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[Reading] [Food] [Escape!] [London] [Quaint villages] [Nightmare!]


Reading

After doing comp-sci hons, I lived in the UK for 2 years, basically 1991-1992, in Reading, (pronounced Redding) in Berkshire (pronounced Bark-sheer) about 30 miles west of London (one of the few places in the UK pronounced as it is written). Here is a picture of the Reading High Street (main street) during what was ostensibly Christmas of 1991, but which I suspect was secretly the last relics of an ancient pagan turnip festival. This fits my many observations that Reading is extremely boring.

Postscript: Reliable sources indicate that Reading is not boring. I stated otherwise because I couldn't discover late-night activities which didn't involve drinking alcohol and/or dancing in a smoke-filled environment with annoying music. The cinema I frequented completely closed at 10:30pm, even on weekends, as if the patrons had to get home before their bed-time. One Friday night a friend and I drove around for about 45 minutes trying to find a coffee shop that was still open after 9pm. The sad, inevitable conclusion is that it's me who is boring!

Food

I would sometimes shop at Sainsbury's in Reading.

Escape!

While I was there, I was sometimes sent to the USA and once to Japan as part of my work. Of course, neither of these countries can compete with British technology. I also made it to the Netherlands and Germany on my bicycle during the single 2-week holiday I took (I'm not a good tourist).

London

One of the more unusual items I came across in that country was a pair of Tom Baker underpants at a Dr Who exhibition at the Museum of the Moving Image (MOMI) in London. One of the Daleks at the exhibition was a bit worse for wear. London is a hive of hi-tech industries - for example, the Tyrell Corporation in Great Chappel Street.

Quaint villages

[signpost for Crazies Hill and Cockpole Green] England is full of tiny villages with quaint place-names. While I was in the UK, my workplace moved from Reading to Theale, a village to the west of Reading. The only place to get food late at night is the Chinese takeaway, which (in a typically British abomina... err.. way) gives you the option of having chips (= US fries) instead of rice on most dishes. At least they didn't do Spam .

Nightmare!

English plumbing can be frightening. The first flat I lived in had no shower. You could hook up one of those tube-and-shower-head things to the taps, but when you raised it to head-height there wasn't enough water pressure for the water to flow. I had a go at improvising a shower with bucket, a coat-hanger and a disused vegetable trolley. It worked much better.


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