June 20, 2002

(Tom)

Well, it's been almost a month - sorry about that. I've been working on a big proposal response for work which to a large extent has ruled my life for the last couple of weeks. There is a very small lull right now before we start getting ready for a big demo. I'll do my best to bring you up-to-date.

In keeping with tradition, I am obliged to mention the focus on sport in England, namely the World Cup. Of course, you all know that it is the soccer (football) world championships, being played in Korea and Japan. Most of the rest of the world besides the United States is into it big time. Really big time. The games are typically on at 7:30 a.m. or 12:30 p.m. England time - my company has dedicated a big conference room to watching England games using a projector to make the 'screen' about 5 feet high. And, they have put on a lunch bbq for one game and a breakfast bbq for another (I missed the breakfast one, not sure how they bbq eggs, I'll let you know next time). Another breakfast bbq this Friday when England plays Brazil, and I will be sure to watch the US play Germany at lunch, even if I am sitting by myself.

The whole of England is cheering the team on - the English flag (St. George Cross - ) is flying everywhere - car antennas (aerials), windows, doors. It's like the Super Bowl with everyone cheering for one team. Easy enough to get swept up in it - I've even gotten up early on a Sunday morning to watch a game. Go figure.

(Toby) At Akzo they've been showing the England matches as well. For tomorrow's game at 7:30am they have ordered breakfast as a fund raiser for Sports Relief (similar to Comic Relief). £2 for breakfast, £2 to watch the match and an extra £1 if you want to wear your England shirt at work all day. At lunch much of finance will go to the pub which just happens to be when the US is playing;-) They still make fun of the US and say they have no chance. Hah. We'll soon see who has the last laugh.....

The other big highlight was that my sister, Amy, came to visit. Given that my brother-in-law Kevin is English, they bring the family over one or two times per year to visit his family. So, we spent a few days with them in the Cotswolds at a lovely country cottage. Since it was only 40 minutes from Oxford it was very convenient and we enjoyed spending time with Amy, Kevin, Hannah, Eliana, Tony, Sarah, Harry, Gideon, Katie, Martin and Frances. (Got all those names? They'll be a quiz later). We got to see Morris dancers too. I can describe Morris dancing briefly by saying it is men dressed up in brightly colored costumes, with bells on their legs, and sticks in their hands, dancing around and clacking the sticks together. There's a whole history here, so I'll just point you here if you want to learn more, or just do a web search on 'morris dancing'. Just a few pics below from their visit:

A few pictures - click to see a bigger version
Morris Dancers	Hannah and Gideon in the bathtub	Kevin and Amy, Toby and Tom

Now why were there Morris dancers, you ask? Well that weekend was the Queen's Golden Jubilee, celebrating her 50 years of reign. There were lots of events going on, including classical and rock concerts at the gardens of Buckingham Palace and lots of street parties and other events, including the Morris dancers. It's fun to listen to the varying viewpoints on the Royal Family - the royalists who are all for it and republicans who want to see it go. The millions of people who went to London showed there are plenty of royalists out there! Either way, we enjoyed the 4-day weekend.

We also had a cultural weekend - saw a play called 'Benefactors' at the Oxford Playhouse (thanks Elon and Anna) before it moves to London West End theatre, and saw the Oxford Philomusica perform works by Mozart in the famous Sheldonian Theatre, Oxford University's ceremonial hall, designed by Christopher Wren, here in Oxford (thanks Ed and Margie). Both really enjoyable. Click here for a 360° panorama of the theatre (requires Apple Quicktime Viewer). Very cool building, but some of the seats have a column in your back, and Toby's feet didn't touch the floor! We really enjoyed the music-nothing like a live orchestra, especially when compared to our tiny boom box in the flat.

I just got back from a quick trip to Edinburgh for a meeting. Seems like a really nice town, of course it is on our list to go explore. We're thinking September for Scotland and/or Ireland.

Bits and bobs? Here are a few:

• They really don't have 'hot dogs' here like ours in the States, they're more like mild sausages (a craving hit me during our football bbq, but it wasn't satisfied)
• It is solstice time, and it stays light until about 10 p.m. There's actually some light left in the sky until 10:30. Edinburgh is even later (like 11:00 pm). Official sunrise/sunset times for today are: sunrise 4:47 a.m., sunset 9:28 p.m. Pretty cool. Of course that makes for depressing December/January.
• It's snail season here - there are lots of them in our close (our complex). In the shell, out of the shell, 1/2 in the shell. They're like big slugs with antennae. Watch where you step!
• The two Scottish taxi drivers I talked to are both strongly for England to lose on Friday. So much for a United Kingdom.
• I thought Molly had Tom trained, but it turns out that without her around to keep him in line he likes to leave the toilet seat up. Sigh.
• A co-worker of Toby's said she was going to make "meatballs and spaghetti" for dinner. It's close, but it's just not right, is it?
• They don't use the word co-worker here - they say work colleague instead.

And there you have it for this report.