How many yards in a mile?

Day one - Welcome


Well it’s 5.25 in the afternoon as I begin this and I’m counting down until a respectable time to go to bed.  I’ve had about 4 hours sleep in the last 42 hours or so but I want to get my brain into UK time as quickly as possible so I’m not going to bed before 6pm. 

I flew over in the new giant A380 plane which was lovely to fly in – really quiet, great in flight entertainment but the best bit of all are the springy basket type things that you can put your feet in while you sleep – they hang from the seat in front of you and really make a difference to comfort.  Don’t get too excited – it’s still economy and you’re still squashed in like a sardine but I find my thrills where I can and the foot basket (for want of a better term) did it for me.  Oh and there’s also the sky cam where control freaks like me can oversee take off and landing – camera in the tail so the view is amazing.

Landed at Heathrow at 5.40am, chose myself a nifty little Peugeot for the week and set of northward chaperoned by TomTom the persistent sat nav who earned her keep in the first day. 

Lancaster turned out to be somewhat further than I guessed – 5 hours drive including several breakfast stops for caffeine replenishment.  All I needed was some decent music for the drive, and my wish became reality when the best coffee stop (some were dire hence the need for so many) also yielded a triple CD boxed set of Funk Classics.  Gil Scott Heron, Marvin Gaye, plus a whole lot party lovin’ good times from all sorts of obscure masters of the funk oeuvre. 

Slipped a disc into the CD player, volume loud and suddenly the miles just melt away.  Speaking of miles as they do here, does anyone know how many yards are in a mile?  And do I need to worry about furlongs or is that just if I’m on a horse?  And what exactly is the speed limit on the motorway?  You know the only speed limit signs are the electronic variable ones where they want you to slow down for some reason or other, but slow down from what?  Not one single sign saying what the actual ordinary everyday limit is?  So I settle in at about 70 miles per hour (that’s about 110 – 120 K’s according to my helpful French speedometer) and the trucks on the left are going a bit slower but the Audis and BMW’s on my right are going much much faster.  I decide that they must have their own designated speed limits and of course when studio 54 starts up in the CD player I decide that I’ll pretend I too am in an Audi and drive accordingly.   Uncle Vicroads does remind me from time to time that “speed kills” and drowsy drivers die” but hey I’m abroad and there are apparently no speed limits on English motorways.  ……  I find out later that the legal limit is in fact 70 miles per hour but honestly how would you know.  There are absolutely no signs and no one else appears to know either.

Now settled in to the Midland Hotel at Morecombe.  A fabulously refurbished art deco hotel right on the beachfront of this windswept northern town near Lancaster.  The beach is about a mile wide at low tide – which it seems to be all day.  Hope I have the energy for a run in the morning as it’s the perfect spot – promenade right out the front.

See photos – the place is a classic.

Tomorrow is day one of the conference I’ve come here for and I hope I’m feeling ready by then.  One interview scheduled and several more to arrange.


So welcome to the blog – hope you all enjoy it.  Post comments if you can.  I’ll aim for daily posts but if things get out of hand that may fall by the wayside.

Midland Hotel - one view from my room.

Staircase - Midland Hotel