London

What a place! I have been here for the past two weeks and will be returning to South Africa in a few days - I'll be glad to get home, but sad to leave. True to form the weather left much to be desired, but just being here more than compensated. There were two sunny days in two weeks, and on both occasions the following day was worse than anything previously experienced, as if it was trying to affirm it's reputation for bad weather.

I was here on training / orientation [new job] and only went into the centre of London on week-ends giving me ample time to plan my excursions - a must if you want to max out the sight-seeing. I used the tube to get into town then walked around taking pictures, seeing the sights, eating the food and generally doing the standard tourist thing - a digital camera is critical if you want to maximise the experience. I only wish I had a better video cam, the built-in one on the camera did not do it justice.

One of the first thing I noticed was the ratio of foreigners to locals - most of the people I heard sounded as if they were from Europe - Scandinavian, Italian, Dutch [picked that one up quickly], Greeks, and lots who sounded [and looked] as if they were from Eastern Europe. One of my colleagues said,"If you want to find out where you are ask a tourist. The locals aren't too interested and the tourists all have maps". Good advice.