She's Got A Passion For Cookies. A Crew Full Of Rookies...

Today I managed to miss the Cheshut train by that much. Which meant I had to sit at the station for a good 30 minutes more, and by 10:00am one of the staff members came up to me and asked if I needed assistance because I had been sitting there for awhile. I thanked him and told him no, and that I just missed the earlier train by a minute, and as soon as I told him that, my train arrived. I managed to get on that train no problem, and even hike into work with 10 minutes to spare.

My boss asked me to count out some leaflets, and once that task was completed I set out to help him hand distribute the leaflets to wards belonging to our division. After walking for 2 hours in heels (even very low heels), climbing steps, avoiding dogs, and sprinting across streets in the record summer heat, I was about done in when I finally reached the last house and managed to no pass out. I took a 10 minute break from there, and then hiked back down the street to my office where I got to work on a new pamplet that'll be going out once I finish it (I pretty much have all my time here to do it, as it isn't set to go out to the public until after I leave).

I got to meet another person that helps in the office today, and he told me he was a retired firefighter for London, and was giving me a speech about how terrible Margret Thatcher was for the British people, which led to many a giggle on my part. Oh, the best part was finding out today that I could dress in t-shirt, jeans, and trainers so long as I'm in the office (however, if I end up down in Westminster, like I will be for next week, then I need to dress smart casual). Now that I've got the go ahead for that, I can tell you now that I'm gonna have my feet hurting a lot less Monday through Wednesday.

The radios are nonstop with Michael Jackson music over here. I can't say that I hate it, though, because it's actually got a beat, and it's nice to have something familiar to work to while you're in the office. It also leads to more casual conversation, as I noticed today, so at least people don't have to have that awkward silence now. I'm looking forward to being in Westminster again next week, cause it means I'll get to chat up Nichola and find out how her week has been.

I think after today I might have found my political science thesis. I think I'll call it "Politics to People: A Comparison of Communication Between the Heads of State and the British and American Peoples" or something catchy like that. I mainly want to do this because I've realized that the British people hold their Prime Ministers more accountable by having their MPs send out a quarterly newsletter to the people they represent telling what they've been doing in government with the peoples' interests and monies. I also like the idea that the MPs hold weekly 'surgeries' in their offices on Fridays so that the normal person can meet with them and discuss problems or ideas. Why can't it be like this in the US? Seriouesly, we need something like this to lessen the power of the buearacracies and hold our representatives more accountable.

Anyway, now that that rant’s over with… I made it back to the flat no problem, and waited until Danielle got home in order to go get dinner. She recommended this nice resturant down on Oxford Street, so we took the underground in the sweltering heat and sweated our metophorical balls off in the heat box. Once there, we each ordered, and I tried a Portuguese beer (as the resturant was Portuguese) and also got the equivalent of a chicken burger. Admittedly, they did lose my order for a good ten-to-fifteen minutes, but thankfully I had the recipt and got compensated with some free chips. Yum!

So yeah, now I’m back here, writing this, and chilling out while talking to my mom with my new webcam that I bought at the HMV before we left Oxford Street.

---

Part of trip: London Summer Internship 2009

---