HUMP DAY HISTORY! A report from Westminster

Hello, again, friends!

I am back.

Hardly felt like I was gone, only about 24 hours.  But a lovely "stay-cation" nonetheless.  It's timely that my adventures in Westminster London happen to fall on "Hump Day History" as I will share some of the tidbits I learned today.

I haven't been to London in AGESSSS.  The last time I was there was New Years Eve 2009 but I was quite ill unfortunately so apart from joining the crowds along the Thames to briefly see the fireworks, I spent most of the trip in the hotel.  The last time I properly explored London was 2007 when my parents came to visit me when I studied abroad.  As I said, AGEESSS.

As soon as our train pulled into London Victoria station, all the fun memories and happy energy came right back to me.  As we passed our old haunts along the way, I was overcome by nostalgia yet strangely felt like I had never left.  As if London was an old friend of mine. 

When I studied abroad in Spring 2007, Kieran and I met up often in London and spent memorable weekeends together.  As our relationship grew deeper through our adventures in London, it became harder and harder to leave each other at Victoria Station every time.  I still feel nauseous when I think of those long bus rides back to Cheltenham, crying on and off (which I'm sure disrupted my fellow riders) and wondering when I'd see him next.  I was so insanely happy to be beyond that stage in our life together--FINALLY.  Now after a lovely trip, I don't have to say goodbye anymore.  I can have a cup of tea with the hubby and talk about how much fun we had.  That's a good feeling.

ANYWAYS, enough of the mushy stuff (sorry), on to the history lessons!

BIG BEN

The Big Ben clock tower has a spiral staircase with 334 steps up to the bell tower.  You bet your ass I completed each one (not to mention going back down again!).  Oh there's no lift in that baby!  You have to earn your history lesson when you get a tour.  But definitely worth it! 

Unfortunately we weren't able to take photos inside but it was amazing!  We went to meet Big Ben himself (he is loud, we had to wear ear plugs) and got to see the views of London from the top, even though it was a little foggy.

The Great Clock was installed in 1859 and its first tick was heard on May 31st.  It was designed by amateur clock enthusiast, Edmund Denison, and constructed by Edward Dent.

Didja know?
"Big Ben" is actually the name of the bell itself, not the full tower that we recognize.  The clock itself is called the The Great Clock or The Clock Tower
The bell installed today is actually Big Ben #2.  The first bell was cracked during testing so it had to be made into scrap metal.  The second bell was pulled up in a shaft by the sheer brute strength of 8 guys.  It took them over 30 hours to hoist the bell to the top!  Imagine their annoyance when after a few months later the new bell was cracked again during testing.  Fortunately they were able to repair the bell in place.

The clock's mechanisms are maintained 3 times a week by experts.  Even today the equillibrium of the clock's pendulum are adjusted by adding or taking away old pennies for counter-balance.

In 1885 a special light called the "Ayrton Light" was installed at the top of the clock and is lit whenever either House is in debate after dark.  Originally the light was specifically pointed towards Buckhingham Palace so Queen Victoria would know when Parliament was debating at night.  But later it was expanded for all to see.

Houses of Parliament

source

Once again, not allowed to take pictures (except for Wesminster Hall which I'll discuss in a second), but it's gorgeous.  Not as massive as the U.S. Congressional Buildings and underground tunnels which are impressive but the decor alone was breathtaking.  Plus, since the monarch is connected to the decisions of Parliament, there is more than one room with an elaborate throne.  Pretty cool.

"The Palace of Westminster" has been a royal palace for about 1,000 years and home to Parliament for nearly 500.  It is one of the most important buildings in the U.K.

Didja know?

The Palace of Westminster was originally the home to Kings and Queens before the nation's politicians were granted use of the space for law making in 1550

The chambers for the House of Commons and House of Lords doesn't have enough space for all Members (several hundred seats short, to be specific).  If you don't get a seat, you can't participate in debates

Fire and destruction have damaged much of the original parts of the building. First in 1834 and again during The Blitz of the 1940s.  Of course don't forget the failed plot of Guy Fawkes to blow up the Houses of Parliament in 1605.

Westminster Hall is the oldest remaining part of the building.  It was pretty much the only part that survived the great fire of 1834 and the 1941 bombing raid.  Amongst other things, the Hall has been used for social events, banquents, feasts, etc.  Most recently, President Obama addressed a large crowd there in May.  It was also the backdrop of many high profile legal trials including Sir Thomas More, Guy Fawkes, and King Charles I.  The verdicts did not end well for these individuals!  In recent years it has been used for deceased monarchs and parliamentarians to lay in state.

The name "Parliament" comes from the French "parlez" which means "to speak."

Westminster Hall

 



House of Commons Champagne...hehe



What a fun day!  Cheers to the hubby for organizing the trip.  Plus, no stay in London is complete without a trip to see Nan & Grandad London and get some yummy bread pudding.  Cheers to them for their hospitality!

JUST 4 MORE SLEEPS TIL MOM AND DAD GET HERE!  Yay!!

Have a great rest of the week, readers!

Amanda

London calling!

We're off on a short trip to London tomorrow! 

Only gonna be gone overnight, but there will be much to do!  The hubby has arranged for us to get a tour of the Houses of Parliament and Big Ben!  Also in store will be a lovely visit (and likely an amazing home cooked meal) with nan, grandad, and aunt Debbie at "The Hotel of Nan London"! 
Hope we have some nice weather!



Me in London, Circa 2007

I'm sure I'll have loads to report/post about on my return Weds evening!  See you then!

Love,
Amanda xoxo

Saturday Updates!

Updates from the previous week, as promised!  thanks for your patience, friends.  As I said yesterday, this week has been unusually busy for me--some good stuff, some just plain random.

On the job front:
I've applied for over 70 jobs since I started my search in June...wowza!  Starting to get annoying now.  But I did score an interview with Surrey County Council doing adult social work.  Won't be til next month, but it's something!  Also, Surrey (depending on where the jobs may be located) can be quite a haul from Sussex so that will be something to consider when the time comes.  Might need to get a car after all if all goes well.  Although I continue to search weekly for social work jobs in Sussex, most of them seem to be taken, given to less qualified "support workers" for less pay (saves the council money, but ultimately quality of client care will suffer), or are internal posts only open to existing council employees.  From what I understand from local gossip/news, jobs in West Sussex County Council are being "made redundant" due to funding cuts and they have to (by law) move their permanent employees around to secure different roles before they can take on more staff.  Makes sense.  Still stinks for me and others like me in the area!

Randomly on Tuesday I got a phone call from a sales and marketing agency in Worthing inviting me for an interview.  The conversation happened so fast, from what I understood they had obtained my CV from one of the SEVERAL job recruitment websites I posted it on.  Fair enough, I figured I'd see what it was all about, even though I didn't actually apply for anything.  After all, their office was about 5 minutes from my flat it was no skin off my nose.  I arrived to find a bare office (they had clearly just moved in or moved out) which was weird.  The first question I was asked was "why are you interested in sales and marketing?"  Pardon?  I wasn't.  You called me, remember?  Well anyways, they just asked me general questions about my skills and I answered honestly.  I was shocked when they called me at the end of the day to schedule a second interview.

The next day another guy in the bare office told me about this brand new company and how they needed hard working people (i.e. warm bodies willing to work long hours on commission pay only) to sell the product (home insulation for energy efficiency) and if key sales benchmarks were made then there would be opportunities to move up.  The interview went well and I'm sure they would put me to work if I was willing.  I'm just fortunate to not be desperate for income cause the idea of door-to-door sales makes my skin crawl.  What would my mother say if her daughter was going into the homes of pensioners selling insulation?  Is that what a Master's degree is good for these days?? No thank you.  I'd rather be doing admin work for minimum wage at a charity or county council than do sales.  It's not my thing.  Knowing my personality, I'd probably go into homes and then get side-tracked by helping people with more pressing psycho-social needs and never make a sale, lol.  It's still flattering to get a first and second interview, although my instinct tells me that they were more attracted to my having a pulse and a warm body than any skills/experience I would bring to the table.

So all this free time was making me depressed so I decided to pursue some volunteer work to keep me doing positive things and to gain the very elusive "post qualification, UK-based, social work experience."  Plus, karma tends to work out the way it should when you put positivity into the universe.  This week I started volunteering at the Alzheimer's Society and once my CRB checks clear, I will start doing friendly home visits for elderly and home bound clients involved with AgeUK.  I'm very excited about the opportunities that these two organizations have offered me and they have made me feel very welcome already!  Plus, the Alzheimer's Society is about a 3 mile bicycle ride away so at least once a week I get in some exercise!  Just goes to show that volunteering can be good for the mind, body, and soul!

 New flat search is OVER!
As you read about recently, we have recently been informed that we have to vacate our beautiful flat because the owner wants to sell it.  In fact, it's already under offer!  We have til October but we started our flat hunt ASAP.  I have seen so many properties over the past few weeks.  Flats, houses, maisonettes, 1 bedrooms, 4 bedrooms, the lot, seafront, 5 miles from the sea, etc etc.  They were all crap.  Either the lounge was too small, the bedroom sizes laughable, or the kitchens were not up to scratch.  Some had nice outdoor spaces but we too far away from the center of town (keep in mind we don't have a car, I walk to do most of my grocery shopping!)  We saw a property this week that was VERY close to what we wanted, but not quite there.  The next day the estate agent called me back to say a flat on the seafront had just come on the market and he thought we would like it.  He was right!  It's just one block from where we are now so we get to enjoy the great location and sea views.  It's massive and the kitchen is AMMAZZZINNGGGG.  Better yet, even though it's slightly bigger and nicer than the flat we have now, the price is the same.  Score!  Only downside is we have no balcony (so sad!) but the kitchen and large lounge were worth the sacrifice.

I think both of us were hoping to downsize slightly in price, but it became clear that cheaper places just didn't offer the space and location we were looking for.  It's still do-able, so we're happy with the choice.  So once all the credit checks and financial stuff goes through (hopefully next week) we can get a move in date and give our current landlord notice (seems redic to have to give notice after we've been told to vacate but whatevs, British laws).

Friday
After cycling to the estate agent to drop off paperwork and application fees (ouch my bank account), "Nan Worthing" and her partner took me for a nice drive out to Littlehampton to peruse their market.  What a beautiful day!  Nan Worthing loves to spoil the grandchildren with sweets/desserts.  She gave us a box of chocolates, baklava from the Littlehampton market, and encouraged me to devour a whole bowl of profiteroles with lunch.  Oy!  We had a great afternoon.  She even took me to Sainsburys to pick up chicken and chips for the hubby cause she felt bad he was missing a meal with us.  She's too sweet!  I definitely appreciated the drive on such a sunny day.

We ended the evening at a friend's housewarming party with a few drinks and nibbles.  Good fun!

The Americans Are Coming!
A week from tomorrow, my parents arrive!  I'm so psyched, I've been waiting for this moment since I left them at the airport in May.  Kieran and I have been busy today getting bedding and discussing tentative plans for their visit.  I have to work on an itinerary and menus for the week, can't wait!  My parents aren't huge travelers, they got their first passports in 2007 when they visited me in London, so  it means a lot to me that they are coming over to see us.  And I'm glad we've found our new flat so we can show them where we will be living next.  Yay!  I hope they will feel at home in our flat.
*GASPS FOR BREATH*
I told you I had a lot of updates!  I think we're all caught up now!

Tonight the hubby and I are going with a group of friends to see the new Inbetweeners movie!  For those of you outside of England, it was a brilliant comedy series that wrapped up about a year ago and the movie has been highly anticipated by all the fans like me!  It's gonna be hilarious, I know it!

Ta ta!
xoxox
A

Non-Foodie Friday!

My goodness, I am WAAYYYY overdue for an update, this week has been so crazy.  I have LOADS to tell you.  I will work on an update post for tomorrow so I will be up to date!  Promise!!

On Wednesday (Hump Day History) I was gonna post a guest post by a fellow 20-Something Blogger but we both got busy and got delayed.  So I'm posting it now, just a little late!  So Foodie Friday will have to wait til next week.  I hope you enjoy this special post!

So, without further ado, this guest post is brought to you by Misha, who is also an expat.  She's is Polish/Swedish living in Australia.  To check out her adventures (and to read my guest post in the coming days) you can check out her blog HERE!  Enjoy!

Firstly, do not fear, Amanda’s blog has not been kidnapped by an evil overlord. We are simply taking part in the 20 Something Blog Swap, so I’ll be hanging out here for the day! Make sure to check out Amanda’s guest-post over at my blog – Endlessness Ego.

Secondly, the introduction!  Hello  everyone, I’m blogging from down under,  that massive chunk of land known as Australia (where yes, in fact, we do eat our kangaroos), and  I have been here for the past 4.5 years. Originally I’m born and raised in Sweden, with polish roots.  How on earth did I end up on the other side of the globe? Initially I came here to study and finish my undergrad in film, but managed to extend my studies so I’m on the verge of finishing my Masters in film as well.  

The fantastic thing that everyone kept telling me about with Australia, is that it’s pretty much a case of endless summer. That is of course not the complete truth. Yes, it doesn’t exactly snow here or get ass-freezin cold as I’m used to back in Sweden, but we do have our “winter” season – it rains. However, this only lasts around 3-4 months. The rest of the year is… yes,  I’d call it summer. 

There is one thing that amazes me though. It was only upon my very first weeks in Australia that I actually got a tan. Life kind of gets the hold of you and miraculously the summer has passed and you’re still… pale as a sheet. How is it possible to miss out on all these opportunities to hang out on the beach all day long? Oh yes, that’s right. I work night-shifts. Being a full-time student results in part-time work and I have earned my income in the hospitality industry – in nightclubs behind bars.

This summer however, remember everything is upside-down here in Oz,  we’re going through the winter season while your summer is about to end, I will capture every bit of that endless summer. I will surf. I will skateboard. I will ride my bike. Usually I spend too much time with my laptop, or playing Xbox, or catching up on TV-shows. But no, this summer, I’m embracing being wild and free and outdoorsy. It’s insane how I always got more out of my summers when there was less of it when I lived in Europe, than when I am in the country of summer.

I got a quick preview of the summer-life when I very briefly visited Europe in June. It’s wonderful how you can manipulate so that you constantly have summer, as long as you change destination. Imagine that, always living and breathing summer. What a carefree lifestyle! That’s exactly what the corporate zombies that we’re turning into need. Carpe that endless summer, and carpe it with pictures of course… Oh snap!

xoxoxo
Amanda

FOODIE FRIDAY!

End of the week finally!  Thought I'd never see it go.  I walked about 4 miles today just flat hunting, at least I snuck in some fitness!  Saw several properties today, but nothing "ticks all the boxes" yet. 

Today I had to be out of the flat so the estate agent could show our flat to potential buyers (boo! hiss!) so I decided to get some lunch at my new favorite spot--Mr. Toy's Flying Wok Noodle Bar.  For £4 you can get a box of noodles and a soda, brilliant!  I got my favorite--Hokkein noodles with tofu and mix veg in singapore sauce--and enjoyed my lunch on the beach.  

Source

It got me thinking about Chinese food in the UK. You wouldn't think that Westernized Chinese food would vary much from place to place, but there are a few menu differences I've noticed as an expat.  Here's a description of some of them!

1.  PRAWN CRACKERS.  It's a delicious cracker made from shrimp and starch and fried.  Over here when you get take-away Chinese food you get a small white trash bag (ok probably not a trash bag but it's similar to the white bin bags I put in my small pedal bin in my bathroom) full to enjoy with your meal.  I LOVE THEM.  If the hubby leaves me alone in a room with them, I will eat them all before he gets a chance. 

source

 

 

 

 

2.  WHERE'S THE LO MEIN??  Although probably the highest calorie item on the Chinese food menu, Lo Mein is one of my favorites from the States.  But it's difficult to find this on a menu over here.  Often it's called Chow Mein or fried noodles.  Sometimes it's identical to what I'm used to but other times it's a very thin, dry noodle instead.  Depends where you go--always an adventure to find out!


3.  PAPER OR PLASTIC?  One thing that a lot of people here like about the Flying Wok Noodle Bar is that they serve the noodles in a traditional white box.  Like so:

Source

People get a kick out of it because this is actually very rare in the UK.  I've grown quite accustomed to the white take-away boxes where I'm from. Instead, Chinese take-away over here generally comes in plastic tupperware which is great for washing and re-using later for leftovers!

4.  ALL YOU CAN EAT!  A Chinese buffet on either continent is a beautiful thing.  I still recall fondly my undegrad days in Pennsylvania when a group of my starving friends and I would go China Buffet in town and stuff ourselves silly.  (And when I say "in town" I mean a shopping center in the middle of nowhere, next to Walmart).  In England, they do have the "trough-style" buffet bar that we all know of, but they also have a different take.  Some buffets you go to have menus and you don't even have to get up to refill your plate (amazing)!  You just pay a flat fee and then pick out food all night if you want.  If you can still fit through the door when you're done, then you're not doing it right!

Any other differences you've noticed in Chinese or other types of take-away??

This weekend should be a laugh, as Worthing is hosting its annual Birdman Competition.  Long story short, people fling themselves off the pier with their home-made flying contraptions to see how far they can go.  For more information about the events, go to their event website.  I walked down the pier today to find that preparations are underway for Saturday and Sunday's flying events! 

Kieran's parents were kind enough to let us borrow their binoculars for the weekend.  We have a pretty decent view of the activities from our flat, but the binoculars will give us a much better perspective!  More updates to come!

Hope everyone has a great weekend!
xoxox
Amanda

HUMP DAY HISTORY!

Happy Wednesday, readers! 
I almost forgot what day it was til I was informed by a kind estate agent I had called to set up a flat viewing.  Not much to report except that the hunt for our new home is well underway. No winners yet, but I've got 2 appointments tomorrow and 8 properties we saw online that I need to set up viewings for.  I guess this is one benefit to being unemployed, having ample time to view flats!  Still job hunting obviously, nothing happy to report on that front, to be honest, so we'll just leave it at that.

Tonight was a laugh, a group of us went down to the beach for a bbq.  Despite the windy weather, we found a good spot to grill up some burgers, hot dogs, and sausages.  Kieran and I grilled up our "exotic" bison burgers and llama burgers, too! Quite yummy, I must say, although I let a friend eat the rest of my llama burger.

Burn, baby, burn!

Yum, exotic burgers!

Friend's dog, Barney, came to say hello (and eat our scraps)

The other day I took a stroll around the neighborhood and sat for a while in a local park called Steyne Gardens.  Of course, even green spaces in England have their own history!  As I was walking through I noticed a placard about the garden's history.  Imagine that!

HUMP DAY HISTORY

STEYNE GARDENS, WORTHING

The gardens were presented to the town in 1900 by Lady Maria Georgiana Loder, the widow of Sir Robert Loder, former Conservative MP for the Shoreham area.  In 1980, the local Rotary Clubs celebrated the 75th Anniversary of Rotary International by installing a "sunken" garden with aromatic flowers designed for blind to enjoy the scents of the flowers and greenery.  The garden was last refurbished in 2007 during the council's "Greening the Borough" initiative. 

This beautiful green space has been home to many fun summer events, including Splash FM Festival, Worthing Motor Show, and the seafront fun fair.  On sunny days you can see families taking strolls, people playing sports, and young and old alike enjoying the flowers and the shade.  

That's all for now!

Later,

A

FOODIE FRIDAY!

Yay!  It's the end of the week (though the days seem to blend together for me).  I enjoy the weekends because the hubby is home and we get up to some fun shenanigams at some point.  Tomorrow evening we're having some friends over to the flat, which I am looking forward to.  Half of my kitchen space is currently occupied by bottles of spirits, wine, beer, and mixers, so it's bound to be an entertaining evening.  Plus, if I get sleepy my bed is just in the other room.  Not like that time at the Pirate Pub Crawl where I fell asleep at the bar before nine, lol.  My bad. 

Yesterday was truly awful, I was glad to see it go.  It rained most of the day and every follow up job phone call I made was a dead end.  Just to clarify the context, I'm a qualified social worker with three years post-qualifying experience and seven years total experience working with vulnerable populations, healthcare, and policy.  I'm too qualified for entry level jobs or "support work" jobs so even if I was desperate for the income (thank goodness I'm not) I wouldn't be considered for those posts unless I lied about my education and experience. 
However, the jobs I AM qualified for keep turning me away because they want someone with UK-BASED experience.  So in other words, a UK resident with 2 years of experience here would get a job over me.  How is that right or fair?  It's not fair to the client to have a professional without sufficient experience and it's not fair to people like me who are willing, eager, and able to put years of experience to work. 

Just as I was reaching my breaking point of frustration, I was informed that the landlord of our flat intended to put it up for sale and we'd have to move out by October.  WHAT.  Of all the ups and downs over the past two months, one of the few things that brought me comfort was this amazing flat that we have worked hard to furnish and make our own.  I felt like someone pulled the rug out from under me, although I shouldn't have been too surprised based on the random "appraisal" visit that was done last week.  After I cried for an hour and whined to my mom over the phone, I dusted myself off and booked some flat viewings over the next few days.  When Kieran got home, we both moped around and he made us chips and chicken for dinner--nothing like fried food to cure the blues!  We told each other that everything would be okay and we'd get through it.  At least we have each other!  Still sucks a lot, I love this place to bits :-(  I wish we could afford to buy it.
I am DREADING having to move--AGAIN.  Except this time, even though we won't be going far, we have a crap ton of heavy furniture to move! Rubbish.

Well, even after bad news, there's always a fun food story to share.  Here's this week's!

FOODIE FRIDAY!

Stay awhile, crocodile!

Last weekend we had a massive market along the seafront with different types of vendors, both food and non-food related.  After I had fallen asleep at home (see previous post about helping people move and assembling large pieces of furniture), Kieran went out and got some exotic meats from a South African food vendor, including bison burgers, llama burgers, and crocodile tail.  I had no idea where I was going to find a recipe for crocodile meat, but alas I found an Australian site with a good one

"Skewered crocodile with lime and ginger sauce"

INGREDIENTS
200 g crocodile meat, cut into 2 cm cubes
20 ml lime juice
100 ml chicken stock
20 ml honey
20 g brown sugar
3 g ginger, finely diced
20 ml olive oil
Salt and pepper to taste
Bamboo skewers
Rice of your choice

INSTRUCTIONS:
Soak the bamboo skewers in warm water so meat won't stick to it

Thread the crocodile meat onto bamboo skewers, place in a flat dish, season with salt and pepper, pour lime juice over and place in fridge for 30-60 minutes to let it marinate.
Heat olive oil in a frying pan and sauté crocodile skewers for about 5 minutes, turning halfway.  When finished, set aside and keep warm.

Prepare your rice based on box instructions.

In a pot or pan, combine lime juice, honey, brown sugar, ginger, chicken stock
Bring to the boil, reduce heat and simmer for 2 minutes.

Serve skewers over a bed of rice, spoon sauce over meat.  Add veg to the side if you like

Now I got a bit excited and also made fried bananas.  I tried to get plantains with no luck but the bananas were quite tasty!!  Check out the final result:

It was a very interesting flavor and the meat was a bit like tough beef but it was nice! The only similar thing I have had was "fried gator bits" from New Orleans.

I would try it again, but it was a bit expensive--£8 for just 250g.  Still worth a try.  I'll let you know how the burgers turn out!

The hubby has assembled our new hookah with lime flavored steam stones and is nudging me to have a go, so I'm off now.  Cheers for reading.  Have a fantastic weekend!

A

xxx

HUMP DAY HISTORY!

Welcome to the middle of the week, friends!

I am SO pleased that summer has finally showed up here!  The past 5 days have been sunny, warm, and rain free.  I'm loving it. 

As such, we've spent quite a bit of time outdoors over the last few days.  Here's a little review!

On Saturday we helped our friends move to a nearby neighborhood.  Going up and down stairs with heavy boxes really gave my calves a workout!  In the afternoon, we checked out the Worthing Lions Club Festival Market with loads of merchants/food stalls along the seafront.



Found at a discount book stall--It's Waldo with a different alias



Blown glass, pretty sweet



That's a lot of slushies!

On Saturday we also got our bedroom furniture delivered (yay!  finally a place for my underoos and shirts!)  so we spent much of the afternoon assembling them.  Of course these things always come in about 14,205,356 pieces and I can never understand the instructions.  Good thing Kieran was there to make sure I wasn't building things upside down.  By the time we finished, I was so knackered from the day's events, I passed out early.

Sunday was brilliant, a group of us went to nearby Arundel read about the history of this castle! to get a tour of the castle and to see the "Medieval Encampment" and jousting match!

Check out this video I took:

It was so much fun!  Poor hubby (and our other fair skinned friends) got nasty sun burns, but nothing a little aloe can't sort out.  Sunday night we knuckled down and FINALLY selected our wedding pics for our album and prints.  PHEW! No easy task, we were exhausted yet chuffed with ourselves for having accomplished it.  One less thing to worry about!

Monday morning I had a lovely bike ride with my father-in-law.  It was the maiden voyage of my newish bike (walking it home from the shop on the day I bought it doesn't count).  We biked down to Shoreham and walked around the grounds of a 900 year old church (I know it's morbid, but I love old graveyards).  Then he showed me the Shoreham houseboats moored along the River Adur.  It's amazing the creativity (and talents with a soldering tool) in these houseboats, I had never seen anything like it!

source

How cool is that?!

After cycling back, grocery shopping, and lugging full bags home over a mile, I was done with the day's fitness.


Today was the first HOT day in England terms.  About close to 80F.  I had been so spoiled with 65F weather, today felt sweltering.  It was the first time I was actually uncomfortable in the flat.  Not gonna lie, I did my household chores in my underoos.

So that's the last few days, in a nutshell!  Now on to today's history lesson:

BT's Speaking Clock Turns 75!

The other day I was watching the news and saw a story about Britain's "speaking clock" and how it recently celebrated its 75th anniversary (24 July, to be exact).  From 1936 til today, one can dial "1-2-3" from any BT phone and get the precise time.  Not in the UK?  No problem, you can dial +44 871 789 3642 from the U.S.!

The Speaking Clock is a national institution and part of Britain's Heritage.  It was originally introduced in 1936 for people who did not have a watch or clock. 

Around 30 million calls every year are made to the speaking clock, which was nicknamed "Tim" because originally the line could be called by dialing the corresponding numbers (846)

Initially the accuracy of the clock was one-tenth of a second, but today it is accurate to within five thousandths of a second. Even Big Ben uses the service to check its accuracy.

The "voice" of the clock is almost as famous as the service itself, with only four permanent voices ever used. The fourth, and current, voice is Sara Mendes da Costa, who became the clock's voice in April 2007 after winning a nation-wide contest. 

So why do so many people still call this service now that we have computers, cell phones, and digital clocks/watches?  Some just get a kick out of it and its historical significance.  Others use it to define the exact moment of a holiday or special occassion (i.e. New Years).  Reportedly there are several phone calls made just before 5pm, when customer service staff are trying to avoid having to take a lengthy phone call at the end of the day.
Source1
Source2
Source3

Thanks for reading!

Amanda xxx