In the Groove

Hi all, things are going well over here. We have our routine down: morning coffee, walk Dave to the Tube, work, pub for a beer, and then dinner. I was a bit worried about the food situation here, you have all heard the rumors about deplorable English food. Coming from San Francisco (where you are automatically a food snob), I expected the worst. I have been so surprised with the restaurants and markets!

Last night we went to Da Polpo in Convent Garden. After a 20 wait, made completely bearable by a cute bartender and a tasty Negroni (I have that whole obsession with Campari), we had a lovely dinner; including THIN crust pizza (another obsession), greens, and pasta with traditional meatballs.

We met the nicest guys at dinner sitting next to us, a Brit named Chris, and Bev, an American from Nashville. We talked for quite a while about the usual friendly BS. Then the conversation turned to politics, oh god. Chris told us his mother taught him never to discuss politics with Americans because it always ends poorly. Well, turns out Bev was a big believer in Art Laffer, as in the Laffer Curve. Wait, didn't we all decide that the Laffer theories were all a big pile of shi- back in the 2000's. Here is a quote from an article by Justin Fox from Time Magazine:

If there's one thing that economists agree on, it's that these claims are false. We're not talking just ivory-tower lefties. Virtually every economics Ph.D. who has worked in a prominent role in the Bush Administration acknowledges that the tax cuts enacted during the past six years have not paid for themselves--and were never intended to. Harvard professor Greg Mankiw, chairman of Bush's Council of Economic Advisers from 2003 to 2005, even devotes a section of his best-selling economics textbook to debunking the claim that tax cuts increase revenues.

Read more: http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1692027,00.html#ixzz1S50dtmne

Anyway, we held our tongues, sort of, so I just had to get this down in the blog to feel vindicated - or something. After solving the economic problems of the world, we went and got after-dinner pints with our new friends. Then Dave and I had a lovely evening walk home past St.Paul's Cathedral. Not too bad at all.

In other general news, British banking rules: WTF is this....... I signed up for on-line banking and not only did I have to go into a branch with an ID, I had to get a security number from the banker in person, then I get this little do-dad in the mail. I am assuming it gives me another code, then I will need several more passwords before I can go online and pay rent or get a cell phone. Good grief. Well, at least NO ONE will be able to break into my online bank account - including me at this rate.