What bonkers weather we’ve been having!
I’ve just got back from a quick trip England and literally experienced “Four Seasons in One Day” . It started with snow, that turned to hailstones followed by gusty winds, a fair bit of heavy rain punctuated with brief periods of glorious sunshine. It was very strange, particularly as I happened to be in a house that was raining out front but wasn’t in the back. This has happened to me only once before but after talking to a few people I’ve learned that it isn’t actually that unusual. I guess it’s got to stop somewhere.
The unpredictability makes it really difficult to pack appropriately, fortunately I had brought both wellies and flip flops. Although, according to my Facebook newsfeed it appears that Los Angeles experienced a fair amount of extreme weather too?
Over on the Brits in LA page everyone is sharing the intel on where to buy Easter Eggs in LA – for those of you not on Facebook apparently you can still get them at Ye Olde Kings Head in Santa Monica, The Hare and Hounds in Thousand Oaks, Kitty O’Sheas in Eagle Rock, Oh Fancy That! in Encino or Coco and Candy in Studio City. Make sure to call ahead as they could well be sold out by the time you are reading this.
The other hot topic is still travel – at the moment there are no restrictions or extra requirements when traveling to the UK but to enter the US you will still need to take a test (and produce a negative result). There is some confusion over when the test has to be taken, some people say within 24 hours of your departure, however I found that it can be taken anytime the day before or the day of your flight. I also managed to find an affordable ‘fit to fly test’ through Randox. It only cost £11, although this week I noticed they had increased the price to £13.50 which is still a bargain compared to most of the other options. I was able to do ‘click & collect” from the local corner shop although you can pay extra to have it delivered. Best of all I was able to self-test at home and was only required to submit a photograph of the result along with a scan of the barcode from the test they had sold me.
I had my “too good to be true?” doubts but took the risk and received an official certificate within the hour and that was accepted by my airline’s verification process shortly after. The only negative is that you do need a smartphone or tablet to download the app and submit your test result but I did see there was an option to do it on someone’s else’s device. So if you don’t own one, you can still ask a friend or family member to help you as once the result is uploaded you shouldn’t need to access the app again.
I did wonder why it wasn’t an observed test but also appreciated the level of trust given, as really why would anyone take the risks involved in falsifying results? To be honest it did half cross my mind that if I wanted to spend a little more time in England I could ask someone with Covid to lend me a sample….
Visit this link covid.randoxhealth.com for more details and make sure to read the description carefully and choose the one that says “CertiFly”
If you need a last minute test at the airport many of our members are recommending a company called Halo that operates out of Heathrow. You can learn more at haloverify.com.
If you have tips or news you want to share with your fellow readers you can email us at info@britsin.la or find us on social media @BritsinLA
We always love your feedback too.
Till next time.
Cheers
Eileen
