Some London observations

Last updated on: June 23, 2016 at 4:14 pm by Jane the Actuary

Some London observations 2016-06-23T16:14:21-06:00 Jane the Actuary

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Let me start by saying that my starting point as far as finances is to look at the pound prices as if they were in dollars. Yes, the pound is really worth $1.50 or thereabouts, but I figure it’s the only way to avoid freaking out at prices. Looked at in that way, restaurant meals are decently priced, even if not so if truly converting to dollars.

Observation 1: London is chock-full of sandwich shops. Pret a Manger, EAT., and others, sell ready-made sandwiches (on baguettes or regular American-style bread), pre-packaged salads, soups, pastries, fresh fruit, and beverages, all marketed as being “all natural” and the like.

But here’s the catch: many of these stores are take-away only, and so far I haven’t seen a single one with a customer restroom, even those with customer seating. Whoever heard of “no customer restrooms” in a restaurant? At least the Starbucks, if you make a purchase, will let you pee. (Update: after typing this up as a draft, we did pass one with actual restrooms.)

Observation 2: what else they don’t have in London is stair-free Tube stations. This was a surprise, really. It seems to me that in Munich there are almost always, of the various entrances to any given U-Bahn station, one with an elevator and one with an escalator, but here most stations are chock-full of stairs that can’t be avoided simply by taking a different route. The Tube stations also seem to be unable to handle flooding, even despite the regularity with which London gets rain; there were a number of closures.

Observation 3: what they do have? Drinking fountains. Not consistently, just here and there without any clear pattern to it.

Observation 4: you know what’s strange about pubs? That people congregate outside them to drink, when the pub is full inside.

IMG_0779 (1)

Observation 5: London is a city under construction: new buildings, new tube stations. And it’s quite disorienting, to see this mix of old and new — The Cheese Grater and The Gherkin and The Shard next to old Gothic buildings of various kinds in the skyline.

And last observation: the EU referendum is quite interesting as an observer, though, sitting here watching the returns, they’ve just announced that (the polls having closed at 10:00) the first results aren’t expected in until past midnight so it’s now just more commentary. What’s the right decision? As an outsider, I can say that Europe, and the world, is better off if UK stays in the EU. But if I were a Brit — well, I think the reasons for leaving are well-founded: the EU has certainly moved from promoting a common market and appropriate regulation to life- and livelihood-impacting decisions made by un-accountable Brussels bureaucrats. Does the UK need to be in the EU to have a strong economy? No, of course not. Plenty of strong, Western economies are outside the EU — within Europe, Switzerland, most obviously. But leaving would be disruptive. One wishes that there was a middle ground — essentially, keeping the bureaucrats in check — but there doesn’t seem to be. Or, at least, the Leave proponents’ argument is that they’ve tried for years upon years to keep the bureaucrats in check, to no avail. Will a close call (as the exit polls seem to suggest it’ll be) persuade the Eurocrats to dial back their regulation? Or will they consider a referendum failure as a sign that it’d be dang near impossible for a country to leave, and feel all the more entrenched in their power.

Oh, and why does it take so long to get results in? Not just the late poll close, but the fact that people use paper ballots, on which they mark an X for “leave” or “remain” — no computer touch screens, no bubbles, no chads.

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