I'm back in Anguilla and have adjusted once again to all the funny things about this place, like not being able to find the kind of light bulbs that go in my bedroom and having all kinds of unexpected things blow up on me.

This Summer has been officially declared "The Summer of Me" (by me), which means it's all about cleaning stuff up that has been neglected in the past year, getting this house in a shape I like and acquiring some things to make my life here easier - in short, it's about getting my shit together so I can focus freely.

Sooooo, part of this exercise is getting my laptop, internet and network fixed up, which brings me to the topic on hand, which is a collection of observations I found in a text file on my desktop, made during my recent 2 week trip to London, a city I didn't expect to like as much as I did.


-Roses are EVERYWHERE and colourful gardens line most houses
and parks all over the entire city that is surprisingly spaced out
and green.


- Public transportation in London is greatness and my favorite game to play while on the tube is "eye-contact chicken" where you try to "catch" all the people looking at you, which will cause them to immediately look away. Simply keep score of how many people you caught and I promise the time traveling will go by MUCH faster. Great fun!


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-The British have two ways of dressing = suits with tie or formal wear and stilettos OR sports jersey.


- While I am unaware of the crime stats for London, I spent a significant amount of time wandering around various parts of the city alone, some not so nice and I never once felt uncomfortable or unsafe.


- Going to a movie theater and seeing my first movie in at least 2 years on a whim. I saw Indiana Jones which was as entertaining as expected and my favorite quote about it happened on the way out between two teenagers "WOW, that was just like the ride at Disney".


- Winner for dumbest line spoken to me by TSA personnel: "Are you old enough to be traveling alone?" (yawn)


- Finding the best cheese shop I've ever been to (and I'm Swiss)



- The contrast between very old and very modern architecture makes the London skyline very, very interesting and I had great fun delivering on our "family deal" where I take pics of all animals I see while traveling that we don't have at home (which is virtually everything but fish, chicken and goats) and bringing home local candy.




And now to my LEAST favorite part of my trip to London:

- Missing ILUG due to fractures on the part of my son and the boys child care provider. "But Mom, the ditch looked like I could jump it on my bike!"

And for the record, while I DID get a taste or Ireland while in the UK, it was pretty gross and smelled vaguely like dog pee, which probably isn't far from how the attendees and speaker felt after the 3 day learning/drinking marathon.