Hey everyone,

I forgot to put this in the last entry, so I thought I'd just put it here. On Friday night, I went out with this guy I had met to get some drinks (and to see a movie, but we couldn't find the movie theater and by the time we did, the movie had already been playing for about 30 minutes). It was pouring rain, so I did get a chance to test out my new umbrella, which worked perfectly! You see, when I first got here, I bought an umbrella for about 2 pounds at this little pharmacy just to hold me over until I found a better one. The umbrella was so small it didn't even cover all of my head, so it basically didn't do any good. And, every time the wind blew, it would flip inside out. I hate that umbrella. But, I did have my rain coat, so I mostly didn't use the brolly (as they're called here). However, I was in central london last week and I passed by a Timberlands, and figured they might have a bigger, better brolly. So, I went in - and lo and behold! They had this umbrella that was supposed to be able to withstand wind gusts and would never flip inside out! It was 20 pounds, but I bought it, and it worked really well on Friday night! I was really happy! And, it's much bigger too, which means that my whole head stays dry (I swear with the other one, I had to decide which part of my head I was willing to sacrifice to the rain - usually I picked the back)!

But, I digress...what was I talking about? Oh yeah - so anyway, after realizing that the movie wasn't going to happen, we went in to get some dinner and drinks at this nice place called Brown's. Now, here's the kicker - this guy is a cop for London's metropolitan police, which means he has to wear the ridiculous hats (I have some pictures a few entries below, if you've forgotten what they look like). Of course, I've been wondering how they stay on their heads, and I know you've been wondering too, Kelly! I couldn't pass the opportunity up - I had to ask them. As soon as I did, he turned bright red and said, "Please, let's not talk about the hats." Poor guy! But then he told me that they actually don't stay on. Apparently every time they go to run after someone, the hat flies off and they have to go back and find it. He's lost his a few times and they just issue them new ones without questions. So what I'm wondering is, why don't they just accept that the hats need a complete overhaul, since clearly form and function are both lacking?? Maybe I can submit some ideas to whoever's in charge? But then again, I would hate to see those hats go - they do make me giggle whenever I see them! Yeah, they need to stay...but maybe they could add a chin strap or something to them so that they don't fly off? I dunno...just an idea...