The railway service in London is clean and smooth. Taking a Virgin Rail train (hope Virgin goes all the way) is a delightful experience. Comfortable seats, smooth jet stream ride and beautiful views of rolling hills, sheep and cows.
The only thing I knew about Manchester was the song from Hair "Manchester England England. Across the Atlatic sea..." It is a thriving metropolis much like Boston. They are known for their rain although it was nice weather while I was there. The joke in the town is that you look at the mountains and if you see black clouds, it's going to rain. If you don't see black clouds, it's already raining.
Walking along the downtown area, I was just in time to see school children rushing the streets to go home. They all had school uniforms on and looked like something out of Harry Potter.
Marks and Sparks is a great store and I could spend a lot of pounds in clothes and such. It is a cross between Filenes and Macy's. I bought a coat as it is getting chilly at night. I notice that people that work behind counters anywhere in England do not smile. They are very serious UNTIL I speak. I am finding out that the Brits love American accents much like we are fascinated by English accents A male teen student in England would do very well for himself with the girls.
The lecture in the evening was well attended by over 120 people. This photo is when the first wave of people arrived early. A second rush of the same number of people arrive just before the lecture. They were standing along the back as there were not enough seats.
After the lecture we went over to someone's house for tea and biscuits. The talk was of American Politics and they really hate Bush and can't wait for his depature. They seem to favor Hillary Clinton and are very curious about Barak Obama.
The train stations are very clean except for the lack of trash bins. They have all been removed for fear of bomb threats so you will see sections of neatly piled trash.
My train was Platform 4 and once on the train, I fell asleep because of the relaxing ride. The conductor would come on the speakers and first apologize for disturbing you. Then he would make his announcement and apologize for disturbing you again. They are so polite!
Last nights lecture was in Watford and was attended by about 50 people. Reviews are now coming out on the internet and all are favorable. My humour (we're in England so I must use the extra "u") is translating well. After the lecture, we were off for Indian Food (YUCK!) What did I eat? Chips (french fries) as they are everywhere.
They all laugh at my pronunciation of banana. They say "banahnah" They also say "tomaahto." We also have "Baaahth" and "traash". They have a word for everything!
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