Jet Lag

I always seem to suffer from prolonged jet lag when I come back to the US from the UK.  I've been back for a few days now, and I'm still all out of sync - waking up early, feeling tired by the afternoon and dozing off in front of the TV in the evening.  I never seem to suffer the same way when I travel in the opposite direction.  At least not to the same extent.  I guess this is just one of the idiosyncrasies of the direction you travel in in relation to the time difference. 

El Nino

Some good news on the weather outlook for this winter, courtesy of the El Nino forecast.  The Pacific Northwest definitely seems to get the best of it.

Internet Searches

I'm all for pushing an alternative to Google to carry out internet searches.  I'm not a big fan of Bing, so what other options are out there?  There is one that I've started seeing some adverts on TV for recently.  But it has such a stupid name, that I don't think I'll ever use it.  DuckDuckGo.  I mean, really.  Who thought that name will work?  Surely someone in marketing/commerical had to speak up.  I don't care if it has a better search engine.  Which I don't even know if it actually does.  Apparently it's derived from the children's game Duck, Duck, Goose - but I've never heard of that game before.  It's origin is definitely not British (a quick Google search reveals that it is actually Swedish).  Either way, change the name otherwise Google will continue to dominate the market.   

Sea-Tac

Note to self, from now on I must give myself a lot more time to get through arrivals at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport.  The queues were horrendous when I flew back today.  It looks like they've entirely changed the process since the last time I flew back around Christmas.  The first indication that something was different was that we weren't given a customs form to complete.  And on arrival, the first thing we had to do was pick up our checked baggage - which is also new.  And then with our baggage in tow, we were greeted by these enormous queues to get through passport control.  As a permanent resident, at least I didn't have to join the visitors queue which seemed incredibly long and slow - but the wait to get through the American citizens/residents queue was still one of the worst I've ever experienced here.  However once you're finally through passport control then you don't have far to go to exit the airport (I think it was a train ride away before).  I believe it is a newly built international arrivals hall, which I'm sure is supposed to streamline the process - and although the actual process seems to be much simpler (I've always thought that the customs form we had to complete was a total waste of time), the time to get through it seems to have substantially increased.

The Wicker Man

Look what arrived today, just in time for my return to the US:

Yep, that's a 50th anniversary collector's edition of the greatest British horror movie ever made (the less said about the Nicolas Cage starring American remake the better).  I look forward to watching all 3 versions of the film in glorious 4K. 

Bayswater to Belgravia

The last of the London walks I'm doing during this trip, this seemed like the busiest walk out of them with only a few sections where you can escape the crowds.  Perhaps this was because it was a weekend, perhaps because we didn't set off earlier, but mainly because the walk takes you to some very popular areas: Kensington Gardens (Albert Memorial and Albert Hall), the museum area of South Kensington, Knightsbridge (Harrods) and Belgravia.  Because I was with company - good to catch up with some old friends - I maybe didn't take as many good photos as I probably would have done if I was by myself.

Blankety Blank ...

... with Bradley Walsh.  That's a hard pass.  Of all the previous presenters, makes me miss Les Dawson the most.