Jolly England

Well, I guess it is best to start at the beginning. I arrived in Manchester bright and early Wednesday morning (how early depends on the time zone your frame of reference is in). For me, it was about 2:30 AM, but in England, it was 7:30 AM, so I've spent the rest of the week adapting to my NEW frame of reference.) :-)

Those famous black London cabs are also prevalent in the north of England and I had a nice cabbie named John, who took me to my hotel and chatted all the way. He was very specific in telling me that I should *never* hail a cab that is not a licensed black cab. He apologized for sounding like my father, but I assured him that my Dad would appreciate his dispensing with that critical advice.

My co-worker Paul was waiting for me at the hotel and since there was no room available for me to check into, I stored my luggage, brushed my teeth and off we went. Everyone at the client is extremely friendly and it was a pretty low-key day getting acclimated to the office, etc. I have to keep reminding myself that, over here, *I* am the one with the funny accent.

Today is Saturday and I slept in quite late. My plan is to head over to the Visitors Center nearby and collect some brochures on things to do & places to go over the next few months. I did bring my camera, so I will be posting some pictures soon.