Not just because I fear Al Gore

I am now an environmentalist.

Not that I was not before, I have always been concerned about the environment and global warming and all that crap; ever since grade 6 when we attended a week long hippie training camp a.k.a. Durham forest. I like David Suzuki, I take public transit and I am even afraid of Al Gore. Although lately it has become a bit mainstream, I’m really still a tree-hugging hippie at heart. Here in England I am a bonofied tree-hugger for one simple, new reason; it is the first time I have ever had to pay for utilities. The estimates provided are through the roof and energy conservation is not as popular and trendy here. They say that we will spend 15-20 pounds per week each. That is 160 pounds per month, over 320 dollars?!?!?! As soon as I realized this I started noticing inefficiencies in our apartment that must change for the good of the planet [wink], thanks Dave the energy guy for your insightful tips on Breakfast Television a few weeks ago; I was taking notes.

Inefficiencies and solutions:

1. Halogen lights are all over the apartment (17 actually). Sure they look nice but they give off a lot of heat, which is nothing but wasted energy. As I am not an electrician I’m not sure what I can do about fixing this problem, aside from sitting in the dark. My computer screen playing the latest Die Hard movie will act as a good light source for now.
2. The showerhead is this huge trickler. It sure it looks nice but for any pressure whatsoever you need to crank it. I think I can figure out how to replace it with an energy-efficient one, but that would take effort. I think I may join the gym across the street and just shower over there.
   
3. I will hang my clothes to dry. Yes we do have a energy/dollar consuming dryer, but fortunately for us it is a useless piece of shit British dryer that does not work (like everything else in this country...more on that later as I explain the sharpness of the culture shock curve in England. The only really shitty thing is that clothes take forever to dry in a climate that does not see sunshine and rains all the friggin time.
   

enjoy the unrelated photos of Peder and I on Greenwich hill (the beginning of time) and of Sarah and I in the giant wheel thing that all British cities seem to have (at least the ones I have been to so far).

1. 

Amsterdam

What else can I say…. Amsterdam. What a place!

Ever since I was a little troublemaker I have felt an attraction to visit this place; it’s like Mecca for potheads. As an adult I have mostly cast away my youthful pothead ways, after all it is quite irresponsible and so holistically unproductive. There are of course exceptions to life’s rules, one of which of course came on my pilgrimage to a previous life’s Mecca. (notice in the picture the Grasshopper [wink] and right beside it Tasty Bites. Coincidence? No way!)

After some 2 euro Stellas (they are the cheap beer there, go figure lakeport) we walked into this café to find some guy sitting in a booth behind a glass window, not unlike a movie theatre. The menu is on the wall behind glass, which is lit up at the push of an abnormally large button. Once one has made a selection one would proceed to the guy in the widow to make ones order and he hands over to that individual what in any other country would get one arrested. At this point customers are free to have a seat in the café and consume their purchase.

As some saying goes “when in Rome…..” well, I justified my participation with a similar saying, something like “when in Amsterdam…..”. This was pretty entertaining to say the least, almost as much as the absynth I drank later; yes the stuff which cause Van Gogh to chop his own ear off. My night was capped off by a tasty treat know as “space cake”. I will forever remember (somehow) the cake experience and cringe just a little every time I reach for a brownie. Hunter S. Thompson eat your heart out.

The Red Light District is one small trouble filled corner of an otherwise beautiful peaceful European city. It is here that you find the cafes, red lights and sketchiest of lone-travelers. Our hotel was just on the outer part of the district, so much so that when we sat out back of the hotel on the patio we were looking down upon a small ally with about 8 little doors all with corresponding red lights. There was hardly a minute when single men were not wandering down the dead end ally to check out what was for sale only to turn around once they reached the end and continue browsing. It was quite entertaining for us to look down and see this going on all from the comfort and safety of our hotel. The fact that legal prostitution exists is both intriguing and disgusting but above all is an indication of the progressiveness of the Dutch. Despite its disturbing surface, I think it beats the black market.

Besides the bad stuff, Amsterdam has much to offer. It is such a beautiful city with countless canals where you really get a sense of being in Europe. We walked the city, had lunch on the street, went to the Van Gogh museum and of course toured the Heineken factory. It was a quick two day trip that I wish was longer, but in retrospect it is probably better that is wasn’t. I must say, I loved Amsterdam but it should be a while before I return again.

Assumptions/Corrections

I have made it to jolly England. A few immediate observations that have more or less confirmed some expectations/assumptions I hade before coming here and their subsequent corrections:

1. There is a pub on every corner. Well I don’t know about every corner as I have only seen the corners in my immediate vicinity, but so far every corner I can see has 4 pubs. This is the view from my apartment window. (in case you can't see the sign it is 'the pub')



2. The weather sucks. I have been here one day and so I must not jump to any conclusions, maybe I caught Manchester on a bad day, but so far I have not seen the sun. Some locals that were on the plane sitting beside us were sarcastically saying (at least I think this is what they said, with those accents who the hell knows. See #3) “welcome to Manchester, hope you brought your raincoats” and “Mommy, can we stay in Canada for the nice weather?”…...What?!?! I have never heard anyone say that before. Not a good sign but I will remain optimistic. At least it should be dry inside the pubs……well…

3. British accents are lovely. If you can understand what the hell they are saying it is only because they know they know they are talking to a foreigner and are purposefully slowing it down and enunciating for us. Otherwise, who knows?

4. The British systems are efficient and easy to access. Don't even get me started. Banks, Cell phones, Internet connection, gym memberships, Intersections......ah! More on this later.

Good to go

Ok, I'm all set for England. The plane leaves in a few hours I can finally say that I think everything is settled. We even managed to find time to buy a new camera! I can finally start to get excited about moving to Europe as the last few weeks have kept me busy. I don't actually start school until the 25th of September so that means lots of relaxing for the first 3 weeks; I need it. The plan is to fly over to Amsterdam for a little holiday and also get down to London to see whats what.

This is a big move and a big step, so naturally I'm super pumped. I live for big steps.