Buzzaway
Sunday July 16 |
| I arrived in London tonight and there is an Internet cafe across the street from my hotel, so I can't resist. This is a serious Internet cafe --there are about 500 screens (fancy flat screens) -- and friendly to me with their English style keyboards. -- no more transposing the y and the z! |
| The cost here changes moment by moment according to demand. When I walked in the door it said forty minutes for £1, when I got to the cashier it said 36 minutes, when I signed on upstairs (the only time that really counts (it says 37) and it gives me a continuous running total at the bottom of the screen as the minutes tick by (now 28,) so there are a lot of busy fingers up here! |
| I had tried to change my ticket from a London departure to Capetown to an Amsterdam departure, and didn't see any problem since my flight goes via Amsterdam in any case, but alas there are RULES even on Northwest, and I had to get myself to London for the start of this next adventure, so I went back to the Internet and found Buzzaway, which got me here on a non-stop flight, with no advance booking for $140. I should be grateful! Now I have to conclude that if I were looking for an airline based on the Internet that people should invest in, I am not sure Buzzaway would be the name I would come up with -- the side of the plane says simply BUZZ, and has an image of half of a flower (eight petals) as if drawn with a crayon on a yellow background. |
| Never mind, we left only minutes late from Frankfurt and arrived five minutes early in London's Stanstead airport, another underused airport, but accessible by a fast train -- London in 45 minutes. |
| I had a great time in Lohr-Am-Main with my former roommate from the Ecole who raises Welsh terriers. There was one puppy left from the most recent litter, a dear spunky pup named Franzie who had broken his leg, but mended well and luckily got her stitches out yesterday so we no longer had to try to keep her from getting her bandages all muddy. Indeed rain and mud where much in evidence, along with cold temperatures -- in the fifties -- hardly what to expect for the middle of July. |
| Yesterday Helmut, Susanne's husband, accompanied us to Wurzberg where we went to a restaurant that specializes in catfish. I have to say I don't have a very high regard for catfish -- give me a bluefish any day -- but it was a beautifully steamed fish served with clarified butter and horseradish -- not a concept that is well known in New Orleans, I would guess and that is the only other place I know of that lists catfish as a claim to fame. |
| Later we walked through the old part of the city and passed a young American teenager, the kind I teach everyday, who called out in in English in a loud voice -- "Does anybody know where Pizza Hut is?" I couldn't help responding and suggested he consider enjoying his local surrounds and try a German restaurant, but he and his friends were determined, so we left them on their way. I am sure when they get there they will find many German teens to join them. . |
| Well, this is no night to look at a computer screen. I am off to enjoy a little of London (and the pool at my hotel). The next message will surely be from South Africa. |
