February 22, 2006 - page 2



expense of food. In no way are British meals "all you can eat" like (too) many are in America. Needless to say, the incidence of overweight people is far less than at home. If you want to eat a lot here, you will be out quite a big chunk of change. To an American, another British peculiarity, (however the same is true for Canada, and I'm sure other countries) is that the lowest denomination of currency that Britons have in paper form is a 5 pound bill.

They have 1 pound and 2 pound coins as their smallest whole pound denominations. This means that a pocketful of change is not as trivial as it is in America, where we are constantly trying to rid our pockets of the dreaded coinage. As far as their divisions of the pound, they are known as pence, equivalent to our cents. Pence come in coins of 1, 2, 5, 10, 20 and 50. To me, the 2 pence coin, which looks rather like a penny doubled in size, is a completely absurd coin, much like our 2 dollar bill. But that's just my opinion.

Running in Hyde Park today I heard at least 5 languages. Also, running there on a Sunday, I witnessed a centuries old tradition that takes place on Speaker's Corner in the very same park. Apparently from what I've been told, large masses of people assemble, stand on a rostrum rather like a soapbox and spill their grievances. It was a fabulous sight, a large turnout of citizens despite the cold rain. Also in Hyde Park, you can often see ceremonial marches of the Royal Horse Guards. On the same run, I made it to Abbey Road, which coincidently is about a mile outside of Regent's Park. To the non-Beatles fanatics reading this, I apologize, but I ran across the crosswalk and paid my respects in front of the studio. It was a tingly experience.