Category: UK/England

Does the sign above look like a man shaking out a wet umbrella?  I hadn’t seen it before someone pointed it out; however, now, that is all I see.  Supposedly, the humps were added a few years ago to make it look less like that and more like what it is supposed to mean:  road works ahead.

I blogged yesterday about the petrol lorry driver strike potential petrol lorry driver strike and decided to take precautions.  I bought a few cans and filled up my tank yesterday.  I plan to keep the tank full for the next month (they have 28 days to actually go on strike) by topping off every few days.  I really resent the idea portrayed in the media that I was “panic” buying fuel.  I did no such thing….I saw a situation and took adequate (really less than adequate as I would prefer to have about 30 gal of diesel held back) measures to prepare.  This is no different than keeping a weeks worth of food in your house.

Why do I feel accused of panic buying?  Well, look at the survey on this page.  Look at the question:

Do you intend to panic buy fuel

Then look at the answers.  There’s only three:

Yes, I don’t want to be left stranded
No, it is irresponsible and would make matters worse
I will wait until a strike gets closer until I refuel

Umm…where’s the no but I am getting fuel anyway.  Why isn’t what I did panic buying?  Well, I didn’t run out in a rush, for one thing.  I didn’t punch anyone or ram anyone’s car.  I found an open station–I drove by 4 that were either totally out or out of diesel–and bought my fuel.  Paid.  Left.

In my mind, I’m doing the responsible thing to take care of myself and family.  The government wishes everyone would do the equivalent of “herd into the Superdome” and wait out the storm by the leave of the government.  No thank you.

[Update 2012-03-31 08:16:36] Now there are calls for rationing so 999 drivers and emergency services can get the fuel the need.

[Update 2012-04-19 09:36:06] There was an agreement; however, the union has rejected it.  No strike news yet.

Image from tim walker via flickr

Well, the petrol lorry drivers (the guys who deliver petrol….tanker truck drivers) voted yesterday to go on strike.  No one is sure when it will happen; however, everyone expects it to happen around the Easter holiday (that happens to be a 4 day weekend here).  I think the best quote ever came from this page on the Telegraph’s website (if it isn’t at the top of the page, scroll down to the 11:50 entry):

More advice from the Government on the UK fuel strike – they don’t want to cause panic, but Cabinet Office minister Francis Maude has advised motorists to keep a jerry can of fuel in their garage, and the Prime Minister has suggested topping up your tank when you have the chance.  Mr Maude doesn’t want to see anyone “rushing around in a mad dash” – only mild, restrained panic please.

I find that hillarious.  no need for mad dashes….just semi-hurried dashes.  As No. 10 has advised people to make plans…..  How are people supposed to take it?

Oh, before anyone asks, we are taking precautions.  They don’t have many 20l jerrycans here so I bought a few 5l ones.  10l of fuel won’t get us far but will get us to the hospital or airport in an emergency.  We also plan to keep our tank topped up (daily if needed).

[Update 2012-03-30 06:53:35]  Am I “panic buying” fuel?  Where is the “I’m being a responsible citizen/resident” option?

[Update 2012-03-31 08:16:36] Now there are calls for rationing so 999 drivers and emergency services can get the fuel the need.

[Update 2012-04-19 09:36:06] There was an agreement; however, the union has rejected it.  No strike news yet.

Image from didbygraham via flickr

Here in Merry Olde England (see how I worked that in) we are under a drought.  At the time of year when we should have  loads of water, a hosepipe ban (water hose ban…but basically water restrictions) are being implemented.  We’ve had record low rainfall for the past 2 years and we are feeling the effects.  Right now, the restrictions are mostly voluntary (except for banning the use of hoses outside) but if it continues, the water companies may be forced to implement mandatory measures for homes and businesses.

[Update 2012-06-13 12:14:16] This has turned into the wettest drought I have ever seen.

Image from rob gallop via flickr

Yesterday, I blogged a picture of a shop I walk by on my way to work.  The weather today was as nice as it was yesterday so I took a picture of some row houses.  Continuing the theme of “quaint village” and “sights I see every day” here are the row houses:

Every day I walk by this shop.  I’ve always thought the paint-job on it (and the shop itself) is a good representation of what I see on a daily basis.  Quaint little shops that, mostly, fit my stereotype of English “town” life.  London, on the other hand looks nothing like this.

[Update 2012-03-27 08:36:53]  Right down the street from this are these row houses.

When we came back to England, we brought our Turkey Deep Fryer with us.  At first, I thought I was going to have to get a new connector and regulator; however, then I got to looking….I was able to take our deep fryer (with the POL connector that it had) and hook it directly up to the calor gas cylinder that I got.  Looks like it will work well!

Spring has sprung here in the UK.  Below are two pictures I took on my way to work.  One is some low fog we had overnight and the second is a picture of some buds on a bush near the office.  Enjoy!

I’ve read in several newspapers that the IRIS Scheme will soon be going away.  The government here has already closed the terminals at 2 airports….leaving only the terminals at Heathrow and Gatwick open.  From the Register:

Travellers apparently had a lot of trouble lining up their eyes with the iris recognition camera, resulting in the identification taking a lot longer than it was supposed to. Other passengers wouldn’t be recognised at all by the computer system and ended up having to be manually checked anyway.

I for one have never had those problems.  Every time I re-enter the UK, I head straight for the IRIS queue.  There’s usually 3 to 4 people waiting, I line my eyes up, and go through…. Less than 1 minute.  I don’t even have to remove my glasses.  I think it is an awesome scheme.  Oh well….they told me when I registered that the scheme would be going away and replaced by one that uses biometric passports.  We’ll see…..

Image from ahmed via flickr

I’ve blogged before about differences between British English and American English so I won’t bore everyone with my discussion about it again.  A blog I found recently written by an American expat in London had some good ones.  Here is a link to her list of articles…Here’s a few that made me laugh:

Plummer Crack/But vs Builder Bum
Pronunciation of Nissan
Pronunciation of Nokia
Dannon vs Danone
Pronunciation of 6th
Pronunciation of Michigan
Pronunciation of Michelin 
Inverted commas vs quote marks
Pronunciation of furore (I’m going to have to do more research on this)
Saying — right the way through
Merry Christmas vs Happy Christmas
Shots or Jabs
Bye (read more about this one at the bottom of this article)

I’ll conclude with a saying that a colleague (not co-worker mind you) loves to say:  The US and UK are two countries separated by a common language!

Image from nataliemaynor via flickr