taken for granted November 27, 2009

Dry clothes are something a person should be able to take for granted. Until such time, at least, as you can not take them for granted. I am doing laundry tonight, as I have run out of tops I can wear to work. I can feel in my bones that it’s going to take til at least Tuesday for them to dry, and I’m going to have to work topless on Monday

Dry clothes were something I so took for granted when I lived in the prairies (essentially a desert… while there is grass there, it’s dead for 10 months of the year)

To make matters worse, in folding laundry tonight, I had a mishap. I was wrestling a pair of athletic trousers out of the tangled pile, and they didn’t want to come. I tugged on them, essentially creating a yoga pants slingshot, aimed in the direction of my dresser. There was a water bottle on top that, and of course, when flying stretchy pants meet water bottle, you know that bottle is going over. All over my dresser, and right into the neatly* folded clothes inside.

Looks like I’m dressing in puddles for the rest of the week.

*this is a complete lie – nothing was ‘neatly folded’. I only fold haphazardly

In other news, I had pub chili for supper tonight, which seemed like a good idea at the time. It turns out not to have been such a good idea, though… as it is currently too cold to open a window, I am concentrating really hard on breathing through my mouth, not nose. It’s advisable at the moment to avoid sniffing the air in the general vicinity of me.

log day (that is a mis-spelling) November 24, 2009

Coherent stuff isn’t forthcoming, and I know, because I’ve been staring at this screen for longer than you have), so please enjoy this list of things (both bike-related and not):

1. My bike is making a funny noise (the rear wheel is rubbing against stuff). Survival instinct made me walk most of the way home from work tonight, with only a brief cycle after I miraculously (but temporarily) fixed the tire by ramming it into a curb by accident. The walk took a really long time. And now it is 8:30 and it looks like I’m eating chocolate for dinner. Mmmm, chocolate. (Minstrels, actually, which are like Smarties, but larger and better tasting and brown instead of coloured. Mmmminstrels…)

2. I cycled to Abingdon with Ax on Saturday. It’s like, a 5 km ride. It was really dark and in the rain and the traffic, and therefore, pretty scary. The rain collecting on my glasses was blinding! We showed up at L and Am’s for dinner all wet and dripped all over their living room. L offered me a towel and a warm shower, and I took them! The ride home after (delicious) dinner was not rainy and late so there was no traffic. It was really really nice. Cycling is good!

3. I bought a stack of Christmas cards with good intentions. Then, I sat down to write a Christmas letter, and that seems to have been the end of that.

4. I got to help a friend rip up some carpet and paint some baseboards last week. It was really good fun! It’s good that I have friends who buy homes because I really like doing renos, but have no desire to live amongst them, and more importantly, no real desire to own anything like a house. Did you know the average age of home ownership in the UK is about 35? So I can reasonably get away with putting that off for another 5 to 18 years.

5. I’m looking for a new job. (my temp one is going to finish soon) I don’t really know how to find a ‘real’ job here, and I expect it not to be easy. I know several people who have been looking for work unsuccessfully, although what I know of their resumes makes them rather employable… it is a bad time to look for work in the UK. But I am optimistic.

Leave a comment, K?

good things November 14, 2009

There’s been a string of updates here that I’ve written in a really bad mood. And I didn’t tell you about any of the cool stuff that’s been going on. Unfortunately, the way these things work, when I’m doing fun stuff, it tends to be far away from a computer, so those things don’t always make it on here. And when I’m bored or sick or feeling like a hermit, I almost always shut myself into my bedroom, where the computer and internet is. So here are some of the fun things that have gone on lately, in reverse chronological order:

Last Weekend

I went to a house party in a different city, met a bunch of cool people, and watched them do really irresponsible things with fire works. (and I wrote about it here: click)

My 29th Birthday

I celebrated this in a really disjointed and incoherent sort of way. L brought a cake over about a week after my birthday (it was the night that I made my first ever roast) and everyone there sang me happy birthday. It was not, as I’d requested, a cake made of chocolate and blue. But I think L rightly disregarded that request, as I was drunk when I made it, and instead brought a cake topped with plums, that was very similar to the kuchen my grandma makes. So it met with my approval!

The weekend before that, S shared her graduation party with me (for my birthday) and with B (for his graduation). S’s parents came all the way from Saskatchewan to attend her grad ceremony (and do some sight-seeing elsewhere in England) and they got in touch with some of our friends to arrange a surprise party. It was really sweet of them to do so, and they were pretty cool people.

And on the actual night of my birthday, Ax took me to a wine tasting which was held by this organization he was volunteering for. It was interesting, because the guy who explained all the wines (sommalier??) introduced them as being all of his favourite wines. There were some really pricey and exclusive wines there, and guess what? I didn’t like the taste of any of them! But before we arrived at this thing, we’d resolved to take a low-wastage approach, which turned out to be really really fun!

Later, we cycled home along the river, which is very dangerous and ill-advised. That path is not lit, and because it’s dark and no one ever goes there, and there are nature reserves right next to it, it’s a place where people go to do things they don’t want you to know about. I cycled fast!

Munich and Oktoberfest

I went to Munich for a week with a bunch of people, including Am and Ax and a girl-friend who was visiting from Canada, R. Munich is a beautiful city, and I would love to go there sometime other than festival time, as well. The festival was fun, obviously. But the things that I really remember were going to this market area, near Marienplatz and seeing the street literally full of butcher shops, hunting down and eating all the salty pickles we possibly could, watching the Glockenspiel on the town hall, walking through the English Garden in the middle of the city to this huge outdoor pub, seeing the square where a bunch of Hitler propaganda videos were shot, etc.

The possible highlight of the trip was the day we went to Erding to check out the water slides. There’s this giant water park there that L has been talking about since she went there last year. There were only four of us that day: Am, Ax, me and R. When you come out of the change rooms there, you walk into a place that’s comparable to the Moose Jaw Spa, only way better. There are mineral baths and all sorts of bubble features and running water features that feel really nice on your skin and soothe any muscular aches you might have. We spent a bit of time in there, and then Ax and I wandered off to see what else there was (ultimate goal: find the water slides).

We’d both left our glasses in the changing room lockers, and he’s nearly as blind as me (very), so we laughed at the ridiculousness of the situation and kept on looking. After about an hour of this, we gave up, and about an hour after that, we’d finally accepted our fate of having to spend the whole day relaxing in the spa. (disappointing, as we’d been lured there with the promise of water slides). Just as we’d gotten used to that idea, (I was lying on a deck chair and Ax was using the toilets) Am and R came over, dripping all over me, and asked why on earth we weren’t in the water slide part of the building. Whaaaa??? I nearly left Ax to his own devices and demanded that they lead me to the slides immediately, but somehow I found it in me to wait the two minutes.

As Am and R led us down a hall to another building where the slides were, Ax and I were almost skipping, we were so happy! Filled with joy, we ran up the stairs and tried out all the slides we could. I even went on extreme slides! It was terrifying! The one I did first was a straight slide, with no cover on it, which was probably about a 60 – 70 degree slope. At the top, there’s an attendant who explains to you that you have to cross your ankles, clench your bum cheeks together, and fold your arms over your chest. After he explains that, you go through the turn-stile and you’re about to sit down to go down the slide, but there’s no slide there. It’s so steep that you can’t see it from where you’re standing. At this point, I backed out and made Ax go first because he’s brave like that. I gathered the courage to go down after him, but I did not go a second time (as the whole way down the slide, all I could think of was the f word, over and over and over again).

We spent several hours running up stairs and throwing ourselves down slides and grinning like idiots, until I got exhausted, counted my bruises (several, including two head-bruises) and decided I was done for the day. Back to the spa for us! At which point, Ax found Am and went back to the slides. R and I relaxed with the bubbles for a few hours. At some point after dark, the A’s found us again, and we called it a day: found a restaurant, stuffed our faces, and caught the train back to the hostel.

France

A girl-friend of mine from home came to visit for a couple weeks. I wasn’t able to get time off of work, so she essentially used my place as a home base, and did various day-trips and tours throughout the three weeks or so that she was over here. I was, luckily, able to go to France with her for a weekend.

We took the train up on a Friday after I was done work, and basically just checked into the hostel and went to sleep that night. On Saturday, we did almost everything there is to do in Paris on one day. We saw a bunch of the major tourist things (L’arc du Triomphe, Eiffel Tower, and took a river tour down the Seine, to see lots of other things from afar). We nipped into a few off-the-beaten-path type places. We also went into Notre Dame afterward, and when it got dark, went back to the Seine to this market that was there from the South. We bought a collection of bread, cheese, meat and wine, and caused a bit of a scene trying to get into the wine. We got chatted up by a couple of guys who were living there, but originally from French Guyana. They were really friendly guys, and we appreciated the company.

On Sunday, we went to the Champagne region and took in a few cellar tours, which included tastings afterwards. Also, we ate a lot of crepes. It was a jam-packed weekend!

why am I sick again? November 14, 2009

I am sick again. I am sick all the friggin’ time over here.

I tried to drown myself in LemSip on Thursday at work (LemSip is one of those lemony drinks with cold medication in them. Tastes not so good but is comforting and effective). I successfully avoided snivvelling all day, but I sneezed several times, to maximise the probability of germ-spreading. Also, that drink makes you sleepy, and for like, a whole hour in the afternoon, I rested my head on my hand, and even fell asleep once or twice. I think I impressed everyone with that. Were it not for the pesky deadlines, I’d have stayed home.

On Friday (yesterday) I did stay home and continued with the lemony thing, and watched a bunch of tv shows on the internet. Also, my room is much cleaner now than it used to be. But my nose still doesn’t work, and now the lemony drink won’t budge that mucous an inch. Booo.

Sigh. Before I moved, I used to brag all the time about having the immune system of a horse. Even in the year I lived in a dorm at Uni (easily the grossest, most unclean place on earth) I was only sick once. Apparently, England makes me sick.

my knee hurts November 8, 2009

Actually, pretty much everything from the waist down hurts, and I’m leaning against the radiator to warm up.

Ax and I successfully cycled to Reading yesterday and back today (60 miles in all) and it was exhausting. It only took around 2.5 hours each way. On the way there, we were a bit slower because we stopped a couple times. We had to stop a couple times to check the map and be sure we were on the right path. We stopped in Watlington, to rest and look up at the big towering church, and then at an old folks home about 8 miles or so out of Reading because there was an art sale that I wanted to look at. We soon learned that stopping cools you off and it doesn’t feel good, so on the way back, we didn’t stop as much.

Although I did insist on stopping to pick what I thought were blueberries. This was against Ax’s advice, because he is from here and so he knows not to just eat berries that you find. Anyway, I tasted one of them to test whether it was worth picking them (November isn’t peak berry season) and it turns out, I ate a poison berry!!! It didn’t do anything to me, but it was bitter and dried my mouth out, like a chokecherry does.

Anyway, 30 miles isn’t much. We checked into our hotel and showered up and found a pub nearby. It was a good find: dimly lit, with non-intrusive music playing. And the food was so very good. I’m not sure if that’s because it was just good food, or if it was because we’d cycled all day and were starving nearly to death. Definitely one of the two, though. As we were waiting for our food, I recognized what I was feeling. It felt exactly the same as the end of a day skiing, and it confirmed what I’d suspected all afternoon: cycling is a very good thing.

Later last night, I got to meet a bunch of Ax’s friends from Uni. They’re good people, although, like the rest of the Brits, they’re awfully reckless around Nov. 5. Fireworks in the garden. It was a small garden, so we couldn’t get as far away from the things as the package warned that we should. We were close enough to feel things fall on our heads when the big ones went off. It’s a proud part of their heritage, though, to set things alight after swallowing several beer. Also, we bobbed for apples in vodka. It’s also not a good idea, but it did seem like a good one at the time.

In any case, last night’s activities made today’s cycle a little more difficult. Indeed, hangovers prevent you going uphill very fast. Somehow, today, I payed more attention to our surroundings (yesterday I concentrated on the road). This is a pretty country and I like it.

It’s weird for me to have an interest in the outdoors. I used to have a bike in Canada, but never took it out of the city. While I was in high school, I once considered cycling into town (15 miles one way) but dismissed the idea as crazy before I ever started out. I have never before considered camping to be something I would want to spend my spare time doing. But yesterday, I kept daydreaming about how much fun it would be to strap a tent onto my bike and tour for a week or something. So yeah, this could be the start of a new era for me: an era in which I camp. Luckily, it’s winter, so this is not something I have to consider for another several months. By then, I’m sure I’ll return to my senses.

cold and wet. ick November 5, 2009

It’s cold and it’s wet. People are exploding their fireworks regardless, but I doubt there’s much in the way of bonfires tonight. It’s rainy and cold and I don’t like it. So I’m staying home from pub quiz tonight. This is the third social thing I’ve avoided this week (and it’s only Thursday) due to the cold ugly weather. Next week I’ll start braving the cold.

It’s like, nine degrees or something, so yeah… could be worse.

Guy Fawkes day, I’m told, is a pretty dangerous time of year. Lots of people suffer burns, some die. Little burrowing animals that hide in piles of wood for shelter end up burning to death when people use the piles of wood (which they’ve been drying for days) for bonfires. Roofs have fireworks land on them and they start on fire sometimes, and people even die from time to time. Safety first, I’m staying inside.

On Saturday, Ax and I are planning to cycle to Reading for a party one of his old uni friends is throwing. Reading is nearly 30 miles away, and the motorway is a death trap! So we’re taking country roads, which lengthens the trip by a bit, but we’re more likely to survive. Hooray! It’s going to rain and be cold, but I’ve got a thermos for bringing a hot drink, and I’ve been promised a hot shower at the end of the ride.

mystery bike November 3, 2009

On Monday morning, just before I left for work, I noticed a strange bike in the garden which I’d never seen before. It was purple and had a pink bell, which made me smile, because what makes a Monday morning better than realizing one of your housemates spent the night with a guest? Answer: not having heard that housemate and his guest spend the night together!

Oddly, the bike was still there when I got home from work, and then again when I left on Tuesday. I started to think something was up. So I asked one of the guys about it. Turns out, he came home one night this weekend and saw a bike just sitting there, not locked up. Bikes get stolen here a lot, and it was in a place that obviously meant the bike rider was visiting our house. He moved the bike into the back yard, which is always locked, because he’s considerate like that, and made a mental note to say something about it when he got inside.

But then I guess something broke down between the noting and the saying. He was surprised to notice that there was a bike in the yard tonight. I was surprised (and a little disappointed, frankly, boys) to find out the bike owner was in fact my guest. And S was surprised (this evening when I texted her the whereabouts of her bike) to know that it had not been stolen. At least, it had not been stolen on purpose… ha ha. Ha.

grump-ay November 2, 2009

So far? November sucks a little.

Also, I wonder if I’m not getting a touch of Seasonal Affective Disorder over here. It usually doesn’t hit ’til like, mid-December or something back home. Early bird gets the worm, I guess. Stupid bird.

On the other hand, Autumn takes up a whole season over here. The leaves have been turning and slowly falling off the trees for weeks and weeks and weeks. It’s completely unlike Saskatchewan, where they fall for days and days. And there are still flowers in some places. The other day on the way to work, I noticed some little pink blossoms poking out from the fallen orange leaves on the boulevard. I wished I’d had a camera with me… and some photography skills to go with it. heh. It was really pretty.

The end.

sooooo full… November 1, 2009

…and so exhausted.

This has been the weekend of entertaining. On Friday night around 11, I got a phone call from L, telling me she was throwing a halloween party, and could she do it at my house? Of course I will have a last minute halloween party! Who’s coming? You don’t know. Cool!

So I slept in on Saturday morning and went to town in the afternoon. Never go into town on a Saturday afternoon. I know this, why did I go??? Bit of grocery shopping, bit of costume shopping (ended up going as a Christmas tree – bulbs and tinsel are abundant this time of year) and a lot of elbowing my way through crowds.

Saturday night, we filled up my living room with a handful of people and a couple bottles of wine, laughed, and watched Shaun of the Dead. It’s a quality movie and you should watch it.

Tonight, a couple people came for dinner and I made my first roast ever. It was pork and I rubbed it with garlic and caraway seed and roasted it in beer. (the recipe is from a cookbook I bought in Germany, Grossvater’s Bierkueche – Grandpa’s beer kitchen, which was a really good investment) It was delicious and I did not know I was capable of doing that with a pork leg. Yay, me.

Anyway. I’m full and I’m exhausted and I have been neglecting this journal. ‘night!

September? October 18, 2009

Jesus Christ, where did September go? And then October! All this time keeps passing and I barely even notice it!

I’ve just come back from watching Julie and Julia. It’s a couple of parallel biographies of two women who love to cook: Julia Child and Julie someone or other. The parts about Julia Child are wonderful, because she’s delightfully insane. The parts about Julie someone or other are lame because she is the most annoying person known to man. And she wrote the story. Please write this down: if you ever write anything about yourself, you should do everything in your power not to make yourself come off as a terrible, whiny, depressing excuse for a human being. It’s got to be embarrassing.

So the reason for the no posting is this: I was in Paris and I was in Munich and I had a friend here for several weeks and then I didn’t care to write here for a few weeks. But I care to write today, I guess.

Last night I was out helping Am turn thirty. Jesus Christ again. I have friends who are old. It was a really good evening out! We (me and M) met up with Am and a couple of his friends at the snooker hall, which is a really sketchy place. Then we went to a pub and then another pub. I ordered a glass of Old Trip and it tasted like a big chilly glass of B.O. (so I gave it to Am as a birthday present and got something else instead). And from that point on, everything I smelled reminded me a little of B.O., which was really very funny at the time. And gross. I also hit my head on the toilet paper dispenser and coined the term: generass (which, obviously, refers to a bum of generous proportions).

Earlier in the day, M and I went to a family dinner at Auntie J’s and laughed when we told her kids about the photography exhibit we’d taken her to. It was a really nice time, and it’s great to get to know your long lost british relatives. They’re really fun people! My mom’s cousin T just bought a pub here in Oxford, and it’s super close to my office. I am probably going to have to stop there on t way home from work a lot, since it’s quite a hike to get home and sometimes I get tired. Also, I learned we’re descended, on my grandmother’s side, from sailors and barmen (publicans?) which explains a lot.

Yawn. I’ve managed successfully to remain awake for like, ten hours straight today. It’s a pretty great accomplishment considering last night’s adventure. Best go to sleep now. Good to see you again, though!

me