The UK wrap up post...a week late.

OK, so here we have a slightly late but entertaining bit. Two days after the train jumper-offer, we had a train jump in-fronter. Ewww. Needless to say it caused a delay as the driver was to shocked to carry on. I got into London OK that weekend and met up with some Welsh friends to have a night out before heading off to the SW for my last few days. Many, many drinks in many bars in the "interesting" SoHo area later, we saw Fergie (or formerly/kinda with the Black Eyed Peas chick) come on stage for all of three numbers. Not sure if it was worth the wait, but it was a bit more remarkable than sitting on my butt all night.

Did a little wandering around the Covent Garden area and its ritzy shops and old pubs the next day and afternoon. Did you know it actually was named in a spelling error. "Convent Garden" was the original name. Funny. Hopped yet another train for Taunton in Somerset. We did not have anyone climb on or jump off in irregular ways, but we were late anyway.

Somerset, Exeter and Wochester we all great little bits of the smaller city/countryside in England. Beautiful little places with lots of charm. Its always stunning how much the country changes from region to region in the UK. Many times very distinctly in the time it would take you to drive across a medium sized US state. Met with several interesting businesses but each day was punctuated by a brewery. Darwin's Brewery, Cotleigh Brewery and the Weston's Cider Brewery. Perry. That is all I have to say. Yum.

Just for posterity, I'd like to point out that I'm not a complete lush. Its just hard NOT to drink when out with the British and when you job revolves around helping Food & Drink Companies in the UK (including breweries) make it to the US...you get in a situation or two where there will be drinks. Fabulous breweries though, most at least 100 years old (two much more) in their history with a mix of "ancient" technology and very modern process.

The flight home was the Premium Economy that I was SUPPOSED to have the first time. The big seats UPSTAIRS in the Virgin Atlantic Airliner. Very posh. I had to bounce through LA to get home a little earlier. Ya' see, Piggy and I are moving up to Daly City. It should cut down on both of our commutes and cut out the tolls as we will be on the peninsula. So, rent goes up but costs go down...and I can have more of my day that is NOT a commute. Hard to put a price on that. BUT, we now have an actual HOUSE so all of you wishing to visit have a place to stay and you don't have to worry about condo rules, neighbors, etc. Email me if you want the new address, etc.

I'm thinking about getting a dog.

UK Trip Report: Bag thief jumps off train.
OK, well, I'll lead with the interesting story. I'm on a GNER train heading for London and somewhere between York and Duncaster, the train slows to a halt and a "attention, customer has pulled the emergency handle" sounder comes on. Turns out some jackass (I think it was a drunken sot walking up and down the aisles for a while before) grabbed a couple of plastic bags and JUMPED OFF THE FRIGGING TRAIN. Yes, while it was moving. The train was already an hour behind due to switching problems up north and this wasn't too much of a delay. They calmly explained the issue to us and started rolling again, adding in, while he may have avoided oncoming train traffic, if he got hit it was probably what he deserved." I love these folks in the northern side of the island.

So, back to the semi-boring stuff. I started out in London at a big food trade show and met a lot of great people. Made about £120 at the Pot Limit Hold Em game at the Gutshot Club (still holding on as it fights for appeal to the rather BS sentence passed in London. All poker players, please go to www.Gutshot.com and click the banner to help.) and they were PACKED on Saturday night. I was jetlagged and had crashed for 8-9 hours when I landed so found myself wide awake at 11:30 in London. Nothing to do but go play some poker. From there I traveled the Northwest region, past the midlands and near Wales and saw the outskirts of the Lakes district. So damn picturesque you could just stare at it for hours.

Fast forward a couple of days to Newcastle in the North East. Just off the border to Scotland, this town has dragged itself out of an industrial malaise and really jumped forward to be a part of the modern economy. They also have a Grovesnor Casino that hosts a nightly poker tournament and game. This was a lil' £10 pot limit rebuy, but we generated about £1300 in the prize pool and I took down my first pot limit hold 'em tournament and got a nifty card protector and some new card buddies out of the rather late night. Got to see a ton of the city walking about (in the rain.) and saw the revitalized Quay-side district (pronounced KEY-side) and had a pint in a pub over 200 years old and some FANTASTIC authentic Chinese food at Hei Hei. Its nice to have a job where its my "duty" to do these things. I think I'll miss Newcastle. I'll have to come back longer next time. Hopefully with better weather. Aye. That's it, n'dt it?

Well, I am blogging from a moving train (huzzah!) and this brings us almost up to the moment on our train jumper and my time out and about. Busy little otter here lately. Almost time for some very important birthday parties and the stretch towards winning my way into the World Series of Poker.

Cheers Big Ears!