06 Jan 11 Raining In London
No surprise there you may say. London, and the UK has a reputation as a ‘rainy place’.
When I was in Charleston in South Carolina, on the east coast of the United States, I would often have people say to me that England is where it rains all the time.
Well, I used to put Charlestonians right and point out that the annual rainfall in Charleston is, at around 52 inches a year, a little over double that of London at about 25 inches.
The good people of Charleston were often surprised to hear about hose pipe and car washing bans in the south-east of England too.
Well, today in this part of London at least, it’s raining. Even so, it’s not raining heavily. No Ladies and Gentlemen, it’s not Charleston rain, when you get soaked through to your underwear dashing across the parking lot from store to car. No, it’s London rain, which is often not more than heavy drizzle.
It’s milder today anyway, so that was a bonus. Anyway, I had a doctor’s appointment this morning, so out in it I had to go.
I donned coat and cap, and set out. The surgery is only about 5 minutes walk from here in any case, and I am enjoying being able to walk to most of the local amenities once again. It’s not a mile and a half to the nearest 7-11 anymore!
Anyway, I’ve been in London now for six weeks, and in that time, it’s snowed twice for about four hours each, and there’s been just two rainy days. So much for it raining all the time!
Tags: amenities, annual rainfall, appointment, bonus, drizzle, east coast, England, hosepipe, ladies and gentlemen, london rain, parking lot, raining all the time, rainy days, reputation, six weeks, South Carolina, surprise, underwear, united states
08 Jul 08 Grilling Safely
Food-bourne bugs make around 76 million people in the United States sick year and over 300 thousand are made sick enough to be hospitalized, and around 5,000 die.
When you’re grilling out, be sure to cook that meat properly – the internal temperature of pork and chicken should be at least 165°F. E-Coli is a bacteria we hear about a lot lately, and it can survive at temperatures up to 122°F.
Also be sure to wash your hands between handling that raw meat, and preparing the salad.
Also when grilling out watch those flies. Flies digest their food by regurgitating it first, quite often after they’ve visited some fecal matter; I am sure you get the picture here.
Tags: bacteria, bourne, e coli, fecal matter, flies, food safety, internal temperature, raw meat, temperatures, united states, USDA
10 Apr 08 US Airport Delays
I’m not scared of flying.
I do always have that feeling of apprehension in my mind that something might go wrong though, and I don’t mean with the airplane itself.
I don’t like the hustle and bustle of airports; being herded around from one line to another; the delays, chaos, and endless waiting. As I’m around 6ft tall, I never find flights very comfortable either -certainly not long haul.
Ok, so it’s not always that bad.
I’ve taken many flights where I’ve turned up, and boarded, left on time, got to the other end early and got through immigration/baggage reclaim/customs etc, without any real issues.
Now, as a libertarian, I’m all for Government butting out of people’s lives, and out of business, and getting rid of as much red tape as possible, and just letting everyone get on with their lives.
However, I am heartened to see that the F.A.A is itse’f being taken to task for cosying up to the airline industry over safety checks and that audits are now taking place that are leading to huge swathes of flights being grounded.
No one wants to be delayed, but I know I would rather be delayed a while, than not get there at all.
There hasn’t been a major large jet disaster in the United States since that American Airlines jet crashed in Queens in the fall of 2001.
Airlines must make safety checks as mandated, and the F.A.A must be, and must be seen to be, the policemen in this role, and there must be no excuses or leeway given to airlines not to perform these checks.
After all, what’s the point of having big Government agencies in the first place, if they don’t perform the tasks they were set up to do?
Tags: airline industry, airplane, airports, american airlines, american airlines jet, apprehension, audits, bustle, chaos, customs, disaster, federal aviation authority, flights, government agencies, immigration, leeway, long haul, policemen, red tape, safety checks, united states
