So we received some very sad news today. Charles Hyson, known as Pop to many,  passed away. He was 102 last Monday. He was a wonderful human being, father, husband and grandfather. I feel very honored to have had a chance to meet him, even if he sometimes had trouble understanding me. 🙂 I was always struck by his intelligence. Even at 102, he still had perfect recollection of the town he had spent 70 years in and the world around him. I hope to be as sharp mentally in 20 years.
I’ve never been very good at eulogies, but I wanted to pay just a little tribute to this kind man. Here’s a picture of him at our wedding. We were so happy he was able to share it with us.

Well, consider this a political neutral election day entry. I really truly don’t care who you vote for, as long as you vote. What about us ex-pats? Well, we (Carolyn and I) voted absentee in the last state we resided in. Carolyn had a chance to vote for this guy. I won’t say if she did or not since that’s not ethical. Alas, Illinois only has boring choices.

Since this is a blog about my life abroad, it has been interesting to view the whole thing from afar. There has been intense interest in the outcome of this years election. It makes you realize how much power and influence the US has and how important things like this are to a lot of people who have no choice in the outcome. It’s also a little weird being able to vote for positions in government 5000 miles away while I can’t even choose the mayor of the city I live in.

Anyhoo, just wanted to post a quick message to tell all 4 people who read this to take the time today and vote. If you have to, write in Mickey Mouse if you think the US should be run by an animated mouse. I’m planning on drinking a shitload of coffee today and trying to stay up through as much of the election returns as possible (keep in mind the first polls close at midnight in my neck of the woods). And if ever there were a reason to vote, it’s because your neighbours are probably lunatics and your lunatic vote will cancel them out. See here:

Update: From the UK, the BBC is giving a generally good overview. It’s fun to watch where the Electoral College needs to be explained. But, holy shit, they have John Fucking Bolton for their commentary. It’s soooo soooo painful. He is a complete asshole. I know it’s 315am here and I’m probably tired, but this man is a disgrace to all Americans. Anyway, things look good for partisan Democrats and Liberals in the US. Keep your fingers crossed.

So, Halloween in London is not quite the same as in the US.  Most people generally ignore the day and if you do partake it is all about ghouls and gore and scary costumes.  No pumpkins or cute animal costumes here.  Needless to say, Halloween is much more about trick and not very much about treat.

Halloween happened to coincide with one of my (Carolyn’s) co-worker’s last days of work. She is taking a career break for 6 months to travel to India to work with a charity organization, Roshni UK, providing physiotherapy services for children.  So, we coordinated a leaving-do/Halloween bash to send her off in style.

Here is a photo of some of my coworkers decked out for the night.

And here is a photo of our feeble attempt at dressing up (Matt does have devil horns on).