Oh the places of England. We spent time in the downtown area of Birmingham. The Bullring I believe it was called. But I’m forgetting the trip to it. We caught the bus, not just any bus, a double decker bus! I’d never been in one before. So what did I do? I went straight to the top of course! Like a little kid, grabbed a seat in the front of the second story of the bus. Ever see the movieDead Poets Society? There’s a scene where the professor tells the students to stand atop the desk to gain a different view of the world. Well, riding atop a double decker bus is much like that. At least for me it was. Silly, I know.

The Bullring is a massive shopping complex complete with modern stores, an ancient church, buildings with unique designs, and an outdoor market. The outdoor market was very reminiscent of those I experienced in Oaxaca Mexico. Throngs of people everywhere all shopping and visiting. We decided to pop into an HMV music store. I was impressed by the sheer variety of music they had and with the way they lay out the store. Another thing I noticed was an entire area of the store dedicated to singles. No, not people without mates, but CD singles of music. Tons, and Tons of them. I don’t think I’ve ever seen such a thing in the states. Thus you freely purchase about any current single on the charts right there on CD. I guess being an American we’ve been trained to think only about the full album/CD/LP and not the 45 or the more modern CD single. No wonder we have such an issue with downloading music. It opened my mind to the fact that I’d prefer to sell a whole bunch of singles in case anyone didn’t care for the whole album. That’s a benefit of iTunes for me right now. But when I release Practical Insanity I will make sure that I do singles of several of the songs.

We rode the train back. That way I got to experience as much of the English transportation system as I could. Getting a ticket was similar to getting a ticket for the Los Angeles Subway – nothing like a New York one. You’re free to get on the train without a ticket, but they have a conductor who comes along to check for tickets. If you don’t have one, then you’re bumming. The fine for not buying a ticket is £10 + the cost of the ticket. So it totals out to about $20 in the u.s. Whereas the one way ride is £2.30 (approximately $4 u.s.).

Later I made pizza for everyone. I’m kinda famous for my pizza making skills. So I decided to treat eveyrone to my version of American pizza for the hospitality I’ve been so graciously getting. To my delight everyone loved it! Then we took off for the dog track. Now mind you I’ve never been to any race track. But we were given complimentary tickets and went to make an evening of it. So I sat down to my first dog race and looked over the stats of the dogs. I couldn’t tell what any of it meant. So I did my best to decipher what I thought was important and made my pick. The lights went down and the little rabbit thing went round the track and off the dogs went. Interestingly, I remember the Bugs Bunny cartoon where Bugs was at the dog track and playing with the motorized bunny. Any way, I was watching the dogs going around and too my surprise… the dogs I picked to win were leading and in the order I picked them in! At the end of the race I was a winner. I’ve got to chalk it up to beginners luck as the dog that came in first was considered the worst dog in the heat. Go Figure.

Afterwards I was invited to my first official poker game. I went to a flat somewhere in the depths of Birmingham where there were a few blokes I had met over the previous couple of days. They were all in the throws of the game when we arrived. I got to buy in and start playing. Now again, I’m a complete beginner. I play a few hands and get into the swing of it. I won a few. In fact I won too much to be able to buy more chips at the last buy in. I kept playing and was happy that I wasn’t the first one out. Actually I lasted until the last five, then finally crapped out. That was the end of the evening.

More to come later… think London.

Jody

Hello everyone,

One thing I forgot to mention in yesterdays news was the fact that I got to drive here in Birmingham. After getting over the initial wow of actually being on the opposite side of the car and of course the opposite side of the road, it was quite fun. woo hoo. Now I’ve driven in England, the US, Mexico, and France. What a treat.

Today was more of a lazy day in terms of going out for seeing the sites. Instead we went around town visiting friends and letting them all know that I’m an american musician – which seems to instantly mean I’m a rockstar. Well, I guess when you whip out a custom signature pick it sort of helps. Heh.

Visited the Cadbury factory store in order to purchase some chocolate. Now I’ve got loads of Cadbury chocolate to give out to friends when I get back to the States. Which reminds me… Geez, all these pints of ale must be screwing with my brain, I bought some serious English Toffee yesterday as well. Very, very tasty stuff.

Tomorrow it’s off to the races. I think we’re headed to the dog track where I can put a few pounds down. I’ve also started reading Sting’s book. It’s off to a racing start. Of course I’ll do a book report on it when I’ve finished it. I almost feel like I’m back in school, writing down what the hell I think about for reading a book. Does anyone really care what I think about it?!?

Jody

In case you haven’t been following up for the past several days, I’ve been in England. Check the news archives for my previous adventures.

Yesterday we went out to Wales, which originally due to my ignorance I thought was in the UK. However it isn’t, it’s considered its own country. Duh – silly American. The country side looks much like Birmingham’s, but the road signs all contain English and Gaelic signs (at least I think it was Gaelic). We hung out and had a dinner at a local restaurant. It was quite tasty.

Today we tripped out to Stratford Upon Avon. For those not in the know, this is where Mr. William Shakespeare was born. We strolled around the town. Got to see little shops, houses, and of course the insurgence of Americanism. I had no idea Shakespeare had an affinity for Pizza Hut. We went to the church were he was baptised and now where his bones are apparently at rest. Interesting enough, the church was built in stages a very long time ago, with the first part in 1331. We then tooled around to the house where he was born and the house where he died. The one thing I noticed was how short all the doorways are. I should have some pictures of it when I get back to the states, and I’ll post how tall I look in comparison.

We were shopping at a local market this evening and while we were in there over the store speakers comes on something that you’d never hear in the States… Ozzy Ozbourne was on the loudspeaker system in a grocery market! I had to stop and think about that for a second. Anyway, I guess it could be expected as Ozzy is from Birmingham. Heh. Tonight after dinner I believe we’re going out to the Jug of Ale in Mosely. To have a Pint and catch some live music.

Book Review: I finished Rich Dad Poor Dad last night. Here’s the premise: its about changing your thinking to help you be wealthy and not a slave to money. Instead it’s a way of thinking that money should work for you and not the other way around. I guess I just stated the same thing twice oh well. The most interesting aspect is the change in definition as to what an asset and a liability really is. Already it’s given me a swift kick in the butt. Its not an easy concept for most people to change their thinking about money, but if you’re willing, this book is probably your best start for doing so!

Again, check the archives for previous Englandisms and check back over the next several days as I plan on updating daily. Until then “Cheers!”.

Jody