real. Or maybe that's just what the media over here want me to think. It's hard to tell.

The US elections seem to be viewed with the sort of amused wonderment one might bestow on a group of teenagers, hats turned sideways and trousers down to their ankles falling off their skateboards repeatedly. The attitude here is 'we don't understand it, but it's fun to watch anyway'. That's exactly how I feel about cricket. Except for the 'fun to watch' part.

I'm now the resident expert on the US political system. Don't tell anybody, but explaining the US primaries is about the limit of my knowledge of said political system. Fortunately, no one here knows much more about their own system, so we all just merrily roll along, making up whatever sounds good.

People here don't seem to mind giving their bank details to just about anyone. We've had a remarkably persistent campaigner for some save the children organization knocking on our door about twice a week. Michele did some research, it appears that the organization is legit, so she wrote a cheque. But they don't want cheques, they want to direct debit our account. Let me think about that for a minute. Umm. No. I'm already uncomfortable with the phone company being able to just whack out whatever amount they feel like every quarter. Why they can't just take out the amount of the actual bill is beyond me, but they take out what they think is reasonable. Last month they took out twice what I owed. I got it back of course, but it's still deeply disturbing. I certainly don't want some random charity to be able to pull out some arbitrary amount, but this seems to be standard practice here. On the other hand, the bank did send a guy to our hotel to set up our accounts, so I guess there are advantages to the British banking system, too.

Well, sorry this post is completely random and without point. There's 5 minutes of your life you'll never get back. But you can't say I didn't warn you, what with the title and all. Oh, you thought that was something with a clever, well thought-out hidden meaning? Sorry.

I've finished the cookies and now there's nothing left to do but go to bed and wish I hadn't eaten them all. Bleah.

Oh, I saw a guy riding a bike today wearing a velvet and gold crown. Really.