Two of the Cutest Faces I Can't Wait to See Again...

Are these 2 of the cutest faces you've ever seen or what? Wouldn't you miss these faces, too?

For those who have not had the pleasure of meeting these guys, Ben is on top and Suzi is on the the bottom.

Go Car

This one's for Danny.....

So there are a lot of cars in England that we don't see too often in the U.S. Among them is what they call a "Smart Car," but I think they look so silly, I've been calling them "Go Cars." They are tiny 2-seater cars that look like they would fold like a house of cars in an accident. But, I have heard that they are fabulous on gas mileage, and when petrol is 95 a litre (with the exchange rate, that's about $8 a gallon), I guess they make sense. But, they are silly looking.

Hi Ho, Hi Ho.....

I just realized I have not posted anything to the blog in over a week. Last week was all about work. Things are really getting busy and we were preparing for Proof-of-Concept sessions this week, so we were working against a deadline. I am now on a first name basis with the head of security and the lady that cleans our office.

However, we had our first of three Proof-of-Concept sessions today and it went pretty well. So, its all worth it. And, in case anyone is keeping track, I fly home in 3 days. Woo Hoo! I get into Logan about noontime and Dad is picking me up. It's going to be a whirlwind weekend, but it will be nice to sleep in my own bed, spend some time on the Cape with the family (of the human and canine variety) and generally relax. It will be my only trip home until I finish the project in July and I am sure it will just fly by.

I have been told by my friends at the front desk that I am now a "VIP" at the Arora International, so there is a chance I'll get upgraded when I check in again next Thursday. Somehow, being a VIP doesn't feel as special as it should.......

Alarm Clocks

At home (and by home, I mean the greater US of A), I have used my cell phone as my alarm clock for several years now. It works for me. Now, I have always wondered why the snooze function is set for 9 minutes. Why 9? Why NOT 10? I know its not just my cell phone that has the "9 minute snooze" - I have had alarm clocks that did the same thing. If anyone can shed some light in this, I am listening.

Now, why do I mention this now, are you asking? Well in Manchester, I am not using my cell phone - in fact, it has been turned off since I got on the plane in Boston. So, I am using the hotel's wake up call service. Now, if I set the alarm for 6:15, the call comes in 6:10. And no, this is not a case of my clock or watch being 5 minutes slow. The voice on the other side of the wake up call TELLS me they are waking me up at 6:10. Now, I ask you - if I wanted to be woken up at 6:10, wouldn't I have set the wake up call for 6:10????? However, the snooze function is an even 10 minutes. :-)

The Project Team

So, it's always nice to see where people spend their time. Here are some pictures of where I spend the majority of my days right now.

The first picture is the desk I share with Paul, the other TradeStone consultant on the project with me. Paul is a Brit and lives down by London, so he takes the train up on Monday mornings and goes home on Thursday evenings (I remember those days.....).

The other picture are members of the project team from the client who share the project office with us. On the far left is Jackie, who just turned 30 last weekend and threw a big party. Moving to the right is Gary, Sam and Natasha. They are a great group and are definitely the liveliest project team I have ever worked with.

101 Things to Do....

Anyone who knows me knows that I am a maker of lists. At any given time I have a list of things to do - even now, I am adding things to the list that I want to do when I get home this summer. So, when I came across this book at a shop in Manchester, I had to buy it. I am thinking if I start now, but the time I am *old* I should be far from boring. That's the plan anyways.......

Anyone else want a copy?

Blog Central

So, I showed you a picture of the outside of my hotel, I thought I would show you a picture of the inside of my room - my true "home away from home." If you think the couch and chair look uncomfortable - you're right. I do not sit in them. The main purpose for the sofa was to store my super large suitcase for the first two weeks I was here. Taking this picture finally prompted me to clean it out and put it aside!

I just realized you can't see the couch - it's behind the dresser. Take my word for it. Very uncomfortable. Not like my nice sofa and chair at home...... sigh.......

1996 Bomb

As many of you will remember, there was a major bomb explosion in the city of Manchester in 1996. According to my travel guide:

"The IRA placed 80,000 lives at risk on a busy Saturday morning in the city centre by detonating a 3500lb bomb. But in a remarkable operation, the emergency services, given 45 minutes warning, cleared the streets and nobody was killed. The bomb was inside a van and positioned next to the postbox pictured here. This survived the blast, and is the only thing that carries any memorial to this event. The damage estimates from the explosion, which ripped out the prime retail area of the city, amounted to 700GBP, with 670 businesses having to relocate. The city response was lively and positive and the atrocity was turned into an opportunity. Within a few weeks and months, a Lord mayor's fund had raised money to help those affected and a decision had been taken to rebuild the city centre better than before."

I can tell you that today, the city's main shopping area surrounds the former destruction and on a Saturday morning, the streets are literally teeming with people out shopping. There are street performers and open air markets. I was told by the tour guide that the removed this post box from the site during the renovation, but returned it to the same position. Today there is a small gold plaque attached to the post box to mark its place in history, but you could walk right by it and never know the piece of history you just experienced.

The plaque on the post box reads: "This postbox remained standing almost undamaged on June 15th, 1996 when this area was devestated by a bomb. The box was removed during the rebuilding of the city area and was returned to its original site on November 22nd 1999."

PS - of course, someone on the tour also suggested that they construct the buildings out of whatever the make those post boxes out of. Hmm... not a bad idea.

The Peace Garden

When I was taking my walking tour of Manchester a few weeks ago, we started right outside the Visitors Center, behind the Town Hall. I'll post some pictures of the Town Hall as it is a beautiful building. But, this is about the Peace Garden. Evidently, a few years ago, Manchester's City Council declared the City of Manchester to be a "nuclear free zone." So, they erected a Peace Garden and placed this statue to commerate the event. Since doves are the international symbol of peace, there are quite a few of them in the statue. However, locally, this statue is known as the "woman with the pigeons." Now, I'll tell you - I have seen some of these pigeons and they are among the fattest pigeons I have ever seen. One of the young men on my tour, when the guide told us this was a nuclear free zone, commented - "No Bombs Allowed." I thought that was quite funny and will dovetail nicely into my next blog. :-) Hah! Dovetail! I didn't even catch my own pun at first!

The United Nations of Flight Crews

First of all, my apologies for the lack of blog postings this week. Work (you know, the *real* reason I am over here!) has started to pick up and I anticipate some late nights next week. However, I am **coming home** in less than 2 weeks to celebrate Memorial Day in the good old U.S.A. I fly home Friday morning and fly back Wednesday night. Somehow, I am sure it will all fly right by. By the time I come home, I will have been gone 5 1/2 weeks. So, I am ready for a nights' sleep in my own bed, some good American television and a hamburger!

So, why have I called this posting the United Nations of Flight Crews? Well, my co-worker Paul (who stays here Monday - Thursday) and I have noticed that pretty much every morning as we get ready to leave the hotel to walk to the office, there are one, two, sometimes even three - flight crews in the lobby of the hotel; checking in, checking out. From American, British Airways, Lufthansa and others. Their uniforms are all pretty similar, so its sometimes hard to tell. We are curious as to why they stay here instead of someplace closer to the airport, but I thinking when I fly back here in a couple of weeks, I may just ask my flight attendant where their staying - and hitch a ride!

Pub Night, Part II

So, being yesterday was Friday, I joined some of my new "chums" from the office at the local pub. I was expecting the same huge crowd I saw last week, so imagine my surprise when we got there and the place was compartively empty. When I asked why it was so much more crowded last week, they reminded me that last week was a payweek. Yikes.

Lincoln Square, Part Deux

For those of you that are keeping up with the BLOG, here is the second part of the inscription on the statue of President Lincoln in Lincoln Square in downtown Manchester......

Extract of a letter to the working people of Manchester 19th January 1863

...I know and deeply deplore the sufferings which the working people of Manchester and in all Europe all called to endure in this crisis. It has been often and studiously represented that the attempt to overthrow this Government which was built on the foundation of human rights, and to substitute for it, one which should rest exclusively on the basis of slavery was likely to obtain the favor of Europe. Through the action of disloyal citizens, the working people of Europe have been subjected to a severe trial for the purpose of their sanction to that attempt. Under these circumstances I cannot but abide your decisive utterances upon the question as an instance of sublime Christian heroism which has not been surpassed in any age or in any country. It is indeed an energetic and re-inspiring assurance of the inherent truth and of the ultimate and universal triumph of justice, humanity and freedom... ...I hail this interchange of sentiments, therefore, as an augury that, whatever else may happen, whatever misfortune may befall your country or my own, the peace and friendship which now exists between the two nations will be, as it shall be my desire to make them, perpetual.

Abraham Lincoln

Adding a Comment to the BLOG

OK, so quite a few of you have emailed me, telling me that you are trying to leave comments on the BLOG, but get prompted to enter a password. So, here's the scoop: when the comment window opens after you click the hyperlink, select the radio button that says "Other." It will give you a spot to enter your name and you might have to enter a code displayed on the screen for security. If you're still having issues, let me know. I'd love to hear from you!

Cheese Toasty

So my family and close friends will not be at all surprised that I have found the English equivalent of a grilled cheese sandwich. Its called a "cheese toasty" and they make them with cheddar cheese over here instead of American cheese (makes sense). Throw in a few tomatoes and you have a great lunch steps away from the office. :-)

Don't call them....

So, I've learned a few vocabulary words since I've been here. Among them:

bobbys - yes, if you call a police office a "bobby," everyone will know what you are talking about, but its a pretty outdated term, so they will probably guess that you are a foreigner (if your accent didn't already give you away).

Also, an English muffin is a "crumpet." I guess that goes along the same lines as that age-old question of what is Chinese food called in China?

Inferno

I was going to label this post "fire," but then I saw a newspaper headline on my way home last night that said, "120 Firefighters Battle City Inferno" and I thought that "Inferno" might make a catchier blog title. So, what am I talking about? Well, on my walk to the office yesterday morning, I could smell smoke, but could not tell where it was coming from. Well, the closer I got to the office, the more smoke I could see and smell. Turns out, one of the old Victorian mill buildings just a block from our office had caught fire sometime over night. As I walked by, they were hosing it down from one of those really tall ladder trucks over the building. Here's a picture - the red arrow is pointing at the building I work in, so you can see how close we were.

As of this morning, you can still smell smoke in the air (although not as bad as yesterday), the roads are still blocked off (its a "diversion," not a "detour" over here) and you can still see a bit of smoke coming out of the building.