Recently my department has been planning a restructuring. It looks like many people might lose their jobs or be relocated in other departments. Some new positions will arise as well. For my job, however, it might mean a large salary bump (30%) and a huge increase in vacation days (from 20 to 35!). It is still up in the air if I can actually get this job because of the whole work permit issue. It will certainly be more difficult than it would for someone else. Hopefully it will all work out and I'll end up in a better position than before, probably with an indefinite contract as well, instead of one year.

Sheffield is now a police state. The G8, on their way to Scotland from London, have stopped off in Sheffield for a reception tonight and a dinner tomorrow. I have seen more police officers here today than I have seen in all of England during the last year. There must be over 100 officers guarding the town hall/winter gardens area where the reception is taking place. There are 10 officers on horses, about 20 on motorcycles, 20 police vans, numerous cars, and metal blockades everywhere. In addition, there is a helicopter circling overhead, including my apartment. They have blockaded many of the roads in the center of town. The group of protesters is still quite small, but I imagine it might get larger. I am thinking about staging my own counter-protest: "G-8 is great!" I don't think that would make me very popular.

Still, I don't know whether I should feel scared or safe that there are so many police officers. Unlikely anything bad will happen, I guess. Probably a good time to rob a bank though.

I'm not totally clear what people are protesting. I tend to think the G-8 is probably one of the best international groups. After all, the UN includes every country, including the worst dictators and human rights violators. At least the G-8 are only democratic countries and prosperous enough to exact real change.

The recent rejection of the EU constitution by France and the Netherlands has led many to question the future of the EU. Experts say there are varying reasons for the rejections, from anti-government protests to Euro-skeptics who are against the whole idea of the EU. Regardless, British leaders might be secretly pleased, because they have now tabled their referendum for the constitution, which was likely to result in a "no" vote as well.

The thing about the EU is that people are starting to question its usefulness and demand more accountability. The EU has done a good job of funding internal development in some of the worst areas of Europe. Sheffield is apparently getting a lot of money to redevelop itself, which is where all the projects downtown are coming from. What I think the EU has done poorly includes: a) treating countries equitably, b) wasting money, and c) trying to enforce decisions about lifestyle on all the countries in the union.

I think countries aren't treated equitably because there are lots of countries trying to put themselves first and gain some sort of advantage out of the EU. Apparently France has a stronger GDP than Britain, but pays less in EU contributions and receives high amounts of farm subsidies.

Besides high amounts of farm subsidies, the EU wastes money in other ways as well. The EU is based in Belgium, but France apparently wanted to have a seat of power as well. So instead of having one office in France or something, they move the entire government to Strasbourg for one week every month then move them back to Brussels at the end of the week. Obviously that is wasting a ton of money transporting all of these people, as well as needing accomodation in two locations. In addition, apparently the EU auditors have refused to sign off on the previous eight year's budgets, leading many to suspect widespread waste and graft.

Perhaps the most troubling step seems to be a tendency to make decisions that could best be left to individual countries. I tend to think a union of governments works best when autonomy is preserved on a local level as much as possible. However, recently the EU is considering legislation which would remove most vitamins from sale. The EU has also passed a law stating that workers cannot work more than 48 hours per week. Since different countries in the EU have different work and life habits, I tend to think it would be best to leave these sorts of decisions to the individual countries. Defense, aid, international trade, and foreign policy all make sense to be determined by the EU because they affect all of the countries. Everything else should be left alone.

It'll be interesting to see what happens now that the new constitution must be rewritten.

When Victoria came up to Sheffield a couple weekends ago to visit, we discovered we had a mysterious pet living in the fire escape (which is indoors). I was worried there were mice or something. However, when I opened the door, there was a pigeon sitting there looking at me. It looked very hungry, but I didn't want to tell with it right then. The next day I got some bread and went to feed it. It was sitting by the closed window looking out. I think during some recent construction the window must have been left open. It got shut after the pigeons wandered in. I say pigeons because I also found a dead one in the stairwell.

I gave lots of bread to the pigeon, but also opened the window and put bread on the window sill. However, the pigeon didn't go for the bread on the window. He just kept waiting for me to give him more bread. I tried going down the stairs a ways and he followed me, hopping down the steps one at a time. Eventually I hatched a new plan. I went down to the basement and got a plastic plank. I put bread all over it to lure him onto the sheet. After some trepidation, the pigeon hopped on and started munching on the bread. I was surprised at how light the pigeon was. I was able to lift the flimsy board up quite easily to the window. Once he got a better view of the other bread, he went out on the window to eat it. Finally, I was able to close the window. I hope he is strong enough to make it in the outside world. But I thought he would surely die if he stayed in the stairwell. I am talking to the landlord today, so I will be sure to mention the dead pigeon so it can be removed.

On Saturday, when we were at Portobello Road Market, we witnessed a strange phenomenon. The market is mostly along a road that pedestrians take over. However, there are intersecting roads where cars go on. We came across a one-way street with a car facing the wrong way down the street. It was stopped in the middle of the pedestrian part because there was a huge bus coming the correct way up the street facing the bus. Around the car were about 50 people talking to the driver, staring at the situation, etc. Of course, the more people that stopped to look, the more curious everyone became. It became this huge scene. For some reason, the car driving the wrong way down the road refused to move. She just sat there blocking the road. The bus driver and all the spectators were encouraging her to move, but she didn't. Eventually, after about 15 or 20 minutes, she finally backed up and let traffic continue. But the whole thing was just weird as it could have been easily solved a long time before. We stopped at a nearby cafe to have a snack so we could see the whole thing.

Another strange thing was that I recognized one of the guys in the crowd. I couldn't figure out where I had seen him before, but I was sure I knew him. He was very tall with a distinctive look. Then I remembered that he was recently on the UK version of the Apprentice as a contestant. He (Matthew) didn't do very well, or really seem to like business that much actually. I was sure it was him because he really stands out. Victoria agreed that it was him.