Hello from the Great White North

Although it's looking rather green at present; does London even qualify as "the Great White North"? It's rather southern as Canada goes. You can tell you're in another country because everyone's so nice. And the money's pretty! I am always bemused by American money's ugliness. I think it's an outgrowth of the Puritan/capitalist clash -- we're supposed to despise money-grubbing but everything in our culture screams spend spend spend. There's free internet which helps to make up for the phone roaming (argh).

At this point, I'm just glad I have some money. I left with $7 in my wallet, thinking "I'll just get some money at the airport." To my surprise, the ATM refused to give me money. I took a limousine to the hotel (which actually cost the same as a taxi -- ah, regulation to prevent gouging) because they took charge cards. The ATM at the hotel likewise turned its mechanical nose up at me, but a real bank cashpoint quickly distributed funds without the extra fee, too.

Although I slept through most of the first flight, I started reading the book I chose for the trip, Eric Idle's Road to Mars in which he cogitates on the nature of comedy, touching on the Red Nose, White Face dichotomy among other topics. Fun so far; it's always nice to have an excuse to read for more than five minutes at a time.

The BIG NEWS: Gene quoted again! (Why hasn't he blogged it?)