So I've recently found myself the portraying the confused American guy in the U.K., spending a few weeks here for work.
The plane ride was easy, but things started to get really interesting after that. My initial impressions:
- The roads are crazy. The wrong side of the road thing is only a minor annoyance, compared to the skyrocketing heart-rate produced by squeezing a tiny black cab through a space that might be wide enough for a skinny guy on a bicycle.
- The US dollar sucks. Everything here is a overpriced. Then you remember that you have to multiply it by two as well. £3.00 for a "Pepsi Diet"? No biggie. Oh yeah, that's $6.00. And you can't even imagine the cost of booze.
- People are from everywhere. If it was just UK accents, I could survive. But there's such an eclectic collection of people that speak just enough English to get by, with accents I've never even imagined, that it really starts to blow your mind.
- Wimbledon, or more appropriately, the All England Lawn Tennis Club, is an amazing facility. I got a chance to see most of the grounds over the weekend, and it's truly an awe-inspiring place. You've never seen grass this beautiful. Plus, I've already had more than my fair share of "brushes with greatness", including a glance of John McEnroe this afternoon, as he strutted down the hallway with several minions in tow. (No Prall, I didn't get his autograph, I'm working on it.)
- I managed to see some really cool stuff when I got a few moments away from work. I squeezed a brief trip to both the British Museum and the London Museum of Science & Technology. How many days in my life I'll get to see the Rosetta Stone as well as a fully functioning model of a Charles Babbage mechanical calculator I don't know, but I'm betting it won't be many. If you can make your way to the Science & Technology museum, by all means do so. The "History of Computing" exhibit alone is amazing, and well worth the price of admission. (free!)
- Work is pretty pervasive, and I've been doing way more of that than I have being a tourist guy. The days are long, the problems are hard, and I'm having a great time doing it.
I've taken lots & lots of pics, I'll throw those up and try to post some more soon.
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