Found

Those of you who have any regular contact with Julie’s father, Barry, will be aware of the significance of the Found Fund. Instituted some nine years ago, the Found Fund is the brainchild of Barry and his friend, Ian, and it is dedicated to putting ‘found’ money to good use. Each Wednesday Barry and Ian meet to compare their findings for the week, and once or twice a year they select one or more charities to donate their cache to.

The rules are simple, but rigid. Only money which is genuinely ‘found’ may be accepted. ‘Found’ money may include coins (and smaller notes) found on the pavement or in the road, pennies at points of sale (in shops), money which has fallen behind the seat on an Underground carriage and any other money where the owner genuinely cannot be traced. Donations cannot be accepted. Money which falls from the pocket of the person in front of you in the queue is not ‘found’. And £10 notes found in the back of a taxi, alas, should be given to the taxi driver.

Over the past nine years, Barry and Ian have raised (literally) over £900 ($1,800) for various charities through the Found Fund.

This last month I was admitted to associate membership of the Found Fund, London branch (I would scan a picture of my certificate, but I don’t have it handy). In the past four weeks, I have found over £9.49, as well as $0.01 (Canadian), €0.05 (Euro) and 0.20 Mauritian rupees. I’ve done this with the help, increasingly, of two colleagues at work who have joined in the effort.

Finding money is addictive. It is also competitive. I walked out at lunch on Tuesday with one of my colleagues, looking for coins. I spotted a 5p. She didn’t.

So, if you would like to join the ranks of the shameless filthy street grubbers, let me know, and I’ll funnel your legitimately found money to HQ in Bangor. I always credit my sources.

In response to Jaime and Mandy

It’s not just the Canadians who are outcasts, Jaime. You'll discover that you will be deprived of US sites when in the UK, too, not surprisingly. But on the other hand you’ll have the BBC iPlayer, which is super cool, and not available outside of the UK!!

Mandy, the only other pictures in my workplace are shown here. I just liked that picture of you.

For Jaime

If we have the same calendar, Jaime, I don't know what that says about your veggie credentials...

For Mandy

Ok, I probably missed the reason why we're all being so nice to Mandy. Not that we shouldn't be nice anyway. But not to be left behind, here's a photo of my desk at work.

Four great reasons to move to England

Re my previous entry - Megan and Annie: if you want to come along at Christmas, you're more than welcome. It would be great to have you!

And now today's topic - Four great reasons to move to England.

This country still has the power to surprise me and make me smile. On my walk home the other day, I happened across a notice on the brick wall of a vaulted railway overpass next to the Thames (pictured). The sign said, in essence, that busking (performing live music for money without a valid licence) is prohibited. But it said it in such a quintessentially English way that I laughed out loud.





I then continued my walk. Hopton’s Almshouse, pictured in winter (I nicked this off the internet), is one of hundreds if not thousands of almshouses or ‘hospitals’ established in England from the Middle Ages onwards. This one, located in the heart of London near the Thames, was established in the eighteenth century. It is a horse shoe shaped estate of low buildings and gardens, dwarfed by the surrounding by large office buildings, such as IBM (across the street). Almshouses or hospitals were established as charities, usually to house the poor who could no longer work (at a time when there was no such thing as retirement). I can recommend a brilliant novel about one of these.





The next wonder I came across was the inscription over the door to the Kirkaldy’s Testing and Experimenting Works: “Fact Not Opinion”, a testament to the empiricism which underpinned the Industrial Revolution. From publicly available information, I learned that Kirkaldy’s works primarily involved the use of a giant machine 'which could test materials by putting the materials "under various stresses, namely, Pulling, Thrusting, Bending, Twisting, Shearing, Punching and Bulging"'. It was built in 1864-65 by Greenwood & Batley of Leeds, and measures 47 ft long and weighs almost 116 tons. The machine's hydraulic ram can produce a maximum force of 1 million lbs. "Kirkaldy's works attained a world-wide reputation in materials testing. Among its achievements, the machine performed tests for Blackfriars Bridge, which opened in 1869, the St. Louis Bridge over the Mississippi (built 1867-74), Hammersmith Suspension Bridge (opened 1887), Sydney Harbour Bridge, and the cables used to suspend the Skylon at the Festival of Britain in 1951. It was also used in accident investigations, including the 1879 Tay Bridge disaster and aircraft crashes."





Finally, just down the street from Kirkaldy’s works, I came upon a new Marks & Spencer Simply Food, which had just opened last week. I went in to have a look around and ended up spending way too much money on things I don’t need, like vanilla pods. Ben and Jaime, you will come to realise just how nice M&S is (and Waitrose, too).

Christmas 2008 in England: what it might look like

Day 0 (Saturday December 20^th)

Sam greets any early guests at the Bachelor Pad

Sam sends nanny to Ohio 1 week prior to Ben, Jules, Ella, and Sophie's departure to help with Ella and Sophie and packing - nanny stays on through trip and returns with kids on plane while mom and dad take mini break in the Seychelles...

Day 1 (Sunday December 21^st)

Early: People begin to arrive at London Gatwick and take the train to London Bridge

Noon: Check-in at Chez Kessler followed by snowball fight in the square

12.30 p.m.: Takeaway from Pure Pie (London Bridge) to be eaten by the Thames

Please choose your pie now.

Afternoon: Naptime/free time

7.00 p.m. Dinner is served at Sam’s

Late: Slumber party

Day 2 (Monday December 22^nd)

9.00 a.m. Travel from Paddington to Oxford

10.30 a.m. Meet the Itens

1.00 p.m. Travel to Woodstock to check in to our lodgings

Afternoon: Stroll across the street to Blenheim Palace and walk around the deer park

Evening: Family dinner at the Trout Inn beside a log fire

Day 3 (Tuesday December 23^rd)

Morning: Hang out with the Itens

6.00 p.m. Service of Nine Lessons and Carols at Christ Church Cathedral

Day 4 (Wednesday December 24th)

Morning: Collect Christmas goose and Christmas nut loaf from the Covered Market

Day 5 (Thursday December 25^th)

All day: CHRISTMAS!!

Day 6 (Friday December 26^th, i.e., Boxing Day)

Adults: Lie in

Late morning: Walk to Wytham for pub lunch

Afternoon: Kesslers and Itens travel to London

6.00 p.m.: Ice skating at Somerset House

9.00 p.m.: X Box tournament

Late: Slumber party

Day 7 (Saturday December 27^th)

All day: Sam laments as people begin to return to the U.S.

Job alternatives

When I looked out the window ealier today, this was the view I was greeted with.

As I had spent all day yesterday down on the Solent sailing a clipper ship and pondering that perhaps an outdoors-y kind of job might be just the thing for me, the idea of getting to dangle in mid-air on a harness, building what may be liberally described as giant Legos immediately struck me as a fantastic idea.

In other news, today is of course Ben's birthday (happy birthday, bro). I'm very excited by the prospect of having Ben, Jaime and the girls around! Haven't had a younger sibling (let alone an entire clan) in the UK since Anne Marie left St Andrews for St John's. Not to downplay the benefits of having Ben K & family to hand in Northern Ireland every now and then for a quick and treacherous game of Risk, it's nice to think that I'll be able to invite the Itens round for a proper Sunday lunch every now and then without the need for anyone to board a plane.

In order to be a proper doting uncle, I'm contemplating Christmas in the UK. But to that end, I would want to be sure to get a chance to see all (or almost all) of the siblings in Cape Hatteras August. Sadly, this is an either / or (either Cape Hatteras or Christmas in the US). Vote now.

On the topic of the Northern Irish branch of the family, Susie and I will be travelling to Bangor in June to meet Barry, Anne and the Mournes. I'm hoping to be able to get over in August, too, to meet Sophie.