August 2000:

This is a "mass mail" report to friends and relatives.  Expect to hear from 
me occasionally.

We have settled into a small flat in Edgbaston, just a brief walk from the
famed criket grounds, and 30 mins walking from the Uni of Birmingham.
The city itself is under massive renovation.  It already has the finest
concert hall in Europe, and is undergoing urban renewal.  Like in Sydney,
the Yuppies are moving back to the core.  I did not know it, but have since 
learned that the original Cadbury factory is here, and it is still
producing.  Needless to say, we shall be visiting, and I shall be stuffing
myself with dark chocolate.  The main ethnic restaurents are Indian.  They
sell a dish called "balti", apparently invented in Birmingham.  It is a 
curry dish cooked in a mini-wok, and served in it.  The serving is generous.
One eats it with nan bread or rice.  If you visit the el-cheapo places
that students haunt, the damage for such a meal is around 5 UKP.  This and 
the last week I have been busy auditing lectures in the European Logic Summer
School, learning a lot about things that are relevant to my work. 

It's not been all work and no play.  We have visited Stratford-on-Avon, 
Warwick castle, and London.  YL herself has wandered off to Coventry, and 
plans to go to Stoke-on-Trent (pottery works) later.  This coming week-end 
(Aug 20) we are off to Berlin for a week where I will attend the major
European AI conference -- have to go because I am on the program committee
-- but it will also be a base to visit historical Potsdam.

The cost of living here is frightening.  Almost anything is at least twice
the price of what it costs in A$ at home, but I guess if one was earning 
UKP is isn't so bad.  Here is a sample of daily stuff in equivalent A$:
a cup of capuccino $4.00, an apple danish $3.00, bus fare for distance like
Epping to Chatswood $3.00, 15cm diameter stainless steel saucepan $30.00,
Chinese vegie (kai-lan) $15.00 per kilo, instant noodles $1.20 per packet.
However, some things are almost OK -- bananas $2.50 per kilo, car like
Hyundai Excell $11,000, Digestive biscuits 600g $1.50, newspaper $1.10.
 
Hope you are all in good shape.  Cheerio.

Norman