August 23, 2002

(Tom, with bits from Toby) Hello again. Yes, we know there is now more time between updates and we're sorry about that. Things are starting to seem 'normal', and thus we figure our daily lives are probably not that interesting. And, since we are going off to Amsterdam tomorrow morning, this won't be a long one since we don't have enough time! Look for an Amsterdam report soon.

What have we been up to? Well, we went to the Cropredy Folk Festival about 2 weeks back. Toby got us tickets from her musician friend Iain Matthews (his web page here). We saw him in London a few months back. He's a great performer and a really nice guy. Having only been to a few festivals, I was impressed at the size of this. It's a 3-day festival, and people come and camp for all three days and see some great music. This festival is an annual Fairport Convention (early folk rockers) reunion plus and includes many other performers (Iain was one of the founding members of the band along with Richard Thompson who was also there). We went for one day, Friday, which was billed as Fairport, the Early Years. We took 1/2 day off work to go, mainly to see Iain and Richard. We got there around 2 p.m. and with overcast skies were wary. About 5 or 6 p.m., the rain started. On and off, and at times pretty heavy. Needless to say, we did get wet. We did get to park right behind the stage (thanks again Iain!) so we popped into the car for a little while to avoid the rain. And, since we had backstage passes, we got to use the 'nice toilets' (it's the small things, you know). We left at about 11:30 p.m. after a day of good music. Well, mostly good music. Didn't much care for the first couple of bands we saw. There's a lot more beer at festivals (a big outside bar with 6 or so different beers!) here than there is at festivals back home. I found this picture on the web - we didn't bring our camera b/c of the weather.

We also had a really nice visit with my cousin Margot and her sister Beryl, who was in London visiting from South Africa. I had stayed with Beryl and her husband on my trip to South Africa in 1997. It was great to see her again, to meet her daughter Elaine who lives in London, and to see Alastair (Margot's son). Just a few pics below.

Click on a picture to see a bigger version
Beryl, Tom, Alastair, Margot	Tom, Elaine, Margot, Beryl, Toby	Margot & Beryl

I've been shopping for a new car for myself. My car, a Nissan Primera (see Jan. 30th report for a picture), which is provided by ESRI (UK) has come to the end of its three year lease. That means I get to pick my new car, within certain budgetary guidelines. It's not easy to know exactly what the budget is because it is not based on sticker price - it's based on leasing costs, and residual values after 3 years, etc. etc. Anyway, I've narrowed it down a bit and have the following in mind:

• VW Bora (same as Jetta in the U.S.)
• Seat Leon (Say-yacht, a Spanish company owned by VW)
• Alfa Romeo 147

Skip this paragraph if you don't want to read more about the cars I'm considering, otherwise read on.... First, you should know that I have to pay tax on this car, and that tax is based on the value of the car and the CO₂ emissions. The Bora is a nice car, solidly built, good acceleration, comfortable, roomy. It's called the Jetta in the U.S., and is a VW Golf with a trunk on the back. No real downsides. The turbo diesel (very popular over here, low emissions, high mileage) is nice too, feels like a diesel, but not like diesels of yesteryear which sounded like tractors. This is quiet although you do feel more rumbling than the regular engine, and has plenty of power. It costs the most of the three. There is a nondiesel option too, which costs a little more in tax. The Seat is very much like the VW Bora, comes with a not-quite-as-nice diesel engine and has all the same stuff (cd changer, trip computer, aircon, elec. windows) for about £2000 less. Not quite as nicely built, but a good car - I haven't test driven it yet though. The Alfa is much smaller but has a lot of style. 2 people in the back max, not much trunk space. Hatchback instead of sedan. Great front seats, great dashboard (like a racing car), and most of the extras mentioned above (single cd player though). I think I would get this car without question if it were 10 or 15% bigger. It costs about the same as the Seat, although it is not a diesel, so there is maybe £10-15 more tax per month over the Seat and £15 over the VW. What to do, what to do. Your thoughts welcome, but make it quick please!!!

Bits & Bobs:

• Despite our being here 6 months, and the fact that Toby does enjoy english tea, we've used our electric kettle only a dozen or so times. We're not yet fully converted.
• Brits are amazing queue-ers: I was driving on the motorway and two of the three lanes were closed ahead. Since everyone was merging into the one lane, I figured it was pretty close to the merge and I too got in the single lane that was to remain open. Little did I realize that the closure was almost 2 miles ahead. Not one car passed me in all that time to try to get to the merge ahead of everyone else. Amazing.
• Folks here don't go to the movies, they go to the cinema to see a film or a picture. They don't mail things, they post them. And they don't put jimmies (or sprinkles) on their ice cream but you can get cakes with 'hundreds of thousands' on them. Seems like way too big a term for such little things.
• They have extra large kleenex available here. It's ridiculous - 12 x 6.5 inches in its normal, sides folded in state. That's almost like a sheet of paper (American sized paper, that is!) We don't get it.
• Our friend's Cora and Jim had their 4th kid on the 19th - a girl named Rheanna. Congrats!
• Toby will be walking for the Jimmy Fund again this year. More details in the next update.

And there you have it for this report.