The Professor was reading statistics yesterday.  I cannot remember how it was phrased...I think it was that 1/3 of all Londoners were born outside of the UK.

The first week we were here we seldom ever heard anyone on the street speaking English.  About a week ago we were in a huge crowded tube elevator with considerable conversation going on.  The girl next to me who was obviously an American commented.  "I have not heard one American accent all week, and here we are with all of the Americans in London in one elevator."  Of course, I had to laugh because I knew exactly what she was saying.  

We hear more English on the street now, but there are so many languages being spoken that I do not recognize.  Washington DC is all American compared to this city. 

Going to Church on the other hand is a very different.experience.  The meetings are littered with Americans.  I have not decided whether Americans comment more than other nationalities at Church or if there really are a whole lot of North Americans in attendance.  Of course, at this time of the year there are a lot of tourists in the city.  Nine o'clock is the obvious time to attend meetings for people who are just visiting.  They can go to sacrament meeting and have all of Sunday still ahead of them to see London.  So far I don't think I have sat once next to a ward member.  Inevitably I discover that the woman next to me in Relief Society is here for just a few days.  

The sister f sat next to today spent most of her time in Northern Ireland and Ireland.  She let me know that I should definitely be going to Ireland instead of spending all of my time in London.  She said that Dingle was breathtaking.  I have not checked it on the Internet.  She and her husband were on their first trip to Europe and were celebrating their 40th anniversary.  They also were checking records for her husband's family history. Sorry.  No name.  We did not exchange them.  Her one really good comment was that she had no idea until their visit to Northern Ireland that there had been so much war and conflict there.  Sigh  What can it be like to live in such a bubble.