British Pound Sterling

Back in November, my brother, Mike, and his girlfriend, Stephanie, came across the pond for a visit. It was a very fun visit [different post], if for no other reason because it is 'refreshing' to 'see' the UK through another's eyes ... especially if he's my brother because I kind of get how he thinks. Even so, I didn't see this coming.

So Mike was busy trying to learn and manage the currency. First thing he noticed:it's freaking expensive here, so you don't hold onto the currency for very long and make frequent trips to the Cash Point [ATM] for a 'top up' [more money].

Second thing he noticed: we have a lot of coins here. And we use them. So although Americans have been unwilling to adopt a dollar coin, here in the UK we have a 1£ coin and a £2 coin.

Third thing he noticed, as with many things in the UK. It's all very 'logical', so you can catch on to the currency quite quickly. Well, almost anyway. So here's the story [I took pictures to illustrate]. Here we have the £2 coin and the 1£ coin and you can see they have the same shape.

And here you can see the £2 coin and the 1£ coin and the 1£ coin is roughly half the size of the £2 coin.

Now we'll take a look at the 2-pence and 1-pence coins.

You can the same logic applies. They are the same shape, the lesser value coin is roughly one-half the size of the other.

And the same applies to the 10-pence and 5-pence coins. They are the same shape, the lesser value coin is roughly one-half the size of the other.

Which brings us to the final presentation [it's a lot more entertaining when Mike does it 'live']. We have just two coins left. They are the same shape, the lesser value coin is roughly one-half the size of the other.

And so it makes perfect sense that the value of the coins is 50-pence and 20-pence !!! If you're an American, right now you are asking 'where is the Quarter'?

I've been here three-and-a-half years, I never noticed this.

Shocking Sight

Apparently, I still have a lot to learn about British culture. I certainly appreciate parts of it!

Last week, I 'nipped' out of the office with Dianne to pick up some lunch and then come back to the office. As we were returning, we saw a couple [man and a woman] crossing the road and walking towards us. The woman was quite a site and we had to muster all of our poker face skills ... look past and catch some details ... without getting caught ... like stopping dead in your tracks, drop your mouth open, and gasp!

The couple was in their mid-60s. I didn't pay to much attention to what the man was wearing, but woman had looonnnnnggggg dark black hair that hung in loose curls half-way down her front. She also had a long white scarf wrapped around her neck several times. I failed to notice that under the scarf and hair was a black leather top [Dianne caught that one]. She was wearing thick black eye liner that a raccoon would envy. She had black tights, black tight short-shorts, and ……

six inch heels, black base covered in roses!!!

'Shock' is the only word I can come up with. When I returned to the office, I shared our experience with some of my staff, and then Dianne suggested that the woman could be 'Petunia' from the public service adds about 30 years ago about Coast Guard safety. Google is my friend ...

Watch this:
http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/films/1964to1979/filmpage_coastguard.htm

Pam then remembered her favourite which was 'meet Dave ... learn to swim, you man!' Look at the woman in the add, ‘Come on Dave! Let’s swim’ … and she’s magically suspended in the air …

http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/films/1964to1979/filmpage_swim.htm

As Caroline is 'only 27', she couldn't remember any of them. The only thing I could come up with compares [and shared with my staff] is School House Rock.
Watch this & enjoy!
http://dai.ly/emrL0H
BFN!

Six Nations Rugby

Last year at this time, I took a train w/my friend, Dianne, to Edinburgh, Scotland to watch England play Scotland in a Six Nations Rugby game.

Edinburgh is a great city to visit. It was my second time there. It is an odd mix of tourism and tradition.

For rugby however, I can only draw a similarity for my girlfriends that will be watching [or may be going] to the Super Bowl today in Dallas. Imagine a stadium with 80,000+ attendees. In the case of Six Nations, 75% of the attendees were men in kilts. [Can you imagine that in Dallas?]

And here is an image for you ... so if you're a guy at the game and you go to the concession stand and you come back to your seat with two beers, you now have to sit down with your kilt [skirt] on ... but your hands are full. So, imagine that you're a big guy with a kilt on and you hold one beer in one hand and one beer in your teeth as you tuck your kilt under as you sit down on the cold seat! Role reversal at its best!

By the way, according to this guy [pictured], a true Scottsman does now wear nickers under his kilt. And he shared that with the entire stadium.

Went to Paris for a day ...

... because you can from London!

Last Sunday, my friends,Erik & Ramu, and I took the Eurorail to Paris for the day. We took the first train out and the last train back ... in Business Elite class, of course!

It continues to be cold and gray here in the UK, and after just 40 or so minutes on the train, the sky was blue and we saw the sun for the first time in weeks! What a treat!

So, what do you do when you go to Paris for day? Eat! That was the theme of our trip. Eat and some alcohol ...

On the train, we asked the train manager if she could make us some Bloody Mary's. She said she'd have to check and see if there was any tomato juice on the train. She came back with a small shot glass full of some watery-like juice that looked more like cranberry juice than tomato juice. Usually, the ratio is 4 parts of juice to 1 part of vodka. We had the reverse. Add a little pepper from a paper packet and voila'! Bloody Mary.

We arrived in Paris and started walking. We headed towards the River Seine. Once was had our bearings, we recognized that we needed to stop and have some lunch! So we had lunch in a little bar and started our food tour. We had escargot and tartare de boeuf. Very, very good! And some wine.

After lunch, we continued walking along the River Seine and then decided to take a taxi to Notre Dame. I had not been in the Cathedral before. You'll be happy to know I lit two candles: one for Mom and one for the UK staff! The Cathedral is beautiful, but then, I wouldn't be the first one to say that.

From there, wewalked to the Louvre. Have I mentioned yet that it was FREEZING cold. We took some pictures and sent them to Suzanne [office manager] to torture her ... can you guess where we are? We proceeded to walk West on the Terrasse du Bord de l'Eau [park], we stopped at the Jardindes Tuileres [fountain] and had a cigar.

From here, we had to stop and have a rest and some wine alongside the River Seine.

After our snack,we took a taxi to the Basilique du Sacre Coeur [Basilica of Sacred Heart] at the top of a huge hill that overlooked a very ... cloudy Paris. It was beautiful. And there was a funicular! I sent a picture to my friend, Denise.

We didn't go in to the Basilique, but rather, decided we needed to find a place for dinner [you're following the theme, right]. We stopped at a bistro' and had frog legs and mussels! After some more wine and a great dinner, we took a taxi to the train station and began our journey home.

The trip was fabulous!!!

[Computer continues to die ... so alas, first no ability to post photos. Now can't control the layout. I give up]