After visiting the sites non-stop the past five days, I was
ready for a day off to relax and take care of some school-related items. I
slept in this morning until about 9, by far the latest I have been able to
sleep so far this trip. After going over what I needed to do for the day, I
made the short walk over to the local laundromat to wash my clothes in
anticipation for our travel to Barcelona on Tuesday. While I really didn’t have
too many clothes to wash, I figured it I needed to do as much as I could while
I was still in an English-speaking country.
After finishing my wash, I headed back to the hotel to get
on my computer and see what had happened in the world the past few days. While
it’s nice at times to be “off the grid” without the usual Blackberry and
television, I still need to stay in the loop of current events. After checking
up on the news, I put on my freshly-cleaned clothes and departed for the Tube
for my final interview in London.
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| London Bridge |
For my final interview in London, I met with Cathy Ley of
Rosenblatt Solicitors as well as Susan Brand and Gary Mills of Costain at the
Rosenblatt office. Ms. Ley is a lawyer specializing in public-private
partnerships while Ms. Brand and Mr. Mills are asset managers for a large
UK-based general contractor. Unlike my prior meetings, the Rosenblatt
Solicitors office was approximately a mile away from my hotel, making travel
much easier and less daunting. I actually arrived about 45 minutes early so I
stopped by a local coffee shop to grab a cup of coffee and review my notes
before our meeting. We spoke for about an hour and a half about PPPs and I came
away both impressed by their experiences and much more knowledgeable about PPPs
myself.
After our meeting, I made the quick trip back to the hotel
to relax and grab a quick bite to eat for dinner. While it was nice today to
not be constantly traveling and have some time to myself, it was also strange
in that I did not know what to do with all my free time. Tomorrow morning we
will be departing for Barcelona, the second leg of our six week trip.
Looking back on my time in London, I am amazed we saw so
much in such a short time. From the different cathedrals to the interesting
museums, we covered a lot of ground in our six day stay. Having said that, I
won’t be complaining that we are traveling somewhere with a warmer climate and better
food. However, I am grateful that I was afforded the opportunity to travel to
London and am looking forward to the rest of my trip.
I have not gotten to hear much about your thesis topic of public private partnerships. I guess because there is not a lot of that going on in the states to my knowledge. How did you come up with this topic? I am curious as to what is deemed "private". Are these just construction and development companies that have been in the public works business and are now doing projects that will continue to pay as people use what they build? What are the limits to public private partnerships? I had just envisioned toll roads but I guess in a big city like London, a lot of the public transportation system as well as public amenities could be fall in to a public private partnership contract. Okay, I will stop rambling now. Good luck with your research!
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