McDiploma??

The UK government is giving McDonalds {along with a rail company and a discount airline} the right to award credits toward a high school diploma to employees who complete on-the-job training programs. According to the news reports, employees will initially be offered a "basic shift manager" course to train staff in everything they need to know to run a McDonald's store — from hygiene to customer service. Hmmm, shouldn't they know that BEFORE they are given a management position?

Depending on the course, successful completion would be the equivalent of passing the GCSE, the standard exam taken at the age of 16 in England and Wales, or the Advanced Level, the higher exam taken at 18. Here, in the UK, a student is able to stop their schooling at the age of 16 and enter the workforce, stay home or go on to higher education.

I think this is a step in the right direction for those who otherwise would not hav enough qualifications for higher learning or those who can't go to school because of the need to work. It will be interesting to see if it is a successful program.

I HATE doing laundry

Ok, I am sure I am not the only person who does not look forward to doing laundry. But while here I really dread doing the laundry.

To show the point I give you these tidbits of information:

The average washing machine here in the UK has a front opening of just under 10 inches while in the US it is 15 inches.

The average depth of a UK machine is 10 inches deep and a US one is 17 inches!

So you see what I am talking about? It takes much longer to get it done here. I have to do a ton of little loads rather than a few larger ones. I am SO over it. I cannot begin to explain my excitement of a new washer and dryer and doing laundry in the new house.

How sad is that?

Another Step Closer...

The inspection on the new house was today and it all went fine as nothing major was discovered. We were not too concerned as the homeowner appeared to take great pride in his home. The things that did pop up were minor and can be remedied quite easily and with little expense.


A HUGE thank you to Karen for going to the inspection and acting on our behalf. It sounds like she had a very nice time...the homeowners wife made them muffins and coffee ~ gotta love that!


I am still surprised that I am moving to a house that I have not even seen in person...what am I thinking? After speaking to Karen, I truly believe that we are making the right decision on this house and Tim really does know what I like.

$1 Starbucks Coffee??

According to news reports, Starbucks is experimenting with a smaller, "short" $1 cup as well as free refills for brewed coffee. This is a great thing as Starbucks currently charges around $1.50 to $4.00 for a coffee, depending on size and flavor. The reason for the testing of the lower priced cup of Joe is to compete with other stores that offer the 'cheap' cup and free refills. The only flaw I see with this is that people, myself included, would stay WAY TO LONG in their local store.

Health Warning....

I just received this via email and as nothing exciting is happening here I decided that it had to be shared here......

This is why you should not swallow your bubblegum

Odd Weather

The mystery of weather never ceases to amaze me. The weather here locally has been rain, rain and more rain. In fact, there is quite a bit of flooding and even the roads in our village are flooded. Yet, if you travel 20 minutes north of here it is not rain you come across but SNOW! **the photos were not taken by me but from our local news**
Here is a little FYI for you too.....

If you don’t like Mondays, you’ll really hate today, Monday 21st January. It’s officially been named Blue Monday by a psychologist at Cardiff University, who has used a mathematical formula to prove that it’s the most depressing day of the year.

A Bit of Sightseeing...

Tim is traveling in China for the next few weeks on business and today he was able to get a little sightseeing done. He is currently in Wuhan, known as one of the six large ancient cites in China. As the capital city of Hubei Province, it is the biggest hub city and industrial, agricultural, financial, educational and cultural center in Central China. . He has been there before but I guess he was not able to get out and have a look around the area.

One the sights of interest was a local memorial garden and while there Tim made a snowman! According to Tim, the amount of snow they currently have is unusual but he says it makes everything look very pretty and great for photos. I don't know if he was making the snowman just for fun or to show his local host a tradition from home in the US. I will have to ask him when he phones later today.

Next stop, Yellow Crane Tower, located on Snake Hill. Enjoying the fame of 'The First Scenery under Heaven', it is one of the most renowned towers south of the Yangtze River. Its cultural significance led to its being made the symbol of Wuhan City.

According to legend, Yellow Crane Tower was built by the family of an old pot house owner living in Wuhan City, named Old Xin. One day, a shabbily dressed Taoist priest came to the pot house and asked for some wine. Old Xin paid no attention to him, but his son was very kind and gave the Taoist some wine without asking for money. The Taoist priest visited the pot house regularly for half a year when one day the Taoist said to the son that in order to repay his kindness, he would like to draw a crane on the wall of the pot house, which would dance at his request. When people in the city heard of this, they flocked to the pot house to see the dancing crane. The Xin family soon became rich and they built the Yellow Crane Tower as a symbol of gratitude to the Taoist priest.

Originally built in 223, it was destroyed and rebuilt many times including its complete destruction in 1884. It was not rebuilt until 1981 where it can be seen in its current state. Today, the tower which stands today is based on the one designed during the Qing Dynasty (1664-1911). It stands about 168 feet high and has five floors. The appearance of the tower is the same regardless of the direction it is viewed from. The roof is covered by 100,000 yellow glazed tiles. With yellow upturned eaves, each floor seems to have been designed to resemble a yellow crane spreading its wings to fly.