Earthquake, what earthquake ?

I am thankful that the earthquake so well publicised so well today was not felt at all in our part of London.

It was apparently felt in parts of London but generally seems to have been a non event down here. I guess we are fortunate to live in a country where the most signifcant earthquake in 20 years is measured in terms of numbers of fallen chimney pots rather than anything else.

http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/standard/article-23443207-details/Earthquake+hits+London/article.do

Zee View ov Modern Britain

Anglo-German miscomprehension remains and is revealled in this rather harsh view of Britain from Thomas Huetlin, the London correspondent for Der Spiegel magazine. Here the Independent gives a summary.

http://news.independent.co.uk/uk/this_britain/article2542403.ece

There are however grains of truth from an outsider looking in:

I particularly liked:

"Life in Britain, meanwhile, resembles a giant face-lift operation - look better, live better, cook better - paraded on endless TV programmes. Understatement, charm and stoicism - once prime British values - have been replaced by a general desire for loads of money,"

I'm not completely sure about:

"The dreadful habits of the British include: "The drinking of very much beer in a very short time, going for a walk without socks in winter, the delusion that 42 years after its last win, the national soccer team belongs to a world elite - and, of course, the fact that the Hun is still enemy No 1 - even in the age of Osama bin Laden."

At least not the football bit !

The joy of ......... coffee froth

A cautionary tale against working too long in an office.

A colleague of mine, in his late forties- balding, mustachioed and a bit portly offered to get me a coffee. I am still attempting a healthier life style, albeit significantly relaxed from the original position of a fruit diet two weeks ago ! So I asked for de-caf coffee.

This caused a momentary confusion.

Colleague: Do you want powder out of the jar ?
Me: Or the machine is fine if that does decaf. Whichever is easier.
Colleague: I am not sure if the machine does it. Let me go and look.

Colleague (returning from Kitchen) Yes it does.
Me: Good, I'll have that one then.
Colleague: I think I might go for one too.
Me: Right
Colleague: I am one for froth on my coffee. I really enjoy it. That's why I always go for the machine.

Me: Right

Colleague: In fact I get very disappointed if I take a coffee and by the time I get back to my desk, the froth has gone.

Me: -


Observations:

Office life can be exceptionally dull
Colleagues can be exceptionally dull
The UK has very limited ability coffee machines

Countries I've seen.........

Another internet toy- this site lets you fill in the countries you've visited and comes up with a world map with all those countries coloured red- rather like how the British Empire used to be shown (on British maps!!).

I'm afraid it doesn't distinguish between mere stop over and extensive visiting or living. It looks like a lot of red but Russia and Canada cover a lot of space between them ! I travelled enough in my previous jobs to know the difference between mere travel and actually getting to know and understand a place. I think I would be happy if I'd seen a few less countries but knew a few more a bit better.

The countries I seem to have spent the most time in so far are:

United Kingdom- at least 25 full years from birth to date
Malta- off and on in my first 7 years
Sweden- several months off and on with work

All the others probably range between 3 months in total for somewhere like France to a couple of hours stop-over in Iceland- I'd love to go back for a closer look at Reykjavik........



create your own visited countries map
or vertaling Duits Nederlands



You can do your own map by following the above link....


Enjoy.....