Big Brother

U.K. television viewers pay a mandatory TV license fee and in exchange the BBC offers ad-free programming. Not a bad deal. Blind people only have to pay half price because, after all, they can't actually see the TV. But there's a £1000 fine for failing to purchase a license. There's a rumor that the Television Licencing Agency (TVLA) keeps a running list of unregistered homes and sets up detector vans to catch license dodgers. The TVLA sends threatening letters and has the authority to search your home. Frankly, it sounds far-fetched. Surprisingly, the TVLA's description of itself,"what we do," doesn't openly contradict these claims.

Jumping on the Bandwagon

As a matter of principle, I've always avoided jumping on the blog bandwagon. But this counts as an assignment for one of my classes and it's a pretty good way to keep people updated, so halfway through the semester I'm compromising my principles. Previous entries come from story of the week mass e-mails.

The Louvre

This is a picture of the time I went to the Louvre with my flatmates Emily and Amy. The Louvre is more grand, more marvelous than I can even begin to imagine. I've been there and it's still hard to imagine.

An American in Paris

We spent the first hour or so looking for a English/French dictionary (some Parisians are entirely unwilling to speak English). Emily walked into a bookstore and asked the retailer for a French book. He got this smart-aleck look on his face, gestured to the whole store, and curtly said,"French book."

Fortunately, there are also some very nice people in Paris. The night before we left we realized that we didn't know how to catch the bus back to the airport. We couldn't use the phone in our hotel room (a long, but very funny story), we had no Internet, and the people at our hotel were completely unhelpful. It was pretty late, so most places were closed. I suggested asking the receptionist at the nice hotel down the street. Even though we weren't guests, the man behind the desk answered all of our questions, treated us to hot chocolate, and spent more than an hour telling us about his experience as a Cameroon immigrant in Paris. Very personable. So if you're ever in Paris, I recommend staying at Jardin de Paris Republique.