Week 128-129 · Milan · Manchester · Santa Fe · Brexit Week
Milan,
Back to work at a conference in Milan, then to Manchester for the Brexit vote weekend, then back to the USA for a radionuclides conference in Santa Fe. A fortnight during which the world changed.
Back to work at a conference in Milan — I had seen the tourist sites on prior trips so this was mostly work. But as they say, when in Rome do as the Romans. But this was Milan, so I went to an English pub to see England play (before Brexit II — and to be fair, Wales is still playing). The pub was near the central sites of the city so some pictures are attached. The conference and discussions were dominated by Brexit and, to a lesser extent, Trump and Hillary. The editor of The Economist spoke and said his view — not the official view — was to vote for Hillary as both candidates were lying but that her lying was more consistent and thus less dangerous. Of course he was very confident that the UK would vote to remain as well.
Overall an interesting conference — the business community in Europe is not nearly as sold on a transition to purely renewable energy as the EU politicians, and claim that higher energy costs are part of the reason the EU lags the USA in economic growth. The next evening we had dinner in a great part of Milan I hadn't been to before — along a canal in an area called Navigli Lombardi. It was gourmet Italian. I played it safe with veal while everyone else got the local specialty of pigeon.
The Navigli district in Milan is a network of canals originally designed in part by Leonardo da Vinci in the 15th century as part of a larger navigable waterway system linking Milan to the Po River. The canals were primarily used for transporting Candoglia marble used in the construction of the Duomo. Most of the canal network was paved over in the 20th century but the Naviglio Grande and Naviglio Pavese remain, and the surrounding Navigli neighbourhood is now one of Milan's most lively dining and nightlife areas.
Back in the UK for meetings in Manchester — my coworkers there were worried about Brexit but few actually knew of anyone voting Leave (except the random "crazy uncle" people seem to have) — yet they are leaving. Low motivation for early Friday morning meetings after the vote. But at the Manchester airport all the people flying out to Europe for stag and hen parties were drinking and singing to celebrate Brexit at 10am. Coming through London a much more somber mood, with the exchange rate for the USD to GBP having a buy/sell range of 1.15 to 1.55.
"At the Manchester airport, people flying out for stag and hen parties were drinking and singing to celebrate Brexit at 10am. Coming through London — a much more somber mood."
The United Kingdom voted 51.9% to 48.1% to leave the European Union on June 23, 2016. England voted 53.4% Leave, while Scotland (62% Remain), Northern Ireland (55.8% Remain), and London (59.9% Remain) voted to stay. The GBP fell sharply against the dollar in the immediate aftermath — the pound dropped to its lowest level against the dollar since 1985. The UK formally left the EU on January 31, 2020, and the transition period ended December 31, 2020.
Travel tip — when using ATMs outside the USA, it may ask you if you want to "lock in the conversion rate" with no fee. That "locked in" exchange rate is about 20% worse than your bank will give you. Always select "continue without conversion."
One stressful part of the last week — of the flight segments we booked, only about 2–3 were "critical" (i.e., a missed flight creates bad consequences). Of course, when Alex and Annelise were flying back from Vienna via London their plane was late and they were projected to miss their connecting flight back to the USA. It worked out that the USA flight was delayed by 6 hours so they made the connection — but we burned up the text trying to figure out what to do.
Back in the USA last weekend and now in Santa Fe at a conference discussing radionuclides — way above my level. Literally 30 hours in a hotel ballroom over 3 days. Didn't get to see much of the town at all — had a great dinner outside of town and a quick walk through the old town to finish the evening.
