London Calling Sunday, July 2, 2000

A real live update prior to my London entry. This morning I had a wonderful message waiting for me from Best Buy. They were verifying that I ordered two laptops and a big screen television over the internet from Bestbuy.com. Of course, I hadn't, so my credit card had been stolen. Great. I still have the card, so it was just the number. Ironic that I just had posted about identity theft, but hadn't done anything about it. :-( Anyway, it seems that the damage has been limited and I have a back up credit card, but the morning was spent: calling the police and filing a report, calling the FTC to report it, calling Transunion to put a fraud alert on my account and finally calling the companies who charge my credit card on a regular basis. Those will continue for a bit as I figure out which ones I've missed. Ugh. One thing of note if this happens to you: devote a sheet of paper to write down everyone you talk to, confirmation numbers, file numbers, times of calls, other phone numbers to call, etc. Just make a little timeline. It will help keep you organized and the facts straight.


In my ongoing tribute to Ricardo and wife being in London, I'm reprising the emails I sent home during my trip to both London and Paris. This is entry #4:

It's Sunday, time for Church

-Ok, none of that had to do with any experience you'll have in the UK, but it was interesting to me. Today we drove north about an hour and a half to the town of Lincoln to see the Lincoln Castle and Cathedral. These are the types of buildings you picture when you picture English buildings in your head. Cool city too. Oh, if you're looking for real estate there, apparently the man to contact is Nigel Harrison. He's a real estate agent and his name was everywhere, and now it's in my email. I'll attach some pictures via Tom's digital camera of the town. I have got to get one of those doohickeys.

-So we're driving up to Lincoln and everyone is on the opposite side of the ride, which periodically scares the shit out of me by the way. This truck was in front of us and was turning left and there was a dog driving! At least, that's what I thought. If you think about it, as the vehicle turns left, in the US, the

driver is exposed to your view. Here, the wheel is on the other side so you see a passenger. Yesterday a truck with no one driving drove by the living room. Very strange.

-Anyway, here's some things I learned about driving: Speed signs are posted in miles per hour. They also use yards, no meters. But they also use liter's, Celsius and stone's for weight. You figure it out.

Signs with blue circles and x's in them mean no parking. Duh.

Another sign: "Caution experimental traffic scheme ahead" What!! What the hell is that? What do you mean "experimental"? Does everyone have to suddenly drive on the other side of the road or backwards or some crazy kind of shit like that? You're already driving on the wrong side of the road as it is what are you experimenting with?

"Humps next 200 yards", ok if you insist. Thank goodness I have a hands-free cell phone.

-Here's a different thought. I'm going to see this castle, in England, an hour and a half away and it's rained everyday at least part of the day. So you'd think anyone with half a brain would bring a jacket "just in case" wouldn't you? Yeah, you would. Unfortunately you weren't here to help me out.

-The sheep have left me alone. For now.

-Tom drove me down a "lane" today. If he, or someone else, offers to do this for you, beg them not to and then leave their company. These "lanes" are really just places of death. They are narrow "roads" with high weeds on either side so you can't possibly see what the hell is coming. Then, the locals, knowing that only tourists come down these hell-roads, go 70+ mph around sharp curves thinking no one is going to be there. Nice.

-One correction by the way. Tom and Sue live in Peckleton, not Leicester. Saying they live in Leicester, while not like saying someone in Naperville lives in Chicago, it is like saying someone in Woodridge lives in Naperville. Just as offensive.

-Last night we had Indian food, at my request. Eighteen pounds for enough food to stuff three people. Much better value than London and tasty food too!

-The sheep are watching again.