Somehow I never feel like I have to go to bed early here. This is a problem since I have to leave my flat at 8:30 to get to work at 9:30. I don’t really enjoy the long distance, but riding the Tube in London is way more fun than driving 25 minutes to work in Memphis.
This morning I stopped by EAT, a café near our flat, for my now-favourite small hazelnut latte. I picked up a water bottle too, and then realized after exiting that I hadn’t been charged for it. What’s the punishment for stealing a £1.50 worth of water? Hope I won’t be extradited back to the U.S. for that.
For some reason, the Tube – as much as I love it – doesn’t have any trash cans (or bins as they call them here). Seriously, where are they??? I don’t want to litter, but I don’t understand how there are no places to throw away your used coffee cup. Londoners, please explain this to me.
Also, the coffee here hasn’t been waking me up. I don’t know what it is. Is it all decaf, and they’re just not telling anyone so the country won’t be hopped up on caffeine? Maybe this will be an investigative piece I will work on… “The Mystery of London Coffee.” Three-part series, I think.
The keyboards here are way different. For example, the “ is equal to @. And whatever the 3 is in America (I’ve forgotten) is the £ sign. Which looks quite pretty and elegant compared to the $. Stupid Puritans probably came up with that. Even € looks nice.
I really want to go to a football match while I’m here, but I’m scared of pissing off the wrong crowd. In today’s “Sun” there was a story about a teenager killed by a raucous Aston Villa crowd. And y’all know how I get during a sporting event…
I’m trying to make a list of things I have to do/see while I’m here. I’ve got the usual Westminster Abbey, Tower of London, etc. on there, but I’m also trying to find other things. Like a ghost tour or a cruise on the Thames. Or maybe I’ll crash Parliament during their Wednesday “let’s yell at Gordon Brown” sessions. Field trip?
I have a story due today at 5 p.m. Like American PR people, English ones never seem to understand the word “deadline.” I know they’re very polite here, but right now I want to phone them up and say “hey, I’ve got do this carbon-zero sustainability story for my environmental newsletter, and if you don’t give me some information I’ll write up something completely false and damaging.” I wonder what libel laws are like here…
I think I’ll start working on feature ideas next week, which should be vastly more interesting than doing news. I mean, sustainability’s great and all, but this job might turn me into a gas-guzzling tree-killer.
Morning superlatives:
Worst part of the morning: The weather.
Best part of the morning: … Yet to come. Stay tuned.
Thursday, May 14, 2009
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Britain has criminal libel laws, which means you can actually go to jail for libeling someone. At least that's what I remember from international reporting. LOL so I wouldn't threaten that. That would be like threatening, like, to beat them up or something.
ReplyDeleteI was told that there is a lack of trash cans in the Tube due to the bombings that happened a few years ago. I'm not sure if those bombs were actually placed in trash bins, but either way, I think they are trying to take preventative measures.
ReplyDeleteIt really sucks, though. I hate carrying trash.