UK Week 2 (12 Feb-20 Feb) Part 1/2

Please note that part 2 is below... I put them in order for easy reading...

I've been busy/lazy... whichever.  I've visited the log and seen some info, but have not had time to type much or post more pictures.  I'm very sorry!! 

 

I guess two full weekends have passed since my last post and I've seen a good number of things.

Current counts:

• Scots that sound like Mike Myers and have HORRIBLE TEETH - 1 really bad one
• Men saying "Have a good day" in Welsh - 1 (we think that's what he said)
• Castles - 14+ "They're up to HERE with bloody castles!!"
• Roundabouts - LOTS!!! (Crazy numbers of them here!)

The weekend of Feb 12-13 was spent wandering the countryside.  I spent Saturday walking around Newcastle and looked at a bunch of shops.  The original plan had been to visit York, but my coworker (Sara) was as punctual as usual... around noon she was having coffee and wanted to work out before leaving... that mean, not going to York :)  Anyway, it worked out that I got some shopping done and it was a nice day in Newcastle.  On Sunday, the weather turned colder and there were some snow flurries in Newcastle.  Sara and I departed by train at about 11:00a for York.  It was about an hour ride down on the "local" train.  It made about 5 stops along the way but was not very crowded.  We got to York around noon and walked from the station towards our goal, York Minster.  York Minster has a very interesting history.  In the 1960's, it was found that the foundation was sinking and the cathedral was starting to fall apart.  If left to it's own weight it would soon crash into pieces.  Many people donated millions of pounds to save the York Minster.  When the foundation was excavated, they found the remains of an older Norman church... the Normans ruled the north of England about a thousand years ago... give or take a century.  Anyway, they kept digging and soon found that the Norman church had been built on top of an old Roman fort that had been built almost 2000 years ago.  The drainage system that the Romans had put in was (and is) still functioning.  It actually still drains excess water from the site and takes it all the way to the nearby river (about 1/2 mile).  The Minster now has an underground tour that shows you the history of the site as well as allows you to see how they fixed the sinking foundation, which is also amazing.  Unfortunately, you can't take any pictures down there.  I have attached two pictures of the Minster, one outside and one inside.  There are lots more at http://www.yorkminster.org/

 

Last week was pretty busy... I spent a lot of time in meetings and sorting through loads of documents.  In truth, this is the most true engineering work I've done in the past four years and it is REALLY refreshing.  I've asked Russ to ship me some of my engineering books since I really need them over here.  On Friday we visited one of our first sites... it was all the way across town!!  It took us about 15 minutes to get there :-)  We met our Mike Meyer's impersonator on our site visit.

This past weekend was all kinds of fun.  I had originally planned on taking a trip out of the country this past weekend, but there has been some confusion about immigration laws possibly changing in the UK.  I have mentioned that in order to get my work visa officially activated, I must leave the UK and re-enter.  Well, a couple of weeks ago another coworker (Art) left the country for a meeting.  Upon returning, he was told that he could not re-enter with his work visa.  He was told that the rules state that once your work visa is activated, leaving the country will void the work visa.  This is obviously news to everyone since everyone here has been traveling around Europe for work and pleasure for the past 6 months without any issues.  Anyway, the issue is still being investigated so I didn't want to risk anything and go anywhere just yet.  It looks like I will be activating my work visa when I return from my trip to the US in a couple of weeks.  The whole issue is just really confusing... it really doesn't make sense that if you activate your visa your aren't allowed to leave during the 5 months it is active.  Hopefully we will get an answer back soon.

 

UK Week 2 - Part 2

So... this past weekend was another ad-hoc weekend.  I had not made any plans to do anything Saturday and figured I'd do some more shopping or sight seeing around Newcastle... I hear they have the biggest Mall in Europe just a couple of miles away!   As it turned out, Sara called me with a plan.  She wanted to rent bikes and ride out to the coast.  It seemed like a nice day and that sounded like fun.  The catch was that she first wanted to go by a new museum with the history of Newcastle... also something that sounded like a good idea.  Once we reached the museum (about 11:30), she mentioned that she wanted to wait until 1:00 before leaving so that she could pick up some pictures from the photo shop... she had about 200 digital pictures printed... it cost about $32.  By my calculations, it gets dark here about 4:30.  If we didn't leave until 1:30, that didn't leave much time to ride 8 miles out to the coast, see much, and get back.  As it turned out, the museum took quite a bit of time and we didn't even get over to the photo store until almost 2:00... NO WAY we were heading out to the coast at that point.  I thought it would be a good idea to at least figure out the details of renting bikes and then try for another day.  We walked down to central station where the bike rental shop was supposed to be.  We finally found it and were told that it cost £10 per day to rent and a £50 ($100).... and they only accept cash for both.  I didn't even have £50 in cash left and didn't plan on handing someone that much money as a deposit for a junky bike... anyway, other factors also determined that riding a bike this past weekend wouldn't happen.... 

 

On Sunday, my cell phone rang at 0830... I figured it had to be Athena calling... it turned out to be Sara.  She simply said, "Look outside."  I opened the window to find that there was quite a blizzard going on in Newcastle.  I told her that she could go pick up a bike and ride to the coast if she wanted... I was going to stay inside where it was warm. It probably snowed about two inches total by about 9:30 or so.  Then, all of the sudden, it stopped... the clouds parted, and there was blue sky.  The snow melted by about 1:00 when I got a call from my real estate agent telling me that the apartment was ready.  I tried to call a taxi and was told they couldn't get me until 5:00... "there is a football game today."  The game started at 4:00... I don't understand why that should be such a big deal.  Anyway, I ended up getting a ride from the handy man that works for the property management company.  I got moved in and settled and was thinking of walking down to the market to grab some food when Sara (queen of bright ideas) called me again.  Since the weather was nice again (there was blue sky and sun) she thought it would be a good time to take the metro out and see the coast.  Since the weather looked stable, I agreed... big mistake.  We got on the metro and went 2 or 3 stops to Whitley Bay which is supposed to be a nice town on the North Sea... the walk from the station to the actual Sea went from bad to worse... it was sleeting and the wind was blowing about 30 mph by the time we actually got down to the sea.  It was MISERABLE!!  Sara took a picture of the North Sea and we got back to the station as fast as we could.  We got back on Metro and rode up to North Shields... which is also supposed to be really nice.  On Sunday's, everything is closed though... therefore, it wasn't so great.  We ended up sitting in McDonald's drinking warm tea and trying to get warm enough to feel our toes again... that took about 40 minutes.  On a NORMAL day, the metro is great... one of the stops takes you to Wallsend, which, as the name implies sits at the end of a wall known as Hadrian's Wall.  It was build around 200-300 AD by the Romans and still exists in some areas today.  It runs from coast to coast and was designed to keep the Scots out... guess it only worked for a while :)

 

Let's see, that pretty much brings me close to current events... I froze my ass off this weekend, which was bad since I had a sore throat.  I now have an annoying head cold.  My ears are pretty clogged up, which is bad since I will be flying tomorrow.  Where in the world am I flying??? Well, back to Newcastle.  Our team flew down to Cardiff last night and then drove out to Swansea.... where is that you ask??? Wales.  South Wales to be exact.  The drive from the airport took about an hour.  We arrived at the Ramada Inn Swansea at about 8:40.  It took 20 minutes to check in 5 people.... Wales is known for efficiency!!  We had dinner at the Ramada which wasn't bad... again, efficiency wasn't the best though.  The rooms were about what I'd expect from a Ramada Inn... not as good as where I am now :)  We spent the day talking to people in Swansea and got to hear someone speak Welsh (hence the count above).  We finished around 4:00 this afternoon and then drove back to Swansea where we checked into the Hilton... quite a step up from Ramada.  The view from the hotel is quite nice.... see attached pics.  We can see the HUGE castle here in Cardiff from the rooms and the lounge upstairs.  VERY nice.

 

Anyway... it's about 11:40p here and I need to get to sleep.  I have a 7:50a flight and have to meet our team in the lobby at 6:15a.  I will try to post more pictures of the apartment when I'm back in it.  The property manager had it repainted and put up new curtains.  They are supposed to have my high-speed internet turned on this week and 2 new leather sofas delivered next week.  If anyone wants to visit Newcastle, now would be the time... I have a huge 3 bedroom flat that is open for business!!  You have until May 3 to drop in!!!  Actually, my stay may extend until May 30 at this point... so book now!

Take care!
Steve

 

UK Days 5-7 (8 Feb - 10 Feb)

In my previous post, I mentioned that I would be looking for an apartment... On Tuesday Sara (Booz Allen - Mclean) and I were taken to some apartments by a solicitor (real estate agent) named Terri. The first location we saw was St. Anne's Quay (pronounced "key"). There were two apartments available, one on the 6th floor and one on the 5th. When we all entered the first, I headed for the balcony to see the view... both Terri and Sara backed away since they are both afraid of heights. Anyway, the view looks out over the Tyne river at the Millennium Bridge, the Sage, and the Tyne River Bridge... not a bad view! (see attached night photo) The apartment itself is about 700 square feet and has 2 bedrooms and 2 bathrooms. The kitchen is not too big and the living room (lounge) is also rather small. (see attached pictures) After seeing St. Anne's, I asked Terri if she had anything else. Evidentially she had a 2 bedroom off Grey Street. Once we drove there, I knew exactly where it was... I had walked right by it last Saturday and had stopped at the bakery that it is attached to. Anyway, after walking into the building I said, "I like it already." It has a nice lobby. Once we reached the apartment, I decided it was the place to go... it is 2 floors and has a nice kitchen, dining area, and living room. It also had 2 1/2 bathrooms, 2 full upstairs and 1/2 on the main floor. Obviously Sara liked it as well... Terri offered that she could probably make a deal if Sara took the 2 bdrm and I could be patient for a 3 bedroom that was being remodeled next week. I decided that I needed to see it first. We walked down the hall to the end and checked it out. Turns out it is about 2200 sq. ft. It has a very nice kitchen, 3 good size bedrooms upstairs, 2 full baths (one with a huge tub) upstairs, and a 1/2 bath down. The living room has a curved wall that has windows looking out over the shopping square outside. The location is perfect as well... there is a Starbucks downstairs (which I just learned about tonight) and there are tons of restaurants, markets, and stores all around. The only downside (if there is one) is that parking is limited. That just means I'll have to continue taking taxis to and from work.

Anyway, because the rental company is having the apartment repainted and new furniture installed, I can't move in just yet. In the meantime, I am at the 6th floor apartment at St. Anne's. The downside of St. Anne's is that it isn't near much and it is significantly smaller... but it does have a nice view. Anyway, I'm told that the new apt. will be ready by next Sunday. Seems reasonable to me. Hopefully when I move over to Grey St. I will have Internet access and a telephone line to accept incoming calls (which will be cheaper than calls to my cell phone).

I couldn't stay at the Hilton because Tony Blair (British PM) was coming to town for the Labor Party National Convention. He rented out the entire Hilton for the weekend. There are 1000's of police running around and traffic is crazy.

On the work front, things have been fairly busy. My work permit has been approved. This means I have to leave the country and come back in to have it stamped into my visa. Strange, but true. My plan is to take a trip next weekend... probably to Prague, which I hear is nice. There is one direct flight per day from Newcastle to Prague. It will cost about 100 GBP or so, but Booz Allen pays for it since it is required for me to work here. I'm told that Prague is one of the only cities that was not bombed back to the stone age in WWII. It was left virtually untouched by everyone. Hopefully I will have 100's of pictures to share after next weekend.

And now an update on the latest counts:

• British men on BBC news saying "Huge tracts of land" - 1


• Micro-mini skirts in 33 degree (F) weather - 3


• Honda S2000's - 3


• Times offered a "cup o' tea" - 35


• Brits friendly to Americans - LOTS!!

Update on the "how-to-call-UK" instructions... Athena and I learned that to call my cell phone you don't need the first zero in the number... therefore, you would dial 011+44+7979+680604... if you add all that up, you get a very large number ;-) As previously mentioned, calls to a UK cell are based on "calling party pays" rules. That means that incoming calls to my cell phone don't cost me... although the rates may be higher for the calling party.

Well, it is the end of the day for me here... I'm headed out after a long and interesting week! I'm planning to head to York this weekend to see some of the sights there. There's supposed to be a nice museum and a beautiful cathedral that was built on top of an old Roman building with some really nice fresco's. My next post should have some pictures of that!

Hope all is well on the home front!
Take care!
Steve
I put the pictures where they belong... more to come in the future...)

Living Room 


Living Room 2 


Kitchen 

UK Days 3-5 (6 Feb - 8 Feb)

Hello from Cobalt... the name of the building where I'm working.

 

I've learned the level of priorities here in the UK.  The attached picture shows the size of various drinks... a can of Coke (150mL), a bottle of Coke (200mL), a bottle of water (330mL), and a bottle of bear (550mL).  The funny... or not so funny thing is that they all cost about the same amount.  That could be why there aren't so many overweight brits... and so many alcoholics??

 

Sunday was spent wandering the English countryside.  I went to lunch with one of the guys that's been over here for about 6 months (Art) and his wife.  We went to a new pub (it only opened in 1901)... the old one's have been around since the 1600's.  We had "Sunday Roast".  I had the chicken with mashed potatoes, peas, carrots, Yorkshire pudding, some type of mashed squash, and boiled onions.  The cost was 5 pounds and the plate weighed about that ;-)  After lunch, we went back to his flat (apartment) so that I could see what accommodations look like.  He has a 3 bedroom place with underground parking.  Around 3:00p we went back over to the hotel to meet up with some other folks working on the project here.  One woman (Sara) had just arrived around 2:00p... I think she learned that 1 day is not get rid of jet lag.  Anyway, we sat and chatted for a bit and then went our own ways for dinner.

Monday was my first day at work.  The day started with a comedy of errors though... one of the other Americans here (Kate) decided to stay at the Hilton because her apartment was without electricity.  We had agreed to meet at 8:00 in the lobby.  Well, at 8:00 Sara and I were standing around waiting.  I decided at 8:10 to call her room... evidentially her 6:00a wake up call never happened, so she was still sound asleep.  20 minutes later a very frazzled Kate arrived and we took off through the very heavy traffic towards the office.  On the way we took orders for Starbucks and ended up walking out with 7 drinks and several sandwiches and some muffins.  I spent the rest of the day reviewing numerous documents and trying to get up to speed on everything going on here.

Today is now Tuesday... although I had intended to submit this yesterday, it just never happened.  Anyway, today again filled with documents and a meeting that seemed like it would never end!!  I left at 3:00 to go look at apartments (flats).  I found a great one... but more about that later.  Anyway, I'm off to dinner.  We're headed to an Indian restaurant that is supposed to be great but will make your clothes stick like curry for a week.

Until later!!

Steve

 

Additional Picture

The picture of the sage was not attached to the blog... see below...

UK Days 1-2 (4 Feb - 5 Feb)

Hello all!

Well, after a full day in England, I have some useful information to share...  I've also been keeping count of the things I've seen.  So far:

• Bad British Hair - 10
• Bad British Teeth - 54
• Scots in the Hilton looking for beer at noon - 4
• Cute British Girls (from behind) - 3
• Cute British Girls (from front) - 0
• Scary British Girls - LOTS!!

Anyway, the flight from Denver to London was pretty good (left around 610p MST).  It was about 9 hours, of which I spent the first hour trying to sleep... in business/first class they are busy trying to serve you every 5 minutes during that first hour so I finally gave up.  After a snack, several beverages, and a warm towel, we started our dinner, which was pretty good.  A nice salad and some grilled prawns to start, then a chicken breast with risotto, and asparagus.  For dessert, I had an apple and cherry flan.  During and after dinner I watched "I, Robot".  I managed to get a few hours of sleep after the movie  and woke up around 1200a MST/0700a GMT.  I "raided the larder" or in American, "got a midnight snack."  They started serving breakfast around 0800a GMT so there wasn't much time for more sleep.  We landed in London at about 9:20 GMT and sat on the runway for a bit since we were pretty early.  We found a parking space (no joke) about 20 minutes later and then took a bus from the plane over to the terminal.  I wandered Heathrow and found my way from Terminal 4 where we came in to Terminal 1 where I was to depart.  British Airways had a nice lounge next to the outbound gate where I was able to wash my face and get something to drink (150 mL of Coke)... FYI: if you like alcohol, fly business class... I also checked my e-mail and sent out a quick message to a few people. 

 

My flight from London to Newcastle left at 1245p GMT and arrived around 145p.  I got my bags (75+ lb suitcase) and then got a cab to the hotel.  The Hilton in Newcastle is pretty nice but pricey.  It's about L105 ($200) per night.  Internet access is $30/day.  I will be looking at apartments next week.  I hear they have some pretty nice ones for about L375/week... YIKES!  For this week, I can be reached at the Hilton Newcastle.  The number here is (44) 191 490 9700.  I just checked with the hotel operator...  The country code is 44. Supposedly the rates on Vartec are $0.03/min with a $0.39 connect fee.  To dial, use 10-10-297 + 011 + 44 + 191 490 9700.  This seems to be a reasonable rate.  There are some calling cards that you can buy online that have a $0.005 rate... yes, 1/2 cent per minute.  As a comparison, Verizon direct dial is $.95/minute if you sign up for the infrequent use plan... if you sign up for the "Choice Plan", it will be $4/month + $.08/min.  I'd say Vartec is best (www.vartec.com).  With Qwest (Colorado), the rate is $4/mon and $.07/min.  Anyway, if anyone wants to research some more and find lower rates, please share!

I went to bed last night around 900p GMT and slept soundly until about 330a GMT.  I couldn't get back to sleep so I gave Athena a call at 430a GMT (830p PST).  After we talked, I was planning to go the gym, but discovered that is didn't open until 700a.  I ended up reading for a bit and then went back to sleep until about noon.  I got up and decided to walk around Newcastle.  I had lunch at an Italian place over on the other side of the river.  The Hilton is on the south side of the river with the main town on the north side.  I walked across the Gateshead Millennium Bridge (see attached picture).  There is also a new music hall called the Sage (also attached picture).  I walked through the shopping district to the north end of town where I stopped and grabbed the worst starbucks I've ever had and took a few pictures of the St. Thomas church (see another attached pic). 

 

As many people have said, the cars here are somewhat unique.  There are a lot of models you never see in the US.  I've seen 2 Honda S2000's though.  One popular car is the Nissan Micra (see attached picture of that).  As the name implies, it is a very small car.  I think the tires are actually 12 inches in diameter.  There are plenty of Fiats, Peugeots, and Fords.  I've seen a few BMWs and Porsche's, but I think those are "out of towners". 

 

Tomorrow I'm supposed to get together with the guy in charge of the work here.  He and his wife are living over here now... they moved from Kansas City about 4 months ago.  The plan is to do some sight seeing and then meet up with another person who is flying in from DC tomorrow.  I will start "working" on Monday... although I'm told as a business visitor I am not allowed to do "productive work".  I'm not sure what that means, but I guess I will find out!

 

That's about all for today!

 

Steve

 

 

Gateshead Millenium Bridge


The Sage Gateshead


St. Thomas Church


Nissan Micra

Into London

Hey,

I arrived in London about 30 minutes early. I managed to navigate through Hethrow (NOT an easy task) and find my way to the other terminal and to my gate. British Airways has a nice lounge for business travelers... again, for $6000-$1000, I'd hope you get something free. In the airport a 1/2 liter of Coke is £2 ($4). The cans they give on the plane and here in the lounge are 150 mL, about 4 oz... very tiny, but probably the correct amount to drink at one time.

Anyway, my flight to Newcastle leaves at 1245p... it's 1148a local time now. I managed to get a few hours of pretty good sleep on the plane... it made the 9+ hour flight seem shorter. As expected, they had a choice of steak or chicken... since the steak might have been from here, I went with chicken. It was pretty yummy. The appitizer was grilled prawns with a salad, which was also good. It might be hard going back to any domestic coach flights after this experience :-) (especially Southwest, the "no frills" airline)

Well, that's about all from here!! I'll try to e-mail from Newcastle!

Steve

T minus 30 Hrs

I'll be on a flight to the UK in just about 30 hours! I will be leaving around 6:00p Thursday and arriving in the UK Friday around 1:00p... 10 hrs from Denver to London... that'll be fun! I'm trying to get everything ready to go... not only do I have to pack for a month but I need to find all of the appropriate power converters for phones, laptops, etc. Anyway, things are a little hectic today... It's time to run out and grab some lunch, then get everything else done that I need to do.

Russ arrived to a snowy Colorado on Sunday... he's getting settled in and should be back online in the next day or two.

Later!
Steve