Day 1 - Mon 28 Sep - Oxfordshire to Manchester
Multiple connections today so we set off from Jan's BnB in Oxfordshire in good time. No crawling through country lanes - we're on the M40 to London and for the first and last time I can use cruise control as the little Yaris sits on 70mph. Traffic's a bit thick in places, but it's an easy drive. The English are a bit more insistent that traffic keeps left though. Sitting in the middle lane at the speed limit as you do in NZ can be met with aggravation if there's space in the left lane.
We need to top up the petrol before handing the Yaris back. Hmm - pay at pump - it doesn't accept our Wise card. Nor does it accept my NZ Visa card. Into the office and I insist the pump is authorised for £10 cash and we're finally on our way to Enterprise Rentals in Southall.
I point out the issues with the car and get a token goodwill credit, and we get a ride to Southall station. On balance the Yaris has been adequate. It's done 2,300 miles (3,700km) without major issues, but I wouldn't choose to hire another one. And the legendary Toyota build quality? Not with this one. Noise, vibration and rattles made it feel 20 years old, but at least Carplay worked.
Into Tottenham Court Road, then the Northern line to Euston Station. We've been conservative with our timings and have an hour and a half to kill before our train for Manchester departs. This is not the time for my Saily data eSIM to give trouble, but of course it does. Auto top-up didn't work, the SIM is dead and the Helpdesk unhelpful. Who needs a Facebook update anyway, and Pauline's eSIM works.
Our BnB in Manchester is one of those old warehouses converted into trendy apartments. Trendy as in the walls are dark, the kitchen is dark, and minimal wattage lights make it not much better than a dimly lit cave. We need a torch just to illuminate things in the corners of the rooms. Adequate for two nights, but I couldn't live in one.
Time to pop into Sainsburys Local for supplies, and interesting to compare the price of sirloin steak. Back in Vancouver I saw it was $C30, but as I looked closer I realised that was per pound, not kilo. So that made in $NZ81/kg. At Sainsburys we're paying £29/kg - that's $NZ68/kg. And the cost in NZ? Had a quick look online at New World and we're paying $50/kg.
Perhaps NZ prices aren't so bad after all, and our problem is that we don't earn enough NZ dollars. I'm all for ComCom investigating monopolistic practices and creating a level playing field for new entrants, but arbitrarily breaking up the supermarkets may not yield significant price reductions.
I asked AI to put a little average wage summary table together to test my hypothesis:
| Country | Average Annual Wage (NZD) |
|---|---|
| Canada | ≈ $81,000 NZD |
| England (UK) | ≈ $82,000 NZD |
| New Zealand | ≈ $63,000 NZD |
So I think I have my answer, but on anecdotal data! One thing I can confirm - English sirloin is so expensive they need security tags on the trays.
More time with the Saily Helpdesk and the eSIM springs into life. I kindly offer more ICT consultancy advice to Saily at no charge.
The same goes to the wifi providers at the apartment. While I at least have a secure SSID connection, I can't establish a VPN connection home as their firewall blocks the ports needed. They apologise but can't fix it, so I either put up with reduced wifi security or use 5G. Not as bad as this Dilbert cartoon portrays, but it pays to be careful wherever you go.
Day 2 - Manchester
Who an earth would want to go to a big industrial English city? Visions of hopelessly choked streets, pollution, hordes of people, poverty, satanic mills, crime...
Well surprise! It's not that bad, particularly if you're on two legs rather than four wheels. We set off for the Science & Industry Museum - it's only a half hour walk away across town.
Ah - there's Alan Turing again in the Sackville Gardens near the gay part of town. He's holding an apple - representing Newton, the tree of knowledge, and forbidden love. An old Amstrad computer is buried under the plinth as a tribute to "the Godfather of all modern computers". After Bletchley Park he moved to Manchester and went on to develop the first digital computer, nicknamed Baby.
Interesting that in 2003 the Journal of Psychiatric Medicine published peer-reviewed research evidencing that on diagnostic criteria Alan would have met the criteria for autism diagnosis. The research concluded how different his outcome might have been had he had appropriate supports in place. And if course if there had been no indecency laws criminalising homosexuality. As well as receiving a royal pardon in 2013, he is now commemorated on the £50 banknote.
But our main reason for a day in Manchester is to see the Science & Industry Museum. It was recommended to us by John Nick - Pauline's brother - and it aligns perfectly with my interests as well. I promise Pauline this will be the last technology experience on the trip. Unless of course we stumble across one in Ireland or Singapore.
As we step in the door I'm met by another of the world's great physicists - Stephen Hawking. What I hadn't realised is that he's also been immortalised by The Simpsons, having appeared in a number of their episodes. In one, he considers stealing Homer's theory of a "doughnut-shaped universe". The creators of The Simpsons gifted Stephen this jacket as a fitting memento.
An interesting observation about the museum is that it has a strong social conscience, As much as we see examples of Manchester's scientific and engineering prowess we also see the downsides. Living conditions in a rapidly growing city were intolerable, but led to improvements in water supply and sanitation. Child labour and poorly paid women were noted, along with laws to improve conditions, and inspiring modern stories of women in technology. Much of Manchester's cotton came from slave plantations in the Americas, so a considerable section was devoted to abolition and noting recent achievements of African immigrants. The huge amounts of CO2 released by the coal-burning factories is highlighted, along with recent initiatives to embrace renewable energy.
We see a working replica of Baby, the first programable electronic computer built by Turing's team in 1948. It weighs nearly one ton, uses 550 vacuum tubes and consumes 3.5kW for a speed of 1,100 IPS (not MIPS). My iPhone is measured in BIPS. We've come a long way in 70 years. The next 10 years will be even more remarkable/dangerous given the evolution of AI.
A 1900 ribbon loom with a Jacquard head, the forerunner of punched cards for computing.
Donation boxes suggest we fill the world with scientists, engineers and inventors. A subject close to my heart - I'm looking forward to continuing my STEM ambassador role on returning home.
Perhaps the most fascinating exhibit was a working steam engine, 1864 vintage. It produces a gentle rhythmic thump-thump throughout the Power museum which both Pauline and I felt quite soothing. Love the elegant governor on top - you wouldn't want this beast getting away from you with a full head of steam.
After the working steam engine, the cutaway of a steam locomotive was fascinating. If all you see is a big boiler on the outside, how exactly does the steam drive the piston? All is revealed.
The AV displays were excellent.
Imagine greener ways to power your home. That's tricky.
I've already got an all-electric energy-efficient home with solar panels, battery and an EV in the garage. I can't think of much more to add. Replacing the Forester with another EV with V2H/V2G capability would be a possibility. I could put up a wind turbine - it's certainly windy enough near Te Aroha - but small ones aren't cost-effective. Better to add more solar panels, and rely on the huge scale of wind farms to provide grid power.
So all up a great morning spent at the Science & Industry Museum. Thanks for the recommendation, John.
Walking back through Manchester offers a fascinating blend of old and new. Gleaming towers are framed quite happily between red brick Victorian buildings without seeming incongruous. Tramlines criss-cross the roads keeping the cars at bay, but take care - trams have a habit of sneaking up on unwary pedestrians.
It would be interesting to see the design behind this cantilever.
A local magpie shows off its plumage. These guys I can handle.
Little pockets of old Manchester free of cars make for a great pedestrian experience.
Back to the BnB and time to update the blog. The image makes the room seem brighter than it is.
Day 3 - off to the Emerald Isle
Our trip is half way through. That's England done and dusted, now for the land of shamrocks and leprechauns. Neither Pauline nor I have been to Ireland before, and it's been the focus of our planning before we left.
Back to Manchester Piccadilly station and we're on the train to Holyhead, so we take in a tiny sliver of Wales along the way. Signboards are in English and Cymraeg, which is just as well. The Welsh language is so cryptic it's unintelligible apart from the borrowed words.
As we travel along the coast I see a huge windfarm in Liverpool Bay. 57 200m tall turbines pumping out up to 348MW. Did I mention that pretty much every journey we took - Yorkshire, Cumbria, Lancashire, Oxfordshire - we saw wind turbines. Now admittedly the Brits have to work harder at decarbonising their electricity generation than we do, but their commitment to the task is evident wherever you go. Ok Steve, stop rabbiting on about wind turbines...
Smooth crossing on the ferry to Dublin, but the taxi ride to our BnB was disconcerting. It wasn't the drive through rush hour traffic, it was the driver warning us of all the places in Dublin not to go! When walking Manchester we never felt unsafe, and only saw a few vagrants and minimal graffiti. As we step out of our BnB are we going to be confronted by drunks, drugs, violence, beggars and gypsy pickpockets? Perhaps he was overstating things and just wanted to ensure we had a safe experience in his home town.
Our BnB is unassuming, cosy (ie somewhat cramped) but it's all we need for three nights at a price we can afford. We're in the land of the Euro here, and it seems we're spending them at a rate of knots.
Stay tuned for our time in Dublin. Will we want to stay longer, or be pleased to escape?
