The flight over was remarkably quick. I guess the Jack Daniels and Tylenol PM helped. Once here, it was pretty easy to train into the city and walk to my bed and breakfast, which is in an interesting part of town filled with take away curry places and halal fast food joints. Really. There is a six-block stretch of them right around the corner.

The library does not open until today. In about twenty minutes or so, to be exact. So I spent yesterday walking the city in the sun. They say if you stay in bright sunlight it helps your body get adjusted to the local time. England is 5 hours ahead of east coast time, and 6 hours ahead of KC time. ‘They’ seem to be right as I was able to stay up until about 8 pm last night. This morning I feel like it’s morning. Mission accomplished?

The walk around the city yesterday was fun. It was a big holiday. Which one? You got me. But there were hundreds of people out walking the streets of Manchester. Sidewalk vendors, street performers, beer gardens, and what I think was a Sikh parade.

There is an embarrasment of riches when it comes to public transportation. At least four different bus companies compete for your business, and the bus stops have a sign that says, ‘There are simply too many buses for us to provide any sort of detailed schedule here. Sorry.’ I’ve been hoofing it, but at some point I’m going to have to take the plunge, risk looking like the ignorant Yank, and jump on one of the.

I found the Easy Internet Cafe, where you can be online for as little as 50p an hour, depending on demand. Right now, 9:45 local time, there’s not much demand. Yesterday afternoon, however, the place was crammed with teenagers and young adults, and the rate was 95p an hour. Over 300 PCs in a large, bright room overlooking St. Ann’s Square. Haven’t found any WiFi, yet. That’s not entirely true. I went to a Starbucks (England’s gone coffee, by the way) and got a very strong Tmobile signal, but the default homepage said, ‘This service not ready, yet.’ Hmm, okay.

Jason’s posted a picture from graduation, by the way. I guess it’s never really a good idea to look at pictures of yourself.

If you’re on MSN Messenger or AOL Instant Messenger, you can chat with me via ghwumkc@hotmail.com or ghwumkc, respectively. I’ll be on in the 2 am hour, east coast time, and again probably in the 1 pm to 2 pm hours later.