Happy New Year

... and a Happy New Decade!

I'm writing this early, because there is a wind advisory tonight and I wouldn't be surprised if I lose power.  We haven't really had a proper windstorm this winter yet.  There is even talk of canceling the fireworks at the Space Needle.  Must be serious.  New Year resolutions - exercise, healthy eating, blah blah blah. 

Virgin America

I haven't talked about my flight home, which might have been the worst flight I've ever experienced between London and Seattle.  It started with Heathrow.  I had checked in online, but chose to get my boarding pass printed at the airport.  Only the machine for some reason insisted on wanting me to scan my green card, but refused to accept it.  So I had to queue up for ages at the customer service desk in order just to print my boarding pass, something I could have done at home the day before.  Then you have to go to yet another machine just to check bags in for the flight - which this time refused to accept my boarding pass when I tried to scan that in.  This is also the first time I've ever had to print my own labels and put them onto my checked baggage and then put that luggage onto the carousel that goes round the back myself - which I think is a disgraceful lack of customer service.  Then the terminal itself was an overcrowded hellhole.  And then things got worse on the flight.  The food was really bad - and didn't seem to match the menu that had been handed out earlier.  I was supposed to get chicken casserole - what I actually got was definitely not casserole.  And I got no sleep on the flight - why do so many people take babies on such a long flight?  And I had all kinds of problems with my entertainment system - which is a nightmare for a 10 hour flight.  Apparently I wasn't the only one, because about halfway through the flight they just turned off the entertainment system for everyone.  Not a lot of happy campers.  As for the premium economy section - there were loads of empty seats.  Which probably meant loads of empty seats in business - but absolutely no suggestion of getting an upgrade.  And I had the misfortune of sitting next to a German guy - who had somehow managed to pre-order his food choices and who was absolutely not going to change seats.  I made the choice to stay where I was by the window, but I think in retrospect that was the wrong decision.  Given the choice between the window seat and an aisle seat with an empty seat next to it, in the future I'll think I'll always take the seat with no one next to me.  So all in all, was thoroughly unimpressed with Virgin America.  They may have their flaws, but I think I'll stick with BA for this route in the future. 

Hot Water

Something always seems to happen to my house when I go away for a while.  Last time I went to the UK, I came back to find one of the glass panels on my front door cracked - I think due to a stone that had been spat out by the lawn mower when my landlord cut my grass.  This time, I had a bath this morning and I didn't have any hot water afterwards.  And the water tank was making a weird noise.  Fortunately my landlord came round quickly and was able to fix it, some kind of water pressure issue.  But he found something else - apparently my washing machine wasn't getting any cold water.  I'm surprised I didn't notice that before.  These kind of things make me glad that I don't own my own house- I wouldn't have a clue about how to deal with these issues other than calling in an expensive contractor or repair person. 

First thing I notice ...

... when I got back home this afternoon.  Molehills.  The little buggers have been busy in my absence.  Like they knew.  So, so tired - but myself and all the things I brought back with me seem to have survived the long journey back.  Judging by how soaked my post was that had been sitting in my mailbox for a couple of weeks, I think I've missed a lot of rain.

The Big Smoke

London.  You may be dirty, crowded and expensive, but I still think you might be my favorite city in the world.  So much to see and do, so much history, great food, so easy to get around, no language barriers, a melting pot of people and cultures.  I love going for walks in the city, where you discover these quiet and interesting neighborhoods just off the beaten path - and more history on one of these walks than any American city can ever offer.  A few photos from this time around: 

Differences Between the US and the UK: #10

#10 Greggs

And the trifecta of foods I had to have when I came back was completed earlier this week with a visit to Greggs.  Not exactly difficult, since they seem to be everywhere.  But not in America, where I sorely miss them.  So any chance to get a warm, savory sausage roll I will take.  America is sadly lacking any equivalent to Greggs - is this an opportunity missed?  I don't know - despite the massive popularity of a show like the Great British Bake Off in the US, I simply haven't seen anywhere with cheap British type savory pastries like sausage rolls, which is such a shame because they don't know what they're missing.  So I shall just have to enjoy them when I'm here - much to the chagrin of snobbish relatives. 

Differences Between the US and the UK: #9

#9: it's Christmas, so I have to say family.

Skype may be good, but nothing beats quality face-to-face interaction and interaction over a longer period of time.  Outside of work, I live a relatively solitary life in the US - so I really welcome the opportunity to see friends and family on the all too rare occasions I'm back in the UK.  I love spending time with my niece and nephew - particularly at the age they are when Christmas is so exciting, and I can be the fun uncle.  And despite the arguments, the many things that drive me crazy, and the increasing signs of getting old, it's been great to spend time with my parents.  So I am grateful for everyone who I have seen and especially everyone who has hosted me.  I hope I can return the favor in the future if you ever want to visit or happen to be in the Pacific NW.   

Have yourself a ...

... merry little Christmas!

Sorry, wish I could do better than this, the first image that came up in my Google search.

Differences Between the US and the UK: #8

#8: Television

OK, American TV has its flaws - I'm thinking of the number of adverts (especially for pharmaceutical products), and how all the swearing and sex has to be taken out of films (though gratuitous and graphic violence is totally okay).  But British TV, oh my.  It really stinks, and seems to have got worse.  I made the mistake of catching some Saturday evening telly - reality, light entertainment and quiz shows.  Absolutely awful stuff.  Add in soaps, the news and these dreadful antique-hunting shows - and that is 90% of the BBC schedule right there.  What may be popular is definitely not better.  Yes, you still get the occasional flashy costume drama, police drama or comedy that is worth your time, but these are increasingly rare.  I haven't made any effort to look at the listings over the festive period.  And to be honest, even some of the "funny" shows I haven't found particularly funny - there is a certain "Radio 4" type of comedy that I don't like in my podcasts, that I apparently also don't like in my TV shows.  I'll stick to the classic BBC Christmas specials thank you - even if some of them have aged really badly. 

Differences Between the US and the UK: #7

#7 Pantomimes

For the first time in probably about 35 years, I went to see a panto this week.

I'm glad I went, because it's a quintessential British experience - the fairy tale and song and dance for the kids, the cheeky jokes and innuendo for the adults.  I don't think Americans would get it, at all.  They would definitely not classify all of it as "family entertainment", particularly with significant drag and some quite ribald jokes.  At least this one featured a little bit above the real bottom of the barrel minor celebrities you normally get - including a CBE doing her first panto.  An interesting little tidbit I've just come across is that apparently the good fairy always enters from the left, and the villain from the right - so pay attention to that next time.  Now I need to balance this out with a quintessential American experience next year - I think it might be time to finally go to a rodeo (rather that than Monster Jam). 

Differences Between the US and the UK: #6

#6: Internet speed

Even for the most non-internet savvy people, I would consider this unacceptable.  It's been a long time since I experienced such a lag just waiting for a website to load (and indeed to download photos to this blog), and streaming anything at this speed is not even feasible.  Was it this bad when I was back before?  Possibly, but it seems noticeably worse this time around.  But I'm going to guess that nothing will be done about it - and if it doesn't bother the people who pay for this service, then perhaps it is fine?  Personally, I think it is a rip-off - and I think it explains why our Skype calls have been so lacking in call quality.

Differences Between the US and the UK: #5

#5: Onion bhajis followed by chicken tikka masala.  Photo omitted due to (a) being too hungry to remember to take a photo, and (b) because this is not an Instagram account where I take photos of every single meal I have. 

Differences Between the US and the UK: #4

#4: Local museums with more history than anything even the best American museums can offer (e.g. Milestones - Hampshire's museum of living history!)

Differences Between the US and the UK: #3

#3: Interesting local architecture (case in point - "The Pepperpot")

Differences Between the US and the UK: #2

#2: Proper fish 'n' chips

Differences Between the US and the UK: #1

#1 Random historical plaques

Post-flight Post

After a fairly uneventful flight back, I'm back in Blighty!  Seeing some of the London landmarks from the sliver of my airplane window warmed my cockles. 

The flight had the potential to be a nightmare - no upgrade, and boarded to find some parents with two babies in their laps in the seats immediately behind me.  Worst case scenario.  But fortunately didn't have to tolerate the smells, the sounds and the seat kicking for long, as they moved somewhere else after takeoff and I took the opportunity to grab their seats so I had a bit more space.  This is the first time I've flown Virgin Atlantic and I had high expectations, but I can honestly say I didn't think they were much better than British Airways.  The food, the service, etc was almost identical.  But at least they weren't delayed, whereas it looked like the BA flight at around the same time out of Seattle was.  And I surprisingly got some decent sleep on the plane - even more surprising considering the film I watched onboard before nodding off was Midsommar.  Recommended - very Wicker Man-ish.

Pre-flight Post

A quick morning entry before I head to the airport this afternoon.  This flight is kind of odd - I booked it through Delta but it's a Virgin Atlantic flight.  I checked in on the Delta website yesterday evening, but it said to go to the Virgin Atlantic website for checked bags.  I need to print a boarding pass then check in my bags when I get to the airport, so do I go to the Delta desk or the Virgin Atlantic desk?  Jeez, it's not clear at all.  Well as long as I get to the airport in plenty of time, I shouldn't have any problems wherever I need to go.  But given I have a seat assignment when I checked in, I doubt I'm getting an upgrade.  Which is disappointing, but then I've probably been spoilt in the past by upgrades so my expectations are unfairly raised.

BJ

I’ll keep my election result thoughts to a minimum.  I haven’t been following it much – I have grown weary of politics, on both sides of the Atlantic – but the people have spoken, and the results are clear.  As much as I dislike Boris Johnson, I equally dislike Jeremy Corbyn and the Lib Dems were never even given a fair shake.  This was really a disaster for the Labour Party – it was an election they should never have agreed to, led by an unelectable leader, and even then should’ve and could've done so much better than they actually did.  This is what happens when you take the party too far to the left, and an important lesson for the Democratic Party in the US because I think exactly the same thing could happen here next year.  But at least the uncertainty over Brexit is resolved, with the UK definitely leaving the EU in January now.  Maybe not on optimal terms, but it is happening.  And I think we can expect a stronger push for Scottish independence – which could make things interesting.  And I see the exchange rate momentarily surged – but quickly jumped down, currently about $1.33 to 1 pound.  That is something I’ll definitely keep an eye on over the next year – that is going to drop when the UK leaves the EU, making your hard-earned pounds worth considerably less.

Charley Horse

I was in bed this morning, moving around trying to get comfortable, and kicked out at my duvet and experienced a sudden, sharp pain in my calf muscle.  I think I have experienced “a charley horse” – a muscle cramp or spasm resulting in a tight muscle.  This isn’t the first time – however, very inopportune timing when I have a 10 hour flight to look forward to in the next few days.  It makes sense that this is the kind of pain you get from dehydration, as I haven’t been drinking as much water as I should for the last few days – and taking a diuretic as part of my blood pressure medication only makes things worse.  So I think I shall be consuming a lot of orange squash when I’m back (definitely one of the things I miss most here).  What with this and some back pain I’ve been experiencing recently, I think my body has finally given up…

Company Gift

We got a company gift today, not so much for the holiday as for some drug launch.  So expectations were low.  And sure enough, it was one of the things we've received numerous times in the past - a bag, this time a sling bag rather than a rucksack.  But wait a second, the bag is quite heavy - what do we have inside?  Too heavy for some of the other usual items we get - an item of clothing or a water bottle.  How exciting.  So what is it?  And .... it's a survival kit.  WTF.  Yes, some "essential survival tools should the need ever arise" including a tent, a blanket, drinking water, and energy bars.  Plus a solar-powered battery charger.  So, something I'm going to stick in a cupboard and probably never touch again.  Great.  Or am I just a total ingrate?  Yes.

Temptation

For some reason, our department budget for Christmas decorations has exponentially increased this year.  I came back to my desk to find the filing cabinet outside my cube, which previously just had some spare cleaning supplies on it, adorned like this:

So now I have to spend all day looking at all these candy canes and chocolate.  Must resist the temptation to eat everything… 3 more days to go.

Cursed

A 3-time "first loser" this year.  Not going to dwell on this one - desperately disappointed and trying not to just type a load of cuss words.  This was my best chance of finally being a winner, and I blew it and in agonizing fashion.  I won't come this close again.  Now I'm dwelling on it.  Won the first game, lost the second game, and was up in the third and final game, but tightened up (as is sadly the norm for me) and quickly lost it.  And I wasn't even playing my nemesis who always beats me - this was someone else who I normally beat when we have a friendly game.  Goddamn it.  I suck.  It's never going to happen is it.  Perennial loser.

Trim

Well, I finally conceded to peer and family pressure and got a haircut today.  My hair had gone from "academic" to "hippie" - so thought I'd better get it cut before I head back to the UK.  Didn't really know what to ask for - but knew I wanted it short.  What I got is some sort of crew cut - 2 round the back and sides and I think "2 fingers length" on top - at least, that it was the Vietnamese (?) barber motioned.  I think it's called an "Ivy League".  Still deciding whether I like it - but I think I do, because it's still long enough on top to somewhat hide my thinning hair.  But with so much hair gone, I feel exposed now.  I can expect some snarky comments from colleagues at work tomorrow. 

Thermostat

I've been having issues with my bedroom thermostat since I moved into my place.  The problem is that it is an antiquated manual wire thermostat - which is impossible to control the temperature on.  My bedroom either ends up too hot or too cold, no matter what I try to set it at - extremely annoying, and probably affecting my quality of sleep.  But no more.  After a few comments to my landlord, and then some more complaining, he replaced it with a digital and programmable thermostat - just like the one I have downstairs.  Hurrah, so much better.  But still not ideal - one of the few things I really don't like about this house is the lack of central heating, and most of the rooms still have manual temperature control - either on thermostats or on the actual heater.  But I'll take that any day over the joys of sharing a wall with a noisy neighbor.

FB

I see these adverts for things like Portal and Oculus Drift.  And then in little text underneath the product name I see “from facebook”.  Nope.  That’s a hard no.  I will never buy these products.  NEVER.  I hate Facebook, I hate what it stands for, I hate it’s invasion of privacy and abuse of personal data, I hate it’s selling out to extremism and fake news, and I refuse to buy anything from them.  It’s exactly the same reason I will never buy a Tesla.  I think I have a Facebook account – but I haven’t been on it for years, and I think I created it just to get in touch with an old manager for a reference a long time ago.  I think I deleted my original account, but Facebook didn't like that so it’s probably still out there somewhere – once it turned into a popularity contest decided by the number of Facebook friends you had, I was done.  And that was in the early days – that is just the tiny tip of the iceberg of things wrong with it now.  This is why my online presence is restricted to just this blog that get’s a handful of views, plus the occasional spam comment, but at least I have full control of the content.

Junk

The next phase of Operation Improve Living Space was completed today.  I got my old sofa (plus old mattress and old/unused exercise bike) taken away by a junk removal company.  I can’t tell whether I got ripped off – the amount I got charged was a lot higher than I was expecting from their website, but seemed more in line with what other junk removal companies were quoting.  I probably should have shopped around more…for 5 minutes of work to carry those items into their truck, seemed like an awfully inflated amount – even if they charge by how much space your stuff takes in the truck, which I think they do, it still seemed a lot when those items really don’t add up to much.  Whatever, it’s done now.  I’ve had that sofa for about 12 years, so not sorry to see it go – the reclining mechanism was broken on one side, it sagged, it was stained, it had bits of metal sticking out of it that easily caught on and ripped your clothes.  Frankly, I don’t know why it has taken me so long to get rid of it – it ended up looking like the kind of sofa you see in a crack house.  So, what’s next?  Need to move my tv into the other room.  Need to decide if I am going to try to squeeze in all my new furniture into this room.  Need to buy some new floor lamps.  Need to buy a dining room set to go where the tv used to be.  Need to buy a new, and bigger and better, tv.  Maybe also need to buy a decent soundbar – been giving a lot of thought to replacing my 7.2 surround sound setup, which just has too many speakers and too many wires for negligibly better sound quality.  It seems like I’ve already spent my annual bonus.

Impulsiveness

The joy of something getting delivered today that you had ordered impulsively over 6 months ago and almost forgotten about.

Then the dawning realization that you’ve horribly overspent on something that you’re probably never going to watch, is maybe not as “limited” as you’d like to think, and which appears to be very poorly constructed.  A sad way to commemorate the end of “TV’s Golden Age” or “TV monoculture” (I didn’t coin this term, but I appreciate it), and probably also the last boxset I ever purchase (until Succession wraps up).  Now, and especially now with the recent addition of Apple TV+ and Disney+, we are in the era of the Streaming Wars – and I do not like it one bit.

Dry

Washington State just had its driest November in 43 years – much cooler and sunnier than normal, and totally going against the climate change models which suggest that our region should be warmer and wetter in November than the norm.  But I think this is just a sign of the times, where unusual weather is the standard – this one wasn’t particularly extreme, but we should expect extreme weather in the future.  We’ll probably have a horrible start to the new year just to make up for this aberration.  But maybe not, since we had such bad weather last winter.  Who knows, you just need to be prepared for the worse.

Palace back up to 5th place?  At least for the moment.  Nice.  And I pay for Amazon Prime – at least the US version of it – so maybe I could even have streamed the game live if I wasn’t so busy at work?!  It’s all very tight in that middle two thirds of the table – but if we can keep this up (and with games against Watford and Brighton coming up, then not at all beyond the realms of possibility) then we’ll have absolutely no battle with relegation this year.  Which will be a pleasant surprise.  My fear is that if Zaha leaves in the transfer window, that could be the spark for a terrible run of form.  But I remain optimistic for this season for the time being.

Christmas Spirit

For the first time forever, I don't have an advent calendar this December.  It didn't even cross my mind.  Admittedly, it's not such a big deal here compared to the UK and I don't remember even encountering any for sale at my usual haunts - but still, I surprise myself by missing the opportunity to treat myself to a chocolate every day.  And now we are past Thanksgiving, the gaudy Christmas decorations have started to come out in force.  And I see some real eyesores on my commute home.  I haven't put any decorations up yet, and I'll probably only go minimal this year since I won't be here for most of it.  Yep, I'm already over Christmas.  At least only 9 more days of work to go now for me this year.   

Food Addictions

I seem to go through these periods where I become addicted to a certain type of food.  And I can't get enough of it.  Case in point - over the last couple of weeks, I've become totally addicted to creme caramel.  Don't ask me why - I don't know - but I love this dessert and I have to have it almost daily.  It's a good job that my addiction only goes so far as food, and that I don't smoke, I don't do drugs and I don't gamble - otherwise my life could have gone in a totally different direction.