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So, I havnt writen in a few. It seems as though I have come down with some sort of crazy English Bug which has left me in bed most of the days this past week. I guess i pushed myself a little too hard this past weekend while traveling. Other than the sickness this week has been good. I will update on the other trips last weekend as i get the pictures online.

Im starting a new section in my blog today called Jeff's Interesting Facts or JIFs. Everytime i think of anything interesting or dumb/cool about the UK ill throw in a JIF. So here a re abunch to start things off.

JIF - In the UK light switches go down instead of up to turn on the lights.

JIF - Emergency Exit signs look strangely like Men's Washroom signs. A strange and frustrating phenomenon.

JIF - Cell phones are called Mobiles. Parking lots are called Car Parks.

JIF - This one is amazing! In the shower, the temperature control is independant of the power control. As a result, you set the temperature to one spot (never move it...ever) and just turn the shower on full blast in the morning. This seems like a simple, dumb thing, but no more fiddling with the temperature to get it just right! it is always preset the same. Again I say amazing!

JIF - It really is infested with Sheep

JIF - Mullets are actually cool. Not like cool because the're not cool, but actually cool.

OK. That is enough. Ill keep adding...this weekend it is back to London for some theatre. I have a free day wander round... then watch King Lear.

peace.

j.

The Local Area.... Birling Gap and Alfriston

We spent sunday tourin round the local area learning the history and the hotspots. It was sort of a cloudy and dark day, but the highlight was certainly Birling Gap. There were all kinds of kayakers surfing on the coast which was cool to see. In the afternoon we hit up Brighton. Brighton is a University/young trendy city of bout half a million. Unfortunately, I don't have any pictures but it was quite trendy with all kinds of really unique and cool stores. It is the most popular place to travel to get away for the day rom the castle. There is a minibus which goes there frequently. I was sick most of this day, so it was sort of a struggle.

JIF - The edge of the cliffs at Birling Gap erode 50cm a year. that is a ton! So these houses will soon be gone. People still live there! They tell you to stay about 3m away from the edge of the cliff incase it collapses. Yehah! 

More Birling Gap. This is Caleigh. She is cool. 

This is my wet foot after i fell in the water while jumping from the rocks. 

It seems as though in Europe it is much cooler to drink tea than to drink coffee. In North America it is trendy to drink coffee. It is social and you can find it everywhere. Here it is the opposite. Tea is the thing to do. Since am a follower of all the trends, I embraced this Trendy Tea thing and i drink it a lot. I have about two or three cups at every meal. Often we will sit around after the meal for 1/2 an hour and sip tea and have a ncie chat. Occasionaly we pul lout the cookies as well. That is only when we are feeling especially trendy. Here I am with my co-SLCs Adam and Annetta during one of our many Tea Times. Represent. What. What. 

During our travels we stopped in a nice little English town called Alfriston. Don't have much to say baout it except that is is nice to see these litle undeveloped towns with skinny roads. A lot nicer than Ontario's small towns...like Madoc. That is me petting some sort of dragon. 

A Day In London...

Friday morning we got up bright and early and hopped on the coach to make our way to London. I was quite excited to finally see it and the sights. I had been to Heathrow twice, but that is hardly an exciting part of London. We got dropped off at Cleopatra's Needle, which is a large monument located on the shore of the Thames and is the main meeting point for al London ISC trips. The first event on the itinerary, was a guided coach tour of downtown London. It was really beneficial to see all the main sights in a really short period of time. It allowed me to see some things that I know I would like to return to see later.

During the tour we quickly jumped off the coach and had a photo op across the Thames of Big Ben and the very, very extravagant buildings of Parliament.  

A close up of Big Ben. I tried to get a good picture of me with Big Ben... but the person taking my picture, got me...but not the clock. Interesting: Big Ben is actually the bell not the clock.

We watched the changing of the guard at noon. We watched them walk from the barracks to Buckingham. This happens every 48 hours as the guards change shifts. It was quite the procesion, with bagpipes and music .. etc..tons and tons of tourists. 

Here it is... Buckingham Palace. I thought it was less than impressive compared to a lot of the other buildings in the city. Ah well.. We watched the changing of the guard here.

Out front of Buckingham... 

This guy was funny... Right around the corner , no more than 200m away where dozens of people in uniform were doing the changing of the guard... there was this guy. The guy that mows the lawn at Buckingham Palace. I wonder how much he gets paid...?