So yesterday I highlighted a few of my observations from out and about town and I have continued to collect them for your enjoyment. First let me say at least I got a little sleep. My body clock is still wobbly (to use my English vernacular), but better, and I slept from 9 pm to 4:30 am – for some bizarre reason I could not go back to sleep. Of course, I was dead dog tired by 7 am but by then it was too late to do anything but put my make up on and go. Additionally, just because it says the deposition will start at 8:30 on the notice, doesn’t mean you’ll be there in enough time if you arrive at 8:15. By that point (15 mins early), the room was full and all the chairs around the table were taken and I was relegated to a chair on the periphery with my laptop literally being a “lap” top……..Ah well, c’est la vie (I guess I shouldn’t use French when in England.) The only highlight was that a friend of mine who I’d lost touch with was in depositions in the adjacent room in the same office building and so we got to have a fabulous dinner out! I assume the majority of the people in MY room were not Texans because no one was too friendly and I didn’t meet any dinner buddies so this was my one night to venture out on the town.
Day 2 Observations:
1. Just because you order fish and chips in England doesn’t mean it will be good. I LOVE fish and chips. I’ve had a taste for it since my time studying in Oxford. But I’ve had better fish and chips in HOUSTON than I did last night – absolutely terrible fish, I couldn’t eat it (which was sad because I also missed breakfast which made me ravenous for my stale, off-the-shelf lunch sandwich – can you tell I love food?).
2. A swan crossing the carriage road caused quite a muddle in morning traffic. Not exactly what you hear in the Houston 7:30 traffic report.
3. Why do they HIDE everything here? Where are the trash cans? Where do you change money? The British reserve coupled with instinct to disguise where things might be located makes me wonder how they ever figure things out around here.
4. Husbands are often right, no matter how hard it is to admit. For example, on my New Orleans anniversary trip my husband suggested we acquire sunscreen for my fair skin before heading out to Jazz Fest. I, of course, told him it was unnecessary. Ten minutes into Jazz Fest he was offering to pay people to let me borrow their sunscreen because I was frying so terribly. Well, in more recent news, he suggested that $50 might not be enough cash to take to England. I said, “pish-posh” (or the American equivalent) – I’ll use my credit card. Well…since my credit card company decided to decline charges thinking my card was abducted by some identity thief because London charges were so atypical, and since $40 dollars converts to about $22 pounds, he might have been right again……..
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