London

I got here late Sunday night, unsuccessfully tried to sleep, got up at 5:30 and hauled my bippy out to Reading for my meeting with HSBC. Sleepless and jet-lagged I still managed to talk to them for more than 3 hours straight on Payment systems, rt market data feeds and web-service based enterprise service buses. Not shabby. The rest of the day was taken up the same meeting although I was not critical to it. Then back here, a light dinner a few calls and then bed.

Today is much less hectic, so I'm hoping I'll get a chance to walk around town and do a few things. London is second only to Amsterdam in my ranking of cities and very easy for an American to along in, despite recent tensions. Some people know have compared visiting the UK to visiting a 52nd state. I completely disagree. I think it's like visiting a foreign country where folks happen to be good at English (if not always understandable). If you treat London as a version of America, well you sort of miss the point altogether.

I'm staying at the St. Martin's Lane hotel, which is right off Trafalgar Square. Convenient to a lot of places, including the office, near theatres and, in general, a great place. I was in London a lot in 2001 when we were raising our C round for Certco and I stayed in this same area. Therefore, falsely confident, I took the Tube back from Paddington yesterday instead of a cab, got off at the wrong stop (Piccadilly Circus) which I thought must be nearby, then wandered around with a full computer bag for an hour seeing lots of things that were familiar, but not near my hotel. oh well. I know I get lost easily and make time for that in most of my plans. Despite the heavy pack, it was fun and I often forget just how beautiful London really is.

Today all my appointments are in the afternoon so I'm going to spend some time this morning wandering around on my way to the office. I should be done by 6:30pm and, barring a last-minute client dinner, I've resolved to go spend some time in a pub tonight.

Home tomorrow evening after another trip to Reading and a speech at some conference.