Wow:

My blog's gotten kind of dry. I will try to think of a funny story or something cause this is really sad. My boss really cracks me up, so maybe I should just follow him around for a day.

Oh, and I got actual bacon in Newry. Not fried ham. American bacon. And Rice Krispies. It was the most exciting part of my day, particularly since I was drenched, freezing, and missed my damn bus. Ah, the joys of travel.

NI elections:

I'm back from Dublin today. I do have a lot to say about the trip, but not now. I went to Newry, in County Down, in the north of Ireland as part of my trip and that's what I want to blog about.

A little background, for those of you who don't follow such things. NI held elections on Thursday for seats in a body that would allow government of NI from Belfast. These elections operated on a preference system, that is you could select your first, second, third, etc choice. If your first choice had enough votes, your vote would go to your second choice and so on. It's a confusing system and one that has made the voting difficult to tabulate.

The elections went heavily Sinn Fein and Ulster Unionist. This by itself is not good news. The UUP is the anti-agreement unionist party and, well, Sinn Fein is the political wing of the IRA. The SDLP and the DUP, the two moderate parties in Ireland, both held roughly constant and the smaller parties were wiped out.

However, there's a lot of good news that came out of these elections. One piece is simply that they went well, no problems other than minor disturbances at the polling booths. No records of violence/intimidation used.

Another is that the majority of the people seemed pro-peace. Some unionists even preffed the Sinn Fein or SDLP candidates over those of the UUP, showing their dissatisfaction at Ian Paisley's opposition to the peace process. And at least some who voted Sinn Fein did so because of Gerry Adams' and the party's role in the peace process.

And that brings me to Newry. Newry is a heavily Catholic/Republican (and the two terms aren't interchangeable but I'm going to use them this way anyway) market town (maybe 70,000 people) just on the UK side of the border. I wish I could post my pictures of the town, they feature a tricolour, pIRA grafiti, and Sinn Fein election posters. I will try to get to a computer for that soon. The people here aren't pro-British. I spoke with the woman I stayed with about the elections and said something along the lines of "they went well." I wish I could quote her whole response, but I'll do the best I can. She said, "depending on what side you're on. I voted Sinn Fein, I don't know if you know what that means. They're basically the political face of the IRA. I voted Sinn Fein for one reason only. You know who Gerry Adams is, he's the reason there's peace here. I voted for Gerry Adams because, because-- it used to be there were soldiers coming up that street here [and she pointed to her suburban street], they'd just come up the hill here. And now there aren't. Now there's peace here and you hardly ever see any soldiers and it's so much better than it was. It was really terrible here."

And that's really why I think these elections went pretty well.

The real question now is what happens next. With the number of seats that Paisley's UUP picked up, there's really no way that anything can happen on the Assembly yet. It's going to take some renegotation with both sides to try to put together a workable system. But now there's hope and I really think this might be it.

Just back, and leaving again:

I was in Edinburgh last weekend. No time really to talk about it right now, but I had a good time and will post more of what I did later. Off to Dublin tomorrow morning since I have Thursday and Friday off. I'll be back Sunday.

One more week at the Embassy, then I'm off to Greece, Prague and Vienna!

Tower interns pic, one more time:

So harper didn't seem to like this picture. I put it on yahoo! instead.

State visit:

As many of you (particularly those in the UK) know, President Bush was here last week. This was a whole pile of trouble for all of us at the Embassy. It also cost UK taxpayers GBP 4 million. They are none too happy about this.

It was sort of interesting to learn some of the behind the scenes of an event like this. From the 600 thank-you notes that have to be prepared to the number of people involved in any one event that the president is at, it's definitely quite a production. I worked on the Embassy "meet and greet," when Bush and Mrs Bush, Secretary Powell and Mrs Powell, and the US Ambassador to the UK (William Farrish) came to the Embassy. We all had to stand in the lobby for two hours since no one is allowed to move around the Embassy while the president is there and he came earlier for office time and a meeting with Arab media. All the streets around the Embassy were cordoned off and someone (ie an intern) had to stand with the cops and secret service at the cordon to check names off of the list. They then had to be escorted to the Embassy by a Metropolitan cop (hence the 4 million pounds-- mainly overtime).

I got to the lobby about 1pm and stood there with my friends for about 2 hours at which point they started to play some tinny music. After about 15 minutes of this, Bush, Farrish, and Powell came out. Farrish introduced Bush and Bush spoke with the generic thanks to everyone who works at the Embassy. He then took pictures with the kids (and he was really great with them). He worked the rope line, shaking hands with everyone he could. He was alright at it, but Powell was much better at seeming like he really wanted to talk to you and wasn't thinking about the next hand. I didn't get any pictures with Bush or Powell (I was a row back and just got to shake hands with both and talk to Powell for about 30 seconds), but one of the other interns has some very good pictures and has offered to forward them to us.

This was definitely an experience I'm glad I had, even if I now have a bunch of things to do to get caught up. More later maybe.

Boring health-related news:

I went and got an x-ray on Thursday, having figured out that the way to schedule it was to talk to a different receptionist. The tech told me she'd take one, and if it looked clear not take the other. She took one, came in and said she had to do the other and the doctor might want to talk to me. She took the second, which was apparently clear and made me take another. It was also not clear.

The doctor said (I think) that it looked like I had bronchiectasis in my right lung. I'm kind of hoping he's wrong here. They sent my X-rays to the doctor at the Embassy and he said he'd call me when he gets them. I'll know more after I can talk to him.

And as I was walking back from the X-ray place, I turned my ankle in the middle of Oxford Street and scraped up both my hands pretty badly when falling. And the British being so charming, everyone just ignored me. At least I didn't get run over by a cab. I got back to work and honestly wanted to lock myself in the bathroom and cry. But I didn't, which I think is a good sign, really.

Tower of London tour:

Here's one picture. I can't get any more on this computer, so they'll have to wait until I get home...

Elevators:

Why is it that whenever you're trying to get down to the cafeteria before it closes to snag a Diet Coke, some idiot has to get on or off at every floor? Even when one of the idiots is my boss, it still kind of sucks.

Can you still get TB?:

So I've been coughing for a month now, with a few days break in between. I've been to medical at the Embassy three times. The first time, he gave me an inhaler. The second time, a bronchiodilatory pill. The last time, he decided he wants me to get a chest x-ray.

The doctor gives me a form for a place called London Imaging with details about what kind of x-ray he wants. I call to schedule an appointment and give the receptionist the information. She puts me on hold and comes back and asks if I'm Canadian. No, I say. American. She puts me on hold for another minute, comes back and says sorry, we're not registered to Americans and hangs up on me.

What does that mean? I was tempted to call back and say that the Embassy has dealt with them before, that I have insurance, something. The vagaries of National Health have gotten me down, though. Maybe I'll ask the people in medical here if they can help me figure out what that means.

Why does everything have to be so hard? I just want to stop coughing. My chest hurts, my throat hurts, I keep everyone awake at night... I did get a prescription for a cough suppressant (robitussin plus?) so maybe that will help.

Tax-Free Shopping:

I went to M&S to fill out the VAT refund forms yesterday. I discovered the following list of what I have bought from them:

Black suit
Black pants
Black wool coat
Black belt
Black socks

I feel like a Goth.

Eurail-ariffic:

I got my Eurail passes today. The Balkan Youth Flexipass and the Europe East pass, for those of you keeping score. My mother thinks I'm a bit crazy.

But I'm going to Greece!

Yet another trip to Cambridge:

It's a little weird the number of times I've been to Cambridge.

I went yesterday, to Addenbrooke's, a massive NHS and research hospital complex on the edge of Cambridge (literally-- if you go outwards from Addenbrooke's, the first thing you see is farmland). I was going to a meeting and tour of some of the clinical research facilities there. It was mainly over my head, but interesting, and I learned a lot about cheap experimental MS drugs. And they gave us lunch, a slab of salmon, quiche, couscous (and try eating couscous the British way, with fork tines down. It's kind of impossible), and creme brulee. Not bad and very free.

I then hung out with Will and Maggie for a while. We did the 20 minute museum tour.

And I went 36 hours without checking email. I know you're impressed.

Illegal search and seizure:

Over at Crescat (and yes Will, I will update my links one day), they've been arguing about this case.

Some of you may know that I have a friend who was arrested in similar circumstances. He was driving with a girl, they were stopped, she panicked and stuck a Ziploc bag into the glove compartment. The police searched the car, and he ended up in jail for a little bit. Apparently had she kept the drugs in her purse, he probably could have gotten off.

The moral of this story: don't drive with people you don't trust I guess.

Halloween:

Can anyone explain something to me that has been confusing me for a long time? Halloween is supposed to be All Hallows' Eve, right? But All Hallows' Day (now called All Souls' Day) is kept on November 2, while November 1 is All Saints' Day. So why isn't All Hallows' Eve the evening of November 1 since October 31 is technically All Saints' Eve?

I'm sure it's some sort of pagan festival thing, but I didn't think most pagan festivals were that specific with the dates.

And yes, I've got too much time on my hands.

Radio silence:

Sorry for the long time between updates. I haven't really had much to say recently. I'll try to do better.