UK Tips

This week I'm blogging from the United Kingdom- Staffordshire, England to be precise. Last week I was in New York, and the week before that was Dallas, so I guess I kind of travel a lot. That's my job though, attending meeting and looking in on government contractors. New York and Dallas are different than home, but the UK is really a different world. Oh sure, they speak English, but I don't recognize half of the items on a restaurant menu. That's actually why I decided to write this. I keep running into situations that I wish I would've been prepared for, then remembering that I've been here before and should've known. Like tip #1:

1. Bring a bar of soap, and maybe even your own shampoo.
In the hotels they have 2 complimentary toiletries: a pump full of "Hand Soap" by the sink and a pump of "Hair & Body Wash" in the shower. Ironically, I just cleaned all the stolen toiletries from New York and Dallas out of my suitcase before I left.

2. They call food weird things, and even if you recognize it, it might be gross.
Last time I was here (Oct. 2003) I ordered a dinner of Ham & Rocket (Rocket=Lettuce). Believe it or not, that was the safest choice on the menu. When if came, it was a big plate of lettuce, with strips of raw ham and smothered in brown sauce. What is brown sauce? I don't know, but it makes up the big three condiments (along with ketchup and mustard) in England, and it tastes like Death. The only flavor I could isolate was vinegar.
So I guess there's two lessons there: Ask for brown sauce on the side and if you order meat, make sure it's cooked.

I guess I should elaborate on where "here" is. We work with a company called Goodrich which is in Wolverhampton (there's another tip- 90% of the cities in England end in -ton, -shire, or -ham). Wolverhampton is the UK equivalent of say, Gary Indiana. It's gray, industrial and slightly depressing, and when people learn you're American, they can't figure out why you're here. We're stay at a little inn called the Moat House, which is truly a "Unique and Special Place." As the website says, it's in the "Heart of the UK," which like the "Heart of America," means "The Middle of Nowhere."
Actually, Staffordshire is pretty nice little village. There's a canal running through the country side, and people rent these camper boats and cruise around for days, docking at night, and mooring the boat where they find something interesting. There's a nice little path along the canal (which I understand is where the mules walked while pulling barges hundreds of years ago) where people jog and ride bikes. My co-worker buddy Joey and I went for a nice jog on it tonight after work, and it was great. Although like the regular roads, it was perilously narrow. There were even a couple of old stone bridges we had to duck under.
Speaking of which, it's now 9:30 here and I still need to shower. I may accumulate some more tips before I leave, but all in all coming here's alright. Don't get me wrong, it's no London, and I would probably rather be home with Kate playing Nintendo, but it's kind of fun to see the totally non-commercial side of England. Tomorrow we have more meetings, then it's off to Preston, where BAE is. What's there you ask? No idea.