It's very cold and rainy here

So it's been about a week now, and I think it's rained pretty much everyday, except for the day it snowed. It really is just about the stormiest place in the world I'd imagine. Today the forecast was for sun, but it's going to start raining within the hour. I don't think I'll be needing my shorts and Chacos that I packed, oh well.

We've really been busy this week. On Tuesday we met with an organization called Think London. They are a government-supported group that helps foreign companies open UK offices. In addition to working with Invisible Children, they're managing the foreign companies that are opening offices for the London Summer Olympics in 2012. They office on the 35th floor of the Citibank Tower, the tallest building in the UK. The entire Canary Wharf is brand new sky scrapers made of glass with some of the largest international corporations and investment banks officing there. The woman we met with, named Pru, was very helpful and receptive. It took her a little while to understand we aren't going to need to be set up with advertising agencies and PR firms. Fortune 500 companies aren't typically grassroots.

We've met with about a dozen different people about IC during the week as well, all of whom have seen the film at some point and want to help with the transition. We might have even found a roadie or two for the fall's tour.

The Underground has been very adventurous. It stops running around midnight, and one night we were out later than we anticipated and barely made the last train from the station. But we had to change lines at Westminster and had to literally run from platform to platform. I turned the corner to catch the door and turned to help Jessica across the gap, and then the door tried to close on my face. I had to push it open to get her on board. The train was packed with drunk people, all of whom were laughing, especially a group of about eight high school girls. Jessica cleaned the mark off my face from the door, and I gave the girls a copy of the film. They had to take it because they had been so clearly laughing at me.

It also strange to spend so much time at the location of a terrorist attack. On July 7th, 2005 terrorists detonated bombs on the trains, killing several hundred people. It's so strange that Ground Zero is almost a holy site for us in the US, but I've seen no sign of a memorial at all in the Tube. One afternoon we were riding around rush hour, and I was sitting across from a Middle Eastern man reading the Koran. He looked very fatigued and agitated. After reading a few passages he placed the book into his coat pocket and then pulled out some sort of electronic device. I got pretty nervous, but it turns out it was just a hand-held dvd player. I've always considered myself open minded and tolerant, but I think for the first time ever, I really felt the fear associated with the threat of terrorism and the illogical assumptions many people make about Muslims, very strange.

Right now, I'm out in a small town called Orpington, about 25 minutes outside of London by train. We've been staying with our friend Rachel, who is a friend of a friend of a friend who works in the San Diego office. She and her family are very nice, and we just finished a traditional English breakfast of baked beans, eggs, tomatoes, bacon, toast, marmalade and tea. It was actually quite good. I've been drinking lots of tea.

Tonight we're going to move into our flat. It's in Shepherds Bush, near Nodding Hill Gate western London. We got a really great deal on it, only $300 per week, which is so cheap for London. Most rent is several thousand a week. This week, we have many meetings with real estate agents, banks, contacts and lawyers. We are also screening the film to the Laytham and Watkins Legal Group. It's the third largest law firm in the world, and we're screening it to the entire group of 250, pretty intimidating but very cool.

We're in London for about two more weeks, then we head off to the country. We'll be planning our route soon.