Flickr Post

I posted some photos to flickr, but it crashed halfway up. I'll post again in a bit. I've been running around seeing everything, and its a bit hard to keep up. I'll put more up tonight, and hopefully be able to write a bit more.

Back in the UK

Just arrived back in Britain yesterday. My flight was absolutely awesome. I had been gaming price search engines against each other for a week or so, and somehow British Airways ended up at the top. Seasonally speaking, it was much more expensive than my trip to Manchester in the spring. However, it was much more kick ass.

I arrived at the airport uneventfully after being dropped off by my dad. Checked in, bag got thrown on the belt butter-side down and all that good stuff. I was also given choice of window or exit aisle. I took an exit aisle, but after choosing I thought maybe I should consider a window. I had about three hours to roam around in the terminal. I bought a slice of pizza, and a cup of coffee and went to sit down. Read some of the ImageJ manual I printed. Started to fall asleep until they called our flight to board. After standing in a fairly epic line, we boarded.

I was between two interesting people, an immigrant to the US from the UK who was a programmer analyst, and a lady who was a third generation Tanzanian who grew up in Egypt, and went to school in Bombay. They were both extremely fun and interesting people to be sat by. Our cabin host, Roland Perez, who was a Spanish man who lived in Lyon was awesome. This man needs several raises. As soon as we got airborne, we were offered wine and snacks, at no extra cost. Stark contrast to US Airways, where we had to pay for everything we were offered, and in sucky quanities. I was given TWO small bottles straight away, which was plenty to get me decently happy. Dinner was server fairly quickly as well, with beef, potatoes, carrots, and peas. I slept for about three hours. I started playing Final Fantasy Tactics: Advance as well, burned a good two and a half hours.

We arrived about fifteen minutes early from our 7:05am arrival at Heathrow. This honestly made little difference in my ability to get out of this place. Arriving at terminal 4, the most remote terminal at Heathrow, afaik, we had to board a bus to get to the main area. Fair enough. Except at the offload point, there was an escalator we were all getting on, and the stairs next to it were blocked. Riding up the escalator I realized, the people at the top weren't quite moving ahead. I managed to skirt the edge of the people and get down the stairs, but less agile people ended up piling up at the top of the escalator trying to run the other way so they didn't push everyone down. The line started moving but a long wait was ahead. I ended up waiting nearly a hour in line before getting to the passport checking guys.

I was doing my typical "act sweet as pie and make things easy for people" but this guy was not having any of it. This guy was having none of it. I was met with the typical questions, which didn't bother me but this ass really wanted to piss me off. "Where you going?" "Who you seeing?" blah blah blah. Then I got this one: "Do you have a return ticket?" "Yes." A slight pause. He stares right at me. "May I see it?" "Er, I have an e-ticket, so I'll be printing it off the internet when I'm ready to go." "Well, wouldn't you print your return before you go?" This, makes no fucking sense, considering I'm going to a place where I can print anything I want. Of course, passport dudes do not give a shit about technology assholes who use the internet to save their lives every waking moment. I got the "you won't be leaving soon" look, and began rifling through my bag. Luckily, I had a printout of my itinerary from Orbitz. Note, this could easily be made the fuck up, and probably makes fuck all of a difference. He then did the State Trooper motion of, looking at the paper, looking at my passport, looking at me, all the while keeping everything still but his eyes. This went on for about three cycles, my documents were stamped and placed on the counter. About 30 seconds of silence passed. He simply did not even look at me. I then asked the burning question, "Am I... ok to go?" "You're free to go." Thanks warden. I'd like to illustrate that I was the most organized fuck out of the whole group of shits there, and I *still* managed to get held up. Electronic passport and all.

I went down the next pair of hallways to go fetch my bag from the luggage thinger, everything seemed in order. I then began slogging my backpack and main bag down to the door where we met people. I didn't take one of those trolleys for your bags, because all that does is serve to ram other people in the legs. Drag bags be damned. If you can't carry it, don't bring it! I've seen many morons trip over other morons drag bags and it just seems like a complete waste. Perhaps when I get older, I'll see the value. For now, I'll stick with body mounted storage.

Of course, everyone emerging from the two small doors that let out, stopped as if they had just seen the most amazing thing they've ever seen, leading to another fuckup right at the door. I just kept my head down and jumped the wall of idiots and their drag bags and caught up with Michelle. She was very glad to see me, and very astonished at the time it took for me to get there. I wasn't totally pissed, because I had been moving along the whole time.

We then jumped a train from Terminal 4, to Terminal 1. We waited 30 minutes for the next bus out to Watford Junction. The bus ride was fun, but it let me really find the scale of Heathrow, which is apparently UNBELIVABLY HUGE. At Watford Junction we had a 10 minute wait or so for the bus. A short ride, and we were off. We walked about another five minutes or so, down Leaford Crescent to Michelle's house. My back was pleased. Michelle's house reminds me of Okinawa housing. Its a brick rowhome in a typical English neighborhood. Things are all the right size and fit very well inside. There are several interesting things I'll review through later posts.

I got a good look at some digital TV here in the UK which is amazing. Not only do they have TeleText, like I found before on their ANALOG signal, they have a whizbang digital guide as well. Take that Comcast. Note, its not free, you have to pay TV license, but the programming sucks a lot less. The house is very well decorated in a nice, minimal style. Ikea would be jealous! Her back garden is very nice, lots of flowers and plants. England seems to be a very green kind of place in terms of plant life.

For dinner, we had our usual, Tikka Masala over basmati rice. Michelle's mom and dad came home from work and we had tea and biscuits. I asked all kinds of questions about their internet setup and their VoIP phone. Apparently BT had to be able to put DSL in 90% of the UK before they were allowed to roll it out. Last mile be damned! Michelle's dad gets a VoIP phone from work that actually connects to their DSL box/router/wifi/VoIP. Its all very integrated and nice. I saw most of Michelle's kid pics and made good fun.

I'll post a bit more about today tomorrow. We're going to go see the Tour De France in London and that should be epic. Hopefully Blogger will allow me to post some pictures to the blog again.

Manc and Didsbury

Michelle had class all day today, so I figured I'd strike it out on my own. Got out relatively early at about 9. Hopped the bus out to the Arndale. Unfortunately, everything opens at 10am, so I walked around the Arndale for a bit. I stopped at EAT, a cafe in the mall. I ordered a Benedict Muffin with a small coffee. Coffee over here is a bit stronger. It is more of a shot of espresso in some water to the same volume. I stepped out of the line to get my coffee and some vegetarian guy behind me almost got my muffin. He looked fairly upset, but he wasn't getting my muffin!

I walked around with my coffee until 10am, scoping potential shops for some comfortable pants to sleep in. I stupidly forgot my uber-cool pickle pajama pants. H&M? Wouldn't be caught dead selling pajamas. Noticed most of the stores were fashion-y type stores that probably wouldn't be selling anything close to pajamas. I went to a sports store downstairs where I found a nice pair of Lonsdale sweatpants. I left the Arndale after that and started to explore the heart of Manchester city.

I basically went with the algorithm: go straight in one direction for several blocks, then turn right, then right again, and then continue until you are one block from where you started. Choose new straight direction, repeat. This worked fairly well, and I found several neat little shops. Record stores, even a board game store. This was interesting. A small anime, board game store in Manchester. I forget their name, but they sure had a good stock of board games. Pretty much every Carcassone expansion, Catan expansion, and several good Rio Grande games. Still trying to find out what may be here that I can't get in the states.

Hopped the bus out, and texted Michelle for lunch during her afternoon gap. We went to a Chinese buffet that was well past Manchester Metropolitan. Like most Chinese buffets in the states, was ok. Left Michelle off at her lecture hall, and then went to Manchester's Computer Science department! They had a very nice exhibit on their contributions to computer science, various types of storage inventions, research on large databases, and some interesting hardware from their developments.

I wanted to explore the opposite end of Oxford/Wilmslow Road, so I hopped a bus past Owens Park. The bus stopped short of my goal, somewhere near a hospital in Withington, so I hoofed it for a bit and took some pictures. I walked part way into Didsbury, and caught another. I got to the end where I found a HUGE bowling center and cinema complex. There is also a Tesco there, which I went inside. It is another grocery store chain, with pretty much the same stuff that the Sainsbury's had. I walked around and took some more pictures of the surrounding area, and then took the bus back. Michelle was coming home within ten minutes of me, so I just took a nap.

After I got up, we were crazy hungry so we went to the Battered Cod for fish and chips. Please note, that the fish part of fish and chips really is shaped like a fish. We ordered two large cod, with a pile of chips. Oh, and fizzy Vimto. A delicious juice drink kind of thing. When we came back we checked the TV, and watched "The Woman Who Lost 30 Stone". After all that we went to bed.

EDIT: Blogger appears to not let me upload more images here, I'll see what the deal is.

Tour De Manc

Today was THE day. We got up and took the bus from Fallowfield through Rusholme to the Arndale in Manchester City. Note, this is still on the same week bus pass that I bought for 3 quid on Thursday. I would be getting a ton of use out of that thing. We got off near Picadilly Square, a transit hub, with trains, trams, and buses all over. We walked a short distance and went inside the Arndale.

It was pretty similar to any given American mall, minus the extremely clean interior. When I say extremely clean, I mean it looked almost hospital like. Directories that actually work! There was a ton of people shopping. First stop, electronics stores! I could find only lcd and plasma TVs on the shelf. Most prices were relatively similar or slightly more expensive in the range of 1.2-1.5x. DS games were priced at 29 pound, on sale at 19. This makes them nearly $55 at regular price. Yeesh.

After exploring most of the Arndale, we headed out to the Friendship Inn. Had a nice sunday roast dinner with a pint of Harp. Roast beef, roast potato, roast carrots, and that little bowl thing on the top. Which is apparently, a Yorkshire pudding. It is in fact also known as delicious. The Bolton v Blackburn match was on while we were eating. It was pretty exciting. Walked home very full and had a nap.

Woke up and watched 50 First Dates on BBC, which was really just waiting for Top Gear. I see that show from time to time when I download it, but its a big deal over here. Non-car buffs even watch it. Right between the movie and Top Gear we rushed out for a quick kebab at Raj on Wilmslow Road. The show was the season ender and quite entertaining.

I stayed up late talking to Michelle's flatmate Tom, about cars and we compared our driving systems. Found out what was up with the music at Queen of Hearts, its apparently a genre called "Scouse House". Pop mashed up with house played at about 1.2x.

Saturday, The Morning After

Last night's celebration left us somewhat tired, so we had an inside day. I was supposed to go to the Arndale in Manchester, which is a shopping mall type place. After spending most of the morning sleeping, I got up and made some toast. After making tea, we sat down and watched day time TV. Saw BBC news during the day which was actually informative, and only took 30 minutes.

Went to Sainsbury's again, to pick up Italian dressing to make some chicken. Dinner was chicken, corn, and beans. I opened up Clubhouse Games for DS, and we had a couple goes at that. Got my ass kicked several times in Rummy. Several hours had passed, and I dug through the cupboard and found ASDA Chicken Korma in a can. Microwaved and shared it with Michelle with some toast. Was quite good.

Put the second season of Venture Bros. on my laptop and watched it from bed. Went to sleep. This was obviously a slow day.

Fallowfield Exploration

The beginning of day two was pretty decent. Got up at about 10am, got ready to go out and play. Michelle had class till 3pm, so I was LEFT UNATTENDED IN A FOREIGN COUNTRY for a while. This can only end well. After taking a shower and getting dressed I grabbed my keys and headed out to the Trof, figuring that was the only internet connection I knew of. After buying a white coffee with a pound coin and eighty pence, I sat down and got to work. Uploaded my pics, posted that brick of information you see below. After 2 hours of jerking around with the wireless connection and mistakenly double posting to flickr, I headed out.

I figured I'd retrace most of yesterday's adventuring by foot to see if I could recall where things were. I found a tiny computer shop "Mighty Micro", which I had Googled for earlier to see if could get a wireless adapter for Michelle's computer to do some wireless bridging. There was no door handle, and I had to be buzzed in. After giving the clerk 25 pounds for a USB wireless adapter, I shoved it in my bag and was off to see what I could find. I passed by the Sainsbury's on my way and kept going. I saw all kinds of tiny shops, mostly convenience store places, but also meat shops, news stands, eateries, and real estate joints that specialized in renting to students. I also noticed that if you look right at somebody while you are smiling they get completely freaked out. Its almost as if every person has their own little space bubble that you only perceive when space bubbles collide. Which is then met with "Excuse me." or "Sorry." Very interesting. Its a completely different social dynamic around here.


After going to what I percieved to be far enough, I turned around and came back down Wilmslow Road. I saw all these people walking up and down the street and somehow with all the wind they managed to have straight hair. I, on the other hand, looked like a bird with a head crest. I stopped in the Sainsbury's on the way back and bought some Matt Wax for two pound thirty five. Let me just say that with my new haircut, it was exactly what it needed. Now in a stiff wind my hair definitely stays.

By the time I got back it was half two, so I made some beans and toast in the kitchen. Michelle was back at 3PM, and then we just had a nap till 5 or so. Friday nights are big with students, so we figured we should rest up.

After getting up and getting washed, we then went out for dinner. Rusholme, which is also known as "The Curry Mile", has a ton of curry and kebab shops on its whole length. Leaving Owens Park we decided to take a bus rather than walk, as that would be easy and economical. I got a week pass for a bus company called "Magic Bus" for 3 pound. Considering a single ride is sixty pence, this is a mega deal. The bus was picking us up in no time. We got off at the first stop in Rusholme and walked the length of its neon glow. Greeters at the front of the shops actually accost people on their way by with specials. Reminded me of Wildwood. Michelle recommended we go to Darbar, a good shop nearer to the end. I had Chana Masala, which I get at nearly every curry joint I go to and it was delicious. I also had some coleslaw that had corn in it. Strangely enough its great in coleslaw.

After paying up, we walked the half a block that was the rest of Rusholme, and then we hopped the bus back to Fallowfield. We then went to a small student bar called Glass. I forgot that everyone gets to drink at 18 in the UK, so people were way younger than us. No matter, I'll at least try to drink some kids under the table! They have a special shot menu that's a pound fifty a shot. We first had a union jack, and then a pint of Carlsberg. Walking around inside we saw people playing Pro Evolution Soccer 6 on a Playstation. This is a great idea and I think should happen in American bars. We then had a shot of mini-screwdriver and were on our way to Queen of Hearts, a legendary student bar that's actually part of a church.

Arriving at the door, I got carded, but the guy didn't even look. It was like "Plastic card? Yeah come on in." I paid four pound at the door to get in, which was kinda eh, but had to do it. There wasn't many people inside at this point, being that it was about ten or so. We went up to the only bar in the joint, and had a pair of Carlsberg pints. We sat down in the back and took inventory of the joint. After sitting around checking out all the people and watching them do the bar thing, I went back for another pint.

I rolled up and asked for a pint of Carlsberg, and as I turned around noticed two guys looking right at me with pitchers of beer in their hands. I smiled and as soon as they saw me look they blurt out, "Hey mate, where you from?" I'd been found out. "Hey! I'm from America.", I replied. Both of them looked at each other like they might headbutt one another and screamed "YEAAH!" then introduced themselves as Donny and Paddy. Both Irish, as if you couldn't tell from the names. The next exchange was priceless.

Donny: "Hey, you wanna drink a Bud Light!?"
BOTH: "YEAAAAAHHH!!!"
Me: "More like a Stella."
Both: "What?! You have Stella in America!?"
Me: "Dude, I'm from the refined part of America, not all that NASCAR stuff you see on the TV." (No offense to NASCAR fans of course...)
Paddy: "Oh man! You know Top Gear then?"
Me: "Hell yeah, I download all kinds of BBC stuff at home."
Both: "YEAAAAAAHHH!!!"

We parted ways and then later on I had what they were having, Snakebites with something dropped in them. After sitting back down with Michelle, we got up and went to the bathrooms. Men's bathrooms in the UK are totally different than the US. They have one of those giant trough style urinals made of stainless steel that run the length of the walls. I came back out and then we went to the dance floor. The DJ was ok, but played some zany stuff. Most songs were about 1.2x their normal speed. He played a couple of big American hits early on, but also some really debatable US songs. We danced for a bit but it was Mad River style hit and miss. People dance, strangely, in Manchester. Sort of a weird fast having a fit style movement that I haven't figured out where it came from just yet. I'm sure by next week I will.

We left about 1 or so, and it was pissing down outside. We made it back in one piece through the herd of students standing around the opening in Owens Park and just slid into bed somewhat beat.

Leaving/Arrival Post

Wednesday night at about 1am, I decided to check my itinerary. I figured, Wednesday, I can get everything I need to get done, and Thursday, I'll have plenty of time to take for double checking. The stark realization my flight is on Wednesday came at about 1:10am. No biggie, flights not till 9PM. I'll work until 12, go to Echelon for my new jacket, to Deptford for my new camera, and be done before dinner. Piece of piss. Except I managed to stay at work until about 2:30pm. Jersey driving fixed most of that. I went home and double checked all my gear, making sure I didn't leave any chargers or batteries, oh or clothes, and everything was looking good.

Drove to my parents' house, where I repacked my bag into a larger one so I had room for some UK treasure. My dad was nice enough to make me some dinner before I left. I dropped off some keys, and care instructions for my apartment which consisted of: "Feed the fish every other day." Sorted. My mom will no doubt clean my apartment while I'm gone. I'll never find anything again. Dad drove me to the airport about an hour and forty five to go.

Arriving at the airport was pretty easy. Checked in, dropped my bag who weighed in at a svelte 32 pounds. After 50, they charge you some zany extra luggage fee. That means I have 18 pounds for UK stuff on the way back! They gave me my ticket and told me to go upstairs. Looking at it, I see 13A. I'm standing near gate 24. Crap. There's a giant gap between 1-20, and 21 and up. I have plenty of time so I walk to the opposite end of the terminal which looks like a ghost town. I sat down for about thirty minutes or so. 830 rolls around, and there is NO ONE there. I recheck my ticket, and I'm to be at gate 21! Ugh. I grab my junk and hustle on over to gate 21 where everyone is already queued up for the plane. As soon as I got in line, it started moving right along.

Get to my seat and jam my giant messenger bag under the seat in front of me. My next door neighbor came a bit later. She was an older English American lady from Lancashire who now lives in North Carolina. She tells me all kinds of interesting stories about her family. After we got airborne, I noticed an awesome entertainment screen in the back of the seat in front of me. Movies, TV, music, it was quite good. My neighbor needed a pair of headphones so I let her borrow my iPod phones. She also had a ton of difficulty with the entertainment thing, so I set her up with Tchaikovsky's No. 5 at her choice. Oh, and "Madame Butterfly" is her favorite opera.

After a rather uneventful flight, I landed in Manchester. Moved right off the plane and into incoming foreign people lane. The exchange went like this:

Passport Lady: "Where will you be staying?"
Me: "University of Manchester."

At this point I was waiting for "And where are your papers for that?"

Luckily:
Passport Lady: "What is the nature of your visit?"
Me: "Visit a friend."
Passport Lady: "What is your friend doing there?"
Me: "Finishing her Genetics degree."
Passport Lady: "Oh, and I guess when she's done she'll be going to the US right?"
Me: "Er, no idea, we like to keep our options open."

Two stamps and a smile later I picked up my bag. I came out the door and saw Michelle waiting in the lobby. After meeting up we decided to take a cab. And here is where the adventure begins. Black cabs in the UK are a bit legendary. We grab a guy and jump in. It was VERY spacious inside. The first thing I hear over the in car speaker system is: "Today my luck has been shite." Michelle and I laughed, thinking the guy was just putting it on to be funny. After the third roundabout, we realized this dude was just ranting. "They got me driving all over this fucking place, and I've been getting shite fares everywhere."


Got dropped off out front of Owen Hall in Fallowfield. Went to Michelle's flat, which was very interesting. It was a bit windy outside, not cold, but windy enough to make you upset.
Dropped off all my gear, and we went to get something to eat. Walking around in Fallowfield is very interesting. Yes, cars are on the opposite side of the road. Crosswalks have buttons, but they actually work very quickly. Subsequently, they only stay on for a short time.

We went to the Trof, my current internet connection, and I had a Fried Brekkie with a white coffee. English breakfast is great. We ate up, and walked out. We then went to Sainsbury's, a grocery store. Everything is completely different than in the US. Things are smaller, liquor is available off the shelf. Bought a four pack of Heinz beans. Hatchback cars are everywhere! Took a pic of a Land Rover Defender, its in my flickr stream.


Met Michelle's flatmates, and gave them the box of salt water taffy I got. Everyone seemed pretty jazzed by it. Sat up talking to Tom till about 11pm. Then we all went to bed.

The wireless here at the Trof is acting up a bit, so I'll add more photos later today.

EDIT: Photos added. Additional fun can be found in my flickr stream. I also bought a usb wireless joob at the local computer store and now ninja'd an access point out of Michelle's computer. Sorry for the monolithic post but a lot happened.