"It's All Your Fault" - Willie Nelson, 2006

I'm back in historic Greenwich again tonight, as I'm training tomorrow for a client in Canary Wharf.

I travelled to London on the train from Banbury, arriving in Marylebone Station. Today, as I'm travelling light (only a one-day course, so I don't have much "stuff" with me), I decided to make my way by "the underground" and the DLR down to Greenwich, where my hotel is located.

I love riding the Tube in London! There's no better way to see a cross-section of the population of London than to travel underground.

For the 7+ years I lived in New York City, I got to know the "subway" system very well. From my perspective, Londoners aren't quite as aggressive as New Yorkers. A former boss at Goldman Sachs in NYC (Leo, known by many of Lord Celery's regular readers) once taught me THE technique in Manhattan for grabbing a precious seat on a subway. Leo said that once you spot an available seat, you just put your head down and essentially hurl your body into the available hole. Any other competitors be d*mned. You just push your way in.

Today, I tried that technique on the crowded Tube at Baker Street station, when I changed onto the Jubilee line. No problem. I think my quick move simply scared away the others who had also spotted the seat, and two of them graciously smiled at me...and perhaps I even saw a little admiration for my skill in their expressions.

But all this is a prelude to my real story.

Sitting across from me in the car as we headed south on the Jubilee line, there was a 20'ish woman reading one of the more trashy of the gossipy women's mags. A really bizarre headline on the cover caught my eye. It read as follows:

"DOLLY PARTON IS RESPONSIBLE FOR MY ABSO!"

(And for my non-British readers, here's some information about ASBOs.)

I gotta admit that I'm intensely curious about that one!

One more thing...to add to the entertainment factor of this e-mail, I direct you to one of my other blogs. You can see photos of my little travelling companion as he makes journeys with me. I've already posted one from this trip, if you'd like to see a shot of Greenwich.

More when I get back home...

Janet