Saturday 24 November 2007

Thanksgiving in the UK

Thanksgiving does not exist. No mention of it. No day off at work. The schools will allow US kids an excused absence, but we didn't take advantage of it because the kids had missed a day due to sickness earlier in the week. No parades on TV, not even delayed. no 'Turkey Bowl' at church. You can get the NFL football games if you have the right sports channels.
We had a small family evening meal of turkey and fixin's, but it really didn't seem the same.
Kind of sad ...

The Brilliant British Language

I am convinced that the Brits love colorful language. Every day listening to the radio I hear wonderful terminology I've either never heard, or heard only in literature, TV or movies. They seem to look for entertaining ways to speak, both in media and in every day business.
1. Today on the radio the newsreader mentioned an instance in which the government had misplaced a great deal of sensitive information. She referred to it as a "cock-up by the government." It sounds rude, but was on the BBC national news.
2. My boss, in referring to a request for money, referred to the ruckus surrounding the current tight budget crisis as a "kerfuffle." "We'll hold off on our request until the kerfuffle has subsided."
3. One of my associates is flying in to London in a few weeks and I am taking him to dinner. He suggested we go to a "gastro pub." I had to ask what he meant. It is a bar that serves food like a restaurant but is trying to retain the pub atmosphere.
4. This morning the weatherman referred to our cold weather as a "nithering cold." That was a new one to me. Not sure I spelled it right.
5. And, a recent favorite I mentioned before, a raffle is called a tombola.
6. In a meeting recently with the CIO of our company, he referred to both 'bob' and 'shilling.' I knew both from previous experience, and the context of the conversation, that they referred to money but I didn't know how much. It turns out that both refer to they same unit of English money worth five pence, but no longer in circulation. The shilling (aka bob) was discontinued 40 years ago but you still hear both terms frequently.
7. "Brilliant" - You hear it used all the time. I have realized, they use it at the same time Americans use "great." "That movie was great!" = "That movie was brilliant!" But they don't use it in a negative sense, like "great, my pants are on fire ... again." Only in a positive sense.
8. A print ad in the London Times describes a movie camera as "a cracking new camera"
9. There is a public service announcement on BBC radio about registering your bicycles, evidently there is a tax on bicycles but many don't pay it. The ad is telling everyone that you can pay it on line now. The voice is that of a young man saying, "I got up this morning to go down to pay my bike tax. I found my bike helmet in the refrigerator filled with pudding. Alas, despite the best efforts of myself and my dog we were unable to eat enough of the pudding to make wearing the bike helmet safe for riding. So I was unable to pay my bike tax today." Hilarious.
10. The Brits have a thing for the word "rubbish. Who knew it was such a utilitarian word? " In an article in today's London Times about Daniel Craig, the new James Bond, there are three different uses. "When he was first named to the James Bond role, websites were set up for the express purpose of rubbishing a man who hadn't yet shot a single scene"; (verb) "...because of all the furor that was going on concerning my having gotten the part, some people were going to come along to see how rubbish it was"; (adjective?) "But I knew what I could do, and knew it was all rubbish." (noun)
Brilliant!

Driving in England




The fabric of the British road system is stitched together by 'roundabouts' and 'bollards.' A roundabout is an intersection, as you can see in the first picture, which is the sign for the Running Horse Roundabout. However, like most major intersections here, the intersection is a traffic circle from which there may be any number of exits, or even connecting roundabouts as you see in the picture. The trick is to enter the roundabout in the appropriate lane so that you are prepared to exit at the right time. This definitely takes some practice and has been the times I have most frequently heard my fellow motorist's "salutes". It seems chaotic at first, but once you get used to it you realize you were right the first time, it is chaotic.
Bollards are essentially permanent traffic cones. The word 'bollard' is pronounced like our southern delicacy "collards", but probably tastes better. As a friend of mine here in the UK describes them, they are "primarily here to dent and scratch your car. " They have lights inside them, so you can see them at night. The traffic configuration in the picture is very interesting, and very common. I can only imagine it's intent similar to US speed bumps, to slow traffic. The bollards narrow the road to one lane and one lane is instructed (as noted in the sign) to yield to the other lane. That too can be a noisy experience when you first get here and don't understand that you are supposed to give way to the cars coming in the other direction. So far I have managed to avoid hitting a bollard. I've hit garage walls, the entry posts on either side of our home's entrance to our parking area, and run over many, many curbs, but have managed to miss the bollards. (but give us time)
I recently had occasion to drive a couple hundred miles north for a work assignment. The highway system is fairly easy to follow. The major roads are "M" (for "motorway") and a number, for example the 'M4' is the highway I take to work every day. Just like the US, the even numbered highways run east and west and the odd numbered highways run north and south. I took the 'M1' most of the way to our Ripon office in northern England . The local inter-city connectors are designated 'A' and a number, for example the 'A329' connects me to the 'M4' every day. Some of those can be multi-lane and highway speed. Lesser roads are designated 'B' or 'C', although I haven't noticed any 'C's yet. They also use a convention of putting a road in parentheses if the road you are on connects to it. You can see an example of that on the Running Horse Roundabout sign. If you take the second exit you are on the 'A329' which connects to the 'M4.'
All in all, just like most things in the UK, they make perfect sense once you understand them.

Wednesday 21 November 2007

Wolseley Home Office






This is what the Home Office looks like. It is in the Arlington Business Park, 10 or 15 identical buildings. As you can see, the sign is very subtle. No large sign on the side of the building or anything like that. Basically just a generic office complex. Two identical buildings. Hopefully my group will move to the second building in the next few months so I can get into an office. They are very security conscious. You have to badge your way into the building and between floors. The restrooms are in the lobbies, so you have to badge your way out and back in. A bit of a nuisance.

Sunday 18 November 2007

Halloween

Halloween is gaining popularity here, but has a long way to go. Grocery stores don't have isles of Halloween candy decorated in orange and black as we are accustomed to. No Halloween sales. It was mentioned on the popular radio stations, but we saw no kids going door to door anywhere. Our church had a "Trunk or Treat" in it's parking lot (UK = "car park") due to the large number of Americans in the congregation. What you do is decorate the trunk of your cars. The cars are lined up in the parking lot and the kids go from car to car trick or treating. It's a nice, secure way to let your kids have the experience without the worries of encountering unpleasant strangers. ACS Egham, the private international school John and Amanda attend, had something almost exactly the same but they called it "Boot to Boot."

New English Word - Tombola

I was recently invited to participate in a "Halloween Tombola" at work. (tom-BOE-la) I am by nature a cautious man so I didn't jump right in until it was explained to me that a tombola is a raffle. You buy a ticket with a number on it, the money going to charity, and you do (or in my case don't) get a prize. If your ticket number happens to match one of the previously numbered prizes, you get it.

Alarm Clocks

Here's a great idea by the Brits - when you plug in your alarm (referred to as "connecting to the mains") it sets the time itself. Somehow the correct time rides the electrical current and alarm clocks are aware of it. So recently when the time changed here, the clocks changed themselves automatically, assuming they are plug-ins, and not battery operated. Cool, huh?

Router Rooter

A router ("ROWT-ur") is a switch for connecting computer users to a network or other devices.
In the UK it is pronounced "rooter." It really cracks me up to hear, it sounds so silly. I discussed with a friend one day pointing out how the three letters O*U*T are pronounced in the words "out", "scout", and "about."
He reminded me of an old song and US television show, "you get your kicks on Route (root) 66." He also pointed out that when some English speaking people leave home they are going "oot and aboot." Canadians do that.
I pity the person that has to learn English as a second language.

McDonald's Drive Thru

I found a McDonald's recently that had a drive through. I was on the way home, so I decided to stop and grab a bag of junk food for the family as a treat. Fast food joints are far less common here than in the states. I've seen BK, KFC and McDonalds but they are few and far between.
I drove in and examined the menu board, looking for the differences - which there always are. I got an idea of what we wanted and drove forward to place the order.

There is no menu board close to the microphone / speaker where you place your order! You have to memorize what you want and be prepared to shout it into the mic. Not impossible, but unless you are prepared, a little disconcerting.

The Toilet Door Mystery

A UK based friend recently remarked, "the US is vast, enormous resources and talent, the most powerful nation on earth. Yet for some reason they will not or cannot build a public toilet door that fits the opening." My reaction was, "What are you talking about?" He said, "the next time you are out and about here in the UK notice the stall doors in the public toilets. They start at the ceiling and end at the floor. In the US, they start at knee level and end at shoulder level. Why is that?"

Saturday 17 November 2007

Weirdness in Ascot, Our New Home Town


Driving along High Street (aka main street) one day and this car pulled out right in front of us. It was the original TV show Batmobile from the 60's! It looked exactly like the picture, so if it was a copy, it was one that passed a very close inspection. It was being driven by a couple of normal looking guys. (Bruce Wayne & Dick Grayson incognito?) I couldn't believe my eyes!!

Moving Day






Back in August when we picked our eventual home we guessed that we could get relocated and ship our household goods - plus get them through Customs - by October 9, a month after we flew over. It was a guess, and one we could change, but that was the commitment we made to the landlord. As it turned out, that's exactly how it worked out.
Here are a few shots from moving day.
The house has a name, "Berry Cottage." The kitchen is the highlight of the house, we love it except for the tiny refrigerator. We have two gas fireplaces, haven't gotten them to work yet. We've got a tiny postage stamp of grass in the back yard, it takes about 15 minutes to mow it. All in all, the house is great.

We're Baaaacccck! (November 17, 2007)

We are moved in to the new house, and back on line. You're going to see several "catch up" posts to fill-in the last month or so during which we've had limited access to the web.

Monday 5 November 2007

26.2 Miles Is a REALLY LONG WAY!!!!





We did it! Christina and I finished the inaugural Raleigh "City of Oakes" marathon today. It was rough. The first half we did really well, staying on our plan of about 10 minute miles, and then the second half started. The second half of the race must have been designed by the Marquis de Sade, because it was torture. Somehow they figured out how to have us run up every steep hill in Raleigh, without running down any. (only a slight exaggeration) Not sure how that worked, but that's what happened. By the end of the race we should have been on top of a mountain. At the 15 mile marker the race entered Umstead Park and started a three mile up hill stretch that only once flatten out or sloped downhill. That killed me. I developed a cramp in my right calf that stayed with me off and on for the next 6 or 7 miles and really slowed me down to a limping shuffle. Christina was doing much better, but refused to leave me so we could finish together. And we did. We crossed the finish line together, running, holding hands, raised in victory.
Christina made us custom shirts and at least 10 people commented on how much they liked them. Not sure if you can read the back but mine says "I'm with shorty" and hers says, "I'm with old." See the "a Team" patch on the shoulder?
We completed the race in about 5 and 1/2 hours. We'd hoped to finish under 5 hours, but that was not to be. By the time we got there we really didn't care we were so miserable. One participant with 13 other marathons to his credit said that this was the most difficult course he'd ever seen.
My prediction is they'll have to flatten it out a bit in the future or people won't come. I'm open to running another marathon, but not this one with the course as it is.