Archive:
Apr - Jun 01 | Jul- Aug 01 | Sept- Dec 01 | Jan- Apr 02 | May - Jul 02
Aug - Sep 02 | Oct- Dec 02 | Jan - Feb 03 | March
03
Wednesday, May 1, 2002
 Back in London again. The wedding was great. Leyhsa and I had a wonderful time and considering all the snares that happened during and along the way, it still went off extremely well. Leyhsa looked stunning and I have to admit, but I looked pretty dapper in my tux that I brought with me from London. The warm and intimate mood at the wedding lent itself for everybody, minus a few exceptions, to really enjoy themselves and the ceremony and reception venues couldn't have been more picture  perfect. So I think we kicked off married life with a good start. I've put up some pictures for you to check out. It was wonderful but very surreal to see all of my friends and family whom I had not seen in at least a year. If you happen to be the honored few that had attended the wedding and would like to post your remarks or memories about it, send me a comment and I will post them in a later entry. Oh, and in case you might be wondering out loud to yourself, The Soulless One was unfortunately not invited. My loss I'm sure. We went to Santa Barbara for our honeymoon and it was absolutely wonderful. SB probably personifies everything good about Southern  California-sunny with mild breezes, beautiful coastlines, leafy and green mountains, Mexican rooted history, a slow and quiet pace,and of course, beach blondes. We were very unproductive on taking in the sites or going out, but that worked out just fine. Surprisingly, we took my 30 year-old car that had been sitting in my mother's driveway for a year and even so, it took the 130 mile drive very well. Speaking of which, I had a very funny thing happen to me with my car when I was out with my friends to watch the Laker game downtown at a bar. See, my car is the only sports car Volvo ever made and was used in the 60's TV show, The Saint and I was 3/4ths the way through restoring it before I buggered off to England. Anyway, we were in downtown LA late late at night which unlike London is devoid of any humanity come 5:30pm as the downtown workers make their escape to the suburbs. So I went to the parking lot where my car was with a few of my friends and all of a sudden this dude from behind an abandoned car about 30 yards away yells out, 'yo man, is that a 72?' So I yell back, 'Close, its a 71' as he walks up to us telling my friends and I about how his uncle had one and it was all 'cherried out' and he goes, 'that one was cherry, but yours is tits, man, tits'. So we all start talking and all of a sudden he yells out, 'Yo! TYRONE! Yo, check this car out, man, it tits!' And then Tyrone appears out of nowhere and the five of us talk about how I'm getting married and how the 'tits' car has been in storage, etc. until finally we head back into the bar. So a couple hours later, I tell my friend Jorge who was in the bar the whole time about these dudes, and how my car is 'tits', and how I just left them in this empty lot and maybe he should drive me to my car just in case they thought it was a little too 'tits'. So we go and the car to my relief is still there. And we are looking at the car, and it's shiny, really shiny. I look down and there's a freakin puddle around the car. This guy and his cousin Tyrone washed my car in the middle of the night! And on the door is this note that says, 'Now your car is TITS. 'How kick ass is that??! So the last thing I have to report is how Leyhsa and I gorged on Mexican food almost every day and I was in heaven. I don't know why it is so repulsively bad here in the UK but it is a truly horrible experience, so after a year of deprivation, Leyhsa and I binged on nachos, burritos, fish tacos, enchiladas, tamales and salsa like it was our last meals of our lives. I think the Brits read about fajitas from a dictionary definition and they use that as their recipe. Most Mexican places here go as far to insult the Latin palate as to have Doritos (or other similar grocery bought brand) for chips on the table. ick. I brought back with me a bottle of Cholula hot sauce so at least I can now attempt to rekindle the flavors I missed so much. To summarize, here's the trip back to Cali in review:
Wedding = very good
Mexican food = sucks in London
My Volvo = TITS
Saturday, May 4, 2002
My contract ran out so yesterday was my last day at Victoria Real. We all went out to a local pub and had a great time. I will certainly miss the people there as it was one of the best work environments I have been in. So what's next? Shortly before the wedding I got an offer from Virgin's Travelstore site which I happily accepted. It made the wedding so much easier to enjoy not worrying about money on our return. It sounds like a great position and the people I had met with were very nice. The best part are the perks which will include free flights, free upgrades and % off other Virgin services. Considering half the reason we came over here was to take advantage of travelling, this job couldn't be more perfect. WOO hoo!
It's time for a first time ever MAILBAG and go over some of the comments I have received from readers. I am holding back just yet on attendee's wedding comments so if you still haven't, send in your message! If you would like to send your comments to MAILBAG, email me! | From June | I have been following your story on your website from time to time. I am really happy to see u two are tieing the knot. Married life is very enjoyable, as it shows that the two of you are trusting each other and will support each other. Have fun on your wedding day! Best wishes ! | Hi June, Thank you for your kind words and best wishes. I read your note to the new Mrs. Levine and she was very touched. I just posted some pictures from the wedding that you can now check out. Thanks again, the wedding was a smashing success and I owe it all to you and your e-mail. Cheers |
| From Lemmy | I'm a big fan of your site but don't understand why you came to this dark and forsaken place where there is sunshine once per month and even then, it pisses rain while you look at it. Aren't you from California?? | Hi Lemmy, Thanks for keeping up with the site. I have a special shrine next to my bed for you and the four other people who regularly read it. Leyhsa and I came here to travel and to enjoy something completely different, and never thought in a million years that a country of 37 million with such a rich history could be home to eternal darkness and downpour. But it is.
<view my entry on UK weather> |
| From Dan | First and foremost, i am a true proud ENGLISH person, not that i am particualy bothered about your shit website, but you have forgot one thing, if the british had'nt found your country in the first place, you would'nt be here to make shit websites.
Yes, america is the worlds superpower, but you are also the most stupid country.
England is 55 times smaller and yet has a population only 5 times smaller, proving that if we were just 5 times bigger, we would be the superpower. But the fact remains that america is the superpower. For our size, we are a extremely rich country, one of the richest in the world, 1/3 of which we once owned.
Also, it took me 3 minutes to write this E-mail, no doubt it took you 2 months of your sad, masturbating filled, worthless, crap life to make that excuse of a website.
You also still have the need to call we Brits 'limelys', a word which died out 50 years ago, you are evidently living in the past. Notice, we are called 'Great Britain', you however are simpley refered to as, USA, although you are all as dumb as each other, with a IQ of about 6.
My guess is you are a sad 27 year old male with no girlfriend, a shit job (if any), a addiction to masturbating due to the lack of sex throughout your life. Not to mention you probably have a 2 inch dick, which is never out of your own hand.
In brief, you are a TOTAL DICKHEAD bye ;-) | | My dear dear pathetic urchin of a human being, I truly feel compassion and pity for you lashing out uncontrollably like an epileptic with down syndrome. I am not quite sure where your anger is stemming from aside from your attempt to make up for obvious shortcomings. If you actually bothered to READ my site, which unless you had your mother type things out for you, I would gather you have the capability to do, you would be corrected on the following misconceptions your inept and poorly stated letter attempted to point out: 1: "shit site"
Though I would happily accept this opinion from one whom uses the capability of complete sentences and thought processes, I must therefore reject wholly your opinion. My site is a journal, simply to point out the wonderful differences that exist between you lively Brits and us Americans. I take jabs at both sides of the fence. 2: "Britain could be a Super Power"
No. The reason why Britain is not a super power is because of the devastating losses it took during World War II, depleting it of all its resources. The UK also held a swaggering arrogance towards other nations, which fractured the Commonwealth. The United States has the buffer of the Atlantic Ocean with friendly neighbors and an incredible industrial force behind it to dwarf all other nations. The possibility of the UK being larger has no bearing and in fact probably would not have lent to an expanding Empire if it was larger, since there would be no need. You being English, I would expect you to know your own history. 3: My personal details
Again, using the ability of READING helps when justifying statements as your juvenile whining attempted to do. I am 30. I am now married as of last week. I don't believe that most people would be as obsessed with describing wanking off and penis sizes so I must assume you are actually describing your own inadequacies. I am charmed to receive your e-mail and look forward to your next set of drivel that your mother types out for you. Warmest Regards |
Saturday, May 11, 2002
After my first week at Virgin, I can tell you with all honesty that its the best job I've ever had. The environment is great, the people that work for me are great, and best of all, the management get it. My boss is involved, trusting and engaging which is a huge relief from my former flutter.com fears. There's a ton to do, but I think we have an excellent chance so I don't think the next few months will be for not. Leyhsa and I have gotten several very kind and wonderful messages from wedding guests which you can check out in theOnline Wedding Guestbook Entries. My Best Man, Mike, has rightfully asked for a retraction for all of the chides I have taken the liberty to do over the past year on this site. I have to admit he came through big time and I am eternally grateful. He drove around Leyhsa's family, helped me get together the MP3 playlist and even Deejayed while at the reception. Gushy cards and obnoxious e-mail after obnoxious e-mail didn't make him flinch and it wasn't until I finally sent him an online curse that I finally got a response. So I retract all mentionings of any negative connotations that I have alluded to Mike as flakey. That said, I wholly endorse the results from onlinecurses.com.
Monday, May 20, 2002
I am starting to get paranoid as the people of the United Kingdom seem in collusion to drive me out of this country. There area few minor parts of my Los Angelino life that I have attempted to re-create here and without fail they have been stamped out. And the final staged attack came last week. The items I am referring to are: - Mexican Food - Absolutely horrible here and every time I hear of a new place it is systematically worse than the last. The last place (which was recommended) I tried with Leyhsa this weekend didn't even have tacos or burritos but had baked potatoes and couscous?? What's up with that?
- Driving - I bought a scooter to overcome that and it got stolen. I think the Queen might be behind that one.
- Sunshine - Every time there's a weekend, the weather clams back up to another day of wind, clouds and rain.
- NBA Basketball - last year I had to go to a cheesy club with a satellite feed from Dubai, Saudi Arabia.
 See, I am a huge Laker fan and at one time used to watch almost every game of the season (there's 82 played per team) and try to see at least two live NBA games a year. They don't even know what it is here. To put it in perspective, this past Saturday, last year's champion Lakers took on their best competitor for this years title, the Kings,on their home court and made mince out of them. I looked through a 12-page Sports section on Sunday and they didn't even have a 3 liner in the back- but they did on ping pong and chess (and chess isn't even a sport!). And then the announcement came that brought a tear to my eye and lump in my throat; starting this year, British Sky Broadcasting would televise the NBA playoffs on one of their pay-dish channels. Britain must be turning a new leaf and was forgiving us for throwing away their tea in Boston. I immediately clambered to the phone after I heard about it and ordered my service. With FREE installation even! (the Queen must of felt bad and had second thoughts-it was a really nice scooter you know)
I wait for two weeks like a kid waiting for Christmas for my installation to come. And then, the day finally came. So I get a call that morning that they would be at our place between 2 and 5pm. I even made sure I was home at 1 just incase the odd chance the guy might be early. So Leyhsa and I wait for four hours and 5 rolls around, we call and they give us bull, 6 rolls around, we call and they give us bull, and at 7:30, after over six hours of waiting,I call and they say they don't know where the installation guy is and they can't get a hold of him. Then they tell me that if he doesn't show up by 8, which by that time was in 15 more minutes, they needed to reschedule. SO- here's the best part- guess when they can re-schedule - go ahead guess... No..worse, guess again... JUNE TWENTY F***ING FIRST THAT'S WHEN!!!!! Can you believe that????!!! Almost two months from my original order date! The Finals will be over 2 weeks before they even MIGHT show up! I was so pissed off I started yelling uncontrollably at these idiots and canceled my service. I was so mad I didn't even care if they knew I was American rather than when I act like an ass and say I'm Canadian. So I'm yelling at this poor guy on the phone, 'There is this concept back in the US called customer service where you try to make the customer happy. Don't you f***ing care that you are screwing me over??' Yeah, it got ugly. Now I don't get no B-Ball. So those that can, enjoy your Marv Alpert and his toupee from the comfort of your living room broadcast while I cry listening to a mono broadcast on my freakin computer at 2:30 in the morning. At least its Chick Hearn and am safe from Bill Walton.
Wednesday, June 5, 2002
That was a helluva hefty weekend Leyhsa and I had. First off, on Saturday we moved to a new flat. Our old place was nice but a little small and with the buyer's market taking a major upswing, rental prices have dropped so we took advantage and signed a lease on a place much larger,in a nicer neighborhood, a little closer to central London and much cheaper. So now I'm only paying an unreasonable amount rather than an absurd amount. It's a very cozy and homey place and has lots of personality included being furnished with antiques. I'll put up pics of the new place once we get more situated.
 The rest of the weekend was spent partaking in the Queen's Golden Jubilee. That means to those outside the walls of Britain, that the Queen had her 50th anniversary of reign as monarch and to celebrate properly, she gave her subjects a four day weekend. So being proper touristas, we did every and all of the festivities they had for the woman.
On Monday, the BBC hosted concerts in Hyde Park, taking place on five different stages along the park's lake. Each stage was designated for a specific continent playing bands from that region. Hundreds of thousands of people showed up for it. The best was a band from South Africa and performers from Fiji. In both cases they merged traditional instruments and styles with a modern beat giving them a very unique eclectic sound. When we went to the Americas stage they had several good Native American and South American performers but of all the crappy acts, it had to be the American performer that sucked. This country/folk singer woman was driveling on causing a mass exodus of people to other stages. I quote one of her lyrics in the Finale to one of her songs: 'You wish somebody would undress you, but you don't stand a chance in hell.' Why did it have to be the American act, why?
That night we went to the park and watched fireworks launched from Buckingham Palace. Now, I've seen lots of fireworks in my days, but these were funded by one of the richest human beings on the earth and beat the booty off of anything I've ever seen before. It was an endless barrage of colors, explosions and theatrics with no equal. If you put my old neighbor's M80 bottle rockets as a rating of 1 and the standard fare you get at a local college during Independence Day celebrations as an 8,then these were somewhere around a 14.
 The next morning we got up early and found a spot to watch the Queen's procession through London. She came with these shiny horsemen in this amazing all-gold,500 year old carriage that hasn't been used since her coronation 50 years prior. The crowd was really excited and cheered waving their flags. The pomp and pageantry were amazing, but the most amazing thing I noticed of all, were the cops. The British law enforcement are nice. Really nice, and very helpful. Check this out- I accidentally walked into a cop, bumping him almost over. And instead of getting pummeled by a night stick or thrown to the ground, cuffed and searched like I expect from your common-everyday-good-natured Los Angeles police officer, this guy says, 'Excuse me,' and then smiled! I read that there were 40 anti-royalists with signs(saying of all things 'Execute the Queen' on them) demonstrating apparently illegally and the cops detained them for a couple hours- IN A PUB! No shit.
After the precession we went to Trafalgar Square and the 3 mile-long Mall (pronounced like PAL for some strange reason) to see the parade. It was over three hours of different peoples from all over the Commonwealth doing dances and acts in incredible costumes like nothing I had seen before. There was such a warm and joyous feeling about the whole thing that everyone (all million or so) seemed to be sharing. At the end of the parade everybody filled into the streets to see the Queen go onto the balcony of the palace and wave. You heard me right, one million plus people go ape yelling and cheering and waving in a sea of Union Jack flags just because she waved from a balcony. People then sang the national anthem, 'God Save the Queen' and then, with perfect timing, a formation of fighter jets and a Concorde,rocket overhead. That, by far, was the best part and just had everybody in euphoria.
As always, I have a theory about all of this. I think I figured out the reason behind the pro-Queen stuff, especially with my previous statements about the indifference British have with the Queen. It goes like this; Mom and Apple Pie are the icons of Americana. We as Americans identify who we are with this idealized vision. The British have, aside from bad customer service, the Queen as their icon. She embodies what makes the British unique and a stalwart people. So without ever doing anything and just waving to the crowds, this rich old lady lets the British be proud of being who they are and they celebrate her for it. Good for her. Now give me back my scooter.
Sunday, June 16, 2002
Happy Father's Day all! I hope you have had a good time with your families, or in the very least I hope it wasn't too painful. I had a nice talk on the phone with my grandfather and my Uncle Mike for Father's Day and it sure made me miss them.
 On to the big news: 20% of the British population skipped work on Wednesday. Why? Well the England World Cup team was playing Nigeria to place into the next round and literally over 1/5th of the population didn't go to work to watch it. Somehow, they 'won' with nobody scoring. All the pubs are packed with people going nuts over nothing happening. So you have nothing to show for yourselves and you are cheering over a score of zero - zero??Talk about nonproductive! I came to find out it's based on how many games you win and how many ties etc., and somehow you get points that add up to whether you go into the next round, and England made it. They then went onto the next round and whooped Denmark's ass and probably will be playing Brazil next which is supposedly going to be a very tough game. I figure 40% will play hooky for that one.
Something very interesting has arisen while David Beckham and World Cup fever is amuck here: the British are very self-hating. See,the country is made up of four regions; Northern Ireland which is just the tip of Ireland, Wales along the bottom, England in the middle and Scotland along the top. Almost none of the other three regions of this tiny itty bitty island like the middle section of Britain called England. They don't like the English and they certainly won't root for the English even though with them winning they bring prestige to the UK. Despite it being all one country, the United Kingdom does not even have a World Cup team; they instead have an Irish team, a Scottish team (maybe a Wales team but suck too much for me to have heard of them) and an England team. They then dilute their talent base with all of these teams and end up never winning. I asked an English person about all of this and she was just in shock that I would even think of such a ridiculous notion as to suggest that the country's best would all play together on one team.
Why all this silliness? Something like 500 years ago, the English King (Who was actually French and Nordic by descent but the English still consider him English) conquered all of the different regions of Great Britain. So FIVE CENTURIES later, they all still have a chip on their shoulder and hate the English. A guy born and raised in London considers himself Irish and said that he would take offense of being called English- even though England's where he has been his entire life. Oh, and the Scottish just about hate the English and talk crap about them all the time. They even go as far as to have jokes about how Charles is the 'Boy Prince' (because he likes to paint nature scenes) and how 'naff' he is etc. The part that confuses me is they make fun of him and the English royalty even though part of their line descends from the Scottish royalty.
The English are not innocent bystanders to all of this either. They will tease Irish of being terrorists and Welsh of being stupid hicks and the Scottish of being bitter and cranky. I guess Americans will joke about hillbillies from Alabama or rednecks from Texas, but at least we all consider each other Americans! Jerry Springer probably funds his show strictly off the population of Arkansas, and even though they bring shame to us all, we still say they are born and bred 'Amarakin' with pride. Oh,and by the way my Los Angeles Lakers just won the 'World Championship'. Errrr...ummmmm, yeah.
Sunday, June 30, 2002
Things have been good for the most part these past couple weeks. Leyhsa and I have finished getting the new place homey and its great.  I put up some pictures of it for ya. We have been exploring the neighborhood and have found a beautiful park, some great local restaurants and even a pub along a canal. It's a Victorian conversion like the other one but has just a little more craftsmanship detail to it. The other good news for the week is that I just booked a trip for six days in Barcelona through my company. We are going for a very reasonable cost and Leyhsa and I are really excited about going.
The bad part of my week came when I received my six week review which was a bit critical to say the least. Unfortunately it was all true as I have had a difficult time staying on top of the many many things that I need to manage as well as fully understand the abilities or shortcomings of my staff. Luckily it has been a difficult learning curve but I have finally got a good grip on it now and have improved. My boss has prevent to be beyond the ways of the Soulless One and has been honest and helpful, which puts me in a much better situation to improve rather than a set up for failure. We are coming out with a bunch of new stuff this coming week which should also rebuild anything lost from my early mistakes.
On to other things. I must respond to a few inquiries asking why am I being a hermit and not returning e-mails or posting on my site, etc. For example, this one from my good friend Shannon: 'SEE THAT BUTTON AT THE TOP OF YOUR WEB BROWSER? IT'S LABELED 'REPLY'. YES! THAT'S IT! WELL WHAT ARE YOU WAITING FOR? F**KIN USE IT!' or this one from a reader,'I wrote you a week ago and I at least expected back a "thanks for your gibberish blah blah", but instead I got a big fat zero in my e-mail box. You SUCK'. My answer to you my dear e-mailers is 'No, BT is the one who sucks'.
I have blemished my good record of correspondence because of my friends at BT who have completed my experience of British Customer Service. British Telephone have by far the most horrifically stupid and obnoxious service I have come in contact with so far in my journeys. It's even worse than the time I went to a sandwich place with Leyhsa and she asked for a sausage and egg sandwich and they said they closed the kitchen so she couldn't have one. I then asked the lady behind the counter, 'Then what the hell do you call the guy cooking sausages and bacon right next to you then?'. Her response in a matter-of-fact-you-must-be-a-complete-American-moron way: 'Oh that's for tomorrow morning only'.
 Yes, BT is even worse than that. Since I have moved, I need to transfer my DSL web service to my new home. The fun part is that I don't transfer but instead, I have to cancel my current service, pay the remaining amount on my contract, wait till its uninstalled and then after an additional three days, reorder and wait two weeks for them to re-send the very same equipment that I already have and reimburse me for the cancellation costs. After spending literally 30 minutes on their website to find the phone number, I called BT to find out what I had to do,and I asked them to then proceed with the ridiculousness and cancel me. 'We cannot cancel your service over the phone, you will have to send us an e-mail'. 'BUT I CAN TELL YOU RIGHT NOW THAT I WANT TO CANCEL!'. No, I must send an e-mail which they said normally takes several days for them to get to. So to make a very long story short, I have to wait a net total of two months before I can return to my DSL access. In the meantime, I pay a per-minute charge dialup one that Yahoo provides (which won't let me access my BT e-mail). If you are curious to see what the actual correspondence was (and it is pretty funny) I have included a link to my yarns back and forth with BT. I know that I may have been a bit too surly with them, but oh I sooooo hate BT, even more than Sky.
You must understand that bad customer service is not an anomaly but a standard of living here. I think companies look at ways to outdo each other and yet still keep the customer. Here area couple of examples:
EXHIBIT A: Barclays Bank
When I first came here, I wanted to open a bank account at Barclays - one of the oldest and largest banks in Britain. After waiting almost an hour at the bank to talk to somebody,I tell the guy, a very nice guy by the way so it wasn't like he was a jerk, that I wanted to open an account. 'We can only open accounts until 2:30' I was told. 'But you don't close for another hour and I have been waiting an hour to open an account!'I retort. 'I am very sorry,' the nice banker guy says, 'but those are the rules.' I then took out my check and said, 'I have£3,500 that I want to give you and you are telling me that you would rather see me go elsewhere??'. That finally got his attention and he opened it for me. To give you an idea that this method of service is an institution consider last summer when I had my wallet stolen. I called both my American bank and Barclays. I received from the other side of the planet a new card in two days. I didn't receive the Barclays one, which is based three miles away from my house, until two weeks later.
EXHIBIT B: The Stratford Arms Pub in Brighton
I went into this pub one day for lunch. I asked for a mushroom and cheese omelet. The publican says that they have a 'Cheese and Herb Spice Omelette' only. I say how also on the menu they have mushrooms and the guy tells me how that is not how it comes prepared and he would have to ask the chef. And I say in my American anger, 'The chef will not be eating it so you don't need to confer whether he wants mushrooms on my omelet!' After I get a blank stare which I am positive they must be teaching to service industry people throughout the country while they are in grade school, he says that he will order it as I ask but that the chef sets the recipes himself and he will let me know if its a problem. Eventually I get my 'Cheese and Herb Spice Omelette', sans mushrooms. The special spices recipe was present however, which consisted of pepper on top.
People of the jury, I rest my case. Normally I would take my Hush Puppies elsewhere when I get burned by bad customer service,but I would eventually end up having to one-by-one boycott everything,and never go anywhere. Companies like the Gap and Virgin are capitalizing on providing a sale with a smile and they are reaping the benefits but I am afraid it will be a long time before things really change. I again, as always, have a theory on this:
Tipping. First off, the British rarely tip and when they do its usually a small one. People were shocked when I said that I was giving a pound as a tip to cab drivers or even the measly 10p tip I gave the guy at Stratford Arms as an insult. Anything's more than nothing which is the usual way its done here so the service providers have no incentive to be better then what you can get across the street. The other thing is that the British Business world is regimented by rules and whether or not they apply to the real world, they are strictly enforced because there is no advantage not to if all it does is make the customer happy. So the net result is a country with crap service and a public which doesn't reward those that do a good job. It's a good thing I don't get paid for this site or I just might need to be nice myself...
Friday, July 19, 2002
Sorry for the ongoing media blackout. I have scheduled DSL online access again August 1st and will be able to write more often once this pestering BT trouble is behind me. I have lots in the pipeline for Limeyland a including a new 'Best of' section in the works as well as an updated interface for the Photo Gallery.
Barcelona was fantastic and this weekend I will be uploading pictures and sharing with you our adventures while there. As this is a quick update to say that yes, I am alive and yes,I still can't access the Internet from home in any normal nor easy manner, I will leave you with this news report sent tome:
Reuters, London:
Panic gripped the streets of London this morning when patches of sky took on an unusual blue colour and a ball of fire appeared above the city. The phenomenon, known as 'The Sun' and commonly found in Mediterranean countries, unleashed a terrifying heat and brightness upon the capital, causing many pedestrians to take off their overcoats, hats and scarves, while motorists were able to momentarily turn both their headlights and wipers off. Cries of terror and disbelief were heard as shock set in throughout London when umbrellas for the first time in recent history were rendered unneeded.
Tony Blair urged people to be calm and return to work as normal stating: "We've seen this sort of thing before", he said," but it never lasts." There are forecasts that 'The Sun' could be seen throughout the weekend but a spokesman for No.10 said, "I wouldn't hold my breath".
Monday, July 22, 2002
 I'm all nestled back into the work grind after our nice five day jaunt in Barcelona. I can report that it's a beautiful city and we had lots of fun while there. We ate some good and some bad food, went to a Picasso Museum, did lots of walking in the Gothic section, went to a Disneyland on Acid park called Parc Gaul, took an aerial cable up a steep cliff to see a monastery, saw a chorale performance ata trippy concert hall, and drank my weight in Sangria. From that, I have learned a few new things. Many of the places we have been to so far, including London,have areas cordoned off as historical sites that were the former residences, palaces or structures that are open for tourists and are no longer in use. On the contrary to that Barcelona is a bustling, functioning city with living breathing monuments to its current and past history; the two housing complexes designed by Gaudi that we saw are still being used as apartments, a major tourist attraction is a cathedral started over a hundred years ago that is still under construction and is yet to be completed. I guess it's the first city we've gone to that's a city more than it is a tourist attraction. The first thing we came to find out after our first day was that with three years and Leyhsa's five years of Spanish classes were rendered completely useless. I was so looking forward to not having to fumble through my Italian or get rolled eyes from snobby Parisians with my French and instead hold my head up high with abilities at simple (very simple) conversations in Spanish. Well, they speak Catalan, which is some messed up version with different words and a different accent. The worst is that they say it extremely fast. I think I found my first foreign language version of the contrast between the British accent and the Californian accent. I say my words a little drawn out and slower with each word somewhat blending into the next, kinda like the Latino version of Spanish I used to hear. And just like the British counterpart, Catalan has stresses on syllables I would never expect and is spoken very sharply and quickly. So we ended up relying mostly on people speaking English to us as they couldn't stand us trying to speak Spanish to them.  One word synonymous with Barcelona is Gaudi, a brilliant artist/architect who rejuvenated the city's identity with a unique and Utopian approach to urban life. His city projects are very distinct with lots of colorful mosaics and organic wavy shapes with surreal fantasy-like designs. There's stuff of his all over the city with the crescendo being his El Temple de la Sagrada Familia cathedral (means Sacred Family as in Jesus & Co.) that I was mentioning earlier. This building probably says more about Barcelona and the Spanish lifestyle than anything else.  They've been working on it since the late 1800's, cost something like a billion dollars so far (price adjusted) and they are only somewhere close to halfway done. But here is the best part;they don't even know when they will finish, how much it will cost to finish it and the engineers have NO IDEA how to even construct some of the bloody thing. The Spanish are the only people I can imagine that could want to literally canonize an architect for the largest privately sponsored project in all of Spain, that as of today, has no physical way of being completed. If this goofiness was going on in England, they would burn him at the stake, if he was in Los Angeles, they'd feed him to the cops. But that's what's so great about the Spanish people, because it's the dream they support and the part of the building that is complete is fantastical and shockingly unique and inspiringly beautiful.
And that's what I'm getting at here, the way of life
is just a little different and more to my liking. That
is, they don't take it all so seriously. From 3:00 to
5:00 everybody leaves work for a little while and hangs
out, then from 9:00 pm until sometime in the morning
they drink Sangria with friends, and have some tapas.
I tried to get into the tapas thing (appetizer sized
portions of shell fish, fried foods, and sausages) which
didn't work out, but the Sangria thing and I got along
swimmingly. Every meal, I'd have to myself one of these
pitchers of red wine filled with slices of fruit and
ice, then have a meal as an excuse. Sangria is the greatest
thing since they started makingMountain
Dew Slurpees at 7-Eleven. I was in heaven sipping
away at my pitcher as the Mediterranean sun kissed my
face as Leyhsa and I people watched from a table along
the Ramblas. I'm telling you, this is my kind of lifestyle.
Go
see the pictures and if you want, tell
me what you think.
Sunday, July 28, 2002
We are experiencing our first heat wave of the year today and I forgot how sticky it gets when its hot. It's so nice to experience a real summer day where everything kinda moves slower and needs to be accompanied by a cold beverage. We even went to a barbecue on Friday and heard Jazz at our neighborhood park on Sunday to finish off the motif.
All of the department stores are having major sales this weekend and we decided to spend part of our Saturday picking up some good deals. I found some great clothes pretty cheap but Leyhsa didn't fair as good. We did however learn a very important lesson while crammed with hundreds of people during a heat wave in non-air conditioned stores: British people can seriously stink. I mean body odor from the butt, haven't taken a bath in a week and just ran the Marathon kind of stink. To be honest, there probably were only a few dozen offenders and because of the normally mild climate, you generally never need deodorant at all over here, but man oh man, those ripe smelling people would be rubbing right up against you making your nose hairs singe. The thought of being stuck in another cluster of stinky people cut our bargain hunting short that day. We will instead now only partake in Winter Sales.
I have good news for you kids as my new additions and modifications to the site will be launching with my hopeful arrival of BT DSL on the 1st of August so watch this space. As a treat I am providing for you, free of charge, a map of the World through the George W Bush perspective and as a special surprise, a tribute site I found last yea rto Journey, the hairiest hair band of them all. Consider it my 'America, I miss you' sign off.
|
){kind=link}