Yummy Wakame Weblog

That’s right, an orchestra made up entirely of elephants!

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I heard its triumphant little song this morning… which means… Spring has officially broken in England! The timing couldn’t be more perfect :@)

I just checked National Rail to simply get a price on traveling from where I am in Stevenage to Brighton so I can plan my travels over the month. A simple journey with one connecting stop at Kings X. £28.90!! That’s just one way by the way. Their “Cheap Day Single” offering, which doesn’t include travel during peak hours. Are they insane? Seriously, are they MENTAL? I could fly from Pittsburgh to Chicago for less on a good day. That includes jet fuel people!!

Here’s what I just found with a tiny bit of research: How much would it cost to travel today by rail from London Kings X to Manchester? £109.50 for a Standard Open Single (each way), a 2.5 hour journey. You might, like most people, prefer to opt for the planet destroying option and fly from London Heathrow to Manchester: today’s prices, leaving today – £40 each way all incl. with British Airways. A nice comfortable 1 hour journey. BMI offers fares as low as £28 each way if you plan ahead.

It’s just WRONG how greedy the rail system is. You know something’s waaaay screwey when it costs less to fly somewhere that it does to catch the nation’s default public transport option. I’m not really sure how I’m going to be able to come and go to Brighton as freely as I’d planned… so I have to fashion another solution. Ehh! This leaves me slightly miffed.

** UPDATE **
I nearly forgot about Megabus!! I can ride between Brighton and London for just £3 each way. There’s a choice of 3 journeys a day, and from Kings X I can catch a train to Stevenage for £10, cutting the overall cost right down to £13 each way for just 1 extra hour in transit. I’m annoyed I have to use the rail system at all, but YAY for Megabus! You’ve rescued my UK adventure. I LOVE YOU!!

Ooh I just LURVE this LifeHacker tip:

Its a fine 10°C today in Hertfordshire. I’m starting to really feel settled in now. I have a good 8 hours of work from home ahead of me, my piggy hot water bottle pinned to my belly, the cozy ruby red slippers Nykki gave me for Christmas and… wow I’d just about forgotten how much I’d missed it after I moved to the States – my sleek little digital DAB radio!!

It took a good few months to become accustomed to working with no radio. I’ve REALLY missed the BBC channels, especially BBC Radio 4 which keeps me entertained enough to focus my wandering mind into 8 hours or more of solid work… and I get to float asleep late nights with DAB Chill. I also miss Brighton’s Southern Counties Radio station, another talk channel that kept me abreast of all the happenings in my favourite seaside town. Back home I sometimes listen to the TV while I’m working, but it can be visually distracting. And I can listen to BBC Radio streaming for free online, but the quality changes while you’re listening and that distracts me too. These days I find it hard to achieve more than 4 hours of solid work – and previously I could go for 12 quite happily with my radio to keep me company. I wish I didn’t have such impossible ADD. (more…)

Let today’s lesson begin:

This morning I woke up at dawn’s cranky old crack to prepare for the first leg of my flight to the land of the Queen. 4am – dressed and wide awake, I decide to check online for the flight status 5 minutes before my favourite cab driver plans to collect me – and discover the entire flight, from stripping to the essentials at the gates to the part where you squeeze between new intimate friends… has been “CANCELLED”!!! No reason given. No alternatives mentioned. PANIC!!!!

A few fanny-flapping calls and some long waits later I find out that United Airlines has already booked me on a later flight late this evening to Heathrow via Chicago and pushing my arrival into the next am. Boo. I anticipate the jetlag and go back to bed, grumpy and already hating the journey ahead. (more…)

Italy won’t split up its Stone Age lovers.

Reuters:

In a Valentine’s Day gift to the country, scientists said they are determined to remove and preserve together the remains of a couple buried 5,000 to 6,000 years ago, their arms still wrapped around each other in an enduring embrace.

Instead of removing the bones one-by-one for reassembly later, archaeologists plan to scoop up the entire section of earth where the couple was buried, they told Reuters. The plot will then be transported for study before being put on display in an Italian museum, thereby preserving the world’s longest known hug for posterity.

“We want to keep can them just as they have been all this time — together,” archaeologist Elena Menotti, who announced the discovery a week ago, told Reuters.

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Little boy pointing to portabella mushroom: Mommy, what’s that?
Tired mother: It’s a mushroom. Someday I’m going to make you a hamburger for dinner, but instead of meat, it’s going to have one of those mushrooms in it.
Little boy looking back at mushroom, terrified: Why would you do that?!

Overheard, Beachside Produce Plus, Melbourne Beach, Florida