Guy Fawkes night!

I had my first Guy Fawkes night on Saturday! Kate invited some of us around and was the perfect hostess (sadly, I didn't seem to get any shots of her). But here's Danni looking very celebratory indeed! Oh yes, and some random fireworks...

My mysterious condition...

Yesterday morning I mentioned to Katrin that my earlobe felt a bit warm. Today I woke up and it was a full two-times the size it normally is. I don't often wear earrings anymore (I lost the ones that were made of real materials that didn't irritate my ears) so I'm not too sure what's causing this, but I suppose I'll get concerned when it spreads to the rest of my face...

My Capable Parental Unit

I'd like to introduce my Parental Unit to my blog! My dad and I were on the phone last night, and he, having just been introduced to the world of high-speed internet, learned how to post messages to my blog. His debut can be found in "The Shopping List Compendium" post. This is my capable Parental Unit, with my also capable (although not online) grandmother when I was visiting in September. Aren't they lovely? :)

One of those moments...

I was fortunate enough to catch the last little bit of an awesome sunset out of my window last night. I've always loved our view, and this just solidified it even further. By time time I'd finished running around to find my camera it was almost over, but I managed to capture the last minute...

Unfortunately my dying window box obstructed the view a bit, and I suppose I could have hung my body out of the window, but that didn't occur to me at the time... Having said that, it's interesting to see that my little spruce is turning into a little Blue Spruce now (or is that a little Dying Spruce?)

Tri-Nations Cup

To send my brother out with a bang, we took him to one of the Tri-Nations (GB vs. NZ) games on Saturday. Great Britain lost, but it was still fun anyways...

Here are - Rich looking exasperated (as he did most of the game), Matt P looking very excited (as he did for most of the game...for no particular reason though...he's just a happy-sort of guy) and my brother and I looking like Canadian tourists at a rugby game...

Tower Bridge

I think that for as long as I live in London, I'll never tire of Tower Bridge at night.

Except that's not tower bridge. Oops...OK...take 2!

And how about some Tower of London Raven bum while we're at it?

Hmmmm....maybe photography lessons are in order! :)

Nose to Nose with Royalty

You know you work in England when you look for something under your desk and come nose to nose with Queen Anne.
How'd she get there?

Miserable, Rainy, Monday Morning

I made a mistake over the weekend. I saw the new (although now over a month old) Pride and Prejudice yesterday. It was really good, but really, is the main ingredient in any single girl's recipe for "I'm-going-go-die-an-old-maid" casserole.

That, combined with a rainy Monday morning, the realisation at the gym that I'm far more out of shape than I thought I was, and the non-arrival of an email I was quite hoping for over the weekend seems enough to send me back home to curl up and watch DVDs all day. Except I don't have a DVD Player. Or a TV for that matter. Damn.

In other news, my weekend was good (except for afore mentioned mistake of watching P&P which was good...too good really). Ashley and I stumbled upon a Tandoori place and decided to eat at it because it had a sign with the most complicated arrow to lead us down a dark alley way and around a corner to find it. We thought that anybody who put that much effort into the signage deserved a try, and it turned out to be a great find! Then yesterday Sandy and Janeen made a great find of a Japanese/Thai/Sushi place in China town. I went to St Paul's Cathedral for the first time and took my brother to see the Tower of London. Last night my brother assemebled an IKEA dresser for me, and tonight I will be able to go home and finally rearrange my room and get rid of the large suitcase that has been taking up a big spot on my floor, and the thought of that makes me feel very happy. So really, "cranky and pity-me" me should be a bit less cranky and pity me I suppose.

Count your blessings one by one...

Not Forgotten

Hi,

I've been quite busy at work where my only internet access is, so my poor blog has remain unupdated for a while!

I'm doing OK, and will try to remain to regular blogging activity in due course...

Watch this space!

My Last day...

Today is my last full day here, and I am sad to have to leave tomorrow.

It has been very cold and rainy here, and I am really hoping it clears up because I do not want to spend my last day of being in Canada indoors. A few of the trees across the street are turning a wonderful orange colour, so at least I have not missed the leaves turning entirely...

Hours of Name Fun

My brother showed me this website whereby you can type in names and see their popularity progressions from the 1890s to present day (well, the number of babies that were named that name per 1000) It is very interesting and very fun...who knew Desmond has had a resurgence of popularity!

The only thing is that it is based on American stats, so I am not entirely sure how applicable it is to the British audience among us...

http://babynamewizard.com/namevoyager/lnv0105.html

The Shopping List Compendium

I keep meaning to blog about this, but was just reminded by a program on CBC:

I heard this guy on BBC 4 - Home Truths a few weeks ago. He and another person were talking about their collection of shopping lists they find abandoned in grocery stores. I was fascinated a) because of my own collection of lists and b) because of my fascination with what other people buy at the grocery store...

http://www.redhotscott.co.uk/shoppinglists

It us pretty cool - I suggest you check it out!

Bonjour!

After a whirlwind two days in Campbellford (if C-ford could ever be described as a whirlwind) I am now in Sherbrooke, Quebec at the house of my brother, where keyboards do funny things like insert vowels with accents instead of certain punctuation marks (and silly people like me do not know how to turn the function off). Therefore, for the duration of this trip my blog will not have any question marks and apostrophes (which I guess also includes any possessives as well. Hmmmm....) Anyways, the trip here was lovely. I was packed into the back seat amongst golfclubs and raincoats and did nothing but sleep, read and do crossword puzzles for 8 hours. Somehow these trips make me feel more like I am 7 or 17, but that is OK...for a short time at least.
The only really disappointing thing about this trip has been that the leaves are still very much green here. Normally by this time of year the forests would be awash (hey, good word!) with colour, but apparently the really warm summer and fall here have delayed things considerably.

The weather today is supposed to be miserable, so I am hoping to spend the day indoors reading, with maybe a short trip out to the mall to pick up a CD or two I had been wantingn to get. AH - c (apostrophe) est la vie!

Four Strong Winds

CBC Radio has just reaired a program highlighting the 50 songs that Canadians have voted as the best Canadian songs. After sobbing through "If I had $1 000 000" and "Four Strong Winds" I decided that it was best I turn my mind from anticipatory homesick/I don't want to leavedness to my blog.

Here are shots from the last few days: Angela's baby, a trip to Centre Island with John yesterday, meeting up with Gary, Judy and Nelson, a wonderful sign on the island that encouraged people to walk on the grass, and a trip to the Steamwhistle Brewery with Andrew today.

Due to CBC's strike, BBC world service is currently on the air...oh - what an emotional radio rollercoaster this afternoon!!

The newest Canadian Documentary Maker

Thanks to my new digital camera, Andrea and I have made two documentaries today. The first is called "The Vermin of Queens Park" and the second is called "No sweet lovin' at the Green Mango" I wanted to try to put them up here, but haven't figured it out yet (if it's even possible). In other news I:

1. Changed my blog so that people don't have to register to make comments
2. I met Angela and Paul's lovely daughter, but also decided that it's horrible to only have a few hours to spend with people you could easily spend days with!
3. Changed my blog time zone to London time. I think it has messed up all previous posts, but we'll see. I am currently trying to upload today's photos to the computer...

Shooooow me the pictures!

For some reason, blogger has been anti-photo for the past couple of days...hmmmmm...

Just keep swimming! Just keep swimming! I'll try again. If successful, you'll see the Piccadilly Circus pub (as per previous entry) and a shot of St Andrew's Presbyterian Church with the CN Tower - me trying to be artsy, but not quite being there...

What I've (Re) Learned Take Two

Well, my whole first attempt at this post got lost in bloody cyberspace, so here I try again (albeit in shortened form)

1. I've come to realise that it's possible to feel quite at home here, thanks to the open-top double decker busses with "Trafalgar Square" and "Victoria Station" plastered all over them. I don't know why T-dot doesn't take pride in itself and get its own busses! Back off! Get your own busses!

2. It's also easy to feel at home with pubs of the likes of "Piccadilly Circus Pub" all over. Remind me why I paid a lot of money to come here again?

3. There is possibly not a more lovely breed of public employees than the TTC Streetcar and bus drivers. I'd forgotten what it's like to have a streetcar driver who says things like "hello, thank you, have a nice day" and announces where in the city we are. In addition, not only do they not drive off if you're a nano-second behind when they want to shut the door, but they will wait if they see you coming. All this, and they run very-much to schedule. London has a lot to learn!

4. Toronto is incredibly grid-like though...I'd forgotten about how boxy it is. I walked across Queens Park this morning, and giggled as I remembered how a large oval in the road used to make me nervous. If only I knew...

5. There's still nothing like a good cup of Tim's. Oh, I missed him!

Oh Canada!

I've arrived safely and have had a wonderful first weekend on holiday in Canada. I spent it up at Glen Mhor's 75th reunion and had a wonderful weekend of catching up, laughing, singing and dancing (yes, dancing) with some of my favourite people on earth at one of my favourite places on earth. A great (and beautiful) reintroduction into this great nation!

I'm with my best friend today and we have lots of exciting things planned. It's perfect weather and life is grand.

I made a comment about something I had done in England with some friends, and the response of my Canadian friends were "Oh no - you've managed to find friends who are as nutty as you are there". They seem to forget that they are all rather nutty themselves.

I'm hoping to buy a digital camera while I'm here, so I hope I'll have lots of pictures to post when I get back...

When I'm in my 40s

Just to say that when I'm in my forties, I hope I don't find myself heavily overweight at an internet cafe smoking, gambling online and drinking coffee...

We are "The Joneses"

When Katrin and I moved into The Parish Lockup, we put some potted plants on our lovely large kitchen table next to our lovely sunny kitchen window, which incidentally is about seven feet across from the neighbours lovely kitchen table and their lovely kitchen window.

Not too long after, we noticed vase of flowers at their table and thought (not seriously of course) "Ah-ha! We've inspired them!" Yesterday however, Katrin noticed the sudden arrival of several pots of flowers at their window, and it then occured to us "We are the Joneses". We think they must be nice people and we don't want to become all competitive, but we have plans for window boxes winter pansies. Bet they haven't even thought of winter pansies!

My Guardian Fruitfly

I just killed my Guardian Fruitfly.

There seemed to be a fruitfly that flew about me at work, and one that flew about me at home. Today I finally smushed it. Then I realised that perhaps it was a guardian fruitfly and I have just killed it. I feel terrible; sort of like how I felt when I killed Richard - the spider who lived in my closet when I lived in Hamilton. He would happily sit on my wall above my desk while I worked away in the evenings and then return (presumably to my closet) until the next night. Then one night I just reached up and smushed him too.

Maybe I have violence issues.

Mr Bird

I'm once again the guardian of Mr Bird. Just for a week this time. He loves me. I'm trying to teach him to say my name, but he just insists on being all snuggly instead. I wish I had a picture to post, but Rich has yet to give me one.

Wow...what a boring post this has been.

Congrats to any who have read it...

My friend the Hussy

My friend sent me the following update to demonstrate what I am (or am not) missing by not being in Canada. It really made me laugh, and I needed to share it...

you see, as boring elementary school teachers who don't have much excitement in their daily lives (other than, of course, the endless echoes of "he budded me", "she said the "s" word (stupid), "he showed me his penis" (i'm not kidding - this happens far too often in gr. 1!!), the girls from school and i have established "hussy nights". for these adventures (which, i'll be honest, have only taken place twice in the last year - too much excitement might send us over the edge), we meet at my house, have some drinks and appetizers and then have our handsome chauffeur (my husband) drive us to some downtown bar in the "Doug P." (the large, white 8 passenger wheelchair accessible van named afer its donor - because nothing screams "hussy" like a huge white van that beeps when it reverses). we then proceed to dance it up on the dance floor (always fun), have one more drink (if we're lucky enough to be able to face another drink - not that we are totally hammered by any means, just that we are old), and, by midnight (perhaps 1 o'clock if we are totally adventurous) have our chauffeur pick us up and take us home. it must also be noted that despite our best efforts to be "hussied up" (i.e. - a little make up, a strappy tank top, perhaps a skirt or maybe some heels), we spend most of the night commenting on how we look like we are wearing full body parkas compared to what the rest of the people at the bar are wearing!

Let's be honest...it sounds like great fun to me!

It all sounds so...Canadian

I was just listening to CBC news and thought to myself "He has a very strong Canadian accent". How will it be when I'm surrounded by them in a few short weeks?

I was listening to a BBC 4 documentary on accents/dialects last night (having no TV I feel very rustic...planning my evening around radio programs!). I think it may become my new big interest.

Mournful Strains of Neighbour Watching

Living about 7 feet across the alley-way from the neighbours has introduced us to the sport (game/pasttime) of neighbour watching. Last night Danni and Sarah joined K and I for dinner and we established that:

1. Half-naked man is actually quite well built, which is probably why he never seems to wear shirts. I would also think this demonstrates that he may be insecure, because any well-built man would clearly know that he need not walk around his house half-naked to demonstrate to his girlfriend just how well-built he is.

2. Ripply-Half-Naked-Man (as we've now renamed him) and Pretty Eastern European girl are actually a couple (we witnessed a little smooch and hug).

We should note that we don't make a point of peering into their window...we just don't think they realise that even with their blinds down we can still very clearly see in. I think that over time, once things like a TV, internet etc are acquired we'll spend more time in the lounge, and then we'll feel more productive and less nosey. But until then...

Last night Katrin heard the downstairs door next to us open, and then smelled cigarette smoke and heard some low whimpering and then some sniffs. She thinks that Violin-teacher downstairs may have been crying in her garden. How sad. And what a romantic thing for a violin teacher to do...cry in the garden...it's what symphonies are based upon.

Oh, and I heard yet more catfights. Apparently we live in the cat-hood. Waking up to these fights are becoming almost a nightly occurence...

Career Change?

This is one of those days whereby I wish that I worked with numbers or computers because they don't keep phoning because they need things, and they don't require that they be communicated with and you can just sit in your little corner and get on with work. On Saturday (at Rich's very fun birthday do) I met someone who used to trade fruit and vegetables for a living. I thought that was the most ridiculous sounding job at the time, but today, mixing with lettuce and cucumbers seems very appealing.

I've been coping with my anti-social feelings by doing my stats today.

I'm a friendy-auntie!

Congrats to Ange and Paul on their first little baby - Abigail Grace! I've known Ange since I was 7, and apart from all the aspects that actually go with having a baby, I feel like this is my first too! Ha ha! Isn't she adorable? She looks like a little marshmellow all wrapped up (that was my colleague Paulina's observation). I haven't put up the shot of Ange, Paul and Abigail because I thought Ange might be horrified at the thought of being on the net in her PJs, but rest assured that she looks lovely too, and they're a fabulous looking little family!!

And again...

Somebody else asked me yesterday if I'm Irish. I'm starting to feel self-conscious about the way I speak!

I played in a ball pool for an hour yesterday with a most lovely child. I think all adults should be required to do that once a month or so...it's good for the spirit, I think!

Welcome to the Parish Lockup!

Here's a photo of the new flat (we're the top floor) and our snazzy red kitchen...

We've finally figured out how to work our power shower and hot water supply (who knew that pulling a string hanging from the bathroom ceiling on a 45 degree angle towards the sink would make all the difference?) Funny British houses! We were discussing last night that we were almost as rustic as we could be: no shower, no hot water, no kettle (using the good ol' "boil the tea water in a saucepan" method), no television, no phone and Katrin's mobile wasn't even working! My cold morning bath was very invigorating!

We're currently campaigning to have our landlord pay for us to shampoo three years worth of cigarette smoke out of the carpets... Once we get some furniture we'll be laughing!

Bonjour Paris!

This trip's adventures included: a hotel neighbour who cleaned naked infront of her window in a 7 foot square courtyard (sorry - no photos of that one), Lisa and I trying to steal from the Louvre (we didn't get very far, as their coutyard art is very heavy and quite well fastened), Mark's amazing view, playing "spot-the-fake-gargoyle" (basically Lisa and I were mocking those who are fond of taking bad pictures of large buildings), and Pere Lachaise - the most amazing cemetary in the universe...it's so big it has streets and street signs! I saw: Chopin, Jim Morrison, Auguste Compte, Oscar Wilde, ohhhh...and a few others...don't remember who now!

Sweden!

It's been a long time coming, but here's Sweden (or at least Sweden according to Joanna): An authentic IKEA, a couple fascinating Swedish Slugs, and Patrik and I at the coast in Falkenburg!I sort of wish I'd taken a couple other photos...say of Monopol, but oh well...next time!

The Beginning of the End?

I opened up Explorer this morning, and to my horror, the CBC page (my automatic home page) was sporting *gasp* a VISA advert.

www.cbc.ca

Is this the beginning of the end of CBC?

Strength of a Bear!

My friend underwent some quite major surgery a couple of months ago. She's doing very well...mostly because she has the strength of a bear!

She's now walking on two feet again (with her crutches) and is doing very, very well!

Here's a picture of her very impressive scar.We know that everyone wants to see it! I should point out that due to its shape, the first several shots made it look like we were photographing her bum. We're quite sure this one makes it quite evident it's actually her hip, but I just wanted to clarify to ensure everyone knows that they do not need to notify blogger that I am showing dirty things on my blog...

Stay tuned for the matching one this time next year...

The Parish Lock-Up

Katrin and I will soon be heading off to hand in some paperwork for our new flat. In a whirlwind of activity after work on Friday we did as Londoners must do, and said "yes" to a fabulous little place back in our beloved Finchley (Central, this time) on the spot (talk about a rush of excitement). It's grand. On a road trip to St Albans on Saturday we passed through a village that still has its original Parish Lock-Up from circa 1700s. It's the place where they would stick rowdy people until morning. Not that we're especially rowdy, but we thought that would be a grand name for a flat to house riff-raff such as us.

Someday I'd like to open a pub of the same name...

My Quadruple-Barrelled Ethnicity

According to front page of The Times today:

"The government is proposing to rename ethnic minority groups along US lines in an attempt to strengthen and highlight their British roots. Minorities could be described as, for example "Asian-British" rather than simply "Asian" under proposals being considered by Hazel Blears, the Home Office Minister"

Does that mean I'm now (or somedday could be) "Irish-British-Canadian-British?" (Insert saracasm here)

Oh good grief...

A Day to Stay in Bed By...

First, the rest of my time in Sweden was incredible. Soooo relaxing, soooo good to see Patrik, Miriam and Sam again. Sooo much fun to have a 4.25 hour game of Monopol (it was the first time I've atually ever seen a game through to completion...having 5 people really makes it more exciting! I've also created a new component to the game in Sweden...I introduced the concept of "Landing Rights" into the property exchange negotiation, and I think the game will never be the same over there...sort of funny considering it was a spur-of-the-moment survival strategy on my part)

But then I had to come home. Today:

1. I found out I will need to move flats because my flatmate's American...friend/boy thingie is moving here
2. I got a £50 parking ticket because I was about 3 minutes late coming out of a presentation I had to do for work
3. My manager has resigned which really sucks because she was incredible. Ah, politics.

Well, that's life, I suppose. Some days you're the statue, some days you're the pigeon...today I'm definitely the pigeon.

On the other hand, I saved Mr. Bird's life yesterday. I hope he's OK. I've looked up bird diseases on the internet today, and I'm a bit concerned that it's serious, but I'll just say my prayers and hope for the best. Doo, doo, doo...

Oh, and I bought my very own mug for work today - it's from Sweden and has a moose on it. It makes me very happy!

Small clarification...

Because I can see where this is going to go if this is not stated upfront, I just wanted to clarify that "fem" and "sex" are the swedish words for five and six. You dirty minded people!

PS After almost a year of knowing each other, I'm for the first time listening to his band...absolutely incredible...talk about hidden talent/Mr. Modest boy!

voice of the "real swede"

Feels very good to have my dear canadian little big sister here... and to just have beaten her in monopoly... I don't know really what I shall write here but I feel like sayin something! Ett, två, tre - Imorgon skall det ske? Fyr, fem sex - Imorgon blir det spex? Sju, åtta, nio tio - Kanske gå på bio?

Hm? I say Goodnight!

Better than eating a swede...

Is being a Swede!

I have no idea if the swedes that you buy in stores are at all Swedish, but there you have it.

I love Sweden. It's just like Canada, except people speak slightly different, and there are funny keys like ä and å and ö on the keyboard. People hand in lost passports at the airport, and Swedish Monopol is just as fun as Monopoly...or maybe more so because you get to count out your spots in Swedish as you go by...

My vocab has expanded too. I've learned how to count to twelve, go to go and collect 4000:-, ask how much things - in particular umbrellas - are, how to alert people to the fact that somebody's not breathing or moving in the event of a bad accident, how to say the number 37, 450 and how to make plans for March 8th. Yes, I picked up a phrase book at the airport on my way out. As you can see it taught me many useful things!

Some of the sightseeing hightlights of the day were PATRIK!!!!, an authentic IKEA and a store that sells lots of Moose paraphenalia. We're going to go back there tomorrow (aren't we Pats?) It was pouring tonight, so we just stayed in and played Monopol (if you haven't picked up on that already). Such a lovely evening....the sort of unwind I needed!

Blog Change?

Over the last few weeks I've been feeling very nesty. You know, that feeling of settling in and starting to get comforable and wanting to spread out your stuff a bit, unpack, hang up some pictures and get a coat rack. I've been feeling nesty to the point of pausing in estate agents windows and thinking it's probably a good thing I've been spending my savings on travelling because if I had enough I might do something crazy like invest in property here, and that's quite a rash and permanent thing to do. I've eliminated all the usual suspects that might be causing this: No PMS, No breakups, haven't won the lottery, nobody's died, I haven't given birth to anything, I haven't eaten anything particularly unusual. I suppose I might just be getting to like it here.


I guess another sign is that while things are still new and exciting sometimes, I'm starting to find myself noticing less and less the big differences that come with moving to a new culture, and starting to notice more and more the smaller less obvious quirky things that provide amusement on a daily basis (like funny street signs, or watching the man who couldn't figure out how to access the public loos while I was stopped at a traffic light - the poor soul)

Anyways, all this to say, I think I might change the name of my blog from something that's less about discovering London (besides, I haven't seen a rat in ages) and more about me. I have a thought...that I think is worth a think at any rate...

Ahhh...young love!

I was just having a moment of staring out the windowness and I saw a teenage boy, accompanied by a teenage girl holding hands, walking his dog in the rain...

Awwwwwwwww...to be young again.

Soon I'll be at the age whereby romantic dog walks in the rain with someone I love will be complicated by rheumatism. That's OK though. In the next room there's a Mr Bird who loves me and that Rich isn't getting back.

One of my favourite things...

...is when, upon arriving at an airport terminal in a foreign country, I get a text on my mobile that says "Welcome to (insert name of foreign country here)"

In just for more sleeps my phone will be saying "Välkomnande till Sverige (Welcome to Sweden)!", and I will say to everyone I meet "Jag heter Joanna (my name is Joanna)! Jag ar Kanadeniska (I am Canadian)! Var ar kraftskiva (where is the crayfish party)"? As you can see Patrik taught me the essentials. Actually, to be honest, I'm not entirely sure if that's how you ask if that's where the crayfish party is. I've combined asking where the toilets are and the words for crayfish party to hopefully make sense. As long as I don't get confused and get crayfish in a toilet. Oh, and I had to look up "Welcome to Sweden" online. I've never had to welome anyone to Sweden in Swedish before and therefore it hasn't made it into my vocab yet!

I'm so excited! Svenka (and all my svenkar friends there), here I come (well, in four days...)

Oh, I wonder if I'll see an IKEA!

Revolutionizing the care industry?

Not that I think yahoo.com should be taken as the most reliable news source out there, but as this could possibly impact my career should I ever get into the care package management side of what I do...

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20050721/lf_nm/tech_japan_robots_dc

The thing is...the people I support complain about trying to figure out mobile phones...how will the feel about these funny suits? And what about getting out of them if someone has to pee quickly?

Right of Passage to Being a Londoner

I got my first parking ticket today. The most annoying thing is that I got it at the post office trying to ship some giant packages to my friend in Germany who had too much stuff to take back with her on the plane (and as it turns out, I didn't have the address, so it wasn't even worth parking there!).

What a bloody waste of £40.00

Ah well...I suppose one parking ticket in 11 years isn't so bad. Oh, actually, this is my second...but Toronto's not an evil city like London is, and their parking tickets are only $20. What can I do but pay it like a good law-abiding citizen and not go out much over the next couple of weekends! Danni suggested I add a "contingency" section to my budget for occasions such as these...

Argh, argh and triple argh!

Extreme Makeover: Home Edition

Add me to the list of people who have cried at the end of an episode:

Hobbes
Sass
Fraggle

It was just so beautiful! Oh, I love happy endings!

Battle of the Bird

Mr. Bird and I reached a new understanding today. You see, he's lovely, but in a grumpy Cockatiel sort of way, and on my previous two visits, he has been anything but welcoming towards me. So, today I came to Rich's and let him out of his cage as per usual. I got sucked into an episode of Extreme Makeover: Home Edition (which I will blog on in turn) and for the first 45 minutes that Mr. Bird was out of his cage he just sat and looked at me and did his grumpy bird-hissy thing at me whenever I tried to engage him in polite conversation. Well, not being one to lower myself to pleading with a bird to be my friend, and drawing on my social work training and how to draw boundaries with people (and I assumed it extended to stroppy Cockatiels) with naricissitic personality disorder, anti-social personality disorder and the likes, I decided to ignore him. Near the end of the show though, he started chirping and eventually came waddling over to my feet, and evetually started biting at my toes (which Rich has assured me is quite normal for him). "A-ha!" I thought - "'I've won! He caved first!" Then the show was over and it was time for me to go to the next room to work on my social work application. Not wanting to leave him out of the cage unattended however, I decided that I should put him back in (quite logical, yes?) However, he wouldn't have any of it, and was really quite rude to me - biting at me and flapping at me and just being a general tit about it. However, I didn't back down, kept sticking my finger under his feet and after a few tries, like a kid wearing down after a tantrum, he climbed on, biting and sqauking and flapping the whole time. It really reminded me of those kids who you see crying and screaming, but following their mother down the street because they know that they don't really have another option if they ever want to eat again. Anyways, then I gave his cheeks a little rub (he likes that) and put him back in his cage. Oops...I mean house...I put him back in his "house" But I won! He now knows who's in charge, and that I am one who must be obeyed. We're going to be good friends, Mr Bird and I. He was happily chirping away in his house when I was working in the next room (at least I hope that means he's happy) and I can see how birds can be endearing. I've never much cared for them myself (except wild ones. I love them to the point of waking up at unearthly hours of the morning and venturing out to hide in bushes with a pair of binoculars). Anyways, this particular one seems to be growing on me, to the point where I'm convinced that my fish at home were feeling a bit jealous when I said I was off to see him. I think I might even miss Mr Bird when this is all over...

Oh, I've also discovered that Mr Bird and I have similar musical tastes...smart lad!

Bye Rich!

Well my friend Rich is off to Peru for two weeks today (lucky boy) and I'll be responsible for maintaining the lives of his fish and Mr. Bird while he's gone. He'd better send me a postcard! :)

Please contact me if you know anything about emergency Cockateel resuscitation...I may need you...

Anna's gone back to Oz for 5 weeks too (although she doesn't read my blog to get a whole title). Hmmmm...I'll miss them both so much!

Danni's selective memory...

So the other night (well, maybe a few weeks ago now) I was at home making dinner and I got a phone call from Danni who said:

"I thought of you this evening" and I said "Oh, that's nice! Why?" and she went on to tell me that she was watching news coverage of an armed siege in North England (hmmm...seems like we've been having bad luck here as of late). She told me that she had known someone who was part of an armed siege and then, as she put it "I remembered it was actually me who was part of an armed siege when I lived in Toronto".

Apart from thinking it a very odd thing to forget, I thought it was odd altogether...especially to happen in Canada!

Basically when she was living in Toronto, she was waiting for a bus (or taxi - whichever came first) when suddenly a police man with a large....

...machine gun came to her (and the other few people waiting) and told them to come with him immediately. So, they went and hid behind a wall or a large bush or something and watched while he spoke into his radio thing and, when a girl tried to ask an innocent question (probably to the effects of "what is happening?" or "Will we die"?) he said "please be quiet. I need to concentrate". At least he said please!

Anyways, after a while he told them they could leave, but they should not stay in the area any longer than they had to be.

Long story made short: I thought it was very amusing that she had forgotten about this until now...

Move Over Coronation Street

I came across this on a BBC site. It has really made me laugh...

http://www.bbc.co.uk/languages/spanish/soap/

I did it!

Well, I started and finished the London 10K on Sunday - it was truly an incredible experience (beyond words, really), and I think I'm hooked now. There's something amazing about the thumping of 19 000 pairs of feet on the road, and somehow running with 19 000 others is so much more fun! Anita and I made it a challenge to to pass all of the funny animals and characters along the way. We beat a polar bear, an ostrich, an emu, a dragon, Batman, Robin, some bare bottoms, some women with large breasts and lederhosen. Somehow we missed the giraffe though! Shoot! I did a better time than in training. Normally 8K has been taking me 1:03:00, but on Saturday I looked at my watch at the 8K mark and it had only been 53 minutes! I think that all of those hills I live near have paid off. Anita and I finished it together in 1:06:45 - not too shabby for a first time out, I think! Next time I do one though, I'll be finishing in an hour! I feel like a changed woman! I've only had one biscuit today...I think this is the beginning of a beautiful friendship!

Oscar Peterson

I saw Oscar Peterson in concert at Royal Albert Hall yesterday. One of the most amazing experiences of my life I think, and I don't think I'll ever get the chance to see him again.
Even playing with mainly his right hand, (as far as I can tell he uses his left mainly for chords since his stroke) he was incredible. It's the first time I've seen someone get a standing ovation just for walking on stage. Absoutely phenomenal and worth every penny I paid. What a man! He played a couple tributes to some of the greats who have passed away in the past few years, including a piece by his former bassist who died a few months ago - very touching! Ohhhhhh...I'd love to see it all again!

For those of you in Toronto, enjoy Live 8 there...I'd be there if I could!

For Uncle Bob

U Bob, if you still read this blog, this one's for you...it was sent to me by my (apparently very funny) friend Rich...


A history professor and a psychology professor are sitting outside at a nudist colony
History professor - "Have you read Marx?"
Psychology professor - "Yes, I think it's from the wicker chairs."

Oh - perhaps I should explain for those of you who are now questioning the folk I share genes with. U Bob is quite notorious in our family for emailing very funny jokes. He's neither a professor, nor a nudist...well, not that I know of anyway! ;)

Oh, and HAPPY CANADA DAY!!!! I think I'm going to the Canadian Pub in Central London today.

I'm all prepared for my run I think...apparently there's a brutal incline at Tower Bridge, but because I live in the land of inclines I hope I'll be all ready! Before Rich snitches on me, I have to confess I've maybe eaten more biscuits than I should have. But McVitie's chocolate digestives with caramel are to die for!

Our debut Ballet role...at Wimbledon

I received the following email from my friend Lisa, whom I had been discussing making a trip to Wimbledon with. It's one of those little typos in life that really made me laugh:

Having thought it was a fab idea to go to Wimbledon one night this week for returns, I’m now completely off the idea. I was watching on TV last night and they showed a shot of the queue for return tickets, and at 7.30 it was still at least 150 people long!

I don’t fancy trekking all the way to Wimbledon only to have to stand in line and then come home again without seeing any tennis.

Instead we must all remember to enter the ballet this autumn for next year!

(Note: incase you missed it, the last line should have read "ballot", not ballet.) Oh, bless her little cotton socks for making me laugh so! Oh, the idea of she and I prancing around stage in little ballet costumes!


This is Lisa attempting to plunge to her end in the Peak District over Easter this year. Fortunately I talked her out of it, and she's still around to do wonderful things such as be my 10K manager and plan future trips to Wimbledon...

Introducing my pet Llama!

This is my current wall paper. It was sent to me by Dave in Peru. It makes me smile every morning when I turn on my computer. Her name is Gramma Llama Ding-Dong. Everybody needs a Gramma Llama. Wow, it's wierd to be looking at the picture and the real thing at the same time...sort of stereo for the eyes. Or like when someone phones you and they're listening to the same radio program you are...

The teeny-weeny coffee truck

As per Matt And Clare and Rich's comments, here is the little coffee truck at East Finchley tube. One really needs to see it in real life though, to get a good perspective on how tiny it is! Many thanks to Matt for the shot!

Le pain dans la heiney (or a rough translation thereof)

This morning I took my visiting Canadian friend Ashley to my favourite little cramped cafe that makes amazing cheap chocolate croissants and cheap half-assed coffee on my way to work. The only thing is that since I last passed it (last week, I think) it has changed ownership and transformed itself into a "pattiserie". Now it's all fancy and thinks it can charge £1.20 for the formerly 70p croissants and hmmm...I don't remember how much the coffee was before, but it was £1.45 this morning. They don't even have chocolate croissants anymore. Now they're going the "le pain chocolate" route. Yeah, I'll give them a "pain" alright. Right in their heiney. I remember years ago my brother going on about how Second Cup had taken over the little coffee establishment at the university where he worked, and not quite getting it (how could anybody possibly say anything negative about Second Cup?). Now I get it. And I don't like it. Down with progress!

Worth a Laugh!

My friend Rich sent this to me just before I left for lunch:

A family of moles had been hibernating all winter. One beautiful spring morning, they woke up. The father mole stuck his head out of the hole and looked around.
Mother Mole!" he called back down the hole, "Come up here! I smell honey, fresh made honey!"
The mother mole ran up and squeezed in next to him.
"That's not honey, that's maple syrup! I smell maple syrup!"
The baby mole, still down in the hole, was sulking, complaining, "I can't smell anything down here but molasses".

Extreme Decadence?

I just wanted to share that I am sitting at my desk eating cherries and feeling very decadent. One of my colleagues had suggested that it would be much better were I being fed them by a muscular half-naked man with a winged-horse like it happens in the paintings. But then I pointed out that that would mean that I too, would probably be half-naked (or worse, more than half-naked) barely wrapped in a delicate cloth, and quite possibly surrounded by naked children. We decided it’s best to leave well-enough alone.




Me at work? How frightening!

10 KM from Death

I made a small change in one of my training routes yesterday morning, and it has made all the difference. As I said before I live in a hilly area and before, the first half was relatively flat-ish and the second half of my route was all downhill. So, yesterday morning I ran it in the opposite direction and had a long steady incline for the first 30 minutes or so, and then from pretty much flattened out again, but I thought I was going to die. I'm wanting to get this run over with so that I can know how I do, and then have something to work towards (i.e. beating my old time). Two of my friends and I are going to go down to the City on Saturday morning and run the race route (well, we may not run all of it, but we at least want to be familiar with it - even if we stop a bit early for a croissant...) Two weeks and two days to go...

Breaking the Law and the Big Mac Index

On Monday I found out I had inadvertently been driving around London for the past 7 months without having insurance on my car. I found out in a process of taking further steps towards becoming a responsible, self-managing adult. It's lucky that Monday was the day I decided to do that! It was quite a shock, but fortunately I had no accidents in those 7 months, and now the situation has been rectified, and I am a fully insured, responsible, law abiding citizen. I think I need to take a driving test to get a British driving license. Oh dear. It's like being 17 again (but with slightly more spending power) I'll keep you posted...

I have started reading the economist. The reason I bought it was because I met someone who does book reviews for it and thought it would be a neat thing to do (and thought I should read the ones they publish and see what they're like - you know, you have to understand the enemy and all that...) However, I think it might be a good thing for me to browse through on occasion. It's a whole world that I didn't even know existed. For example, once a year they publish something called (I think, I left it at home and will need to double check) the Big Mac Index. It's basically a run down of the world's currencies and their purchasing power parities in relation to how much a Big Mac would cost. I've found a link and will include it for your peruasal. I don't know if it will have any impact on my day to day life (especially since I don't buy Big Macs in England, let alone the rest of the world) but it's quite interesting to know that these sorts of things are out there. It can only help make me smarter - ha ha! Just think, 24 hours ago I had no clue what a purchasing power parity nor a Big Mac index was...

http://www.economist.com/markets/bigmac/displayStory.cfm?story_id=2708584

One of my extra-curriculars...

This is a photo taken at our April Concert. I'm in the second standing row 7th smudge from the right...

The Scene at Canada House - April 19/05

Mom, Dad and I encountered these people protesting the clubbing of seals when they visited in April. I'm not sure if our taking photos of them was the reaction they were hoping for though. My favourite bit was that they were encouraging people to "Boycott Canadian Products" The only problem is that beyond the Canadian Import Store, I haven't seen many Canadian products to be boycotted. Well, bless their little cotton socks for at least caring about something enough to protest it. That seems to be a rarity these days...

Trying to take artsy shots!

This is a photo of St Paul's Cathedral I took after Murmle and I spontaneously went to see a production of Pericles at the Globe theatre. Admittedly there was too much sky in the photo, but I suppose that's the joy of cropping and scanning!

As Promised...

My friends Rich and Murmle at London Broncos Rugby - fun day and we won!

De-populating the World

I was wondering yesterday: if people were to stop reproducing today, how long it would be until there was nobody left on earth. I spent a long time thinking about it, and then realised the answer's really quite simple. Oh well, it kept my brain active for a little while at least. I can be a bear of little brain sometimes.

I went for a big run on Saturday - about 5.5 miles I think. The only problem is that a lot of it is downhill, so I arrive at home feeling like I could do another 5! I hope I manage OK on a long flat course! Three weeks yesterday until the big run! I picked up my pack yesterday, and need to get fundraising now.

My Canadian friend Ashley is back in London now. How exciting! She brought me a Gordon Lightfoot CD too. I am so happy!

Rising to the Challenge

I tackled my first rugby game on Sunday, and it was fabulous! Great sport! Great sport! I went with my friends Gill (Murmle) and Rich (Rich), and we learned some important lessons.

1. Whereas a bottle of beer in Canada is something like 355 mls, one must remember that at a British rugby game they are 500 mls, and therefore one shouldn't be surprised when one sees the world in a different perspective upon standing up at the end of the game having drank a few of those afore mentioned 500 ml bottles, thinking they were equivalent to two pints over two hours, as opposed to two litres over two hours.

2. The teams switch sides half-way through the game

3. Sadly, contrary to how it may appear on TV, when you see the game live, one cannot hear what the miked refs are saying

4. A few G&Ts shared among friends is a nice way to while away an early evening whilst overlooking Green Park, where birds chirp merrily and families do wholesome things like play frisbee together.

5. It is pretty much as exciting as hockey

6. The players are actually quite young and many of them seem to be lawyers, or interested in being lawyers. The whole stupid rugby player thing is a bit of a myth!

7. The game is actually no where near as violent as it may appear.

8. After a meander through the West End, and a fine dinner at a well-known Italian coffee-food emporium, a small half-pint of fine imported ale, a glass of orange juice, some water and some wonderful chocolate ice cream is a nice way to finish a fine day with two (and later joined by two other) friends. And leaves one feeling refreshed and ready to tackle a 25 Km hike the next morning!

9. It would seem that the world of rugby is very small - Rich seemed to know half of the people there!

This next part isn't so much a lesson, but a confession that will shock and appall all of you who know me! It would seem that drinking on the tube is a bit of a regular occurrence here, which neither Murmle nor I could understand. We hypothesized the reasons as being:

a) it is normal, like drinking coke on the tube
b) one wants to seem cool
c) one has a problem
d) (This was later suggested by one of Rich's friends) One is a builder and has had a long day of building.

We decided to test which of the above is most likely, and saved a dribble in our bottles to take with us on the tube. We didn't know when we'd have the chance to do this again, and thought it be best that we do it together to rule out possibility c). It would seem that perhaps a new category needs to be added, as it was the one that was most applicable in our case. e) one didn't have time to finish it before leaving the venue. Anyways, I don't think we're really any closer to the answer.

Pictures will follow...

Happy Anniversary to Me!

Well my dears,

I'VE MADE IT!!!!!!!!!!!!

A year ago at about this time (maybe actually around 10:30, come to think of it), I was being picked up by Danni at Gatwick and going through the day in a state of shock basically.

And so I am today as well. It seems so strange that the people who I know and adore here, I didn't know a year ago. People and places are starting to become very comfortable to me, and I'm really starting to feel settled - I am so glad I decided to come over for longer than a year. It just wouldn't have been enough.

I went hiking through East (or maybe it was West) Sussex for the day with some friends yesterday, and as we were marching across the fields I looked around and realised that I really do love it here, and I'm really starting to feel like I belong.

The time game

I can't believe that on Tuesday it will be my one-year anniversary of arriving here (although I guess technically I should count the time I went back to be in Ange's wedding, except that was such a whirlwind 4 days I don't really count it!) For the past couple of days I've been doing the "Last year at this time I was........" thing. We all do it I think, and I think we all sort of beat ourselves up for it. There's something almost magical about that one year bit. Last May 27th Andrea, John, Qu-Li, Chris, Cecelia, Meredith and I had one last dinner together at Ethiopia House (and one last coffee ceremony - Andrea's favourite!) It was a great night. I still have the card here with me!

It seems strange that in 4 short days when I think "Last year at this time I was..." I will have been in England. It's a funny feeling - it makes me unsure of whether I want to dance with joy for having made it this long, or cry...

Back from my Polar Expedition

It was great! I saw lots of bears and other polar things.

Okay. You've caught me. There wasn't an expedition, but in the spirit of cheap ass games, it was fun to pretend I had been. The problem is that I didn't have the time to collect the relevent paraphenalia to be convincing about it. That reference will be completely lost on anybody but my brother and maybe my parental unit and sister (if they ever read this), but since this is my blog I can do what I want. Nya.

To be honest, I suppose I've been in a bit of a blogging slump. I've generally been feeling a big ho-hum about it lately (and let's be honest, work's been busy for the past couple of weeks and I've been trying to get out in the nice weather at lunch) I tried to update yesterday, but the computer seems to have eaten the page. I was pretty annoyed - it was a good one...

Let's see. Highlights: I discovered an amazing pub on Tuesday. It's called The Windmill and is in Brixton. I went to hear a Toronto Country band called Loomer because I had heard them on Radio 2 and they were fantastic. The problem is that I think we actually missed them - it seems the gig started earlier than it had said it would on the website (I was informed that before I got there some people sounding suspiciously Canadian were heard to be asking "Do you serve Canadian beeeer?"). Never mind though - it was still a great find. The poor soul that I dragged along to hear the band-that-wasn't-to-be described the pub as something you'd find in the outback. It had a dirty feel to it (dirty as in not-clean - not dirty as in what you'd find at the top of the magazine rack in Becker's) whereby although the couches were comfortable, you'd shudder to think of what had been spilled on them etc. The walls were a great combination of dirty orange and white paint with old smooshed posters all over them, and we were sitting beneath propellors, beer steins (with fake beer being poured out), tea pots and watering cans on the ceilings. I ended up sitting across the table from an ex-pat Newfie and had a brief conversation about Joey Smallwood and CN rail. Anyway, it did seem a bit of an oasis on a residential street in Brixton. I highly recommend it should you find yourselves in London. It's occured to me that frequenting such venues is probably a great way to find new bands...

My flatmate and I were witness to the BBC's 12:30 am"International" weather forecast that consisted of the weather in: Wyoming, Indiana, Buenos Airies and Lima, Peru. It really gave us a good giggle!

I've been continuing with my training (another 5K this weekend). My friend and I discovered that we can walk 10K in just over an hour, so even if we only run half of it, it won't be a disgrace! I'm feeling pretty confident about plugging my way through it though. I got slightly lost on a run this morning - these curvy London streets do my head in!

I'm going to my first Rugby game on Sunday (Rugby League) and am very excited! My summer camp friend Murmle is coming with Rich and I (you'll remember Rich from such blog entries as the London Racers experiences), and I'm really looking forward to it. It's supposed to rain on Sunday and that will make it that much more exciting!

Other than that, it's business as usual!

5K Down!

Oh yes, Anita and I completed a 5K on Sunday. Now to only put two 5Ks together!

Yay us!

Home for a Rest!

I've booked a ticket home. I'm so happy. Seee yooouuuu in September!

I ended up not voting in the election. I decided it was morally reprehensible. And I didn't remember until I got home. Tony Blair's won. Everyone seems quite blase about it. Including him. It's been interesting to be over here during an election.

I stayed up late to watch a BBC2 documentary about Conrad Black. It was very interesting to see him being shown over here. It was a joint BBC/TVO production - they tend to team up to do good things. It was also nice to see the Tim Hortons just south of Bay and Bloor and the TD Canada Trust on that corner in the background too. Home sweet home!

I've just finished work - I think it's a late record for me - 7:30 p.m. (except the nights once/3 months when I know I'll be working until 9:00). I can't imagine having a job where this is the norm. I find comfort in knowing that my manager will likely be very annoyed with me when she finds out I've worked so late and will demand I take time off in lieu. I wonder if late nights for lots of money is worth it. Somehow I doubt it.

Is this legal?

Back when I first arrived here, some ex-pat Canadians suggested I get on the electoral role. So I went to my Borough office and said "I'd like to be on the electoral role please", fully expecting to be turned down because I'm not a citizen of this country. Imagine my surprise when the lady behind little intercom box said "OK. Give give me your name and address" as a hand shoved a piece of paper under the little slot in the wall. I filled it in, fully expecting to, at some point, receive a piece of paper in the mail saying "You can't vote, you idiot. You're not a citizen." When that didn't come, I finally decided there must be a loophole whereby perhaps one does not actually get to vote, but can still be on the role.

On Friday I got home and my electoral card was waiting for me. Wahoo! So, I guess for some reason I get to vote this Thursday. I'm not going to question it anymore. All I know is that for whatever reason, I can show up on Thursday and put my little x in the little ticky-box (in the space reserved for the **political opinion witheld** party and walk away knowing that it was at least partially legal, and that I can't be held responsible if the British Goverment doesn't do their homework (unless there is no law against non-citizens voting). Sometimes, my friends, political ignorance really can be quite blissy!

But just incase, please contribute to the "Post Joanna's Bail" envelope when it comes around.

Oh - and imagine how exciting it will be if the Liberal Minority in Canada is chucked out on its ear this summer and I get to vote in two countries' elections in a span of months!

One More Step

I've just finished cleaning my "pending" (read shove everything somewhere) tray. I'm one step closer to being expendable...

One More Step

I've just finished cleaning my "pending" (read shove everything somewhere) tray. I'm one step closer to being expendable...

Squishy Like Kids

Yesterday my two colleagues (may I be so bold as to call them friends) and I went for one of our training runs. Being the adventurous and bored with roads ones we are, we decided to go Off Roading a bit and ended up running through a place with a typically British name: "Brook Farm Open Space" and encountered more mud and squishy bits than I have in a long, long time. After the initial "Oh dear, I don't want to sprain my ankle in this" bit, I realised that I haven't actively run through mud in a very long time and began to thoroughly enjoy myself. I came back with my trainers pretty much done in, mud all over my running attire and feeling much better for it. That's what washing machines are for!

I should go buy a pair of wellingtons soon and so some proper jumping, splashing and mucking about.

Life's too short not to, n'est pa?

Oh yes, and we also ran into (not quite literally - ha ha) the Chairman of the Board and possibly scored brownie points for our dedication to our organisation...

Habla Espanol (or English for that matter)

My amusing incident of the day is that someone who's currently in Peru had emailed me a link to one of those websites that do some handy translation for you. So I used it for a paragraph that went much like this (although I don't remember the exact wording 100%)

Your uniform isn’t as bad as I had thought it might be. I had imagined it to be much worse, although I can appreciate your not wanting to wear it for a night on the town! Do you have to wear long sleeves and trousers (I almost said pants – ha ha) year round, or is there a summer version as well?

And it gave me this:

Su uniforme no es tan malo como me imaginaba. ¡Los había hecho de alguna manera hacia fuera para ser mucho peores que son, pero puedo inmóvil apreciar su deseo hacer una tarde en la ciudad que lo usa! ¿Usted consigue una versión del verano también, o es mangas y pantalones largos (estaba a punto de decir los pantalones - ha ha) todo el año redondo?

I, being curious, decided to then enter what it had given me in Spanish to see what it would then give me in English, and I got this:

Its uniform is not as bad as it imagined to me. It had somehow done them towards outside being much worse than they are, but I can immovable appreciate its desire to do late in the city that uses it! You also obtain a version of the summer, or is long sleeves and trousers (she was on the verge of saying the trousers - she has has) all the round year?

It really made me laugh and laugh. Hooray for internet translation!

Quick Update

Hi,

Now it's sunny at the back of the building, but not at the front.

It's doing my head in.

It really is...

PS Today is Danni's last day at work, and I'm quite sad about it.

Like a Drowned Rat

Just to say that I'm sitting at my desk dripping (yes dripping) because in this country, one can leave for a walk to the bank in sunshine and come out 15 minutes later to a complete downpour. It's like the clouds hide behind the sun, pick their target and then pop out and rain like they've never rained before.

Oh, wonderful Canada, I think I'd gladly take your minus 25 temperatures and 5 foot hight snowbanks anytime....

I think it's beginning to hail.

Oh, help...

On Being an Adult

Well, it's only taken me a year since finishing my MSW, but I have started making steps towards being a financially responsible adult. Since my parents have left, thoughts of "What will I do in two years?" have started crossing my mind, and, upon the realisation that I will be just a few months shy of being 30 when I leave here, I decided that whatever I end up doing, it would probably be best to be doing it with some savings in the bank. It would seem that many of my friends have been buying houses, planning to have kids and doing other very adult things, and it has made me feel slightly panicky.

So, after debriefing all of this to my fiscally responsible fund-raiser friend Lisa, she gave me some very helpful tips and emailed me a budget plan - I just have to fill in the numbers and stick to it. It certainly can't be that hard...can it?

At lunch today I went to the bank to make an appointment to change some of my accounts around, and left feeling very responsible and very grown-up. I even bought a reduced-price loaf of bread for lunch to celebrate...

Homeless

Yesterday I had my first homeless experience. I had one of those days whereby you spend the day wondering what else can go wrong. I had thought my day of craziness was over, and I was heading off to choir rehearsal when, as soon as I shut the door, I realised that my keys were on the other side of it. I think that must be one of the worst feelings in the world, you know. That sinking feeling thinking of "Well, I'll look in my bag, just incase" as the other half of the brain is realising that you didn't actually grab your keys from your bed as you had planned...

All of this would not have been such a problem had my flatmate not been a few hours' drive away until Monday.

Hmmmm...

Well, to make a long story short, I realised that I have friends who love me enough not to leave me outdoors on a park bench. I had three bed (well, a floor, and a couple couches) offers. It was a nice, warm, fuzzy feeling actually! My parents will be back on Saturday and fortunately they have a spare key. In the meantime I'm wearing brand new socks and underwear and thanking my lucky stars I just happened to have a change of clothes at work!

Canadian Invasion!

Well, the PU is in town! I cannot believe how absolutely tired I was last night when I hit the pillow. It was so great to see them again though, that it was all worth it.

They're off to York for a few days now. It will give me a chance to recover!

Comments on my Blog

Well, I have received feedback from many of you, that you cannot post comments on my blog because you do not have blogger accounts yourselves. Hmmmmm...this leaves me in a bit of a quandary (did I use that word right?) I admit that I sometimes feel as though I am writing to a brick wall, but I'm not sure of the alternatives. Any suggestions? I say that realising, of course, that you cannot comment on my quandary for the reason my quandary exists. Oh, what a pickle.

I'll think it over later. Right now, I have £10 000 to spend. This is a rare opportunity for someone who works for a charity!

Am I expendable?

Yesterday at work I decided that my desk was far too cluttered and since I couldn't fit anything into my drawers anymore, I decided to have a good clean. As I was cleaning I was thinking about how, apparently if you're good at your job and organised enough, people should be able to carry on perfectly well without you. I would hope that if something tragic were to happen (or maybe not tragic - perhaps I'll find Mr. Perfect tomorrow and run off to Tibet to get married and live in perfect tranquility forever) I might be missed slightly. Maybe it's better to stick with messy drawers and a piled-up intray. It's a fine balance I suppose...

Me!

Hopefully this picture will be my profile picture someday, but I can't figure out how to do that yet.

Argh!

Tony's off the List

Well, for anyone who's familiar with the handsome old men list, after watching the BBC news this morning, I've decided that Tony Blair's off the list. He used to be handsome "in a pinchy British sort of way", but he's not anymore.

I wonder what disasterous affect my decision will have on his election campaign...

Quote a la day

In an effort to look at my colleague's blog I typed in the wrong address and got that of a complete stranger. However, the complete stranger had quoted a quote I quite liked:

Amputating and bandaging the arm took about an hour. Ralston said he was simply being pragmatic. "I felt pain and I coped with it," he said. "I moved on."

I thought that was great...

Charles and Camilla

Well, they've rescheduled the wedding so that Charles can both attend the Pope's funeral and get married.

Whew...I'm glad they got that sorted...

I've diagnosed my fish with some sort of fungal infection. I knew they were acting funny - they seemed depressed and unhappy. As it turns out, many of the symptoms I was telling my friends about (and being laughed at for being an over-imaginative social worker) were actually true symptoms of fish disease and not imagined at all. I knew something was wrong. Nya, nya, nya.

Sports in England

Well, I've found my new hockey I think. I have a friend who's constantly going on about how great Rugby League is and, (please don't kill me when you read this, Rich) most of the time I'd just nod and smile politely because it's quite important to him. However, yesterday it was on the telly and having not much else to do I decided to watch part of a game. And you know (I hate to say it), he was right. It really is quite fun to watch - and it doesn't seem to be the voilent-man-pile-up sport I once thought it was. It definitely seems more fun than football. Football consists of kick, run, run, run, kick, run, - turn the opposite direction, kick, run, run, pass, run, kick etc. But with rugby there's running and kicking, and sliding and throwing and tacking (tee hee) and the refs are miked so you can hear them reprimanding the players for doing this, that and the other thing.

The other highlight of sports-this-weekend was that there was a football fight that made headlines...because the players fighting each other were on the same team...at least hockey players have the sense not to beat up their own... Silly, silly boys...

Friday Holiday

Well, I'm taking a group of people to the Parliament Buildings today. I know that I should be excited, but experience has taught me that trying to coordinate a group of elderly people is much more difficult that coordinating groups of children. I haven't quite figured out why. I think it's because adults have opinions and want to add input and make suggestions. It's so much easier with kids who just do as they're told, and if they don't, will respond to threats of not having a bedtime story. Some remarkable similarities is that loo breaks still need to be coordinated, and they have a tendency to wander.

Hmmm...I could get fired for this, so I should stop now...

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!