swarms of angry nigerians (well dressed)
after close inspection it is obvious to me that king Mynyddog chose his stronghold at Din Eidyn (now called Edinburgh, Scotland) for its proximity to the Firth of Forth (and hence the north sea) and for the large, rocky hill (extinct volcano) on which to build the beginnings of the edinburgh castle...circa 600 AD. the castle is naturally protected on 3 sides by a massive rocky face. no army could scale that and hope to launch an offensive while cannons are pointed straight down at their ugly, medieval faces...except for robert the bruce's nephew and his men, who apparently climbed up the north face and took the castle back from the english in 1314.
http://www.geo.ed.ac.uk/home/tour/castle.jpg
i believe that's looking on from the north.
the british pound is currently damn near twice as strong as the US dollar. but there is no similar change in the cost of goods and services. eating out still costs 9-15 (depending), subs at subway are still 2.89-4 or whatever, pints at the pub are still 2.50-3, etc. most museums are free to the public, however. much of the cost of goods and services can be attributed to their VAT of 17.5%, compared to our sales tax normally of 5-8%.
if you figure that on any given evening in edinburgh 80% of the population is at a pub (of which there are plenty to accomodate these sort of numbers), then on st patrick's day there is 100% pub attendance, you don't really see much of a big fuss about the holiday like you do in college towns all across the USA. only 20 measly percent more people out...no big deal. no green beer either, but most people are drinking things like Guiness, and dark island, and edinburgh no. 3, and deuchars. they like their ales room temperature and flat. they don't even mess around with CO2 systems on their kegs. they use a hand pump. newcasle is considered "bottom of the barrel." they actually believe that the newcastle ale is some sort of sludge bi-product of the brewing process. they do enjoy imports such as carlsburg and budwieser. there is also some czech take on the budwieser simply called "budvar".
the bums in edinburgh all have dogs which do cute things such as hold out the cup for you to toss your coins in. i wasn't too generous though. i know they all get free healthcare anyway. socialized healthcare is not working so great in the UK. i've heard that it is working in places like france and germany. the doctors hate it, and want to work in the USA where they can make the kind of money they deserve and only take on as many patients as they can handle. and get the shit sued out of them.
the international terminal at london's heathrow is a madhouse of luggage trains, huge lines, and swarms of angry nigerians (well dressed, in the rest of the world i think they've held onto the old custom of dressing up to travel whether it be by plane, boat, or train).
"there's a chance you won't get on your plane to phoenix today. in that case, you will have to stay the night in london, and tomorrow you will take a longer flight to los angeles and then connect to phoenix," says the lady at the british air terminal desk.
"i don't fucking care," replies my traveling companion. "i'll go look at buckingham palace or some shit." ugly americans indeed.
http://www.geo.ed.ac.uk/home/tour/castle.jpg
i believe that's looking on from the north.
the british pound is currently damn near twice as strong as the US dollar. but there is no similar change in the cost of goods and services. eating out still costs 9-15 (depending), subs at subway are still 2.89-4 or whatever, pints at the pub are still 2.50-3, etc. most museums are free to the public, however. much of the cost of goods and services can be attributed to their VAT of 17.5%, compared to our sales tax normally of 5-8%.
if you figure that on any given evening in edinburgh 80% of the population is at a pub (of which there are plenty to accomodate these sort of numbers), then on st patrick's day there is 100% pub attendance, you don't really see much of a big fuss about the holiday like you do in college towns all across the USA. only 20 measly percent more people out...no big deal. no green beer either, but most people are drinking things like Guiness, and dark island, and edinburgh no. 3, and deuchars. they like their ales room temperature and flat. they don't even mess around with CO2 systems on their kegs. they use a hand pump. newcasle is considered "bottom of the barrel." they actually believe that the newcastle ale is some sort of sludge bi-product of the brewing process. they do enjoy imports such as carlsburg and budwieser. there is also some czech take on the budwieser simply called "budvar".
the bums in edinburgh all have dogs which do cute things such as hold out the cup for you to toss your coins in. i wasn't too generous though. i know they all get free healthcare anyway. socialized healthcare is not working so great in the UK. i've heard that it is working in places like france and germany. the doctors hate it, and want to work in the USA where they can make the kind of money they deserve and only take on as many patients as they can handle. and get the shit sued out of them.
the international terminal at london's heathrow is a madhouse of luggage trains, huge lines, and swarms of angry nigerians (well dressed, in the rest of the world i think they've held onto the old custom of dressing up to travel whether it be by plane, boat, or train).
"there's a chance you won't get on your plane to phoenix today. in that case, you will have to stay the night in london, and tomorrow you will take a longer flight to los angeles and then connect to phoenix," says the lady at the british air terminal desk.
"i don't fucking care," replies my traveling companion. "i'll go look at buckingham palace or some shit." ugly americans indeed.