First Day on the Job

Finally had a good sleep, if you call sleeping in a room that is 27 degrees C any good. It was better than on the plane at least. The air conditioning at the hotel is broken. Couldńt have happened at a worse time since it is 31 degrees in London today. My shifts will run from 1pm to 10pm each day, with 4 rest days scattered around. However, Shanty has asked us to go over in the morning for some orientation and name badge pickup. We met with a few of the LU (London Underground) people as well as our customer (Tubelines). Basically this was to allow us to put a face to a name since we will be working along side one and other for the next 3 weeks. Here are some of the other Canadians on this trip.

Ken

Mike

Shanty

Me again
After the morning session, Ken and I returned to the hotel and I finally got my phone unlocked and using my Orange SIM card. This gives me my UK number while here. I prepaid for a data plan (12& for 1 gig, alot cheaper than in Canada to be sure). Back to work at 1pm where we spent the next 9 hours essentially waiting for something to happen, which never did. I spent most of the time doing paper work for Toronto to wrap up unfinished business from before I left. The shift dragged on until 10pm. Time moves slowly when nothing is happening. Graeme and I had diner and a 1 drink at the Allso Thai restaurant near Wembley. Then it was off to bed. No drinking allowed tonight: we are going to be subjected to an alcohol and drug test the next day. This is law here in the UK when working on safety critical systems, especially the London Underground.