after a 4 and a half year hiatus, the reggo blog has returned!!!

i made it manchester, but i don't know if i'll make it much further with all the excess crap i have in my bag! i overpacked yet again...son of a !!! i am close to 100% certain i'll be mailing a package home in the next day or two.

i am MEGA tired as i hardly slept on the plane; however, i have managed to make several astute observations since my arrival in manchester:

1) the british immigration officers all shop at NEXT...and this is not a uniform store. it was the stangest thing to be questioned about my trip to the UK by someone in street clothes. i wasn't sure if it was for real...maybe some college guys were playing a prank and decided to sit at the unlabelled wickets and pick-up girls? what the? after he stamped my passport, i politely asked the guy about his lack of polyester duds and he stated to me they had recently decided uniforms would be a good idea (hmmm, you think?) and they'd be getting them in the fall...until then, NEXT!

**side note for my fellow librarians, i saw the biggest ionscan machine i've EVER seen today...i was wondering what this huge "star trek" portal machine was when i saw the label...crazy!

2) where the heck are all the garbage cans? are people in manchester eating their trash? upon finishing my lunch after arriving at the airport on my flight from vancouver i decided to be a good girl and clear up my mess on the table and throw it out...yeah right, i carried my stupid garbage around for the next 20-30 minutes as i searched for a rubbish bin. i couldn't find one to save my life! finally, as i was about to miss my train, i shamefully left my water bottle and cardboard sandwich box in the luggage cart...but the madness didn't stop there. once i got into central manchester, my problem continued as i tried to get rid of my gum at starbucks before having a frapp. the only garbage can there was BEHIND the counter! i don't get it...the streets are spotless; yet there isn't a bin to be found. i figure there must be tiny little people rushing around picking up the trash so fast you don't see it.

3) guys in manchester don't appear to have caught on to the fashion trend of lengthening their ties beyond the centre of their chest. they seem to have missed the dork-o factor when they are not wearing their suit jackets or walk around with them unbuttoned. maybe they think people won't notice because observers are distracted by the fact they have mismatched socks under pants that are too short and hair that is too long and uncombed.

4) there are lots of people walking around wearing tee-shirts that read "help stop (insert anything here)". it took me awhile to figure out how to avoid them because they are everywhere! after the 8th or 9th guy approached me, i decided to respond with "quoi? oh désolée, je ne comprend pas l'anglais ! parlez-vous français ?" word spread fast that the red-headed girl with too much luggage doesn't speak english...yes!!

5) everyone smokes here...i might as well too. (just kidding mom!)

phew, now i've got that off my mind i'm free to waste more time observing and planning the rest of my day in manchester...