noch einmal?

To recap, i took the overnight buses to get to Heathrow, then the 6 AM down to Portugal, and then a connecting flight to Newark. I was lucky on the long flight over, as there was an empty seat next to me, I was able to sleep almost the whole time.

So I arrived into Newark relatively refreshed in the grant scheme of things and managed to hold off until 21.30 to go to sleep.

It was a little surprising then when I woke up dreaming in German.
I have no idea where that one came from.

Frugal travels - taking food to the airport

So I got my cheap ticket back to the US, what else...

My flight leaves at 0600 (weather willing)--yeah, there was a reason it was so cheap. ;-) However, 0600 actually makes it easier for me, because I'm out of Heathrow in this go round, so I have a quiet overnight of travel, starting at 23.40 from my corner of Essex, with two overnight buses which will deposit me at the door of Heathrow. In some ways it's a lot easier than traveling during the day when everyone is out and about...

One of my biggest frugal irritations is the cost of food in the airport, and that you're a bored and captive audience. How do I combat this issue?
I bring my own food. I pack along food on the assumption that I won't be fed on the plane, or that I'll be stuck at the airport for 12+ hours.

To start, I eat before leaving the house. Tonight I'm out the door at 23.40, so I had dinner and then an additional little meal, along with a beer to boot. So the below rations are what will get me through the next 12+ hours.

Starting at the top right:
-a leftover salad from lunch at Nosh today. They make a nice vegetarian spinach and cous cous with feta cheese and advocado salad. I wasn't overly hungry today, so half of it comes along.

-bottom right - two fried egg whites. Sometimes I boil eggs, other times I fry them. I like a little protein to carry along.

-bottom center - two granola bars. If all goes well, I won't touch these. I carry these along as insurance, in case there is suddenly a freak snowstorm grounding all planes or if the airline somehow doesn't have my veg meal.

-bottom left and center top - marked down goodies from Marks & Spencer. I find M&S's veg options to be top of the line but too expensive for daily use. However, they do great markdowns when items are nearing their best buy as these were. Left is a salad with lots of vitamin goodness for 1.50 GBP, top is a melon mix for 1 GBP. Both were more than half off their regular prices and fit my needs as I will consume them within 24 hours.

-top left - a bottle for water - i've yet to have a problem with taking an empty bottle through security and refilling it from the water fountain on the other side. plus, i don't usually travel beyond the industrialized countries of Europe and the US, so I've not so exposed to water which may cause issues with different bacteria, etc.

What else? Yeah, I carry along a spork and napkins always.

What will I buy at the airport?
Coffee. A black coffee is usually one of the cheapest items anywhere, and I loathe instant.

Back when I lived in Germany, I would tote along a beer or two as that was socially acceptable if you were on the train or stuck waiting at the airport, etc. One could carry along a beer for a fraction of the airport cost and only lose the .08 cents deposit. Now that I'm in the UK I've modified my behavior back to the US style. I may have a beer or two on the way out but I won't carry further and will probably wait until I'm on the (Euro carrier) airplane to (freely) indulge.

The UK snowman

Thursday night into Friday we got pummeled in the UK with snow:

Saturday the Phillyland area got pounded with 20 inches.
Heathrow is still recovering today from snow delays earlier this week and facing new ones.

With any luck, all of these issues will be cleared by 6 AM tomorrow UK time. :-)
I've left you a few pre-postings as I'm in the air.

To the House of Treats!

Everyone's favorite cat has her bags packed and ready by the door. In less than 24 hours she will be deposited at her home away from home where she will spend the next few weeks being spoiled, including her own portion of freshly cooked meat each evening of whatever is being served. She's not so choosy there, but she does seem to favor poultry...

Countdown to flight time: 4 days

More Christmas shopping - homemade bags

In my quest to remain homemade this year, I bought a few of these homemade bags from the same charity who was selling the sweaters. I imagine they are made with donated materials, the price was three for 5 GBP. The are well-made and lined and one of a kind so they fit the bill.

Sidenote: When I was home two years ago for the holidays I was still in the autopilot 'I live in Germany therefore I take my shopping bags with me' mode. Most of my relatives found it strangely quaint, and my grandmother backed me up with the sentiment, 'back in the depression we didn't have all of these plastic bags, we wrapped things in reused paper and twine or a reused burlap sack, but we were so poor we barely had anything to wrap or carry anyway!'

I'm not sure how much of this statement was exaggerated, but she enjoyed asking if we were taking along our bags each time anyone went out the door, with a wink to me. It's all good fun so they will enjoy to receive these as gifts.

Terry's money woes and the lack of data security

You may recall from a few months back, when I first arrived my company J issued mobile phone was previously in use to someone named Terry who seemed to forget to pay a few bills. For a few months I was regularly receiving calls from bill collectors (uups, 'Finance companies'), so much so that I regularly turned my work phone off outside of work hours. For the most part, they were pleasant enough when I explained that it was a company phone issued and paid for by benevolent company J, and they were welcome to call company J to try and find Terry as I never met him, nor did I replace him or know anything about his location.

A few weeks back, Terry's misadventures appeared again, as Terry forgot to pay the water bill and I started to get SMS notices that further action would be taken. Due to the location of the water provider, I now know Terry's geographic region of the country.

Last night, Argos sent an SMS to Mr. Terry (lastname), thanking him for his order and informing him that it would be shipped tomorrow and they would call one hour in advance of delivery. Previously I didn't know Terry's last name, although I did a short first name search on company J's internal phone directory on the chance that I could get a new business number to forward people to, but no Terry's or any such close variations existed in the UK.

Sure enough today an Argos guy calls:
Argos guy: Hi, Argos here, we'll be there in an hour.
Heather: Sorry, I didn't order anything from Argos.
AG: It's a delivery for Terry (Last name)?
Heather: Sorry, that's not me.
AG: We're making a delivery to (Town, Address line 1, Address line 2)?
Heather: Sorry, I live in Essex (the opposite side of London from the address, at least 2 hours away).
AG: Sorry, I may have mis-dialed, I was trying to reach (my phone number).
Heather: Yes, you've reached the right number, but it does not belong to whomever ordered something.
AG: No worries, I try to find them.
Heather: (Good luck, you and the bill collectors.)

So Terry who spent months not paying bills including most recently the water bill is now buying something from Argos.

Perhaps more concerning--I've purposely stayed uninvolved from this situation and without trying I now know the guy's full name and address. It's not easy to see how people commit identity fraud...

The homemade Christams gifts - knitted items

I mentioned a little while back that it would be locally sourced, handmade and secondhand Christmas. I've been pleased with my corner of Essex, when there are street parties or the like, a local charity will often put up a booth with homemade items. Chief among these is handknitted items like sweathers, socks and mittens, and the prices are extremely affordable, for less than what you'd pay at a discount retailer like Walmart even. (I guess as the materials and labor are donated efforts, anything they make for the charity is therefore pure profit.)

So when I had the chance to pick up these two items for less than 10 USD together, I did, especially as I can't knit myself. :-)

The influence of the EU on the UK

Being a non-EU citizen in the EU is an interesting perspective. While we studied the EU law chapter in my law course, it caused a bit of passion on the topic, as to how being in the EU has impacted the UK. As I have no personal, historical perspective on this account, I tend to see it more from a black and white numbers or law basis.


As we know, I need to take the UK Driver's test. Background on that one is here and here. While doing a little research, I noticed that they are hiring Driver test examiners in the UK. Most interesting to me is under the 'brief description':

You’ll need to have held a UK or EU licence continuously for 4 years (and with no more than 3 current penalty points)

Well, that's me actually. I've held an EU license continuously for 4 years with no more than 3 penalty points. When I mentioned this to one of my UK colleagues, to borrow one of my favorite German terms, he ausgeflippt.

His key points were:
-There was probably some EU directive forcing the UK to allow other EU country citizens to apply.
-Driver examiners could then come over from other EU lands where they are used to driving on the other side of the road and other types of road signs, etc. Just because they hold an EU passport does not qualify them to examine UK drivers without intrinsic UK road knowledge, and at a very minimum, a UK driver's license.

-->EU Directive 91/439/EEC from 1991 abolished the need for EU community members to exchange drivers licenses, btw, and established that member licenses are fully recognized in other member countires.

-->From this act also: 'The work of driving examiners must be monitored and supervised, by a body authorized by the Member State, to ensure correct and consistent application of fault assessment in accordance with the standards laid down in this Annex'.

Freedom in a small frame, this EU...