Time to reflect

Since I have to wait for my photos to upload, I've got a few minutes to reflect on life in London in general. Most of this is random rambling:

Everything's more expensive, which was expected, but luckily living in the suburban area allows some better deals on things. I plan to stay clear of Oxford Street and the other chain-store-ridden streets as much as possible. I went into a Blockbuster last night to see how much rentals were, and it's £2.75 for seven nights for an old movie, and £4 for a new movie rental for two nights. Keep in mind that a pound is about 1.75 times more than a dollar. I could buy a DVD in the states for that price!

They take World War II and the holocaust much more seriously here. The mayor was just suspended for 4 weeks for making a comment to a Jewish reporter that the reporter was acting like a Nazi concentration camp guard. Also, a British historian was sentenced to prison in Austria for making comments in 1989 that basically denied the holocaust.

BBC Radio is much more interesting than American radio, and they don't play the same 40 songs over and over. I think British people pride themselves on their music knowledge more and are more willing to seek out indie-rock bands, although the major pop singers have a big following as well.

BBC TV is nice without commercials. The news is definitely high quality, and there are many more documentaries that are very interesting. I think just by watching these programs I can pick up a lot of tips for my own profession. My biggest complaint is that all the primetime Olympics coverage until this weekend has been curling, ice dancing or short track speed skating.

Yes it does rain quite a bit here. The weather is much less predictable than the midwest and doesn't stay a particular way for very long. It could be rainy one minute and sunny the next. Luckily the sun has come out the last couple days it's been sunny, but terribly windy.

The beer is stronger, the cocktails weaker. They actually have measurement restrictions for any hard liquor cocktails at a bar.

The underground is a nice way of getting around, although the line I'm on is one of the slowest I think and I have to pay extra to get into central London on the tube. Although I can take the bus anywhere with my travelcard, taking one on a high street during the height of the shopping day is a really bad idea. It's sometimes faster to walk.

There is no single English accent. My office alone is a mix of cockney, Liverpudlian, northeastern, and others I can't put my finger on. I suppose you could say the same thing about American accents, but it's amazing how many different accents are here within such a small area. Also, the voice Ali G uses on "Da Ali G Show" isn't far off of ghetto speak here.

English, especially younguns, are looser with the F-word and other swear words. My favorite swear that I hear on a day-to-day basis is "f***ing hell," sort of like "F***ing A" in America. One 16-year-old made national headlines when he was fined £80 for saying the F-word to his friend right near a police officer. He was fined as part of the new "Respect Campaign" by the government that's supposed to get Londoners to be nicer to each other.

Depending on which keyboard you use, the " symbol is above 2 and @ is above ', which can really @$%& me off sometimes.

People here are really passionate about keeping the character of buildings and neighbourhoods intact. I've already covered a number of stories of residents who were upset that new developments were either too big, too dense, or didn't reflect the character of the area. When they do make new buildings, they usually try to make it look like it's an older style. I think maybe because green space is more limited here than in the U.S., people are more worried and more vocal about any new development that encroaches on this green space.

While in America we're still debating whether global warming and evolution exist, Charles Darwin is on the back of the £10 note and even conservative people here think Bush is a dumbass for not doing anything about the environment.

That's all for now, I'm sure more things will pop in my head when I have the chance.