Quandaries

The UK is very similar to South Africa (or should I say that South Africa is similar to the UK) in so many ways making the adjustment to moving to a new country decidedly easier. There is one thing that has confounded me since the minute I arrived though. As you know, in the UK (as in SA), people drive on the left. In a number of the subways and passages in the labyrinth of the tubes signs, stipulate that you should stick to the left when walking to make rush hour more orderly.

Why then are all the escalators going down on the right and why do all the slow people stand on the right and let the faster people pass on the left. There are even signs requesting slower people to pass on the left. This defies logic. Don't they know? Bly links, ry regs verby. I've really given it a lot of thought. J suggested that maybe it was because pedestrians are supposed to walk into the oncoming traffic ie. on the right. This is a good point but doesn't hold because the elevator situation is the same here as in the States and they drive on the right.

The only feasible option I have been able to come up with is that the escalators were designed by someone from a country that drives on the right and the oversight was only picked up after it was too late. Isn't that what happened on Hospital Bend? A Dutch (I think) civil engineer was involved in the design phase which is way the onramps to and from town both come onto the fast lines.

I decided to sms my question to 6XX6. The service that claims that they answer any question you could want but then didn't respond when we asked them whether it was safe to camp on a cliff in the Isle of Wight. We suspect it was because of a liability issue. I'll keep you posted with the answer.

Other London highlights

1. Punting down the Thames in a smart dress in Oxford (and not falling in!)
2. Being the only one getting asked for ID at the Merton Bar in Oxford
2. Meeting friends for a quick drink and finding ourselves less than an hour later watching the Dave Matthews Band
3. Going camping in the Isle of Wight for the bank holiday weekend and surviving the massive storm that blew in on the Saturday night. At least we know our tent is waterproof for Glastonbury!
4. Meeting Zackie Achmat (and a Dutch princess)
5. The Lock Tavern in Camden

Eternal sunshine

I think summer is officially on it's way. I don't want to get too excited because everytime I do a cold spell descends. None-the-less, its definitely coming. What amuses me the most is the way people here react to a splash of sunshine. Everyone heads to the park, pulls off their tops and arranges themselves in such a way as to soak up the maximum amount of vitamin D possible. Even the ladies on their lunch breaks whip off their blouses and tan in their bras!

I don't want to rip people off too much because that could be me soon. Before I know it I'm going to be exclaiming "Oh isn't it hot" when it's a mere 18'C.

Sirens

If the symbol of London is the red telephone box then the sound is the siren. Every time you walk along a road either an ambulance or police car will come zooming past you with sirens blaring. You never really know if they are off to an emergency or trying to get back in time for their lunch break. Either way it's pretty annoying. Especially in our area where it emerges there are 3 hospitals and a police station in a 500m radius. Great for emergencies but not so cool for late morning lie-ins.

Egyptian Cotton

A couple of Christmases my folks gave me an awesome Egyptian cotton duvet and pillow set. There was no better feeling than climbing under the freshly ironed duvet and resting my head on the crisp, cool pillow.

Until I had to iron it myself that is.

Egyptian cotton it turns out is VERY high maintenance and drys all wrinkled no matter how you hang it. "How hard can it be to iron a duver cover?" I thought to myself. Good thing I was unemployed because an HOUR AND A HALF later I was still ironing the frikkin' thing. Just when I thought I was nearly done I would pull the cover around and expose an entire area that I hadn't even seen. No wonder everyone in this country buys fabrics that you don't have to iron!

Something tells me this might be one of the last times I sleep in ironed bedding.

Squatters

Yesterday was an absolutely ba-yoootiful day. There was not a cloud in the sky and it must have been at least 26'C. I whipped on the most summery outfit I had and literally skipped up the street. And then it descended. Hundreds and thousands of cubic meters of of pollen invisibly yet insidiously crept up my nose and into my throat and set up camp. I suffer from hayfever but this was a whole new level. Within minutes my eyes had become slits and the back of my throat was sore from sneezing.

Apparently hayfever sufferers have a particularly hard time in London because they have to deal with a combination of pollen and the city pollution.

Bring on the non-drowsy anti-hestamines.

I'm a nut

I have to say that I am going a bit mad here at home. I'm not sure how well I could work from home in the long run. Every day everyone goes to work and I look for jobs. I send emails, I phone people, I look through recruitment sites with only the workers redoing the stairwell of our block of flats and my other personalities for company.

The other day I actually phoned myself. A recruiter emailed me and said that she wasn't able to get through to my mobile. To check, I rang my cell phone from the land line. As my cell phone started ringing I quickly got off the landline in order to answer my cell phone! It reminds me of the chorus of a song we used to sing at school.

CHORUS
I'm a nut, I'm a nut,
I'm a nut, I'm a nut, I'm a nut.
Called myself on the telephone
Just to see if I was home.