I finally got to London today after a few delays and a plane packed full with gospel performers headed for a gig in Spain. Three of them yelled "Hallelujah" when the plane landed at Heathrow which I found very amusing. When I got to the elegant stately venue where this week's course is taking place, the first thing I hear from reception is that the Internet access is down within the entire facility. The same thing happened the last time I was in London in March. Gingerly I ask the receptionist when it might be activated. "Oh it's been days now," she says casually. Oh, EFF. And when might you repair this, I ask through gritted teeth this being a business hotel and convention center and all. Tomorrow or Tuesday maybe, she says, without any sense of urgency. After some experimentation I realized that I can still use dial up which moves at the speed of a low grade yeast infection which does not mean very quickly at all.
What makes up for it? This venue is part of a stately old English country manor (pictured above). The grounds are spectacular, the architecture fantastic and the history perfection. If I wasn't here in a work capacity this week, I'd be thrilled to soak up every last detail of it.
I have a love and admiration for Britain but I do not understand how a country that signed the Magna Carta less than a mile from where I am right now (yes, Ruddymeade is just down the street), that has a storied and mythical history and countless heroes...why can't it have even a decent modicum of technological application or a washcloth for your face in the bathroom. It seems a staggering contradiction. I could go on, but it's already going to take an hour to post this on dial up.
2 comments:
It's called a 'flannel', not a washcloth. Maybe they didn't understand what you were asking for...
Honey, get yer ass over to France, where charm and technology and crepes, for God's sake, meet. When I lived in Paris I was astounded that this country, where men still pee against buildings in the middle of the street in the middle of the day and the women's movement has reached the point where the U.S. was in 1970, somehow this adorable little counry was miles ahead of us in their development and use of communication technology. Phone service was amazing, the "Minitel" offered computerized people location at the flip of a switch (mind you, this was all pre-Internet...cough, cough...showing my age), and though we didn't have hot water half of the week in the winter, the post office delivered mail twice a day, every day, even on Sunday.
Sorry you're having a hard time, and if you DO somehow get to France, would you bring me a crepe? :-)
France IS different--quite right, my darling. I have made maybe six visits there (the first one as a college student and summer hitch hiker, the last in a business capacity). I do like many aspects of France very much, but truth be told, if I had the luxury of travel East this particular week, I'd be on a plane to Italy or Greece. Those venues hold a particular dominant sway over mon coeur.
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