Peaks and Football

Wow! Had a fabulous Easter break! From Friday - Sunday I went up to the Peak District with my friend and had a fabulous time. It's an incredibly beautiful part of the country, and we were able to do some hiking and lots of driving through little stone villages and walking through fields of sheep. It would be great to go back and do some proper hiking at some point. We hadn't really planned on doing too much walking, so when we got there, we were the dorky looking jeans-rolled-up-to-our knees-to-keep-them-from-getting-muddy, un-weather protected pair amongst all of the people in their raincoats and proper hiking attire. We weren't quite as bad as the smoking-while-hiking pair we saw, but we still felt rather novice! It seems that Northerners are a very friendly lot as well. If you can understand a word they're saying, that is. On our way up we stopped at a little pub in a little, little town, and I seriously had to question if the people at the bar were speaking English. I'll definitely be going back there again - probably several times!

I saw my first live football match on Monday. It was quite fun. The highlight was the police coming onto the field at the end to ensure we didn't riot. I thought it would have been fun to try to start one and then sneak quietly out the back, but my friend Rich advised me that one only starts riots on other people's fields - not one's own because one doesn't want to ruin one's home team's pitch. I thought that was a point-well-taken so I will save my riot starting until another game.

Well, it's time for the day to start...

G is my favourite Chooooooord!

I picked up a guitar to borrow from one of my friends for a while. Wahoo! I'm ready to Rock 'n Roll!

My friend Rich says that Tesco is open from 8:00 Monday until 11:00 Saturday without closing in between. I don't know if he's right though. I still need to investigate.

I've also started watching The Office. It's just brilliant! Very funny - very British. I've watched the entire first season and am hoping to start on the second very soon. I can hardly handle the suspense.

I thought of another thing to add to my List of Petty Things that Annoy me Even Though They Probably Shouldn't. It's when people put more than three dots in a dot, dot, dot. Like an email I got today from a professional (to boot)

"Hope all is well with you...............
(insert name here).............."

Ugh. Makes me cringe every time!

24 Hours?

Hmmmm....

I live near a large grocery store (Tesco) that has incredibly large signs outfront advertising that it's "Open 24 Hours" So, having to be at work this morning 8:00 and needing to pick up something for a very important meeting this morning, I thought "great! I'll stop at the 24 hour Tescos". So I got there at 7:45, to find it closed. "But how can it be closed?" I wondered. "It's 24 hours!" Then I noticed a large sign that read

"Open 24 hours
Monday to Saturday 8:00 am - 11:00 pm
Sunday 8:00 am - 4:00 pm"

I'm so confused...

British Person Flu

Well, it would seem that as Asian Bird Flu is circulating the planet, I got knocked out by British Person Flu. Being sick away from home for the first time was an experience. Well, I suppose it gave me a lot of time to lay in bed and think about things like a new title for my blog (apparently in London one is never further than three feet from a rat). It also helped me realise the value of true friends (who are happy to come over, bring you soup and bread rolls and play monopoly in your living room while you sleep in the next room, if only because being home alone and being sick is just to unbearably lonely!) As lovely as all of my friends here are though, there was still no reaction as lovely as my mom's when I placed my "Mommy, I'm (koff koff)....sick" pity call. Ahhhhhhhh....the reactions that bridge the distances. How lovely!

The new house is working out to be just lovely thus far. Lovely, lovely, lovely! No funny incidences just yet. The only slight problem is that my new flatmate spent a year living in the states (wait - it gets worse) and it may be that her pancakes are better than mine. HOW CAN THAT BEEEEEEEEE?????? I now live within half an hour of central London (given that I catch my connections) and the fact that one of the tube stations i use is on the top five list of the most dangerous in London is very overshadowed by the fact that if you read it backwards it is "Krapy Rub Snif" One just cannot beat that. Ahhhhh...good ol' Finsbury Park (I'll help you a bit with that one).

Apparently many famous people live in this area too. When I asked if I'd be tipping my hat to Colin Firth each morning as I leave for work though, I was told "no" and I'd be more inclined to see the likes of "blah, blah, blah" (Insert names of British TV and soap stars I've never heard of here). I guess I have more reading up on British pop-culture to do. Or not.

You know, I was looking forward to a nice update, but I'm in an internet cafe (being on holidays and all) and there's a skull toque across from me whose teeth look as though they're about to leap for my head. I'm too creeped to stay...

Until later, my friends!