Resort Town?

I arrived at Heathrow shortly after I started feeling sleepy. Unlike some previous trips to Europe I didn't see a need to use the OTC antihistamine with the convenient drowsiness side effect because I wouldn't need to be working much until the 3rd.

Apparently the baggage handlers were not all back from christmas vacation yet - When I arrived in the UK KLM couldn't even say whether my bag had left the US. I was told that they might have it to me by sometime tomorrow morning. If I weren't going for such a long trip I'd have packed a 2nd carryon and checked it only on the way back when UK regulations allow only 1 carryon. I rarely check luggage on trips outside the UK and this simply reinforces my bias.

A couple weeks ago when I planned the trip I was feeling brave and while arranging for a rental car indicated I could drive a stick shift. I'd forgotten at the time that I'd also have to shift with my left hand while sitting on the right and driving on the left. I'd have been in trouble without GPS navigation - it allowed me to focus on one fewer task. I only turned onto the wrong side of a divided road once.

Traffic markings are very different as well. I think I did OK - but I'll see in a few weeks if the rental car company bills me for traffic tickets. (I saw some of the cameras which outnumber humans on the island.)

The town I'm staying in is Brighton, on the southern shore of the UK. (In Sussex.) There are a number of hotels facing the sea along the southernmost road, and I'm in one of them. Sunset -captures just before 3PM local, was a majestic affair.

Although this is a resort town I'd imagined that this would be the off season so crowds would be sparse and parking would be easy. Neither is true. There were thousands of pedestrians out and about at 2pm when I got to town. And parking is both scarce and pricey.

Many of the buildings have been painted a uniform light yellow - to some degree hiding their diversity. But the column headers still are distinctive.

I saw arrays of chimneys reminicsent of Mary Poppins in several places along the waterfront. It was a bit surprising how even newer buildings had visible chimneys.

Despite the great diversity in restaraunts I saw while walking through the shopping district this evening and the fact that my employer was footing the (exhorbitant) bill, it still was not nearly as much fun as the last time I went out to eat in my hometown because the company there was so much better!