Miscellaneous UK Stuff

Recycling - The UK is far more serious about it than are we in the states. We take the attitude, do it if you want to. They take the attitude, do it. Even in the office. I really admire that, but it's partially driven by having no place to put it all. England is full. Sorry, no vacancies!

Cell Phones - Using a cell phone while driving is a ticket-able offense. There is discussion of making it such that you go to jail if caught. That one would never get passed in the US. But it makes sense, the country is full of psychotic drivers who don't need distractions.

GPS - GPS use is very common here, foreigners (including both Shirleen and I) live by them. Theft of GPS units is a huge problem here. So much so that the first line of the owners manual is "our units are very popular, we advise you to never leave your GPS in the car". When you shut it down, the unit displays a picture of a man putting his GPS in his briefcase. They are mounted on the windshield with suction cups. I'm told that if a thief sees an empty holder in a windshield, or even the ring where it was, they will smash the windshield to find the unit. It apparently happened in the Wolseley parking lot.

Wolseley Corporate office - The office is very nice, a modern design. The offices line the exterior wall, all of the office walls facing inward are glass. Unfortunately, there are no empty offices, so I am in a cube with four foot walls. (yuck) They are going to remodel sometime in the next few months and hopefully that will change. The nicest perk is the cafeteria, it is free. That's right, lunch is free every day. Every day there is your choice of any or all of, a bowl of soup, salad bar, and freshly cooked hot food on an actual plate. The only beverage is water and no desserts, but the food is very good and the price is unbeatable. There are some days that I can't identify the hot food, some I try, others are too scary.
There are break rooms on every floor with supplies of fruit, canned soft drinks (aka "fizzy drinks"), coffee with real coffee cups, bottled mineral water, filtered water with real glasses, and cookies. You bring your empty cups & glasses to the break room at the end of the day and someone puts them in the dish washer for you. Aren't we special?
Another thing is the hours, 8:45 to 5:30. Not sure why they start so late, but I like it!