Fear and Loathing at HSBC

Interesting day on the Brunel campus. Robin went to the campus branch of HSBC (a huge bank here) to change her existing account to a fee-free account, as she'd been told she could do when she left here last September. But no, to do that, you have to provide proof of residence, which Robin has. Not just any proof will do. You must show proof of being a resident of a property that has been registered with some sort of official Estate Agent. Not only that, but to qualify for the no-fee banking account, you must deposit at least £500 in the account per month for the next year.

So Robin says "What does HSBC stand for?"

"Hong Kong Shanghai Bank Corporation."

"Okay, never mind. I'll just keep the existing account and pay the darn fees." And of course, the monthly fees apply for the other nine months she's in the USA because closing the account would just mean going through the major pain of re-applying for another account next year.

I didn't get an HSBC photo. The photo here is in the computer services office where students go if they need help connecting to the Brunel WiFi network. It seems that Robin's password info got messed up during the student registration process earlier this morning and she couldn't get connected with her laptop or iPad. The guy pictured worked on it for almost an hour, then gave up and sent us to the other computer office where the real system administrators are who can make backend changes to the system. Sometimes it takes an hour or so for those changes to work, so we won't know until we're back on campus tomorrow if the connection is working. Or maybe they told us that to get us out of the office so they could go home.

Speaking of going home... Pub time.

Like Facebook, but with cider on tap

Ahhhh, Pubs: food, beverage, social networking, and atmosphere. Enjoyed a nice dinner downstairs, in the Red Lion.

When we checked in, the front desk lady asked if we wanted "tookies" for our room. As I struggled to process that question, Robin said "Yes, two keys might be helpful." She's so good with foreign languages.

Robin contacted friend Richard Kindersley, master stone carver/typographer/designer (www.KindersleyStudio.co.uk ). We met him in Rome about 12 years ago while with a group studying the lettering on temples and monuments of ancient Rome. Robin had a one-day stone-carving lesson in his studio a couple of years later when we visited London. We're planning a rendezvous with him next week.
Brilliant. Lovely. Indeed.

A Fairly Yummy Start

For the first time ever, I enjoyed the two hour layover at Houston's International Airport, on the way to London.

The ESPN Sports Bar restaurant that used to be in this gate area of our connecting flight has been replaced by a Pappadeaux's Cajun restaurant. coconut shrimp and catfish po-boy sandwich. Mmmmm. The Great Chain of Being seems to be in order (according to Elizabethan philosophy).

We hopped a bus at Heathrow that dropped us off within half a block of our Red Lion hotel in Uxbridge where we'll be for two nights before moving to Robin's B&B semi-permanent home for the next three months in London.

Off to the pub downstairs for a pint of cider and a fish & chips dinner. Tomorrow we take the one-mile walk to Brunel University so Robin can register and take care of all sorts of foreigner stuff.

Cheerio, brilliant, and all that.

We'll soon be enjoying airline cuisine...

Back to London

Robin and I are on our way back to London. She'll be there for three months, teaching at Brunel University (named in honor of a famous engineer with the coolest name ever for a non-rapper or non-athlete superstar: Isambard Kingdom Brunel. Deal with it P. Diddy).

I'll be there for two weeks, sketching, snapping photos, eating pub food, drinking pints of cider, sketching, riding the Tube, exploring old graveyards, drinking half-pints of cider, writing, iPadding, laptopping, etc.

One of my goals on this trip is to sketch more. I've roughed out some plans to meet up with London artist Daniel Worth for a fun sketch session. Updates on that later. 

Sketch from a previous trip.

Tough as nails: a portrait

Jerry Daniel, sculptor

Dances With Steel

Street Tango

A recent digital canvas, 24 x 36 inches.