Waiting and Not Waiting

We are very close to severing ourselves from England. The landlord responded to my letter (that was more than a week ago, though) and denied pretty much all of my claims, but he did relent on one thing, so I decided to just give in. It wasn't worth the continued chasing and arguments. All that remained was to send in a signed form to the management company so they can release the funds. We just got an email from them today saying they had received the form, but there is a backlog in the finance department so it would take 7-10 days to release it. Ridiculous! How could their possibly be that many deposits to process? Utter BS. Then again, there's the tea breaks, socializing, vacation, and sick days to account for, so I guess that's how it could take that long. We've waited since November 19th, I suppose we can wait a little longer.

Another thing we're waiting for is the license plate for our car. We started the process of registering the car in Oregon and have sent in all the forms, paid the fees, and so on. There was a little trouble proving that we are Oregon residents, though, so we had to send in some more paperwork. To keep us legal until we get the plate, we have renewed our temporary plate for the third time. The plates will probably come through soon. Then the next step is to change our driver's licenses to Oregon, which requires an address and taking the written test. So, we're waiting to do that until we get an apartment in Portland.

AND we're waiting for our shipment from England. It will have made its way across the Atlantic, through the Panama Canal, and into the Pacific. Supposedly, it has arrived in Los Angeles on the 24th. It will take ten days to get through customs and then another three to six days to let us know when it is going to be delivered to us in Oregon. So, it is probably going to be mid- to late- February before we have our stuff back.

Finally, we're still waiting to hear from the jobs we've applied for. The closing date for a few of them have passed during the course of the last week or so. And of course, I had the interview on Monday for one of them and was waiting to hear the outcome.

Well, on Tuesday, just as we got back to Sisters, an email came through on my BlackBerry stating that they are ready to offer me the job, providing that my references check out. Good news, but there was a bit of nail-biting because it was difficult to get a hold of the references I listed from England, so I actually had to give them some alternative people to check with. When I woke up this morning, I was thinking that it was going to be a while before this is all resolved, but while I was in the shower, I got an email and a voice-mail offering me the job. Sweet!

So, I can officially say "I'm employed!" I will be starting next week, probably on Wednesday, if not sooner. They'd like me to start ASAP. Problem is, we still need to find an apartment. We were planning to head into the valley on Saturday, then check out some apartments on Monday. At the moment, though, we're thinking we might need to go sooner. Like tomorrow, so we can look for apartments on Saturday. We're suddenly busy as hell!

January Update

We're still out on the ranch in Central Oregon. And LOVING it! When we're next in a big city, it's going to be culture shock!

It was unseasonably warm today at about 55 deg F. That's really warm for this time of year, even in this part of Oregon. Weather like that makes you think twice about moving to the more cloudy, rainy Willamette Valley! Though, personally, I don't mind rain. More water for making beer with!

On the job front, it's looking a bit sparse, but there are definitely jobs out there for us. I've applied for three or four jobs, ones that would actually be pretty good jobs (i.e.- not scraping the bottom of the barrel). Kristen has also found a couple that she has applied for. Sure, under normal circumstances, there would be more jobs out there, but it's not as bad as the Media makes it out to be. Then again, we're not in the industries that are hardest hit. In Oregon, that's all the industries related to construction, particularly the lumber industry.

Oh, and we still haven't fully "detached" ourselves from England. The deposit from our flat is still in hock. Can you believe it!? I've been contacting the management company periodically since we found out that the landlord wanted to charge us for some stuff. That was in late November. It was not until last Thursday that finally received the list of charges. And they were a little bit absurd. I wrote a frank letter back to them to refute some of the charges and to make counter-offers against the rest of them (basically 50%) based on the validity of the charges, the "hardships" we endured during our tenancy, and the long time that has passed since we moved out of the flat (50 days at the time of writing the letter). Still have not heard anything back from them. Hopefully tomorrow.

What else... we are taking the car in for a check-up at the dealership tomorrow. It's still under warranty, so we thought we'd take advantage of that and have it checked after its long road-trip. Also, during the trip, I broke the latch in the center console armrest (I just barely touched it!). Hopefully, they will fix that under warranty.

On Wednesday, we're going to Portland to have a bit of a look around and to hang with Kristen's sister. Also, my renewed Danish passport is ready for collection at the embassy (it was due to expire on December 24th, so I renewed it in Florida and they were kind enough to ship it to Portland). Then on Thursday, we are having a "face to face" with someone who might be able to give us some good job leads in Portland. After that, we'll head down to Eugene to stay the night before driving back to Sisters on Friday. The unseasonably warm weather should allow us to drive there and back without snow trouble.

Keep an eye on the Sisters, OR photo album as we have been adding pictures periodically.

The end of an era

This is it.

This is the end of our last day in England. The last day in Europe. And the last day of our 5-year stint living outside the US. We turn our ship now towards the "New World" once again. It will have changed A LOT in the 5 years we were away and we now return at the precipice of great Change. It is both immensely exciting and somewhat scary. The future is still uncertain and unpredictable, but we are looking forward to it, whatever the outcome.

---

Today has been a hectic churn of activity, making our way through our To Do list. All the little things you normally need to do when moving out of a property, plus a few extra concerns that need to be taken care of when moving out of a country. Things like:

-Mail a check to the moving company (happy to report that the cost of shipping is quite a bit cheaper than the original estimate);
-Give a set of keys to the tenancy management company;
-Get rid of some furniture and the remaining contents of our pantry and refrigerator (most of this went to my work colleagues);
-Report the final meter reading to the the gas/electric company;
-Online flight check-in;
-Deposit some money (from the sale of furniture, etc.);
-Put everything back the way it was when we moved in (furnished apartment);
-Donate things to thrift shops;
-Clean the hell out of the flat.

Laced through these menial chores are lots of "lasts". The last time going to the Post Office (well, the Royal Mail Post Office). The last time riding the A bus. The last time having a shower in our horrible shower stall.

We just got back from our last dinner at our favorite restaurant in Westbourne: The Coffee Club. Before that, we stopped at our "local" for the last time and I had a last pint of real ale (Ringwood's Old Thumper from cask is just devine!). Right now, as we're packing, we're watching a last bit of British television (I'm A Celebrity, Get Me Out of Here). And I'm writing our last blog entry in England.

---

We were talking about how we are feeling about this whole thing. I mean, it's quite a big deal! We've been out of the country for 5 years. Yeah, we're used to moving, so that's no big deal, but this time we're moving out of England and back into the US, a country that is familiar and foreign now. Despite all this, we feel mostly... well, numb. Like we're just moving down the street or something. It's weird. I've had a few little pangs here and there when realizing that I might not see certain people again. Or for example, when we were in the pub and I was looking at the pump clips (the emblems on the real ale pump handles), I had a mild, wistful thought that it's going to be a long time before I have that again. I guess it's the realization of losing the things you have been taking for granted. This whole thing is going to hit home in stages, I think.

Right now, we're REALLY ready to go home (that's one thing that is contributing to the ambivalent feelings), but there are things I/we are going to miss about England:

(Uh oh, another list)

-Terry Wogan's Eurovision commentary
-London
-British comedy
-Brendan Westwood (our martial arts instructor)
-The quality of their dairy products and produce
-PAL video standard
-Wagtails (one of the cutest birds on Earth!) and Jays (an elusive bird that looks like it's assembled from the parts of other birds)
-Real Ale
-Branston baked beans
-Roundabouts
-Fewer television commercials (or none at all!)
-Bournemouth (living near the sea)
-Colleagues
-And probably a fair few things we don't realize yet.

Well, it's time to unplug our internet connection, pack up this ol' laptop, and finish packing so we can get some shut-eye before catching our 6.00am bus to Heathrow tomorrow morning. Not that we'll be able to sleep very soundly!

In about 24 hours, we will have landed in Miami to start the next leg of our journey. When PROJECT: REPATRIATION kicks into gear. We will keep this blog going for as long as it takes us to fully settle into life in America. After that, who knows what will happen?

Down to the wire

We got up pretty early this morning, on our last full day in England. First, we sat in bed making a list of all the stuff we need to get done today. Now it's breakfast before we launch in to the chores.

Crazy. We're down to less than 24 hours before we get on the bus to Heathrow, leaving Westbourne forever (most likely).

Will write more later (when the dust has settled).

A Pressure-cooker of STRESS

It is said that moving house is one of the most stressful things a couple can do. I suppose that's true, but Kristen and I are sort of ol' pros at this now. We're practically nomads. To be sure, it's not stress-free and moving out of a country entirely adds an extra level of complication, of course. However, the practical elements of this move aren't really that complicated. For example, since this is a furnished apartment, there isn't really any furniture we have to deal with (just a table and some shelves). The only things we're taking with us are clothes, books, CDs, DVDs, a few souvenirs, and some kitchen-ware. Oh, and my beer glasses! We have selected an overseas shipping company that does all the packing. No packing stress, then. We've taken care of a lot of the other little loose ends like selling the car, notifying our utilities, and the landlord. The airline we're flying with is still in business. We've got our exit and entry strategies in place. On the relocation front, things are generally quite "sorted". BUT...

We're stressed, alright! Though not for the most obvious reasons.

*Kristen still has not gotten 100% confirmation on completing her PhD. She finished the changes that the external examiners required and sent the updated draft to them on Oct. 4th. They had "promised" that they would turn it around within 2 weeks so that she can get it printed and bound before leaving the UK. Nearly a month has gone by now and she just found out that at least one of them hasn't even looked at it yet. Very frustrating, particularly because she has been on tenterhooks since she sent it to them. Though I'm feeling pretty positive about it, she is afraid that they will want more changes.

*The US Election has us climbing the walls. There has been a steady nervous energy about it for the past couple of months. Personally, I am freaking out about it a bit. I'm slightly terrified about the events of Nov. 4th. We are going to stay up all night to watch the results and will hopefully crash in the wee hours of the morning after waking all the neighbors with howls of glee when Obama is announced victorious. If he doesn't win, I am going into a deep depression because I predict that it will be the end for the US. A McCain/Palin win will be the straw that breaks the camels back and the US will crumble irreparably within 20 years. I know, that's cynical as hell but I am as sure of this as I am sure of my need to breathe air. So, yeah... little bit of stress there!

*I made the mistake of "opening a can of worms" at work that I have been having trouble handling now because it turned out to be a bigger project than I realized: reorganizing and cataloging the archive of student films going back to the mid-Sixties. This has been keeping me from having a sound night's sleep on many occasions. So much so, that Kristen has been coming in two to three times per week for a few hours to help me with it. It's starting to get under control now, but partially due to changing tactics and lowering my expectations of achievement. My colleagues think I'm crazy because I'm spending many extra hours at work without being paid for it. Well, that's obsession for you!

*We are getting intruded upon in our apartment repeatedly. Not only do we have frequent visits by estate agents (Realtors) trying to sell the flat, but we have had to have plumbers come in to repair the boiler and now we have been forced to allow a decorator to work in our bedroom to fix the giant crack in the wall. Apparently, there were two buyers that were really interested in the flat until they saw that crack, so the landlord wants it fixed ASAP. Kristen tried her best to get the landlord to wait until after we leave but he wouldn't have it. The decorator has to come here over the course of three to four days and probably work for up to 5 hours each time. This means Kristen will have to let him in and either sit around waiting for him to finish or we just have to let him work here unattended. Neither option is one we are really thrilled with and it is really quite irritating that we have no control over who comes into our flat and when. And then there's the ever-present threat of one of the self-important old farts deciding they need to come in here for some reason.

*We have been REALLY busy over the past several weeks. There's the extended hours at work. Our exercise routines. Various social engagements. Chores and errands to do. Listing things for sale on Gumtree (and then dealing with buyers coming to pick the things up). And so on. There have been plenty of things to write blogs about, but we haven't really felt like it when we finally do have some time to spare!

*Then there are the little niggling worries about moving back to the US. What will it feel like? How heavy will the culture shock be? Will we be able to deal with the "American" way of life after getting used to the European way? What if we feel completely alienated? What if McCain is president? Is this the worst possible time to move back?

Having said that, we are SO looking forward to moving. There are 17 more days (and only 10 working days) before we go and sometimes even that is an unbearably long period of time!

---

PS - The weather is utter SHIT today. It is not only cold (that damp, bone-creaking, spirit-crushing cold that permeates the very core of your existence), but it is raining and foggy. This wouldn't be such an "insult" if we actually had a summer this year, but the weather was abysmal then, too. Our mantra is "...in Florida." For example, we'll rest in Florida. We'll be warm in Florida. We'll have time off in Florida.

We live in the UKraine

We just got back from having our first shower in over 48 hours. See... our boiler is out of order so we have no heat or hot water. This started Thursday night and will continue to be the case until at least Tuesday. A neighbor has left us her keys so we can use her shower (it's the landlady of the flat we used to live in downstairs... she basically doesn't live there anymore because she is in the process of moving in with her fiance). Lucky for us that this is the case. Otherwise, we'd be a bit stuffed because I'll be damned if we're going to ask to borrow one of the old farts' bathrooms!



Some backstory...
About half a year ago, the resident geezers complained that we had a pipe dripping outside which has made the wall wet and stained the building. We called and called the management company but never really got much response. A couple of plumbers have tried to fix it to no avail.

This lead to a revolt of sorts by the residents. They recently started a campaign of lies and lawsuit threats against our landlord. So, the plumber came out again this past Thursday. He bypassed a valve which was responsible for the leak, but warned that doing this might cause us to lose pressure and consequently have no hot water in the morning. He said to give him call if that happened. Next morning, we had to do just that because the boiler did not spring to life at 7am as it used to do. The plumber could not come until after 5pm so both of us had to go to work unshowered.

Yesterday evening, the plumber was here to work on the boiler. He installed a "pressure bulb" (the bulbous red thing in the photo) and re-routed a pipe or two. Unfortunately, after doing this, he discovered that something else was no wrong with it. Most likely a burned out electrical component. Of course, this is a part he has to order which he will not be able to do until Monday.

Fortunately, we were able to get in touch with our former landlady who happily has allowed us to use her shower this weekend. Even better, this means we can take showers with actual water pressure. Because her flat is on the ground floor, it does not suffer from the piss-poor pressure that ours does. Almost makes me wish they will NEVER be able to fix our boiler!

Oh, and another annoying piece of information. Apparently, there is a pressure-boosting pump on this site which, if switched on, would greatly improve the water pressure in the whole building. The plumber found this out when he was in our flat a week or two ago with a couple of the old "battle axes" trying to fix the leak, which at the time was thought to come from the toilet somehow. The toilet tank was very slow to fill and the old biddies wondered why. He explained that the pressure was poor. They said, "Oh, we don't have a problem" and then mentioned the pump which has never been used because "no one seems to have had a problem". Grrr! Had we known this a year ago, we might have tried to convince them to switch the damn thing on!

We must be living in an Eastern Block country or something! One of the tenets of Western civilization is good water pressure! But here we are having to do all these folksy work-arounds to make things work properly. Things like having to turn on central heating to be able to get hot water for the shower or for the kitchen sink. Or having to hang our clothing all over the apartment because there's no tumble dryer. Or needing to clear stagnant water in our shower drain by blowing through an empty toilet paper roll because the plumbing is so poorly laid that the water has to go uphill or something (when we do this, the sink and bathtub drains gurgle and spurt). Or the fact that we now have to wear a jacket or thick sweater, wool socks, and maybe a scarf INDOORS. And did you know that some buildings in the UK still use coin-operated electricity meters? It's true! There's a little box on the wall with a meter and a coin slot like those in an old-school candy machine -- the kind that you put in a coin and then turn the dial to make it go in. If you forget to keep it filled, the electricity suddenly cuts off. We haven't had to live with one of these in any of the properties we've been in, but some friends of ours did. Hilarious!

Now, I know it's in poor taste to complain about stuff like this when there are people in the world have have it 1000 times worse off. Our "difficulties" are obviously very minor in comparison. It just makes you appreciate the small conveniences in life. The things you take for granted. Something we are going to stay mindful of when re-patriating to the US, the land of gluttony and excess. Well, I suppose that's changing now, though. A positive thing to come out of this whole economic meltdown.

The Great British Beer Festival 2008

It's 2.49 in the morning. I just got back to my little room at King's College - Great Dover Street after the CAMRA Great British Beer Festival final day. I've been volunteering here since Thursday, pulling pints (serving beer) for hundreds and hundreds of punters (customers). If you work both the AM and PM session (which I did) your day lasts from 11.00 to 23.00. Then there's "chill-out" in the staff area upstairs until 24.30 or so, during which the festival director tells everyone how the business went that day, etc. and you get to kick back with a pint or two or three or four. The festival rents buses to take the volunteers to the various accommodations around London. One is really well taken care of volunteering at the GBBF.

Because this was the last day, when the festival closes at 7pm, we have a 3-hour cleaning session and then at 10 o'clock there's a big staff party with free buffet and all the beer you can drink. Plus various beer nerd frivolities. Then there's a 12.30 bus and a 2.00 bus. I took the later one because I was enjoying myself.

On the way home tonight, I got a bit wistful seeing London pass by my bus window. It's a great city with a great vibe. A vibe that you can feel even at 2.00 in the morning. I got wistful because I was thinking about the fact that we are leaving in November. A bit silly since we never even lived in London (we both kind of regret not doing that, at least when we first moved to England), but it's just great to see all the historical buildings and what not. And the Thames river looks amazing at night. At 2.00 in the morning, there isn't much activity and most buildings are dark, but here and there lights are on, the bridges are lit up, and the clock on Big Ben is glowing. Last night we drove past the Battersea power station (the one on the cover of the Pink Floyd "Animals" record). I've only ever seen it from the train, but this time we were on the other side of it and really up close. Quite a building. I will definitely miss this place.

Having said that, I am really looking forward to moving back to the US. We're ready. It's been 5 years living in Europe (four years in England) and it's not exactly easy being in a foreign country by yourself with all family far away.

Last year when I did volunteered at this festival for the first time, I ended up working with a great team and for a really down-to-earth manager. We got along, so they added me as "permanent" staff this year (i.e.- the staffing people assign me to that team permanently and don't try to bounce me around to other bars at the festival as needed). Whereas last year, I went into the situation blind, this year I had an idea what the whole thing is like and went into it already accepted in a team. And more prepared for the whole thing. I had a great time and tried a lot of really good beers. My favorites were St. Peter's Mild, Theakston's Grousebeater, and Regal Blonde.

Hopefully, at some point, even though we will be back in the US, we can come back during the festival and I can work there again. We'll see what happens with air travel, though!

Great British Beer Festival 2008

July Update

It's been busy. Very, very bissy! So, we haven't been able to write a blog entry for a while. Here's one to get you caught up.

K's PhD. She has gotten the date of her "viva": August 1st, 10 am. This is when she will meet with the panel that is going to approve her PhD. It is also known as a "defense". She will have to answer any questions they have about her thesis and hear about any changes that they feel need to be done before it can be approved, if any. Wish her luck!

Visitors. My sister and her fiance have just been here for about 10 days. It was their first time in England, so it was great to show them around. We went to Stonehenge, the Jurassic coast, Winchester, Salisbury, and a trip to London for two days. Other than that, we just were hanging out around here, partaking in various aspects of English culture. It was great just to spend time with them and we were sad to see them leave. Photos HERE.

On the work front. As you know, I've been struggling a bit with what to do about giving notice of my departure. When is the right time? What exactly should I say? Etc. Well, a few weeks ago, I took my former line manager aside to ask his advice. Not only because he has worked there for 14 years and I trust him, but also because I really wanted him to be able to make plans for losing me in November. So as per K's suggestion, I went for it. He took it really well and was happy for me, though he said I would be sorely missed (nice to hear!). Because he wasn't quite sure what to tell me with regard to giving official notice, he said he would ask someone that he knows well in HR without giving any clues as to who it is he is asking about. I got some pretty good advice. Basically, I can give unofficial notice at any time (to my line manager or the school director, for example) to allow them time to plan accordingly. However, until I have given official written notice, they can't do anything (whether it be accepting my resignation or taking action to get me out of there sooner). HR also said that it was unlikely that they would fire someone earlier than the date stated in a resignation letter, especially if it was a good employee. They were glad to hear that this mystery person was actually concerned about leaving them in good stead, but they also said that sometimes it's better to be selfish. In other words, only give the required amount of notice (in my case, 2 months). --- I've been mulling this over for a while now and I haven't really come to any firm decision on my own. K and I talked about the idea that I give them notice after her PhD viva is over (on August 1st). My problem is that both the course leader and the school director will be away for most of August. Furthermore, my hand is basically being forced now because one of my colleagues is trying to get the school director to OK the expenditure of a new laptop for me and I'm running out of excuses! The cat might be completely out of the bag within the next week or so!

K is working several days per month for the media school doing research and currently has two interesting projects underway: one on journalists and emotionality in relation to traumatic news events; and the other on Islam and terrorism on UK university campuses. She has also started volunteering for two days per week at the Bournemouth YMCA gym.

Exercise. We're still going to kickboxing "drill rounds" on Saturdays together and I am continuing with Jeet Kune Do and Kali. On August 3rd, I will be "grading" for Level 1 Jun Fan (Jeet Kune Do). This is instead of Level 2 Kali because I couldn't find anyone to train with me that had Level 1 Kali. Also, K has started doing weight lifting twice per week at the YMCA. One of the guys that works there is giving her free personal training sessions in exchange for yoga instruction. He has also offered to give me free weight training sessions, too. I am going to start with that tomorrow evening in an effort to bulk up my upper body.

Cabinet minister: Brits are 'bloody miserable'

Politics.co.uk - Friday, June 20 10:35 am

The junior transport minister has caused a minor political storm by calling his countrymen "bloody miserable".

Writing on his blog, Tom Harris, MP for Glasgow South, said Britain had never had it so good, but that it had not made most Britons any less grumpy.

"There are more two-car homes in Britain today than there are homes without a car at all," he said.

"We live longer, eat healthier (if we choose), have better access to forms of entertainment never imagined a generation ago (satellite TV, DVD, computer games), the majority of us have fast access to the worldwide web, which we use to enable even more spending and for entertainment. Crime is down.

"So why is everyone so bloody miserable?

"What happened to that post-war optimism and commitment to common values?" he continues.

"Are they gone forever and if so, why? If not, how can we bring them back?"

The blog provoked an instant response from the Tories, with shadow treasury chief secretary Philip Hammond saying: "The short answer to Mr Harris's question asking why everyone is so miserable is, 'We've got Gordon Brown as our prime minister'."

Result!

We've got Hoggle on the ropes! Though, he doesn't know it yet.

This morning the management company for this flat called me at work to let me know that they had spoken with the management in this building regarding the "regulations" for spare keys. THERE IS NO SUCH THING! Nobody has to give their keys to anyone!

She said they will be sending Hoggle a letter today to notify him that he has to return our keys with immediate effect.

Now let's hope he doesn't make copies of them first!

Hoggle Wants His Keys Back

We've had another run-in with one of the "locals" here. You know, we're just trying to bide our time here; trying to get along, minding our own business for the rest of our days in England.

WHY DO THEY HAVE TO KEEP BOTHERING US?

The neighbor directly across from us on our landing is now on our shit list (and we're probably on his). This kind of came out of the blue. It started about half a year ago when we discovered that, unbeknownst to us, this gentleman had a set of keys to the flat we're renting. At the time, it was fortunate because the lady that we had given a spare set to (at the request of the building "management") was not home and I was locked out. I rang his doorbell on the off-chance that he might have a key. Well, as I said, he did. Hurrah, saved the day. It wasn't until later when I told K -- and her ensuing reaction was one of discomfort -- that I realised that this was indeed a bit strange, but we left it.

Then at some point, when we were away on vacation (I think it was when we were last in Florida) he entered our flat without our permission. We have a bi-weekly delivery of fresh eggs that I had forgotten to cancel before leaving, so our nosy neighbor decided that he needed to go in our flat to put the eggs in our refrigerator. He obviously didn't think of just putting them in his own fridge and then giving them to us when we got back. No, he had to go in. And there was another time when he went in with a package that had been delivered. That wasn't even a time when we were on vacation. It was just during a weekend when we happened to be out for the day. Is it just us or is that just a tiny bit unacceptable?

Cut to several months ago when K had a bit of a "moment" with the tenant below us (I think I mentioned it here, but basically, it was obvious that our actions were being monitored). K got increasingly annoyed and channeled that into reclaiming our keys from the neighbor across the landing in an effort to reclaim a bit more control over our lives in this building.

Cut to yesterday when I was about to go to my martial arts class. This neighbor (who looks a bit like Hoggle from the 80's film Labyrinth, see pic above) was down by the garages and waved for me to stop as I was driving out. He related this story of how we had "borrowed" the keys a while back and asked that we return them to him because "by regulations" someone has to hold a set of keys to the flat in case of emergencies. He added "I only went into your flat that once to put the eggs in your fridge when you were away." Um... yeah... anyway... I explained that we had given a key to the lady below us. Well, he still wanted those keys back I said, "Yeah, OK" and drove off with the intention of "forgetting" to bring them to him.

Well, that didn't put him off because this morning he rang the doorbell. K answered. He basically demanded the keys back and K explained the whole thing again. He said it was in the regulations that he kept a set of keys for our flat and he had been given those keys by the landlord (not true). He persisted. Eventually K let her ire bubble to the surface, "OK, you know what, Tony? You can take the keys back. HERE. But don't you EVER come into our apartment again." He said, "Don't take that tone with me young lady. That's rude." Then he went through the whole thing about the eggs again. K said, "You could have taken them to your flat." Well, he didn't think of that at the time. It kind of devolved from there and eventually he trudged back to his flat and we kind of slammed the door at each other.

So, I immediately sent an email to our rental agent that manages this apartment explaining this whole situation and asking that they contact our landlord to ask who HE would like to hold the spare set of keys. Now we just wait to hear back from them.

Let's see what happens next!

Our Exit Strategy

While the Bush Administration and the Military Industrial Complex wrangles with "the Liberals" over an exit strategy for Iraq, K and I have come up with ours for leaving England/Europe. It is called Project: Repatriation. You'll notice that the title of our blog has changed to thus.

We concocted this plan late last year. I say "we" but it was really K who came up with it. We had decided that we definitely were going to move back to the US soon after her PhD graduation (this Fall). It was a real mind-f*ck to contemplate the subject. Where do we move back to? How do we apply for jobs from here? How do we bring our stuff back over? How do we tie up loose ends here? Just too many factors to make sense of. That's when K had the brilliant idea: use Florida as an intermediate step/launch-pad.

It would go something like this. Move to my parents' house in South Florida initially for a couple of months of re-acclimating to American life and getting our feet under us. Basically, staying there for the holidays and then move "somewhere" yet-to-be-determined in the beginning of 2009. We would get rid of all the stuff here that we don't want to keep and ship the rest to the Florida address. It should arrive by the time we are ready to move "somewhere". K's e-Employment plus our savings from earning Pounds Sterling will be enough to cover the basics for a couple of months. We will sell the BMW which should cover the cost of shipping our belongings with a bit left over. The deposit from our UK apartment will be put towards a new computer and other necessities. Additionally, we have been "feathering our nest" by purchasing household items on Amazon.com (taking advantage of the exchange rate and free shipping). This structured, meticulous strategy should allow us to maintain our current quality of life without going into major debt like we did when we moved to Europe. Less like starting from scratch!

During our re-acclimation period in Florida, we will apply for jobs in various places we would like to live (more about that in a future post) and possibly take up some part-time employment, but mostly, we will be relaxing a bit and helping my mom fix stuff around the house. And, hey, I might try to write a book about these 5 years in Europe/England using this blog as a basis.

We're looking forward to repatriation, but we will definitely have a wistful departure. It's been a great adventure. K has utmost confidence in this process and doesn't seem to have any fear about it. I'm a bit frightened, though. This is going to be a major change and a shock to the system and it means I will be pulling myself out of the momentum of my job here and sort of starting again. It would be great if I could transplant my job to the US. And I've always considered myself European, so it will be hard for me to leave. Having said that, I feel just as much of a pull to go back to the US (slightly different reasons than K, though). We just don't see ourselves living in Europe, certainly not England, for the rest of our lives. The main reason is family. As I said before, we're just tired of being so far away from everyone. And, man, are we tired of trans-Atlantic flights!

But tonight we're going to revel in our Europeaness and watch The Eurovision Song Contest!

Countdown: 178 Days, 15 Hours, 41 Minutes

Day-Trip to London

From Day-trip to L...

Today I took the day off work so K and I could go up to London to see a matinee performance of The Phantom of the Opera in its birthplace: Her Majesty's Theatre. We bought the tickets about a month ago. It's something we'd been talking about doing for a long time now. K had never seen the musical and since we're living in England, we thought we'd better go see it!

We took a 9.55 train from Bournemouth to London Waterloo. The last time I had taken a train to London was when I worked there. It's much nicer to travel outside of rush hour! There were plenty of seats and the trip was fairly quick.



Arrived in London around 12 o'clock. An absolutely glorious day. The sun was out, but not too hot. We had a leisurely walk across the river and up through Trafalgar Square and into Soho. The plan was to have lunch at Maoz, an Israeli franchise specialising in falafel, then head to Her Majesty's Theatre around 2pm. We got to Maoz at the perfect time just before lunch. Good appetite from the walk and the initial sensory overload of London. Had lunch facing the window to watch the colorful Soho characters walk by. K had a salad of various pickled vegetables, olives, etc., with fried aubergine, falafel, and hummus. She said it was the best hummus she has ever tasted! I got my usual: the Maoz sandwich meal. A wheat pita stuffed with falafel, aubergine, hummus, pickled veg, and tahini sauce. And it comes with luscious Belgian-style fries (chunky, twice-cooked). Very filling but oh-so-scrumptious.

After lunch, we strolled back through Soho and Leicester Square. K got a frappuccino from one of the 10 Starbucks we passed.

From Day-trip to L...

Down by Trafalgar Square, I had a quick peak in the National Portrait Gallery. K wasn't allowed in with her frapp. Then we sat in the Square for a while and did some people-watching, trying to pick out the American tourists in the crowd. At one point, a 100-strong flock of Spanish tourists came around the corner. They basically enveloped us because we had a nice place to sit, apparently. [Spain called. They want their people back.] Luckily, it was just about time to head over to Her Majesty's Theatre. When we rounded the corner to the theatre, there was a stream of pensioners on their way into the theatre. Haven't they seen this play by now? It's been running for 30 years!



We were sitting in a sea of white, yellowy, and light gray hair. The theatre is quite small and the stage seemed a lot more compact than the two US tours I've seen as a teenager. We had pretty good seats; central in the Grand Circle (the middle bracket of ticket prices). Of course, the seats were very cramped and small. No surprise there.

[I saw Phantom for the first time when I was about 13. I was ENTHRALLED! Subsequently, I became a Phantom fanatic for about 3 years. Put together the costume and everything. Knew all the lyrics. It was quite nerdy, looking back at it now!]

Even though I've seen it before, I still got goose bumps a few times and even a bit choked up.

The current London cast is quite good. Ramin Karimloo, the Phantom, was fantastic. He brought some interesting elements to the role and some nice melodic changes. Very good voice. Robyn North, Christine, was good in the louder, fuller bars of the songs, but a bit shrill at times. The staging and special effects were, as usual, amazing. They squeezed every inch of utility out of that tiny theatre. Despite being a bit creaky, the set is probably one of the most jaw-dropping aspects of the show. We're really glad we went to see it, but having said that, we probably won't see it again. This was a good note to end on. It's just a bit pricey.

After the show, we had about 3 hours to kill before our return train. So, we wandered up to Oxford Street to go to Selfridges. I was vaguely interested in getting some Venezuelan Black 100% Cocoa, but mostly, it was just something to do. It took a while to get there because part of Oxford Street (which is ALWAYS crammed with pedestrians) was even more crowded because they shut down one side and the entire road due to a knife murder that had taken place yesterday. The police were still there searching for clues. Not sure why. Seems like a open/shut case. Lots of witnesses. Murder weapon found.

Selfridges is nice. We looked at all the posh (over-priced) food. It's like Harrod's or Fortnam & Mason. You can buy a package of imported Oreos for £7. Funnily enough, the Venezuelan Black cocoa was also £7, but for a scant 200 grams. We didn't buy any.



By this time, it was getting to be time for dinner. We avoided the bustling Oxford Street this time by taking the quieter streets paralleling it. For dinner, we were craving some good Thai or Vietnamese food. I had written down a couple of options in Soho. The one we ended up at was Busaba Eathai, a bustling, chi-chi restaurant with "communal" tables. The dinner was REALLY good. K had these little banana-leaf wrapped chicken parcels with a lush teriyaki dipping sauce that she said reminded her of Hawaii and some coconut steamed rice. I had a seafood stir-fry with jasmine rice. The service was speedy and friendly enough. We'll definitely remember this one. If we lived in London, we would eat out much more often than we have been doing. That's for sure.

After dinner, we had a brisk walk back to Waterloo, making it to our train with about 15 minutes to spare. We were a bit exhausted from all the walking we had done. Both of us had sore feet. The train we were on was one of the slower ones that stops at more of the smaller stations. We got home around 10.30 and soaked our feet in cold water for a while. Then we slept like two rocks.

It was a good little day out.

The Return of the Drip

Despite having been vindicated from responsibility for the leaking pipe and stain on the exterior of the building (see previous blog entry: The Old People Won't Leave Us Alone), we have recently found out that there is indeed a leak from our flat.

When we got back from Florida several weeks ago, we discovered a funky, cheesy smell from the utility closet where the boiler lives. We weren't sure where it came from for a few days, but then K noticed that the carpet in the closet was wet. A small pipe at the bottom of the boiler had been dripping since sometime while we were gone. She put a bowl under it to catch the leak while we waited for the plumber (a process that, as you know, can take a very long time). We finally managed to secure an appointment with him for this past Wednesday. However, last weekend we discovered a second leak; this one from a small pipe leading into the reservoir of our toilet. Another thing for the plumber to look into.

The leak from the boiler was just due to a valve that needed to be tightened. No biggie. The toilet, however, was actually the cause of the dripping pipe outside the building and the stain on the exterior. For some inexplicable reason (at least to a practical-minded person) there is an overflow pipe from the toilet which connects to the drain pipe from the boiler (the one that drips outside). And because there is a part missing from the guts of the toilet, it has basically been running continuously for the entire time we've been living here. Since the overflow was going into the pipe, we never noticed it. And being practical-minded, we didn't make the connection that the drip from the exterior pipe that is about four feet above the toilet was coming from this very same commode. British plumbing is indeed strange. And here we thought the water-heating system in our Winchester apartment was peculiar!

The plumber is coming back on Tuesday to install the missing part in the toilet. To stave off the dripping, he re-routed the overflow pipe temporarily so that it drains into the toilet basin instead. Consequently, it sounds like we have a small waterfall installation in the bathroom. You know, one of those little Japanese water garden things.

Brilliant!

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212 Days, 20 Hours, 20 Minutes

Snowy Sunday

From Life In England

We woke up this morning to a mini snow storm. The fact that it has been sunny and somewhat warm all week (from the Florida sunshine we brought with us) made the April snow even more surprising. It snowed for a good 30 minutes, but it pretty much melted when it hit the ground. There were some sea gulls flying around in the flurry, almost flying in place because it was so windy. Four hours later, it's sunny again, the snow a mere footnote.

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K has started going to MKG now, too. Mainly for kickboxing. We went together on Thursday and Saturday. Though she is a sporty gal, she was a bit taken aback by the workout. I guess taking kicks from people (on Thai pads) and throwing kicks is a lot different than running or doing yoga. She really enjoyed it though, despite a few bruises. We are going to continue with it and I am going to increase the number of classes that I go to.

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From Life In England

Another new practice is to make a "complicated" dinner on the weekends. This came about because of K's newfound freedom from the PhD (she has handed her first fully completed draft to her supervisors). This weekend we made braised lamb shanks and chocolate almond cakes with chocolate sauce. Very tasty.

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PS - The Heathrow Terminal 5 debacle is still ongoing! At one point, they were sending the luggage backlog to Italy for sorting. As of yesterday, there were still 9,000 bags to be sorted and returned.

The New Heathrow Terminal

LONDON: British Airways canceled 37 flights Sunday and has yet to clear a backlog of about 15,000 pieces of luggage after disruptions at London Heathrow Airport's new Terminal 5 spilled into a fourth day.

The carrier has so far abandoned only short-haul and domestic flights, to cities including Amsterdam and Glasgow, representing about 11 percent of all flights.

British Airways, based in London, has canceled more than 200 flights since the terminal opened March 27, after computer log-on failures for baggage handlers and delays at staff car parks sparked turmoil at the airport, Europe's busiest. The number of flights canceled Sunday fell by 30 from 67 yesterday.

About 6 percent of the baggage British Airways has handled in the past four days still has yet to reach its owners, the spokeswoman said. The carrier, Europe's third-biggest, is already Europe's worst airline for lost luggage and the second-worst for delayed bags, according to the Air Transport Users Council.

Terminal 5 took two decades to plan and build at a cost of 4.3 billion pounds, or $8.6 billion, as the UK government battled campaigners who said the building would only add to congestion at Europe's busiest airport. British Airways has said the terminal will ease journeys and help retain passengers disillusioned with Heathrow's overcrowding.

[source: International Herald Tribune]

***

We're pretty happy that we flew with United and not British Airways. Otherwise, we would have been caught up in all this mess. And our luggage would probably be still sitting at Terminal 5 in the pile of 15,000 that still haven't been shifted. This actually explains something. Yesterday, when we were trundling down the sidewalk to our apartment we passed two old codgers who made some comment about "oh, you must be coming from Terminal 5". We just laughed politely and continued trundling. I guess they were referring to the aforementioned snafu.

The new Terminal 5... According to the news yesterday, the problems started when nearly all the employees didn't have anywhere to park when they arrived on opening day. Therefore, there were only two check-in desks open. Parking for employees... a pretty fundamental thing to have on the ol' "To Do" list!

Doesn't bode well for the Olympic Village, currently under construction around London.

Florida!

We had a really nice, relaxing time in Florida. Neither of us was looking forward to coming back to England. K had been there since the end of February and I was there from March 15th. Most of our time was spent taking in American culture, eating at our favorite places (like Pollo Tropical, Fernanda's, Taco Bell, The Cheesecake Factory, and others), doing work around the house, and generally "wasting" time. Hardly thought about work at all, except for dreading this coming Monday (it's going to be insanely busy for the first 5 weeks of term). Also read through K's PhD. It's very good! I had a red pen in hand, but I didn't need to use it much.

Last weekend, we drove up to the Tampa/St.Pete area to see my sister and her fiance. We had a great, low-key weekend doing the same things mentioned above. It was just nice to see them again. The St. Pete area is very intriguing.

My mom came back from Sweden this past Tuesday, so we got to spend a little time with her, too. She had a nice time seeing her family and only had to spend about a day in the Stockholm snow before being back in warm Florida.

It was comforting to be back in the US. I thought I would have had a bigger culture shock, but it wasn't too bad. And we quickly delved into the American consumer habits (driving around in an SUV and buying things). I'd like to think we weren't too extravagant, though. We were just buying food, some clothes (which we really needed), and a few other bits and pieces.

Now we're back in England. We left Friday on a 1.40 flight through Washington DC. Got to London Heathrow at 5.50 in the morning. It was a really short flight, so we must have had a hell of a tailwind. They had to get special permission to land at Heathrow during curfew (no flights before 6am). Took a National Express bus at 7.10 and arrived in Westbourne around 9.30 tired as hell and bleary-eyed. A nap was definitely in order! Then we went to M&S to get some food for the weekend. Since then we've been unpacking, checking email, and restarting our life over here. I'm so glad it's Sunday tomorrow so I have another day to unwind before going back to the salt mine on Monday.

Tonight Europe finally turns its clocks forward.

A Pro-England Blog Entry - Part 2

Finally, Part 2 of the two-part blog entry attempt at balancing the vitriol unleashed in the past 3 years or so. A Vitriol-offset scheme, if you will. Sure it's not going to solve the problem entirely, but it might make a dent (just like the carbon offset schemes).

There are a lot of great things about living in Europe (that's why we did it in the first place). There were a few reasons why we moved to Europe: a higher quality of life; a better work/life balance; living in a more open-minded culture less focused on vanity, materialism and gluttonous consumption of EVERYTHING; and to do something challenging. [It would be easy to say we moved because of the Bush Administration, but that was only a minor factor.]

England has most of the above factors, though I'd argue the quality of life is not as high as in Europe (or even the US) and there is almost as much consumer-driven gluttony here as there is in America. Not nearly as bad, but they'll get there soon enough. Anyway, to the good points!

- Better work/life balance. Full-time employed workers get a lot of vacation days compared to the US. I currently get 35 days per year. The full-time work week is generally 37 hours. Americans tend to define themselves by their trade. That's not necessarily a bad thing, but it does mean that Americans tend to live to work, whereas Europeans work to live.

- Strong currency. The Pound Sterling is very stable and usually strong. It's still almost $2 to a £. That makes it really cheap for us when we visit the US and it allows us to send a fair amount of dough to our US bank account every month. We've still got some debts there, after all.

- Great dairy products. K isn't really that willing to accept this, but the dairy products in England are much better than in the US. The milk and cream tastes so much better. The cheese is more flavorful because it's not pasteurized to hell. And you can get real buttermilk here. The dairy in Continental Europe is even better (except for in Southern Europe).

- Good beer. The UK is the home of several beer styles that the US emulates or used as a reference. To name a few: India Pale Ale, Barleywine, Mild, Bitter, Stout, and Porter. These have been brewed here for a couple of 100 years. The traditional way of serving these beers is hand-pumped from casks (wood or steel) kept in the pubs cellar. It is not artificially carbonated or indeed "fizzy" at all. The beer is transferred into the casks just before it finishes fermenting so it can finish in the cask. This creates mild, natural carbonation. It is "Living Beer". Furthermore, it is not served icy cold, but at cellar temperature (54-57 degrees F). This method of serving is called "Real Ale". Unfortunately, it is kind of dying out and it takes the efforts of CAMRA to keep it vital. The typical lament of some tourists to the UK is "they serve the beer flat and luke-warm" (mis-stating it a bit!). It takes some getting used to at first, but it's actually easy-drinking and much easier to taste and smell the nuances of a good beer when it's served that way. That doesn't mean serving beer by other methods is wrong, of course. This is just the best way to serve the traditional British ales.

- Beautiful countryside (in some areas). You've seen it in movies, on television, postcards, or if you've been for a drive over here. The quaint, English countryside is lush, green, and "cute" what with the hedgerows, fluffy livestock, and thatch-roof buildings. Some of the coastal areas are breathtaking. And then, of course, there's the Scottish Highlands which K and I absolutely adored.

- English-speaking. Ok, let's face it. We loved Belgium, but the language-barrier was a bit of a problem. In that respect, it is a bit easier to live in the UK as opposed to "the Continent". There's always Sweden and Denmark, but that wouldn't really work for K!

- Fewer advertisements. It's so much nicer to watch TV over here. The BBC has no advertising breaks and most of other stations only have three to four short breaks. It's always such a "culture shock" when we're back in the US and a show gets constantly interrupted with loud, annoying ads. We don't miss that!

- Good produce. Lots of great "fruit and veg" (if you go to the right place) and it's very easy and cheap to get organic produce. We were having them delivered straight to our door from local farms for a while there (until we moved to a top-floor apartment and the delivery guy could no longer leave it on our porch). I think they generally use less pesticide here, too.

- The Royal Mail. I believe we've mentioned this before, but we are just damn impressed with the postal service over here. The Brits make it a national past-time to complain about it, though I don't understand why. You put a 1st Class stamp on a letter, stick it in one of those funny, red mailboxes in the morning, and more often than not, the letter arrives at it's destination the very next day. And that's even considering the fact that half the country doesn't have house numbers! Or street signs!

- Freeview. This is free digital TV over a standard antenna. You buy a Freeview receiver for about £20-30, plug it in, and voila! Decent quality digital TV with quite a few channels to choose from. We don't have this anymore because we've upgraded to satellite television, but we did have it for a while. Can't beat it!

- Quality television. Speaking of TV, there are a lot of great shows being produced here. Again, the Brits like to complain about the state of British comedy, but we've certainly been kept in stitches! I still like the original British version of The Office more than the American one. Then there are our favorite British comedians: Jonathan Ross, Jimmy Carr, Eddie Izzard, and Ricky Gervais, to name a few current ones. And the BBC has fantastic nature documentaries all the time. David Attenborough is a god!

- Free PhD. K is doing a PhD for free! Even before she switched over to full-time PhD-ing, she was getting paid AND being allowed to do her PhD without paying tuition. Then she was offered a chance to have a "bursary" which is basically government funding to study. She's fairly sure she would not have been able to swing that in the US where you have to apply for a grant with all the competition involved.

- An incredible variety of potato chip (crisps) flavors. It's amazing. Never have I been to a country that had so many different flavorings for deep-fried thin slices of potato. Things like: roast chicken, chargrilled steak, thai sweet chili, caramelized onion and balsamic, prawn and cocktail sauce, mango chutney, and on and on. The roast chicken one is really weird because it smells EXACTLY like roast chicken (and so do your hands for about three days afterwards).

The Old People Won't Leave Us Alone

There are 18 flats (apartments) in the building we live in. At least 14 of those are inhabited by pensioners (retirees). We are the youngest people in the building. That's not generally a problem and it's been OK for the most part. There are a few that are outright meddling, but most of them are polite and friendly (at least, to our faces). The building has an "association" that consists of several of the residents, one of which is the chairperson. This "association" handles the general maintenance issues of the building like getting people in to clean the windows, mow the lawn, etc. They also have written a set of rules for living here. Things like not parking outside of the garage, no pets, or no remodeling without their consent.. Apparently, they also have something against people who are renters (as opposed to owning the flat).

They haven't been blatantly after us, but for the entire year and a half that we have lived here, they have been picking at us. Just little hints every so often.

"How long are you planning to stay here?"

"Would you like to park your car in my garage? I'm not using it. Can you afford £30 per month?"
ound an overflow in the brickwork, although the overflow itself has not been seen to be dripping." It asked that we arrange for an inspection because the clients are "concerned that the structural integrity of the building will be compromised if this situation is left unattended to." We're talking about a small, dark patch on the side of the building.

Yes, in November the pipe was indeed dripping. Something that one of the pensioners saw fit to notify us about by coming to our door at 8:45 one Saturday morning late last year. He said the exterior wall was getting wet. This is a country where it rains A LOT. I'm pretty sure the entire exterior surface is wet most of the time. Nevertheless, at that time we contacted the letting agent and they said they would make an appointment with a plumber. It never happened (big surprise), but after a while, it stopped dripping, so I didn't bother chasing them anymore about it.

Then we get this letter. Pick, pick, picking at us! I contacted the letting agent right away and in no uncertain terms, demanded they send the plumber with due speed. He came a week later. That was this past Thursday. He checked the boiler and the surrounding area. There is no leak, no damp, and no threat to the structural integrity of the building. We are vindicated on this score, so they're just going to have to find something else to pick at us about.

Of the pensioners in this building, there are a couple of nice ones that we get along with. The couple that lives below us is nice enough. We thought they were our allies in the face of the building association. K discovered the other day that this doesn't seem to be the case. The lady is obviously spying on us, too. She came to the door earlier this week to ask K when the plumber was coming. When she told her he was coming on Thursday, she said, "Oh, that's good. I will be home then." K was a bit confused, "Why do you need to be home? I'm going to be here." The reply, "Oh, because Margaret likes to know what's going on." Margaret is the chairperson of the association. "Margaret likes to know what's goin on!!" She was surprised at K's strong reaction and started back-pedaling and trying to change the subject.

Most of the old men in the building are OK. It seems like it's just the old ladies that are doing the pick-pecking at us. Just leave us alone, you old farts! Isn't there something to knit or crochet, instead?! Sorry, that sounds very ageist and anti- old people. We actually liked living here until they started their little crusade.

Don't hate us because we're younger than you.

Then again, could it have something to do with Satan?



K has been forbidden from taking any food or drinks from these people.

A Pro-England Blog Entry - Part 1

We've been rather critical of England during the time we have lived here, right or wrong. Of course, we don't think we're wrong in these criticisms, but it still makes us feel a bit sheepish sometimes. Other times it's just fun and cathartic!

In an attempt to strike a bit of a balance, I am writing a two-part piece about things that are good about England/UK. This segment, Part 1, concerns some things in British society that I agree with. Now, three of these things are shared with Europe, but still.

The Brits are right about...

- The way they pronounce words with the letter "T". Whereas Americans usually soften the T sound to a D sound (budder, wadder, tomado, etc.), the Brits actually pronounce the T as it should be, using the fricative hard T sound like BuTTer, waTer, tomaTo, etc. To my ear, the American pronunciation sounds a bit silly, something that didn't really become clear to me until living here. I've also noticed that Brits sometimes have difficulty understanding words pronounced with the soft D sound, so one ends up having to repeat oneself. Being conscious of this has lead me to pronounce my words with a harder T sound, not quite as hard as the English pronunciation, but somewhere in between. It perhaps sounds a bit Canadian.

- How dates are written. In Europe dates are written Day/Month/Year as opposed to the Month/Day/Year in the US. Why is this "correct"? Because it makes the most sense. The date is expressed in ascending order of incremental value. Think of those Russian dolls. The small one covered by a larger one covered by a larger one and so on. The Day is the smallest doll, the Month second largest, and the Year the largest. It just makes more sense. You wouldn't be able to put the middle-size doll inside the smallest one. Do you know what date Europe has trained itself to write/say incorrectly? 9/11 (which would be the 9th of November here). That's the only exception. When we first moved to Europe we had some problems with K's financial aid because of this. The US student loan company had typed 9/01/03 (September 1st, 2003) on the start date of the loan. When the university in Belgium received this they read it as 9th of January, 2003 which, of course, was a bit of a problem for them since K was due to start in September. A few frantic phone calls back and forth sorted out the confusion.

- The use of the Metric system. Ok, this is cheating a bit because the UK doesn't really use the Metric system fully (but Europe does). They still have their Stones, inches, feet, and miles. But they've at least partially adopted it by using Celsius, metres/centimetres/millimetres (for some things), and litres. Again, it just makes so much more sense to have units of measure that are divisible by 10. Who thought dividing units of length by 12 was a good idea? And don't even get me started on ounces, cups, and gallons! When I use an American recipe, I get annoyed when I have to measure dry ingredients by volume. Did you know a cup of flour can weigh anywhere from 3 to 6 ounces? That's a huge difference! Recipes written in grams and millimetres are so much more accurate. Wonder why your from-scratch cake doesn't quite turn out as it should? Maybe it's because you're measuring flour volumetrically.

If I was allowed to be a despot ruler of the US, I would put the above things into law. Everyone would have to pronounce their T's, write the date correctly, and use the Metric system!

- The PAL video standard. The European video standard is far superior to NTSC, used in North America. While the standard used in the US has 525 lines of horizontal resolution and a clunky 30 "frames" per second display rate, PAL is 625 lines of resolution and 25 "frames" per second, closer to that of film. Furthermore, the color rendition of PAL is better. Bottom line: NTSC is C-R-A-P. Fortunately, this will soon cease to be a concern because everything is going HD, which is one single standard.